Buffalo & Doozerie - The mild musings of two grumpy old men!

buffalo

It's amazing how many people ask if you were wearing a helmet when they hear you've broken the collarbone on the bike. Nobody asks about protective shoulder pads.

And no matter what the answer, the response is nearly identical.

Yes: well done, it could've been much worse.
No: you're crazy, it could've been much worse.

CramCycle

Dear slick greasy haired, homage to an american 80's action movies idea of how people in business dress, f'in Neanderthal in the Black Audi this morning.

Why you thought it was OK to overtake a queue of 30 cars in rush hour traffic on the left is not my issue, its the fact that when you got to the top. not only were you going so fast that you could not stop for people/vehicles half way through crossing the junction, it was your look of utter contempt that really pissed me off as if in some way other peoples existence and insistence on obeying the law was an affront so shocking to you that it could only be rivalled by the feeling Samson had when his OH chopped off his hair.

Thankfully the taxi driver who had stopped had such a look of fear in his eyes I panicked and bolted off the road in reaction. You should try and find this taxi driver, as he is the only reason you are not facing a vehicular manslaughter charge you d*ck.

CramCycle

After a generally nice week, I had the most interesting punishment pass in awhile, sort of. I was in the left hand lane (a bus lane) but I was out a bit as I had just overtaken 2 cyclists and then there was a taxi up on the kerb picking up a fare. I could feel/see a car close to my rear who had partially turned from the right lane over (there is a queue of right turning traffic about 50 or 75 metres ahead). I had matched pace with the traffic ahead of me who are indicating in as I am going to merge right once safe, so I plan to move into the right lane ot complete a turn. The car does not pull in behind me though or attempt to go past me in his own lane. He instead decides to pull his front wheel alongside my rear and start moving over a bit. I pull in a bit but he slows down, then pulls up again and tries it again. I eventually just haul on the brakes as he is starting to freak the sh1t out of me. He then stops when I shout what are you doing?. He then tells me (quite calmly) that I should be in the cycle lane and thats what he wanted me to do (so he admits that he was attempting to force me out of the way?!?). Now forget the fact that I had just overtaken 2 guys and manoeuvred around another vehicle, or the fact that I had started to indicate right. Who gives you the f'in right to decide that nudging me is somehow the responsible and appropriate response. I was keeping up with fuppin traffic, I was already in the lane you were turning into and I was ahead of you.

Are you mental

Chips Lovell

Report him. It's remarkable the amount of people who not don't know what the law is but also feel entitled to enforce it with their own aggressive behaviour.

Dermot Illogical

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

Report him. It's remarkable the amount of people who not don't know what the law is but also feel entitled to enforce it with their own aggressive behaviour.

+1. Needs educating.

doozerie

Spring seems to be bringing out the carefree attitude in more people if the last few days are anything to go by. One example is the middle-aged man on a Dublin Bike a few days back. Having ridden through the red light at the junction of Merrion Sq North and Merrion Sq West, weaving between moving traffic to do so, he was faced with an entirely empty couple of southbound lanes along Merrion Sq West to use. But instead he decided to cycle on the opposite side of the very wide road, squeezing/wobbling along between a line of moving oncoming traffic and the kerb. As he approached Government Buildings he stayed on that side but rode up onto and along the footpath instead, perhaps to somehow avoid attracting the attention of the two gardai standing there. I didn’t get to see if they stopped him, unfortunately.

On Westland Row yesterday I was stopped at a red light, and started to move off as it changed to green only for a middle-aged man on a scooter (the 2-wheeled kick-along type, not the motorised type) to suddenly nip between me and the car to my right and he immediately swung directly in front of me. He stayed on the road, kick-pushing himself along with me having to ride on my brakes behind him, cars chomping at the bit behind me, and he then broke the red light at Merrion Sq West. Like the cyclist above, he also aimed for the right hand side of the road, between the line of cars and the kerb. He cut onto the footpath immediately after the junction though, skimming past some pedestrians on the footpath in the process.

