To the person who nearly knocked me down today...

jjpep

If you remember, it was this morning just before nine. Headford road in between tesco and the cinema. You drove at me, forcing me off my bike. Ring any bells with you? Anyway, glad to say I'm fine. Daughter and wife were happy to see me home in one piece as well. Glad to see also that you managed to make it to that red traffic light. Was completely worth risking my life, I'm sure.

Anyway, i won't put your details and reg number up here as the mods wouldn't appreciate that. I did pass them on to the guards though. I'm guessing they won't do any more than advise you to exercise a little bit more caution in the future. It would be great if you would do so.

MaroonAndGreen

What's the point of this thread? Sympathy?

MaroonAndGreen

Is this person a board's user? You expecting them to see it?

jjpep

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

What's the point of this thread? Sympathy?

More trying to make a point that other people on the road are people and not obstructions to drive through. I think everyone would agree its not worth the chance of killing or maiming someone to get a little quicker to a red light. Maybe the person who nearly did that to me this morning could be aboards user and they may see this thread and adjust their driving style accordingly.

gordongekko

Surely not another motorist v bike thread.

jjpep

gordongekko wrote: »

Surely not another motorist v bike thread.

Hopefully not. How about a road user asking another road user to a bit more careful thread?

beardybrewer

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

What's the point of this thread? Sympathy?

What's the point of your post? You could just as easily have let him vent and moved on.

Perhaps it's simply cathartic or he's looking for a little camaraderie after a frightening experience. As a cyclist I've had my share of close calls. I once got clipped because the guy couldn't wait behind me until I cycled uphill past his turn, so he sped around me and turned right in front of me practically running me over. I'm sure every cyclist has a dozen stories like that. To that guy who just had to get in front of me, like OP, I hope that getting home 3 seconds sooner was worth it.

Drivers love giving out about cyclists and how we flaunt the rules of the road. That's rich coming from people sitting nice and dry in their heated cars probably texting or phoning a talk show to give out about cyclists because they're so important they forget we're just a bit of exposed flesh and bone trying to share the road.

gordongekko

jjpep wrote: »

Hopefully not. How about a road user asking another road user to a bit more careful thread?

There is always 2 sides to every story.

I hope you are ok. It's a horrible experience getting knocked of a bike.

jjpep

gordongekko wrote: »

There is always 2 sides to every story.

I hope you are ok. It's a horrible experience getting knocked of a bike.

Yep, and wouldn't it be interesting to hear it (the other side that is). I would genuinely interested to know what the other persons thought process was, or if they would even say something along the lines of "oops, sorry, ****ed up there".

2Mad2BeMad

beardybrewer wrote: »

What's the point of your post? You could just as easily have let him vent and moved on.

Perhaps it's simply cathartic or he's looking for a little camaraderie after a frightening experience. As a cyclist I've had my share of close calls. I once got clipped because the guy couldn't wait behind me until I cycled uphill past his turn, so he sped around me and turned right in front of me practically running me over. I'm sure every cyclist has a dozen stories like that. To that guy who just had to get in front of me, like OP, I hope that getting home 3 seconds sooner was worth it.

Drivers love giving out about cyclists and how we flaunt the rules of the road. That's rich coming from people sitting nice and dry in their heated cars probably texting or phoning a talk show to give out about cyclists because they're so important they forget we're just a bit of exposed flesh and bone trying to share the road.

I have no problem with the majority of cyclists.

Only time I am ever annoyed by one is when its a skinny 2 way road and the cyclist is in front and theirs traffic building up because hes not going at a decent speed.
Can't over take him because cars on other side are already nearly touching your drivers side mirror.
Should be like a law if you are going that slow on a bike building up traffic behind you like that, that you have to pull in to let them go, like the law is for a tractor.

Like I said he was going slow, not sure if he was deliberately taken the piss or just in his own world but that sort of thing cracks me up, why delay everyone else because you like to cycle 5-10km per hour.

