Incidents on my daily commute

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

I just wanted to post this video which I took this morning on my commute. It shows in a short period of time, over a short distance, the types of incidents I encounter on a regular basis. There are still times an incident will truely freighten me, but in general these incidents are just too common. I am sure most cyclists on this forum have encountered similar issues at some point.

I find the journey to be generally ok. There are certain times which it can be particularly dangerous (6:30PM+ when cars start using the bus lane, outside schools and when the weather is bad).

Most motorists are fine, but it only takes one poor motorist to seriously injure or kill you.

There are 3 parts to the video. I'll put my hand up and say I am not perfect and I do make mistakes, so I am anticipating some criticism on my part and what I could have done to prevent these instances. Owning the lane more I guess. I think I do a pretty good job of this and it has been quite successful. Let me know what you think anyway

Part one, the Ford Fiesta overtakes me while indicating left, passes me, cuts in and breaks fairly hard in my opinion. The roads were wet and my disk breaks didn't stop me as well if it were dry.

Part two, difficult enough to see, but approaching a roundabout I normally come out a little so cars don't overtake me. I didn't come out enough for this lady and she tried to overtake me. You can see her car to the bottom right of the frame at about 00:19, she just wants to squeeze by. A couple of seconds more, I would have been passed the roundabout and she could have passed safely.

Part 3, this junction is horrible. I really hate it. Cycle lane to the left is fantastic if you don't mind the obstacles or glass. It's also not a great layout for those of us going straight. The first car flew past me, second was going pretty fast too I thought. When they passed there were no cars so I pulled out and took the lane. I normally do this, but sometimes it's dangerous as cars go quite fast. A lot of the times the cars are racing to the red light, completely pointless.

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

mjsc1970

Part1 happened to me too yesterday, opposite Government Buildings, very scary. He couldn't wait the extra 2 seconds.

Seaswimmer

Ah yes. Thats my route. Those little mini roundabouts on Beach road are dangerous. You need to be well out in the middle of the lane coming up to them to stop dangerous overtaking. Similarly out a bit more to stop that car overtaking where it did.

I think you were just unlucky on East wall road. Normally cars give me plenty of leeway there but as there was a truck on their outside they probably came nearer to you than normal. You could always use the "cycle facility" along that stretch if you are concerned

markgarbutt

I was cycling in Westmeath recently and had a terrible time going through roundabouts near Mullingar. They really are difficult for cyclists.

07Lapierre

Just an average day in Dublin...

If its your regular commute, I'd suggest moving out further from the kerb as you approach that roundabout. Motorists will do anything to overtake a cyclist before reaching the traffic island..so best to move out further to prevent this.

As for the Fiesta driver? again impatient and possibly an inexperienced driver? not a lot you can do as a cyclist to prevent this, just be prepared and try to anticipate it.

I think I said "****ing hell" a few times when watching that video.

I used to work on East Wall Road (near the Seabank), but used to go onto it by going on New Wapping Street and East Road. Is it an option to avoid East Wall Road altogether? Bonus is that there's a small hill on East Road to power up.

Ole Rodrigo

Part 1 - you should anticipate drivers doing this because they find it difficult to gauge your speed in some instances ( still no excuse ). Take a wider position when you hear traffic coming up and/or stick your hand out to indicate going straight.

Part 2 - Always block traffic from overtaking by taking a wide position at pinch points/ traffic islands.

Part 3 - Take a wider position on open stretches and signal with eye contact before the car accelerates. From a drivers POV, an open road is a like a green flag to accelerate, especially if they have been held up at points like the Alphie Byrne and East Wall road.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Generally my road position is really good in areas where I don't want to be squished. Sometimes cars are close to one another, or going to fast and I don't always feel safe coming out to the middle of the lane. Especially on East Wall Road, I find the cars there just fly along. I'll post another video later of the return journey and how I take the lane in some places :P

eeeee

Point one seems to happen to me a lot too. No idea why, but there's nothing I can do about it. It doesn't seem to matter to people who do that where you position yourself on the road, I have been well out and had cars cross out onto the other side of the road just to do it.
All pretty standard commuting behaviour to be honest unfortunately.

seamus

The first one doesn't happen to me that much, but probably because the bulk of my commuting is in heavyish traffic. There is one particular point that cars are notoriously bad for it - it's a left turn at the top of a small hill, so cars have difficulty my gauging speed. Cars both turning left and coming out of the turn are far more likely to have a go at it. All I can really do in this case is take the lane a good 50m from the junction. Nevertheless, sometimes people take the risk anyway and there's fnck all you can do about it except shake your head at them.