On my commute one morning this week a guy on a bike ahead of me was almost flattened by an SUV that swung left into an empty parking space outside a shop in Terenure. The front left wing of the SUV missed him by a matter of centimetres. I initially assumed the SUV driver had not looked, and perhaps not indicated either, before swinging left as the cyclist passed on the inside, but the same cyclist had blasted through a red light at a crossroads earlier and also sailed through the next red light after the near collision too, weaving between pedestrians in the process. He clearly didn’t take much heed of other road users, which made me wonder whether the SUV driver had really been the one at fault or whether the cyclist had actually seen he SUV preparing to turn but just expected the driver to take full responsibility for keeping him (the cyclist) safe. Either way, any sympathy I had for him vanished pretty quickly, I put the incident down to karma.

This morning along the North Quays, approaching Jervis Street, I slowed when I saw the taxi 20 metres ahead indicate that it was going to turn left onto Jervis Street. The cyclist immediately in front of me, who was also well back from the taxi, didn’t slow. He hauled on his brakes only once almost in the junction, when his front wheel was centimetres from the side of the mostly turned taxi, the rear left wing of the taxi passed across what must have been no more than a few millimetres from that front wheel. Apparently un-phased, the cyclist then broke the set of pedestrian lights metres ahead and nearly collided with a crossing pedestrian. Admittedly the pedestrian stepped onto the road a little before the crossing proper, and apologised to the cyclist for having done so, but though it was blatantly obvious that this was exactly what was going to happen from a couple of metres back, the cyclist remained either blissfully unaware or simply didn’t care about the impending collision, suggesting that his near miss moments before left no impression on him whatsoever.

Given the casual nature of some of their mad behaviour I’m left wondering how some of these people have lived this long, and why they seem determined to remedy that anomaly.

doozerie

Phew, that rant has been building up for a few days now. I was in danger of straining an outrage ligament if I hadn’t let it out.

Jabel

Every time I read instances like this, and I also come across several 'brain dead' idiots masquerading as cyclists regularly, I think of that RSA ad on the TV when it states that 'cyclists are one of the most vunerable road users on our roads'
I think it's probably appropriate to insert a new line after that reading like this...
'cyclists are one of the most vunerable road users on our roads and you might notice that some of them assume no responsibility for their own safety or yours, if you see any blatantly dangerous manoeuvres it is your duty as a responsible road user to apply ones fist to their face area with a significant degree of force thereby alerting them to the error of their ways'
Would that work??

CramCycle

Jabel wrote: »

if you see any blatantly dangerous manoeuvres it is your duty as a responsible road user to apply ones fist to their face area with a significant degree of force thereby alerting them to the error of their ways'

MOD VOICE: It is against the spirit of the forum to promote violence against other road users, so lets not go down that route, any questions PM me, no discussion in thread, thank you.

dreamerb

I had an instance of one of my pet hates today. I stop at a red ped light on Lower Rathmines Road, and a guy on a bike comes up from behind me and pulls in front of me before stopping. He's on some kind of Lapierre hybrid, wearing baggy cycling shorts with tights under. I'm irked, but guess from the clothes that he might be a bit faster than me. I, on the other hand, am wearing normal clothes and am on my oversized Giant city hybrid. I don't like to be judged, but hey, it happens.

Light goes green, and Mr. Lapierre takes off. Like a damp squib. I've assumed he'll be going at a respectable pace and have to not just stop pedalling, but touch on the brakes to slow to his pace. And now, dang it, there's motor traffic coming alongside so I can't pull out to overtake. I drop gears again and snarl internally. But I'm stopping off at thinkbike, so even when traffic opens up I suppress the urge to breeze past him (free-wheeling, obviously) because I'd be pulling over almost immediately. *sigh* I was tempted to do an extra little circuit just to teach Mr. Lapierre that his judgement is flawed.

Still, my thinkbike stop-off is therapeutic: I have my shiny new Giant Dash 2 on order.

Heading homeward, I nearly come a cropper at an iniquitous pothole on the little roundabout by the Grosvenor Road Baptist Church, which I must report.* And cutting through Larkfield, I have a haul-on-the-brakes moment when a van pulls out in front of me without indicating. He did, belatedly, stop, but I waved him on ahead. I prefer to have the dangers in front and visible. I also resist the urge to point out that it's supposed to be "mirror, signal, manoeuvre", not "manoeuvre, mirror, panic".

A mixed day, but just another couple of weeks to new bike.

*Now reported via DCC's online system.