Another one I had was cyclists using paths, glad a law was brought in for it but it still didnt stop some ejit hitting the side of my car, claiming he had right of way when he was using the path. Lucky for me the law came in at that stage.

Also they should have insurance. I find it crazy how they don't have it.
Its not a stage of were they should have it because we have it, its because of accidents like my one I posted above, he hit me, he was at fault and yet I have to pay for the repairs myself because hes not insured and taking him to court would cost me more then its worth. Not to mention he tried to claim for personal injury off me, thankfully I had witnesses or I would be screwed.

As I said I don't mind cyclists, majority are fine. Just like drivers, most are fine, but the few bad apples make people think their all the same.


Back to the op, I don't see the guards even trying to get in touch with him.
I never heard of them following up a report like that unless you have video evidence (guessing you do because of reg plates and all)
Anyhow if they do, I hope he gets a right telling off from them, make him think twice about nearly knocking someone down to stop at a red light, what a gob****e.

desertcircus

Dangerous overtaking of a cyclist in order to get to a red light should be an automatic twelve penalty points. Anybody who's that crassly incompetent at basic risk/reward assessment is too dangerous to be left in charge of a vehicle.

beardybrewer

2Mad2BeMad wrote: »

I have no problem with the majority of cyclists.

Wasn't really have a go at you. Just having a vent myself. But I'm a cyclist and a driver. I get plenty frustrated with arseholes on the Barna road cycling abreast blocking traffic so they can have a chat. There's always idiots on both sides, but this time one side is a lot more fragile than the other which is important to remember.

Compared to our contemporaries, Ireland has such crap roads we sometimes forget and blame each other.

Whereisgalway

cyclists on footpaths ringing their little bells to tell pedestrians to get out of their way. In the ocean with the lot of ye

inisboffin

I hate to say it, but I pretty much encounter some level of a**holery about one day out of every 5 I cycle.

The most common, because of the route I often take, and time (and one of the most dangerous), is people opening car doors into oncoming cyclists. Someone mentioned about cyclists taking up too much space while going at a slower speed, but I for one, would rather risk getting beeped at and being a car door width from a parked car, than getting slammed and injured. Of course I do use common sense, and 'move in' when I can, but this too has to be done carefully so we are not seen as 'weaving' by motorists.

Just last week a car turned right onto the top of Dominic St as I was turning right too (with the right of way) on to Bridge St. They all but clipped me as I maintained the same speed as I turned, which caused me to stop and have a colourful exchange with the non-apologetic occupants.

Junctions like this one and the one at the other end of Dominic St seem to often be a problem. It's as if the yield rules only apply for cars to other cars, and never bikes. I know cyclists are always accused of not obeying this, but I frequently see cars do it to bikes as they seem not to count. All I can do is be well lit, stop at lights and use common sense, but sometimes it isn't enough.

debabyjesus

Drivers are idiots.
Cyclists are idiots.
There ye go lads I've saved ye the bother ye can close the thread now.

inisboffin

2Mad2BeMad wrote: »

Another one I had was cyclists using paths, glad a law was brought in for it but it still didnt stop some ejit hitting the side of my car, claiming he had right of way when he was using the path. Lucky for me the law came in at that stage.

Also they should have insurance. I find it crazy how they don't have it.
Its not a stage of were they should have it because we have it, its because of accidents like my one I posted above, he hit me, he was at fault and yet I have to pay for the repairs myself because hes not insured and taking him to court would cost me more then its worth. Not to mention he tried to claim for personal injury off me, thankfully I had witnesses or I would be screwed.

.

