Near misses - mod warning 22/04 - see OP/post 822

onmebike

Cycling in the Long Mile Road in Dublin this morning, a truck passed me in the bus lane. It was before 7am, so that's grand, but he was close enough for me to touch, clearly well in excess of the speed limit and undertaking cars that were in the right-hand lane.

I'm noticing more and more recently, that there seems to be a higher percentage of private cars giving a wide, obvious overtake. However, I'm having a close pass with a HGV, like this morning, at least once a week now.

HivemindXX

josip wrote: »

Lo and behold a cyclist had emerged from the sun and if I hadn't done a 2nd check right I wouldn't see him. I'd have either T-boned him or he'd have T-boned me. He was absolutely perfectly in line with the sun the first time I looked.

I am always very aware of the danger when the sun is low behind me. At a certain time of year this would happen on my commute for a few weeks. I think it's a significant hazard that all road users should be aware of.

Generally I treat a situation where I think I might be very difficult to see the same as if I think the motorist might be the sort to pull out without looking. I slow down enough to make stopping or swerving easier and take the lane both to make me more visible and to give me more options for evasive manoeuvres.

I think having your lights on when the sun is low is not a bad idea too. It certainly can't hurt your visibility.

cdaly_

HivemindXX wrote: »

I am always very aware of the danger when the sun is low behind me. At a certain time of year this would happen on my commute for a few weeks. I think it's a significant hazard that all road users should be aware of.

Generally I treat a situation where I think I might be very difficult to see the same as if I think the motorist might be the sort to pull out without looking. I slow down enough to make stopping or swerving easier and take the lane both to make me more visible and to give me more options for evasive manoeuvres.

I think having your lights on when the sun is low is not a bad idea too. It certainly can't hurt your visibility.

I reckon it's worse when the sun is directly in front of you as following traffic won't see you.

Weepsie

HivemindXX wrote: »

I think having your lights on when the sun is low is not a bad idea too. It certainly can't hurt your visibility.

Hence me having a dynamo now. Though I can turn it off, I never do

CramCycle

HivemindXX wrote: »

I think having your lights on when the sun is low is not a bad idea too. It certainly can't hurt your visibility.

It reminds me of the time a Garda friend pulled in a motorist who ran a red (told many times here). He asked why she done it and she said she couldn't see because the sun was too low and in her eyes. He looked her dead in the eyes and said, in that case, in future, you don't ****ing move. (dramatic license used in language, I think he may have facepalmed instead).

Somedude9

Disturbing thread.

shansey

Can't beat a bus strike for a nice leisurely commute down the quays!!

Chuchote

One of the world's best cyclist has been struck by a car and killed while racing:

http://cycling.today/one-of-the-worlds-best-ultra-endurance-cyclists-killed-in-accident-during-indian-pacific-wheel-race/

World-renowned long-distance cyclist Mike Hall has been killed after being struck by a car while competing in an epic race from Perth to Sydney, across Australia.

Mike Hall was competing in the inaugural Indian Pacific Wheel Race and was in second place at the time of the collision. Emergency services were notified about 6.30am and the rider died at the scene…

They had been racing with very little sleep. Hall revealed he was having problems with his vision in a recent video posted from the race route.

“It gets dark and all the glare of the light hitting the signage and road furniture just swirls around and blurs,” he said on the race’s Facebook page on Thursday.

“I’ve been thinking that I can’t stay awake because I’m just really tired. But it’s just the fact I can’t see in the dark properly – my eyes are nailed.”

AndrewJRenko

My other half spotted a driver driving through a junction yesterday with the phone held at the top of the steering wheel, tapping away as he drove. He ended up taking down a female cyclist and drove on. Either he didn't notice or he didn't care.

The cyclist was shaken but not injured. Nobody got a reg unfortunately.

josip

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

My other half spotted a driver driving through a junction yesterday with the phone held at the top of the steering wheel, tapping away as he drove. He ended up taking down a female cyclist and drove on. Either he didn't notice or he didn't care.

The cyclist was shaken but not injured. Nobody got a reg unfortunately.

Not criticising Mrs Renko, but if she was close enough to see him using his phone on the steering wheel, wouldn't she have been close enough to make out the reg?

ED E

josip wrote: »

Not criticising Mrs Renko, but if she was close enough to see him using his phone on the steering wheel, wouldn't she have been close enough to make out the reg?

Very hard to see a reg from the side.

CramCycle

josip wrote: »

Not criticising Mrs Renko, but if she was close enough to see him using his phone on the steering wheel, wouldn't she have been close enough to make out the reg?

Ed beat me to it

RebelButtMunch

Weepsie wrote: »

Hence me having a dynamo now. Though I can turn it off, I never do

Try usb rechargeable lights

Pinch Flat

Hearing the news about the strikes this morning, I was extra cautious - I left a bit earlier than normal, so stuck on the 300 lumen strobe. Within a few minutes of leaving my house, it didn't take loing for the shear amount of idiots on the roads to become apparent - cars breaking red lights, blocking yellow boxes or using the bus lanes.