CramCycle

Hurrah for helmet cams, I swore I would never be that guy to put up videos on youtube and I will stick to that. Bus this morning pulled up beside me on the N11 and then slowed to my pace and started to merge across. I screamed like a little girl, there was no bus stops or anything nearby, and no traffic to his left. I halted on the brakes and hit out. So close was the bus that my right hand only moved 2 inches from the side of the handlebar.

I pulled up alongside him, and for the life of me, I don't know why, I was pleasant to him. I asked for his name and license. He then asked me what mine was, I told him and looked up into his on board camera (for fairness, he was on mine). Then I asked again, I informed him it would be easier when I reported the incident. He then proceeded to tell me that the cycle lane was there for my safety as he was trying to show me (because I can bunny hop sideways at 35kmph, Danny Askill I am not).

He then proceeded to ignore me, I cycled on, he pulled in, I have his license, face, route number, time (thank you Garmin). I called the local garda station, told them I had it on video, wished to make a complaint. I was then asked would I go to court, I said yes. The Garda has now gone to the bus company to ask them to hold the footage for their use.

I then stupidly looked at the footage when I got in, it was so close, I am actually shaking with either fear or rage. Most times I talk the talk but then forget about it within a day or two, life is busy.

doozerie

On my commute home one evening this week I was stopped at a set of traffic lights at Merrion Square. I stopped behind the rear left wing of the front car stopped in my lane. There were already several cyclists stopped ahead of that car and if I’d gone to the front I’d have had to position myself right in front of, or too close beside the front wing of, the car, so I stayed safely where I was. There was a left-only lane of cars stopped a foot to my left. It was all perfectly safe, and perfectly stationary, no-one was going anywhere until the lights changed.

Or so I thought. A cyclist pulled up right behind me and said “Sorry, can I, eh, …?”. He wanted me to get out of his way, presumably so that he could move into a position in front that I had reckoned was too risky to occupy. Where I was supposed to move to to facilitate this I’ve no idea. I considered asking him but instead opted to simply ignore him. The lights changed green moments later anyway and everyone moved off.

I encountered a red light at the next junction with Baggot Street too so I stopped and balanced the bike. This time I was at the head of the line of stopped cars, but to the left of the straight-ahead lane and in line with the gap between the cars in that lane and the adjacent left-only lane. Anyone else cycling through that gap between the two lanes of stopped cars would have a clear view of me for several metres before reaching the junction. It was all perfectly safe. Or so I thought.

I was stopped there for a minute or so before the same cyclist as before just rode into my back wheel. I turned and glared at him. He looked very sheepish, kept his head down, but raised one hand briefly in what I assumed was a gesture of acknowledgement. The lights changed green and off I went again.

I encountered another red light at the next junction with Stephen’s Green, so I stopped again. Pedestrians got a green light and started to cross. The same cyclist rode straight past me, through the red light, through a gap in the pedestrians, and turned left onto Stephen’s Green, without pausing.

If you are that cyclist, riding a mongrel red bike (it had what looked like a homemade metal frame on the front which acted like a pannier rack with a piece of wood sitting on top of it), then you are a clown. At the first set of lights you demonstrated that you have no clue about road positioning and safety and are self-centred enough to expect others to compromise their own safety to accommodate you, at the second set you demonstrated that you are unable to stop your bike when there is a clear need to, at the third set you demonstrated that you have no regard for the safety (or rights) of pedestrians. You give cyclists a bad name.

You should probably strike up a friendship with the stout man at that third junction, who stepped off the footpath and onto the road after the pedestrian light had changed to red, and just stood gormlessly there directly in front of me as my light changed to green, refusing to move even as I steered a course around him. The two of you probably have a lot in common, most notably a a complete lack of awareness of your surroundings, a generally obnoxious attitude, and an apparent strong desire to get yourselves squashed.

droidus

CramCycle wrote: »

Hurrah for helmet cams, I swore I would never be that guy to put up videos on youtube and I will stick to that. Bus this morning pulled up beside me on the N11 and then slowed to my pace and started to merge across. I screamed like a little girl, there was no bus stops or anything nearby, and no traffic to his left. I halted on the brakes and hit out. So close was the bus that my right hand only moved 2 inches from the side of the handlebar.