Just curious, on what grounds did yer man try to sue you for personal injury if he was on the path. Was your car on the path too, or did he bang against it as it was parked on the road?

jjpep

So the last thing i would want to happen is to have yet another driver vs cyclist thread but one thought which was occured to me a number of times in the past is this:

Nearly every adult cyclist is also a driver but very few drivers are also cyclists. So if you want to educate drivers on why cyclists do some of the things they do, why not make cycling part of getting a drivers license? I'm not suggesting a license for cyclists but if you want to drive you need to perhaps have one of the hours dedicated to driver lessons be a cycling lesson instead.

inisboffin

jjpep wrote: »

So the last thing i would want to happen is to have yet another driver vs cyclist thread but one thought which was occured to me a number of times in the past is this:

Nearly every adult cyclist is also a driver but very few drivers are also cyclists. So if you want to educate drivers on why cyclists do some of the things they do, why not make cycling part of getting a drivers license? I'm not suggesting a license for cyclists but if you want to drive you need to perhaps have one of the hours dedicated to driver lessons be a cycling lesson instead.

It would definitely be no harm to do more of 'seeing it from the other side' - also with motorbikes and larger vehicles. I'm not sure if I agree that most cyclists are drivers, particularly in a student town, and many older cyclists don't drive (if they're from the city).
It goes both ways of course, coming up Shantalla road in a car at night, seeing all the no lights/high viz cyclists, and how little you can see them from a car is scary. And that's not mentioning the 2 abreast / 10 pints of fuel ones!

Shooter_galway

As someone who drives along headford road most mornings, the amount of cyclist that drift from one side of the road to the other without looking is ridiculous.. Also there is a cycle lane past terryland for cyclists.. Why do they still decide to cycle on the road on rush hour times.. Bit of cop on is needed by both sides.. As a cyclist as well I can say both are as sh1t ignorant as each other

galwaycyclist

Whereisgalway wrote: »

cyclists on footpaths ringing their little bells to tell pedestrians to get out of their way. In the ocean with the lot of ye

The problem there is that I have been at meetings where I heard the Garda rep say cyclists should be up on the footpaths. Also an attempt was made at one time through the council transport committee to address the issue of footpath cycling - on the grounds of it being illegal among other things. (It can also be more dangerous for the cyclists) The city officials reacted with something bordering on panic. They kept using the formula that "it was not correct to say it was illegal" to cycle on footpaths.

In the end they rolled out Councillor Billy Cameron to claim, as a man who had the ear of Minister Alan Kelly, that if the council had an acknowledgement of the legal situation in its policy documents then this would damage their ability to obtain central government funds.

Long story short there is every reason to believe that certain city officials have long had an "internal" policy of pushing cyclists up onto footpaths and that they have the support of people like Cllr Billy Cameron in doing so.

TerrorFirmer

The cars versus bicycles debate has hit a new low where there's mention of political conspiracy.

galwaycyclist

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The cars versus bicycles debate has hit a new low where there's mention of political conspiracy.

These are all matters of public record - welcome to Galway.

Whereisgalway

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Long story short there is every reason to believe that certain city officials have long had an "internal" policy of pushing cyclists up onto footpaths and that they have the support of people like Cllr Billy Cameron in doing so.

Try telling that to anyone who's got fined for cycling on a footpath

durtybit

Whereisgalway wrote: »

Try telling that to anyone who's got fined for cycling on a footpath

Correct me if I am wrong but there is no law against cycling on a footpath, that would fall under "Cyclist driving a pedal cycle without reasonable consideration" or indeed "Cyclist proceeding into a pedestrianised street or area".?

galwaycyclist

durtybit wrote: »

Correct me if I am wrong but there is no law against cycling on a footpath, that would fall under "Cyclist driving a pedal cycle without reasonable consideration" or indeed "Cyclist proceeding into a pedestrianised street or area".?

On phone so difficult to give links so I will stick with sources. In Irish traffic law a bicycle is a vehicle and a cyclist is a driver (see 1961 Road Traffic Act). Under the Roads Act 1993 a roadside footpath is termed a "footway". Under the 1997 Traffic and Parking regulations it is an offence to drive (or cycle) along a footway aka "footpaths".

There is good reason for this aside from nuisance to pedestrians. Cycling on footpaths, or "footpath like" structures, puts cyclists at increased risk of conflict with motor vehicles at every junction and property entrance. They are more likely to be in collisions with cars.