Within 200 meters of my house, I almost came a cropper by some guy in a S500 - up the bus lane he goes. Sure he's paying a few grand in 'road tax' and this journey is more important than mine, so why not? Passed him stuck again trying to get onto Castleknock Road - completely pointless exercise.

mr spuckler

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Hearing the news about the strikes this morning, I was extra cautious - I left a bit earlier than normal, so stuck on the 300 lumen strobe. Within a few minutes of leaving my house, it didn't take loing for the shear amount of idiots on the roads to become apparent - cars breaking red lights, blocking yellow boxes or using the bus lanes.

Within 200 meters of my house, I almost came a cropper by some guy in a S500 - up the bus lane he goes. Sure he's paying a few grand in 'road tax' and this journey is more important than mine, so why not? Passed him stuck again trying to get onto Castleknock Road - completely pointless exercise.

rules of the road seem to become less relevant and are probably policed as (un)rigorously as any other day on a day like today. yellow boxes seemed to function as parking spots on my journey in this morning and i wasn't coming into town till 10:30!

mrcheez

"You inconvenience me? I inconvenience someone else more vulnerable"

It's the Irish way.

Reminds me of this...

danmanw8

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Phones. Morons on them would be one of the main reasons I don't cycle very much. It's definitely getting worse.

Definitely getting worse but at least more people are being penalized for it now

cython

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Hearing the news about the strikes this morning, I was extra cautious - I left a bit earlier than normal, so stuck on the 300 lumen strobe. Within a few minutes of leaving my house, it didn't take loing for the shear amount of idiots on the roads to become apparent - cars breaking red lights, blocking yellow boxes or using the bus lanes.

Within 200 meters of my house, I almost came a cropper by some guy in a S500 - up the bus lane he goes. Sure he's paying a few grand in 'road tax' and this journey is more important than mine, so why not? Passed him stuck again trying to get onto Castleknock Road - completely pointless exercise.

Given the overlap in our commutes (Dublin 15 to city centre) this post makes me extremely glad that I elected to work from home today when got wind of the disruption!

Weepsie

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

Try usb rechargeable lights

But I've a dynamo light so i don't need one now. I can recharge one on the go i wished

AndrewJRenko

josip wrote: »

Not criticising Mrs Renko, but if she was close enough to see him using his phone on the steering wheel, wouldn't she have been close enough to make out the reg?

Yeah, if she had been looking at his reg at the time, she probably could have made it out. But she wasn't. Can you tell me the reg of the driver in front of you who pi$$ed you off today? Surely you were close enough to make it out?

I didn't do a forensic reconstruction of the event, but I can think of a few reasons;

ED E wrote: »

Very hard to see a reg from the side.

Or that just when something like that goes down, your first reaction is to check out the person who is hurt and make sure they are OK. And then you find when you look up, that the other guy has fecked off.

rodneyTrotter.

danmanw8 wrote: »

Definitely getting worse but at least more people are being penalized for it now

I cross the m50 a few times during the course of my day and it's ridiculous the amount of people texting or checking their phones . It also probably explains the amount of smacks on it daily .

ThisRegard

07Lapierre wrote: »

Since when does having a pregnant woman in you car allow you to use the bus lanes? I understand why you did it, but you are still bound by the ROTR. Next time, contact your local Gardai station and request an escort.

I've done it when bringing kids to Temple Street, you don't really care about the ROTR, within reason, or waiting around for an ambulance or gardai at the time.

CramCycle wrote: »

you are also not a garda and it is not your job to do so, and there are occasionally times when the person has genuine reasons that most of us could understand to put themselves above the rules, even if they shouldn't. These people are generally not those who are skipping rush hour traffic in the bus lane, but you never know, they could be among them. You will normally know by looking around you but I certainly would not advise putting your life on the line to find out.

And I had once such person trying to prevent me doing so at the time.

Dades

Dug the bike out the shed twice in the last week...Beara is coming soon!

Today, while I was rounding the Stradbrook roundabout a taxi driver slowed down beside me to see if I was taking the same exit as him... When it turned out I wasn't he took it anyway giving me a choice of either taking the exit, or joining him in or under his taxi. What's worse was he saw I was there and just turned into my path anyway.

Maybe I'm in the wrong here - if I'm taking the third exit off a roundabout - should I be cycling in the middle, near the centre and then move back across the road to exit? (And not on the left all the way around?)

cython

Dades wrote: »

Dug the bike out the shed twice in the last week...Beara is coming soon!

Today, while I was rounding the Stradbrook roundabout a taxi driver slowed down beside me to see if I was taking the same exit as him... When it turned out I wasn't he took it anyway giving me a choice of either taking the exit, or joining him in or under his taxi. What's worse was he saw I was there and just turned into my path anyway.