I pulled up alongside him, and for the life of me, I don't know why, I was pleasant to him. I asked for his name and license. He then asked me what mine was, I told him and looked up into his on board camera (for fairness, he was on mine). Then I asked again, I informed him it would be easier when I reported the incident. He then proceeded to tell me that the cycle lane was there for my safety as he was trying to show me (because I can bunny hop sideways at 35kmph, Danny Askill I am not).

He then proceeded to ignore me, I cycled on, he pulled in, I have his license, face, route number, time (thank you Garmin). I called the local garda station, told them I had it on video, wished to make a complaint. I was then asked would I go to court, I said yes. The Garda has now gone to the bus company to ask them to hold the footage for their use.

I then stupidly looked at the footage when I got in, it was so close, I am actually shaking with either fear or rage. Most times I talk the talk but then forget about it within a day or two, life is busy.

This is exactly why i need to get a helmet cam. Well done.

dave_o_brien

doozerie wrote: »

You should probably strike up a friendship with the stout man at that third junction, who stepped off the footpath and onto the road after the pedestrian light had changed to red, and just stood gormlessly there directly in front of me as my light changed to green, refusing to move even as I steered a course around him.

I had this guy yesterday, with a friend. This time he grabbed my arm as I asked him if he was going to cross the road or not, and apologised, pleading that I not report him to the Gardai. His friend looked confused.

Later, I met their female accomplices. To be fair, they have attractive acolytes.

Jk_Eire

This gave me a chuckle on Monday.

A courier on a fixie bombed through a couple of red lights on Fitzwilliam street heading towards Holles Street. Dangerous stuff during 9am traffic. Managed to catch up with him to see what gave me a laugh. At the t-junction at Holles St Hospital he shot through another red and had to back pedal in a panic (for lack of brakes) to give way to on coming traffic while trying to un-clip from his spds. Looked like he smacked his shins off the pedals when he un-clipped and tried to get feet on the ground and end up heaped over the handlebar and top tude.

Not nice to see somebody getting hurt if you're going to shoot through red lights and swerve around traffic when you have zero right of way, maybe fixed gear and spds aren't the right choice.

doozerie

While stopped on red at the junction of Stephen’s Green and Leeson Street Lower a couple of days back I saw some truly bizarre drama unfold in front of me. That junction is a joke - motorists coming from Leeson Street regularly go through on red while working hard not to look at the pedestrians who are having to jump out of their way (very popular pastime with taxi drivers and bus drivers in particular, from what I’ve seen); cyclists blast through the junction on red from every conceivable direction, both from adjoining roads and from footpaths; pedestrians often amble casually across on red as buses and bikes steer wide around them; etc.

Anyway, on this occasion the pedestrians had green on Leeson Street and lots of people were crossing. Several cyclists weaved between them, as ever, but one guy in particular caught my eye because he stopped dead mid-junction as he was heading onto Leeson Street. He seemed to be looking nervously at a car driver, also stopped mid junction (coming from Leeson Street), who had his driver door open, was literally hanging out, and was screaming in the direction of the cyclist and waving his finger aggressively. The driver was screaming something about “you shouldn’t be on the road” with lots of other words thrown in that I couldn’t make out.

The cyclist’s body language suggested serious guilt, he didn’t seem to know where to look or what to do, and he was probably very conscious of people looking his way. Pedestrians had been swarming across behind and in front of the car, several of them looking back curiously but most of them actually ignoring the whole drama. The driver, red in the face, closed his door and turned left onto Earlsfort Terrace, through another red light essentially. The cyclist cycled sheepishly on to Leeson Street, through a red light.

I subsequently passed the driver as he pulled up across from the National Concert Hall. He had hopped out of his car and walked to the back of his car to check for something. He still had a big angry head on him, his face suggesting that he had just been gravely offended. There seemed no obvious sign of damage to his executive class car and he immediately returned to his driver’s seat, his executive class coat over his suit doing nothing to distract from the fact that his facial expression was now that of a sullen child. He stared daggers back at the junction, as if some terrible injustice had just occurred there and he was willing someone or something to die to rebalance his world.