To answer somebody elses post above, this is why some cyclists refuse to use the cycle paths on the Headford Rd. This is quite reasonable in my view.

carter10

Opening post typical of the whiney, up their own arses attitude of cyclists. Invoking the image of the mother and child fearfully waiting at home for their hero to return. Give me a break.

Collie D

carter10 wrote: »

Opening post typical of the whiney, up their own arses attitude of cyclists. Invoking the image of the mother and child fearfully waiting at home for their hero to return. Give me a break.

I think we've found the driver

RainyDay

jjpep wrote: »

If you remember, it was this morning just before nine. Headford road in between tesco and the cinema. You drove at me, forcing me off my bike. Ring any bells with you? Anyway, glad to say I'm fine. Daughter and wife were happy to see me home in one piece as well. Glad to see also that you managed to make it to that red traffic light. Was completely worth risking my life, I'm sure.

Anyway, i won't put your details and reg number up here as the mods wouldn't appreciate that. I did pass them on to the guards though. I'm guessing they won't do any more than advise you to exercise a little bit more caution in the future. It would be great if you would do so.

Get a helmetcam OP, so you can give the Gardai the video footage next time.

2Mad2BeMad wrote: »

Only time I am ever annoyed by one is when its a skinny 2 way road and the cyclist is in front and theirs traffic building up because hes not going at a decent speed.
Can't over take him because cars on other side are already nearly touching your drivers side mirror.
Should be like a law if you are going that slow on a bike building up traffic behind you like that, that you have to pull in to let them go, like the law is for a tractor.

Great idea - I look forward to all those cars crawling in heavy urban traffic pulling over to let me through on my bike.

durtybit

carter10 wrote: »

Opening post typical of the whiney, up their own arses attitude of cyclists. Invoking the image of the mother and child fearfully waiting at home for their hero to return. Give me a break.

If you had a close call with a lorry on your way to work similar to this scenario.. could you empathise?

Lets say he was indeed killed, what would that image be like for the mother and child?

BunkMoreland

jjpep wrote: »

You drove at me, forcing me off my bike.

How exactly does that work? Sounds like you're incompetent on a bike. You should get stabilisers or get off the road.

Was cycling around a roundabout recently and had the right of way. This old arse of a man decides to pull into the roundabout at a relatively high speed just as I'm passing him. I knew he could see me, because he even made eye contact for a split second before I realized fully what was going on, sprinted as fast as I could, and he missed my back wheel by inches.

Some people just should not be allowed to drive.

RainyDay

durtybit wrote: »

If you had a close call with a lorry on your way to work similar to this scenario.. could you empathise?

Lets say he was indeed killed, what would that image be like for the mother and child?

No need for imagination - Carter can read exactly what it was like for this widow - wife and parent of a child with a disability

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/district-court/widow-tells-tralee-court-her-husband-always-wore-his-yellow-cycling-jacket-1.2119030

bobbyss

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

What's the point of this thread? Sympathy?

Maybe that it is important to be a careful road user?
Maybe a very important reminder that in the event of a road fatality, there may be family members bereft?

It reminded me to be careful as a driver, a cyclist and a pedestrian.

L'Enfer du Nord

2Mad2BeMad wrote: »

I have no problem with the majority of cyclists.

Only time I am ever annoyed by one is when its a skinny 2 way road and the cyclist is in front and theirs traffic building up because hes not going at a decent speed.
Can't over take him because cars on other side are already nearly touching your drivers side mirror.
Should be like a law if you are going that slow on a bike building up traffic behind you like that, that you have to pull in to let them go, like the law is for a tractor.

Like I said he was going slow, not sure if he was deliberately taken the piss or just in his own world but that sort of thing cracks me up, why delay everyone else because you like to cycle 5-10km per hour.

The speed of the cyclist is fairly irrelevant in the scenario you describe. Motorists are usually travelling at least 50 kmh. Very few cyclist would be going faster than 30 km h, most would going 20 to 25 km h. Either way if there's a cyclist that it's not safe to over take, and the motorist directly behind them waits for a safe place to over take, if this takes several minutes a tail back of cars will develop, they'll just be going 25 30 km slower than the speed limit rather than 40 km. Are you saying your happy happy to slow down to 20 km h? But it's the unlikely scenario of a cyclist going at 10 km h you object to? Both cause temporary tail backs.

