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

site_owner wrote: »

thanks for the suggestions. unfortunately the route is the safest option open to me. mostly due to bad suburban planning.

the council have designed all parks around here with "kissing gates" and have not responded to my requests to remove them

since i started cycling i now see 3 other trailers and 2 cargo bikes on the route along with a lot more child seats so i like to think things will get better

Was it council officials you were in touch with or elected councillors? Local elections coming up next May. If there is any way you could make contact with your fellow trailer and cargo bikers? You could probably put on pressure between you if you all live in same council area,. Also, is there a Joint Policing Committee you could contact. Clearly route you take would be ok if there was meaningful enforcement of driver behaviour but you're entitled to go about your business without harrassment whether its through improvig your current route or providing a safe alternative.

site_owner wrote: »

A couple of local councillors. Response has been that "due to anti social behaviour the gates are needed" and "engineering have reviewed the road and there are no additional measures that can be taken" - This was in response to photos of cars parking 50:50 on the path and cycle lane all over baldoyle.

That was before I had the onbike cameras so maybe if I put together a little compilation and send it on. It's just me Vs NIMBYs tho and people don't want their perception of security (kissing gates) gone it seems.

I gave up contacting the gardai about close passes a while back

So you and fellow bike-riders are being ACTUALLY endangered so that park-users aren't POTENTIALLY endangered by quad or motor bikes in the park? I do have some sympathy for gardai and officials in that it's so hard to deal with anti-socal youth via law-enforcement but check out who' on the jont policing committee anyway

site_owner wrote: »

i should have just kept the lane, i didnt expect the car hanging out in the cycle lane or the mondeo to be inches off my wheel. got a proper fright.

passed the mondeo 40m ahead (along with plenty of other cars) and didnt see it again until the hill, when i lost some steam

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

It takes an extra special breed of self important ars*hole to buzz past a kid being pulled in a bike trailer.

Duckjob wrote: »

It takes an extra special breed of self important ars*hole to buzz past a kid being pulled in a bike trailer.

Oblivious to everything around them, wouldn't even know its a child trailer ... so yes ars*hole!

The problem as I see it here was because of the cycle lane the driver was not paying attention to site_owner and therefore did not anticipate that the would move out to overtake the parked car ... as to their actions after that, who the fu*k knows!!

The crux of the problem here is that The driver did not register site_owner as another road user ...

site_owner wrote: »

nah, i make up way too much time when the cycle lane is clear and traffic is at a standstill to make myself any wider these incidents are few and far between, i can cycle the route 20+ times a week and its only the 500m from that speed bump to the lights where there are multiple obstacles that i have issues

ive never hit the entire sequence but it would go like this:

• bus stop
• speed bump on bend / pinch point
• cars poking out of lidl
• oncoming car crossing over white line to make turn into lidl
• speed bump and pedestrian crossing
• cars turning in or out of school
• car parked in cycle lane
• car coming in or out of church
• bus stop
• speed bump
• traffic island pinch point coming onto speed bump
• oncoming car crossing over white line to make turn
• pinch point coming off speed bump
• 1 or more cars on path and cycle lane
• traffic lights
• cars moving into cycle lane to pass cars turning right
• oncoming car crossing over white line to make turn or
• car trying to make the turn across me because traffic is stopped
• last pinch point before road widens
• bus stop

Funny that. I ride that road regularly (only occasionally past the church) and it's only when you list all 20 obstacles that I realise how many there are. Even then, you didn't mention the soccer mom/dads parking in the cycle lane and on the footpath outside either park (mostly on sunday mornings but some evenings also) before the first bus stop.

When I'm bringing bottles to recycling on the shopper bike, the last pinch point is usually the worst bit. The traffic light junction is long enough that I cannot clear it before a car can overtake so it's hard to occupy the lane before the pinch.

Then there's the same set to deal with going the other way with the extras of

• Cars swerving left into the cycle lane because there's something turning right in front of them (mostly they can't get past and just block the cycle lane) x3
• Cars cutting the corner left onto Willie Nolan Road which has a smooth manhole cover in just the wrong location on the turn. I always take the lane approaching that turn and take the turn late to avoid the corner-cutting...

comanche_cor wrote: »

Oblivious to everything around them, wouldn't even know its a child trailer ... so yes ars*hole!

The problem as I see it here was because of the cycle lane the driver was not paying attention to site_owner and therefore did not anticipate that the would move out to overtake the parked car ... as to their actions after that, who the fu*k knows!!