It dawned on me then what must have happened. I reckon he had driven through a red light, through pedestrians crossing on green, and, as the driver saw it, some bollix of a pleb/pedestrian had slapped his car a wallop. Or, from my viewpoint, some concerned pedestrian had used some percussive intervention to draw the driver’s attention to the fact that he was, in fact, driving like a bollix. So, the driver had stopped his car, opened his door, practically fallen on his snot in his indignation, and screamed maniacally at the conscientious pedestrian (I’m observing neutrally here, you understand). The cyclist just happened to be passing at the time but because he too was breaking a red light his guilt convinced him that the (similarly guilty) driver had been targeting him.

It was all unintentionally and stupidly hilarious, I wonder if the driver and cyclists’ face are still burning - maybe they’ll even be more considerate on the roads in future.

eeeee

I think I was there for that! Was it a black Merc type car? I thought yer man was going to fall out of the car. And the shouting! I had no idea what was going on, I just seen this car go out and stop in the middle of the junction, open the door and start shouting. Is it bad that I passed no heed on it? After ten years of city cycling I may be a bit broken :eek:

Chips Lovell

Can I play?

There's a T-junction at the top of the Sand Hole. It's a tricky one, since it's at the top of a steep enough hill.

Tuesday night, and the lights are red. There's about three cars in front of me queuing at the lights and one behind me. I'm waiting to turn right.

Lights go green, traffic ahead of me starts to move off and I clip in. The guy behind me decides that my hill start is too slow, pulls right across the white line in a bid to overtake me before hitting the junction. At this point I've already picked up speed and the motorist is now on the wrong side of the road, turning right, on a collision course with the waiting queue of traffic. His solution? Floor it and turn across me in a bid to get back in on the left before hitting the first car in the queue. Had to brake hard to avoid him hitting me.

doozerie

@gadetra, Yeah, that was the one alright. I think most people didn’t react, not surprising I guess when confronted with someone who seems to have completely lost the plot - the natural reaction is probably to just get away from there as quickly as possible or to ignore it and hope you won’t get embroiled in it.

There is also probably some subconscious assumption that the person being screamed at was instrumental in bringing it on themselves and therefore doesn’t need or deserve help in extricating themselves. Which makes sense from a self preservation point of view too.

The whole thing reminded me that the person shouting is often seen as the aggressor/villain in any altercation. It seemed clearcut on this occasion that the shouty driver was in the wrong, whatever about anyone else, but I’ve found myself responding verbally and angrily to aggressive and/or dangerous road users in the past and I’m sure that bypassers have instantly categorised me as the villain as a result. Reacting calmly, as difficult as that can be, is almost always the best and most effective response.

eeeee

doozerie wrote: »

@gadetra, Yeah, that was the one alright. I think most people didn’t react, not surprising I guess when confronted with someone who seems to have completely lost the plot - the natural reaction is probably to just get away from there as quickly as possible or to ignore it and hope you won’t get embroiled in it.

There is also probably some subconscious assumption that the person being screamed at was instrumental in bringing it on themselves and therefore doesn’t need or deserve help in extricating themselves. Which makes sense from a self preservation point of view too.

The whole thing reminded me that the person shouting is often seen as the aggressor/villain in any altercation. It seemed clearcut on this occasion that the shouty driver was in the wrong, whatever about anyone else, but I’ve found myself responding verbally and angrily to aggressive and/or dangerous road users in the past and I’m sure that bypassers have instantly categorised me as the villain as a result. Reacting calmly, as difficult as that can be, is almost always the best and most effective response.

Hmm I don't know, the aggrieved party is often the loudest and most aggressive in road incidents in my experience. I assume the opposite to you, that the guilty party usually remains quiet in the hope of getting out of it somehow, if they don't say anything it'll go away.

When I came on it, I seen a guy in a suit walking out from behind the car and I assumed it was him who had pee-ed off angry black car guy. I also assumed angry black car guy was a dick cos he was stopped in the middle of the junction breaking a red light, so the above assessment does not fit there I suppose.

Interestingly on my way home that day a guy stepped off the footpath in front of me at Donnybrook on the way home. My handlebars touched his jacket even as I swerved but there was traffic coming along beside me so I couldn't move out in the the middle of the lane. I shouted 'Jesus will you watch where you're walking' and kept going. He looked at me like I had done something awful to him. He just stepped onto a main road in front of me! Mad day for it altogether! (and they were not the only 2 incidents that day. Ah Dublin!)

lennymc

gadetra wrote: »

angry black car guy

are you talking about the colour of the car or the driver?

eeeee

lennymc wrote: »

are you talking about the colour of the car or the driver?

