Meanwhile on the Roads...

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123842010#Comment_123842010

Direct quote from you;

But I don't think they are always aware of how vulnerable they are...

To wit, my response above.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123841930#Comment_123841930

I know drivers don't do this, I'm sure many cyclists who drive don't either. In the conditions you describe, you should be driving substantially slower to account for the reduced range of view, you should have high quality sunglasses, and you should have your lights on (not just DRLs or parking lights). If you still feel that you're ability to see things is creating a danger, then you pull over and stop. Alas this doesn't happen but for you're own sake, these are some nice, basic, rules to follow in the conditions you have described.

Winter sun has started to affect my commute so I have decent lights on the bike and have high quality sunglasses, it makes a huge difference.

magicbastarder

Cram was more polite than I was, but

I can't count the number of times I either didn't see them in the shade or came up behind them on a bend and found myself nearly on top of them.

Hopefully you mean you 'can't count' because there's none to count.

And if it's happened that often, have you not concluded that maybe you should change your driving style? That you should be better at anticipating that there might be something around the bend?

I dunno, maybe you didn't mean 'nearly hit them' when you say 'found yourself nearly on top of them'. But it's a very poor choice of words if that's the case.

Either way, cyclists wearing hi Vis won't help you see them around bends.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123841930#Comment_123841930

Those roads are always full of cyclists at the weekend, given you lost count of the number of times you couldn't manage to see them and therefore couldn't adjust your own driving I for one am glad you're not there often.

That you then say it's their fault for not wearing hi-viz says it all really.

Squidgy Black

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123841930#Comment_123841930

Instead of thinking what everyone around you should do to help you see them, would you not maybe think YOU should be the one adapting your conditions/driving?

Macy0161

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123841930#Comment_123841930

Sounds like you need to slow down to a speed you can safely stop in the distance you can see. It could just as easily be pedestrians, children picking berries, deer, sheep, tractors, tourists. Or indeed someone who is driving and has actually slowed down to what they deem a safe speed for the conditions.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123842248#Comment_123842248

Agreed. I doubt cyclists wearing hi viz would help against low morning sun either. But I'm not a scientist so can only go on common sense and experience.

smacl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123842468#Comment_123842468

Agreed 100%, your braking distance should be determined by your line of sight. On small country roads, you need to assume there will be something you could hit around that blind corner or short period where your vision is limited by direct sun. Statistically, this will be the case some of the time, and thus will be inevitable if you travel these kinds of roads regularly. God forbid, but you might also come across a bad driver who's decided to overtake on a blind corner and is on the wrong side of the road.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123841930#Comment_123841930

There could be anything around any bend. You must be driving in a manner that allows you to stop within the distance you can see to be clear.

zell12

Just another Wednesday.. where people were struck by a car whilst crossing the road in peak school traffic https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/wexford-district/father-and-two-children-brought-to-wexford-general-hospital-after-being-hit-by-car-while-walking-to-school/a1193353974.html

one man badly injured & pedestrians had a lucky escape on Galway footpath https://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/147646/car-mounts-kerb-during-city-lunch-rush

07Lapierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123842010#Comment_123842010

"Observation" appears to be the issue.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123849434#Comment_123849434

Confession time. I was driving home from work earlier this week, from Greystones village going towards the N11. There's a two lane road that branches off from 'old' Greystones and passes through Charlesland, a heavily residential area with hundreds (thousands?) of houses and apartments, as well as schools, gyms, sports fields etc. Anyway, the speed limit was 60 and I was passed by an SUV doing 100. I know it was 100kmph because, as we pulled away from a set of lights and the road was pretty much empty in front, for about 3-4 seconds after he passed me I increased my speed to match his to make sure I wasn't imagining things.

So reports like the one's you linked don't surprise me at all.

Paddigol

colour me shocked!

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/dublin-news/almost-100-cars-an-hour-breaking-traffic-restrictions-on-dublins-quays/a49429885.html

fat bloke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123851348#Comment_123851348

Need a Cycling Mikey / Gandalf vigilante at the bridge. Who's up for it?

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123851483#Comment_123851483

Yeah, the member of AGS at the desk will love to see them come in with hundreds of video clips and then you'll need to watch them as they transcribe hundreds of statements (one for each offence).
Then the super will ignore them all for whatever reason.

fat bloke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123851544#Comment_123851544

Who gives a rats?! The Youtube monetisation could keep Boards afloat for years to come!