The crux of the problem here is that The driver did not register site_owner as another road user ...

it's just basically sh1t roadcraft isn't it? like whether I'm driving or cycling I'm constantly scanning the road ahead for potential obstacles / danger / pinch points etc. I also always assume that other road users will do something I don't want them to do or that they wouldn't do in a normal scenario.

in this case the driver should have seen the car parked in the cycle lane and been aware that site_owner would need to pull out as a result and then given adequate space to safely do so and return to the cycle lane before passing safely. couda woulda shoulda eh...

CramCycle wrote: »

I think that is what shocked me most about the video, close passes are par for the course in my mind, had two this morning, both intentional although oblivious to the danger they put me in. It is a child trailer though, it shouldn't be different but it is, it really takes a special breed of sociopath not to give a kids trailer space.

Ignorance is bliss. Honestly I think we give to much credit to how much thought most give us. Trailer or not. I have bad passes all the time, and watching people as they go by they just seem completely removed from thought.

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Out of curiosity, did you say anything to them?

Nope. I pulled up next to him and looked straight at him for a solid ten seconds. His eyes flickered back and forth to me, but he didn't acknowledge my presence let alone offer an apology. If that's his attitude, nothing I say will change it, so I didn't bother.

mr spuckler wrote: »

it's just basically sh1t roadcraft isn't it? like whether I'm driving or cycling I'm constantly scanning the road ahead for potential obstacles / danger / pinch points etc. I also always assume that other road users will do something I don't want them to do or that they wouldn't do in a normal scenario.

in this case the driver should have seen the car parked in the cycle lane and been aware that site_owner would need to pull out as a result and then given adequate space to safely do so and return to the cycle lane before passing safely. couda woulda shoulda eh...

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Ignorance is bliss. Honestly I think we give to much credit to how much thought most give us. Trailer or not. I have bad passes all the time, and watching people as they go by they just seem completely removed from thought.

I'm of the view that anything not directly in a driver's eyeline* just doesn't exist. Something on the footpath is not going to impede progress so it disappears. Similarly, something in the cycle lane is not going to impede progress so it also disappears. When the pedestrian, cyclist, other car "appears from nowhere" it's just that it has moved from the invisible zone¹ into the driver's eyeline. I address this issue by occupying the expected eyeline of a following/turning/emerging driver so that they have to account for me...


*For 'eyeline' read "the bit of road my vehicle will actually roll over"
¹ For "invisible zone" read "any part of the environment that my vehicle will not roll over"

Cycled from Baggot bridge to the N4 along the canal and through Kilmainham yesterday evening. I had to stop at around 5 sets of lights along the way. The number of cars jumping red lights is staggering, to the point that when I had a green light I slowly proceed while checking the other approaches are clear (common sense I know).

site_owner wrote: »

i call them hostile passes nowadays. punishment implies i did something wrong or that, even if i did, a car driver is authorized to threaten me with severe bodily injury

You had the gall to delay their trip by 20-30 seconds. The ones that get me most is the person that just HAS to pass you only to turn off the road 100m later.

The bus lane on the New Nangor Road heading west is where I get most of my close passes and experience aggressive driving.

The first clip was my first time using Traffic Watch. I got a call from a Garda station a little over 2 months later. I was happy with how they dealt with it. Said fines / penalties for using the bus lane and driving without due care would be sent out.

I also reported the second clip. Had a missed call from a Garda station late one Saturday evening and over the next couple of weeks I called the station three times but they were not able to put me in touch with the person dealing with it. Shift change had just happened etc. I just left my details with the person on my last call and left it at that. I don't want to be the crank that is annoying the station! So I've mixed views from reporting these things.

After the second clip I make the effort to cycle to the right of the left-hand line that a car's wheels would use (if that makes sense). Just to stop those close passes. But it doesn't stop vehicles moving across and pushing you back into the gutter or coming up behind and beeping the horn. Hence the third clip from this Wednesday. It goes on a bit - just to show where the An Post driver comes from. I've no idea what he was at. I would like to think he was trying to get my attention because he seen what the white car did. I was shaking my hand at the end and pointing towards the driving lane hence why he was beeping. The fact he was driving on the bus lane line at the end when he overtakes me makes me think he was just a jerk.

amcalester wrote: »

stick to the middle and make their decision for them

I hear you amcalester and it's what I did yesterday evening after getting pi**ed off with an overtake. It's a 3km stretch from Naas Road to Clondalkin though and I feel a bit of a bad a** blocking the bus lane for that distance - but you are right - it needs to be done if I want to cut that crap out.

coward wrote: »

It's a 3km stretch from Naas Road to Clondalkin though and I feel a bit of a bad a** blocking the bus lane for that distance -

If I'm taking the lane in a bus lane and traffic is moving I'm not bothered. Bus/taxis will be able to overtake. If traffic is slow/stopped, I'll occasionally pull right into the slow-moving traffic to allow a bus to pass in the bus lane.