I do think the biggest risk factors for a left hook are a slow-moving bike and a left turn that's more of a Y-junction than a T-junction. In both cases, the drivers believe that by giving it a bit of welly they can safely squeeze in ahead. And all you can do is take control of the lane a little earlier to try and discourage overtakings.

mrcheez

You should probably invest in a rear-view camera as well. Most of my close-calls are from behind.



(is what she said)

ted1

Part one , is a regular occurrence, you should show it to the local garda station.

Part two, looks like he was playing chicken with you. Happened me a few weeks back, ever since then I check over my shoulder and pull out to the middle of the road to prevent it from happening.

Part three, TBH I didn't notice much

Alanstrainor

I presume you're working in East Point? Or at least that direction. I would advise not going in the back entrance, and avoiding Dublin Port as much as possible, far too many heavy vehicles around there for me. I switched route soon after starting work out there. Perhaps cross the liffey more towards Grand Canal Dock, and cross near the convention centre.

As for part 1 and 2, a more primary position would solve this, however those roads are quite tight anyway so I could see issues with impatient drivers.

Hrududu

Dónal wrote: »

I think I said "****ing hell" a few times when watching that video.

I used to work on East Wall Road (near the Seabank), but used to go onto it by going on New Wapping Street and East Road. Is it an option to avoid East Wall Road altogether? Bonus is that there's a small hill on East Road to power up.

That's my commute and I hate East Wall Road so much. If you keep to the left of the lane you get extremely close passes. If you take the lane you get impatient drivers behind you. Twice I've had drivers beep me when we were approaching a red light before a right turn. Stopped at the red I looked behind and they motioned for me to get out of the way. Different drivers both time.

I also had the fun time recently where mid turn onto Alfie Byrne road I spotted the car behind me trying to undertake me.

Paco Rodriguez

I've had 4 accidents in my cycling career and all involved instance number 1. I put a huge dent in a jeep rear passenger door with my shoulder once.

Instance 3 looked like a police chase without the lights and sirens. Insane.

tomasrojo

I used to work in EastPoint, coming from the south, and if I recall correctly -- it was some time ago -- I found the least stressful thing to do was to come up Leinster Avenue or one of those residential streets, cross at the pedestrian crossing near the railway bridge on East Wall Road (added bonus of the traffic being stopped when you start cycling), and head up Alfie Byrne Road. I just didn't like all the close passes on East Wall Road, especially since there were a lot of HGVs.

I think I used the pedestrian crossing on North Strand Road to get to Leinster Road (wheeling the bike on all these pedestrian crossings for added virtuousness). I was very cautious, on the principle of reducing risk as much as I could on frequent journeys.

Zyzz

If its a regular occurrence why not change your route? I avoid both roads as they are an accident waiting to happen..safety first and all that sh*te!

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Zyzz wrote: »

If its a regular occurrence why not change your route? I avoid both roads as they are an accident waiting to happen..safety first and all that sh*te!

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I presume you're working in East Point? Or at least that direction. I would advise not going in the back entrance, and avoiding Dublin Port as much as possible, far too many heavy vehicles around there for me. I switched route soon after starting work out there. Perhaps cross the liffey more towards Grand Canal Dock, and cross near the convention centre.

As for part 1 and 2, a more primary position would solve this, however those roads are quite tight anyway so I could see issues with impatient drivers.

I tried a couple of routes over the past 3-4 years. I find this one to be the best, just need to be careful on east wall road. I find the HGV to be really cautious. There was only one incident that scared me involving a HGV misjudging my speed and finishing the overtake a little too soon. I just stopped spinning and applied the breaks to let him pass.

I wasn't too fond of Alfie Byrne road. I travelled this for a good when I lived in Fairview. Cars just wouldn't let you take that right turn. The pedestrian crossing was an option there though.

Our company are moving to the point village next week, so I won't have to worry much about that last part of the journey at all thankfully.

ted1 wrote: »

Part one , is a regular occurrence, you should show it to the local garda station.

Part three, TBH I didn't notice much

I will pop down to the station tomorrow and see what happens

Part three is difficult to see on the video, but the cars in the video were absolutely flying, especially the first one.

bazermc

Part 1 should definety be reported to the Garda. At the very least to warn the driver that sort of driving is unacceptable. Might encourage the driver to think twice next time and prevent a major accident.