:eek: the colour of the car. yikes I really need to read stuff before I send it :eek:

lennymc

gadetra wrote: »

:eek: the colour of the car. yikes I really need to read stuff before I send it :eek:

LOL. I figured that

browsing

@CramCycle,

Something similar happened to me a few weeks ago. It was along the section on the N11 passing RTE. I generally avoid the the raised bike lanes as I was nearly knocked down once going across a junction even though I had right of way and was subsequently berated for my actions. Also, I usually find them really annoying and I don't trust motorists as I come to junctions but the use of them is neither here nor there and there is no point going down that road and derailing this thread. Anyway, as I was cycling along in the bus lane this bus passed me so close I could have sworn he was within an inch of me. It really frightened me. I went up to the lights and I knocked on his window. Before I could say anything he said I should be using the bicycle lane. When I told him I wasn't required to use it he said he 'wasn't going to go into a lane of traffic to get around me'. It is clear he was trying to intimidate me into using the cycle lane and thought of the bus lane as his lane. I couldn't believe his attitude. I don't have a helmet camera so I don't know how close exactly he got but I've been passed closely plenty of times but never ever this close.

Even though I hate using the raised bicycle lanes I now use them at this point as it's not worth some crazy guy like that trying to prove a point and then knocking me down if I wobble. It's the most frightened I've ever been on a commute. I took pictures of him and his reg but never got around to reporting it as I've been up to my eyes lately. I think I'll get onto the bus company today.

droidus

Report him and bring it to the guards. Its despicable behaviour.

cdaly_

browsing wrote: »

Even though I hate using the raised bicycle lanes I now use them at this point as it's not worth some crazy guy like that trying to prove a point and then knocking me down if I wobble. It's the most frightened I've ever been on a commute. I took pictures of him and his reg but never got around to reporting it as I've been up to my eyes lately. I think I'll get onto the bus company today.

I suggest you get on to the Gardai instead.

Also, I would suggest the appropriate response is to occupy the middle of the bus lane in future. If you think you're holding back a bus, move right into the stream of cars to allow the bus to pass. If the cars are going too fast, then the bus should be able to pass you by merging with them...

helimachoptor

fairly painful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxvxcOJ3XgU

Darkglasses

helimachoptor wrote: »

fairly painful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxvxcOJ3XgU

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=89445605&postcount=2209

Keep_Her_Lit

browsing wrote: »

Anyway, as I was cycling along in the bus lane this bus passed me so close I could have sworn he was within an inch of me.

Well, there seems to be something of a pattern emerging here. Twice in the not too distant past I too have been on the receiving end of seriously threatening behaviour by Dublin Bus drivers on the N11.

One involved ridiculously close tailgating at approx. 40km/h. The other was an extremely close pass, undoubtedly deliberate. On both occasions I had words with the drivers at the next set of lights. The driver in the first instance wouldn't even make eye contact when I spoke to him, though I made damned sure the gormless twerp heard every word I had to say.

In the second instance, having asked the driver why he didn't overtake at a safe distance, he matter-of-factly informed me that he was under no obligation to do so in the case of cyclists using the bus lane.

Having read similar accounts above, I now realise that Dublin Bus need to be made aware of the fact that at least a couple of their drivers on the N11 are sociopathic tools who have no business being behind the wheel of a 15-tonne public service vehicle. I will be reporting any further instances of this kind of carry on.

dermabrasion

I bike and bus on the N11 route. Stopping buses frequently open doors onto the bike lanes, vomiting out passengers into lines of commuters riding into them. It is a terrible design. The passengers alighting from the buses are in their own world, with headphones or day dreaming, and have no idea their walking straight into several bikes coming at them. Yesterday is the 1st time I ever saw a bus driver warn them to look left before alighting. Most of the time, they just say nothing. I don't believe they are unaware of the danger, as the would have just passed the cyclists second before pulling up. I dunno, there are good guys and the "I don't give a bleedin' F###' guys in that company. Same as most companies.