#allabouttheoutrage

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123851483#Comment_123851483

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123851544#Comment_123851544

It could be a good PR stunt, if a few people were to do it every week for example, and publish the numbers and the videos - it could keep up pressure on authorities to get off their arses.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123849434#Comment_123849434

All autonomous vehicles presumably, given that there was no mentions of drivers at all in the articles.

loyatemu

how about automated camera enforcement with ANPR… WHOA! I've gone back in time to 2015!

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123853814#Comment_123853814

It's like a win win, no one missing tax, insurance or an NCT would drive through an area with a red light camera. It would also highlight areas for Gardai to target if there are an unusually high number of unregistered or no NCT cars in an area. Couple this with average speed calculations between lights.

Time and time again it has been shown that fines and enforcement work in Ireland and that it really is the only game in town.

MojoMaker

I dunno, does it?

Removing access to one's car for a period would potentially be a better behaviour modifier.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123864270#Comment_123864270

how? Like impounding? That would involve a lot more faff, appeals, judicial reviews etc. Don’t necessarily disagree with the theory, but I’d take a properly enforced penalty fine system as a starter.

The roads were an absolute s**tshow in rush hour this morning. Rat running everywhere. Hard shoulders turned into third lanes. I was getting road rage and I was on the bus 😂

Need to get back commuting by bike for my sanity

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123864270#Comment_123864270

Fines that are enforced and increase with the number of times you commit a related infringement.

Imagine if the number of penalty points you had acted as a multiplier for any fine you received as a motorist.

Imagine if the chances of being caught were also greatly enhanced.

It wouldn't solve everything but it would solve a lot.

zell12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123864927#Comment_123864927

I was getting road rage and I was on the bus 😂

Sounds like a book in the making. I was also on a bus today, bonkers car traffic jams everywhere, and was appeased to hear the bus horn being liberally used. In one instance, the bus is stopped at a stop, door open, and a motorist coming opposite direction crosses lane, mounts the one car wide footpath, drives on the footpath between the stopped bus and parked vehicles on inside 😣, and then he left the car there blocking footpath, and walked away. 😞

CramCycle

Id have a falling down moment if I was there

Macy0161

Probably less in the bus lanes for me this morning than usual on a Wednesday - probably because so many of them (and cycle lanes) were already blocked with builders lorries ffs…

I'm actually bored of posting about ANPR cameras at this stage. The opposition are already on a thin line with the car & culture war stuff when it comes to cycling infrastructure, I really can't believe they will ever be political will. Not even the RSA put any pressure on it.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123866202#Comment_123866202

I've come close. Watching the usual suspects hop from lane to lane, pulling into the merging lane, shooting on ahead, re-merging, diving into the bus lane, blazing through pedestrian lights. Not good for the blood pressure. There was one a few weeks ago who drove the entire way down the southbound exit for Bray North on the M11 where it merges with the M50, dive in at the last second across the chevrons, and for good measure undertake a few more cars on the hard shoulder before pulling in on someone.

If I had smiting powers there's be a lot less of a certain cohort of drivers…

loyatemu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123866809#Comment_123866809

on that specific location, whilst they obviously shouldn't have gone over the chevrons, you can merge anywhere along that lane. If everyone tried to merge at the start it would be even worse there.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123866929#Comment_123866929

Oh yeah, agree regarding people who slow down and merge too soon. Can cause chaos.

However, anyone familiar with than junction at rush hour will also be familiar with the number of people who pull out of the southbound lanes, into the 'merging' and then 'exiting' lanes, with the sole purpose of undertaking traffic to 'merge' back in. (There's also two merging lanes at the start of that junction, so plenty of opportunity for people actually merging to do so appropriately.)

There's also an onus on you as a driver to merge safely - haring down the exit lane (and it really is an exit lane when you get to than point) looking to skip as many cars as possible and swerve back in is far from that. It also has the same effect as people who try to merge too early, as you then have people who are actually using the exit having to undertake the queue skippers who slow down looking for a gap.

All in all, I'm pretty sure that there have been studies to show that lane hopping is a contributor towards congestion and yo-yoing in slow moving traffic. If they could just stay in their lane and have a bit of patience life would be so much easier for everyone. Few things more stressful than having a car suddenly pull in front of you when you're keeping the safe distance in slow traffic - there's a reason I'd left that safe gap!

Anyway. I feel one of Cram's Falling Down moments coming so I'm off to do some breathing exercises at my desk 😂

zell12

Appears to be grassroot demands around the country to control road misbehaviour, ranging from national urban 30kph to ramps and narrowing roads

Residents, documenting traffic behaviour on the road, say drivers often mount footpaths and intimidate pedestrians. “Residents have been verbally abused, and some physically intimidated" https://www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/dublin-news/dublin-residents-to-occupy-richmond-road-in-protest-over-dangerous-driving/a1669047669.html