Maybe I'm in the wrong here - if I'm taking the third exit off a roundabout - should I be cycling in the middle, near the centre and then move back across the road to exit? (And not on the left all the way around?)

Insofar as possible, you should navigate/traverse the roundabout on a bicycle in the same manner as a car, so yes, IMHO to take the third exit (assuming it's further around than 12 o'clock as is the case most of the time), then you should be towards the right, and move left shortly before the exit if a multi-lane roundabout.

Attempting to skirt all the way around on the left all the way is asking to end up under a car, as it's unpredictable use of the road.

I love Sean nos

Dades wrote: »

Dug the bike out the shed twice in the last week...Beara is coming soon!

Today, while I was rounding the Stradbrook roundabout a taxi driver slowed down beside me to see if I was taking the same exit as him... When it turned out I wasn't he took it anyway giving me a choice of either taking the exit, or joining him in or under his taxi. What's worse was he saw I was there and just turned into my path anyway.

Maybe I'm in the wrong here - if I'm taking the third exit off a roundabout - should I be cycling in the middle, near the centre and then move back across the road to exit? (And not on the left all the way around?)

Going 270 around a roundabout, I'd take as much of the road as possible.

axer

Dades wrote: »

Dug the bike out the shed twice in the last week...Beara is coming soon!

Today, while I was rounding the Stradbrook roundabout a taxi driver slowed down beside me to see if I was taking the same exit as him... When it turned out I wasn't he took it anyway giving me a choice of either taking the exit, or joining him in or under his taxi. What's worse was he saw I was there and just turned into my path anyway.

Maybe I'm in the wrong here - if I'm taking the third exit off a roundabout - should I be cycling in the middle, near the centre and then move back across the road to exit? (And not on the left all the way around?)

Always take roundabouts as a car would. Take the centre of the lane rather than either side inside the lane.

Fian

07Lapierre wrote: »

Since when does having a pregnant woman in you car allow you to use the bus lanes? I understand why you did it, but you are still bound by the ROTR. Next time, contact your local Gardai station and request an escort.

Sorry responding long after the fact but just noticed your response.

Tbh there is zero reality to suggesting someone who is bringing their wife in labour into the hospital should wait for a garda escort or would give a toss about whether driving in the bus lane is a breach of the ROTR. The idea is absurd. So thanks for the advice but "next time" I would do exactly the same thing again. Though I have four kids so "next time" is just not going to arise.

As it happens I met a Garda just approaching the junction in Donnybrook. He flagged me down, came to the window. I told him my wife was in labour. He immediately offered to arrange an escort for me (he was on foot) but I told him no, I will just keep going. He said grand but he would call ahead to see if anyone could link up with me, none did as it happens.

Equally there is absolutely zero chance that a prosecution would give rise to a conviction if someone were prosecuted for driving in the bus lane to bring a woman in labour to a maternity hospital. There is a general criminal defense of "necessity" which would be invoked, or more likely the judge would strike the matter out without any defense being entered and tell the Garda who brought such a prosecution to cop himself on.

I guess you probably won't see this response so long after the fact but I wanted to post it anyway.

Dades

axer wrote: »

Always take roundabouts as a car would. Take the centre of the lane rather than either side inside the lane.

Fair enough. Though crossing the traffic twice just seems like an alternative way to get swiped!

mr spuckler

Dades wrote: »

Fair enough. Though crossing the traffic twice just seems like an alternative way to get swiped!

once you're clearly signalling and paying close attention to what the motor traffic is doing there shouldn't be a problem. make eye contact with the driver you want to pull in front of where possible.

07Lapierre

Fian wrote: »

Sorry responding long after the fact but just noticed your response.

Tbh there is zero reality to suggesting someone who is bringing their wife in labour into the hospital should wait for a garda escort or would give a toss about whether driving in the bus lane is a breach of the ROTR. The idea is absurd. So thanks for the advice but "next time" I would do exactly the same thing again. Though I have four kids so "next time" is just not going to arise.

As it happens I met a Garda just approaching the junction in Donnybrook. He flagged me down, came to the window. I told him my wife was in labour. He immediately offered to arrange an escort for me (he was on foot) but I told him no, I will just keep going. He said grand but he would call ahead to see if anyone could link up with me, none did as it happens.

Equally there is absolutely zero chance that a prosecution would give rise to a conviction if someone were prosecuted for driving in the bus lane to bring a woman in labour to a maternity hospital. There is a general criminal defense of "necessity" which would be invoked, or more likely the judge would strike the matter out without any defense being entered and tell the Garda who brought such a prosecution to cop himself on.

I guess you probably won't see this response so long after the fact but I wanted to post it anyway.

Fair enough...point taken.

I only have one kid...we'll he's 22 now. My partner went into labour at 2am or so. So i had the roads to myself on the way into Holles St. Our situation was that when she woke me, we got up, got into the car and drove to the Hospital no real hurry. We were there over 20 hours before my son decided it was time to arrive! like his dad he's a lazy sod!