From experience, for every motorist waits to over take safely there's one who will skim past you, inches away from you. You have a problem with cyclists on skinny two lane roads, think of the problems cyclists have with motorists skimming past them on these same roads. With the possible exception of the old Dublin road, nearly every road out of Galway is a fairly busy road with out continuous hard shoulder. Are you saying cyclists shouldn't be on these roads?

El_Dangeroso

One of the fundamental issues here which both sides seem to ignore is that the majority of Galway's road network is completely unsuited to the needs of both drivers and cyclists.

The roads are narrow and jam-packed. Ironically the very cyclists who object to a bypass (or knocknacarra-parkmore expressway call it whatever) are the very one's who would benefit the most. I guarantee 9/10 risky behaviour from motorists in the city is caused by the aggressive style of driving that people think is needed to negotiate the horrendous traffic.

If there was less traffic on the city roads (which would be facilitated by the bypass) there would be more room on the roads for all users.

YES I just opened the bypass can of worms and I say this as a regular pedestrian, occasional cyclist and driver that would not use the bypass when it opens as I have a really short commute.

jjpep

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

One of the fundamental issues here which both sides seem to ignore is that the majority of Galway's road network is completely unsuited to the needs of both drivers and cyclists.

The roads are narrow and jam-packed. Ironically the very cyclists who object to a bypass (or knocknacarra-parkmore expressway call it whatever) are the very one's who would benefit the most. I guarantee 9/10 risky behaviour from motorists in the city is caused by the aggressive style of driving that people think is needed to negotiate the horrendous traffic.

If there was less traffic on the city roads (which would be facilitated by the bypass) there would be more room on the roads for all users.

YES I just opened the bypass can of worms and I say this as a regular pedestrian, occasional cyclist and driver that would not use the bypass when it opens as I have a really short commute.

I haven't followed any of the debate at all around the bypass either online or otherwise. Yes, there is for sure too much traffic in galway and anything that might help relive that must be looked at in a serious way. Ironically enough the incident I'm talking about in my op happened when the road was very quiet...

El_Dangeroso

jjpep wrote: »

I haven't followed any of the debate at all around the bypass either online or otherwise. Yes, there is for sure too much traffic in galway and anything that might help relive that must be looked at in a serious way. Ironically enough the incident I'm talking about in my op happened when the road was very quiet...

Oh that guy's behaviour was totally inexcusable busy or quiet road regardless. If you have even a scrape on your leg I would be making a claim on his insurance.

dr.bollocko

Everything wrong with the Galway forum in 1 thread.

biko

Feel free to report any post you have issue with.

Whereisgalway

Cyclist wearing dark clothes, no lights and no helmet in the pitch dark, without using any hand signals cut across my car to turn right into a housing estate. I beeped he gave me the finger, I stopped the car to have a word with this fella and he pegged it off. I found the majority of cyclists have no accountability for their action

bobbyss

Was driving into Moycullen in the last few days on the new road. Part of the road seems to swerve on a slant just before the river and at on point you would think there is a car on the same lane as yourself coming at you.

Was behind a cyclist, and cars building up behind me, for a good portion of that road and overtook him when safe to do so.

The road is not finished but I noticed a very wide footpath, certainly on the left as you enter the village. Footpaths have to be the width of a double pram as far as I am aware but it seems wider than that. Anyone know if there is a cycle lane planned for that? In this age when there are more and more cyclists, do engineers have to factor in cycle lanes when planning new roads?
I think part of the front gardens of residents were taken to widen the road and wonder did this include space for cycle lane?

I don't know how much money has been spent on this road or indeed the new stone walls that are being built, but it is somewhat disappointing that no provision for cycle lanes seem to have been made. Wasn't this a golden chance to do things in a proper way? To the satisfaction of road users. Traffic is being held back by one cyclist going into the village. Not the cyclists fault of course. I wonder why, apparently, safe provision for them has not been made.

galwaycyclist

bobbyss wrote: »

Was driving into Moycullen in the last few days on the new road. Part of the road seems to swerve on a slant just before the river and at on point you would think there is a car on the same lane as yourself coming at you.

Was behind a cyclist, and cars building up behind me, for a good portion of that road and overtook him when safe to do so.

The road is not finished but I noticed a very wide footpath, certainly on the left as you enter the village. Footpaths have to be the width of a double pram as far as I am aware but it seems wider than that. Anyone know if there is a cycle lane planned for that? In this age when there are more and more cyclists, do engineers have to factor in cycle lanes when planning new roads?
I think part of the front gardens of residents were taken to widen the road and wonder did this include space for cycle lane?

I don't know how much money has been spent on this road or indeed the new stone walls that are being built, but it is somewhat disappointing that no provision for cycle lanes seem to have been made. Wasn't this a golden chance to do things in a proper way? To the satisfaction of road users. Traffic is being held back by one cyclist going into the village. Not the cyclists fault of course. I wonder why, apparently, safe provision for them has not been made.

I can guarantee that if any attempt is made to mark that footpath as a cycle lane then most cyclists will ignore it. Its a crazy idea given the nature of most of the cyclists using that road and what happens in Moycullen village where you are put back onto the road anyway. Most of them are sports cyclists or "roadies" they haven't a notion of hopping up on a footpath over that kind of distance.

If there is an issue regarding motor vehicles passing cyclists then the paved tarmac surface needs to be of adequate width 8.5 to 9.2m.

A lot of cycle paths throughout the city are, ironically, completely unfit and dangerous for cyclists.

endacl

gordongekko wrote: »

Surely not another motorist v bike thread.

Well, that'd be up to the posters, I suppose. Hopefully the grownups will be in the majority...

Edit. Just read the rest of the thread. 'yeah but you but wrong me right dribble'

jjpep

Deleted User wrote: »

A lot of cycle paths throughout the city are, ironically, completely unfit and dangerous for cyclists.

Couldn't agree more, and by extension, they are dangerous for everyone. Nobody ever intentionally leaves the house hoping to go cause damage to someone else but some of the infrastructure in Galway is just not set up right for everyone to safely use the roads together.

jjpep

endacl wrote: »

Well, that'd be up to the posters, I suppose. Hopefully the grownups will be in the majority...

Edit. Just read the rest of the thread. 'yeah but you but wrong me right dribble'

You know, I don't think its been too bad. Obviously the fanboys of their chosen mode of transport will always show up and be stupid but every topic ever on the internet is always going to draw out that kind of person.

endacl

jjpep wrote: »

You know, I don't think its been too bad. Obviously the fanboys of their chosen mode of transport will always show up and be stupid but every topic ever on the internet is always going to draw out that kind of person.

Pity. Just because the means of communication used thinks in binary, doesn't follow that the users should. The world isn't a 1 or 0 kinda place.

Or maybe thinking in binary is just a little easier for some...

gordongekko

galwaycyclist wrote: »

The problem there is that I have been at meetings where I heard the Garda rep say cyclists should be up on the footpaths. Also an attempt was made at one time through the council transport committee to address the issue of footpath cycling - on the grounds of it being illegal among other things. (It can also be more dangerous for the cyclists) The city officials reacted with something bordering on panic. They kept using the formula that "it was not correct to say it was illegal" to cycle on footpaths.

In the end they rolled out Councillor Billy Cameron to claim, as a man who had the ear of Minister Alan Kelly, that if the council had an acknowledgement of the legal situation in its policy documents then this would damage their ability to obtain central government funds.

Long story short there is every reason to believe that certain city officials have long had an "internal" policy of pushing cyclists up onto footpaths and that they have the support of people like Cllr Billy Cameron in doing so.

18 councillors but sure ya its one mans fault