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

magicbastarder · 28-04-2019 08:24PM

not really a near miss, more a WTF moment - cycling through donabate earlier, heading towards portrane, a chap in a car came out of the church (from the other side of the road) and swung in front of me - into my lane - as if i wasn't there. i'd spotted him in time, so i'd braked in anticipation. sat behind him and waved a 'hello, i'm here' a few times at him in his rearview mirror, but he obviously didn't see me or didn't care, because moments later he swung left off the road without indicating - and me sitting less than a car length back clearly visible in the passenger side wing mirror.

also, later in the afternoon, i was on the M50 in the car, approaching the ballymun exit, doing probably a little north of 80km/h, with a woman sitting less than one car length behind me without a care in the world. she was smoking, and i've always found it a little odd that you're not allowed drive with a phone in your hand, but can drive holding a burning ember in your hand and that's somehow legally fine.

Pinch Flat · 28-04-2019 09:03PM

magicbastarder wrote: »

.....and i've always found it a little odd that you're not allowed drive with a phone in your hand, but can drive holding a burning ember in your hand and that's somehow legally fine.

Slightly off topic, but I was passed by a fella on the M4 heading west a few years ago. Cigarette in the left hand and casually scrolling down through his phone. All at 120kph plus.

Utter Consternation · 29-04-2019 09:49AM

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Slightly off topic, but I was passed by a fella on the M4 heading west a few years ago. Cigarette in the left hand and casually scrolling down through his phone. All at 120kph plus.

It's unreal the amount of people that are doing this now. It's very worrying when you're on the bike.

CramCycle · 29-04-2019 10:11AM

Utter Consternation wrote: »

It's unreal the amount of people that are doing this now. It's very worrying when you're on the bike.

The fact that we comment about it as if its shocking anymore is just as surprising. Driving along the M50 last week, guy swerves into the overtaking lane, no indicator and keeps the same speed as the traffic in the lane beside him, essentially blocking the road. Doesn't bother me too much, its the fact that I was mid overtake and my front bumper was level with his rear wheel when he went for it. Used to looking at front wheels from cycling and just saw it turn and I let my foot off the accelerator. No more than a cm between our bumpers. Stayed there for 12km, when he pulled back in after cars behind me started losing it, there he was, reading from a website, never even looked up at the road.

I am actually surprised when people are not on their phones nowadays.

mr spuckler · 29-04-2019 10:56AM

CramCycle wrote: »

I am actually surprised when people are not on their phones nowadays.

and it amazes me that more aren't being killed as a result of this behaviour, given how endemic it has become. maybe it's as you described above, where other drivers are paying enough attention to prevent a collision....that's not exactly a dependable long term strategy though.

blackwhite · 29-04-2019 11:25AM

Not strictly a near-miss - but passing through traffic at the RDS this morning I saw a woman with her phone wedged into the top half of steering wheel with video/tv show playing on it

AndrewJRenko · 29-04-2019 12:20PM

mr spuckler wrote: »

and it amazes me that more aren't being killed as a result of this behaviour, given how endemic it has become. maybe it's as you described above, where other drivers are paying enough attention to prevent a collision....that's not exactly a dependable long term strategy though.

I suspect that the Gardai aren't as thorough in checking phone use as part of collision investigations compared to their counterparts in the UK. There have been a bunch of road deaths specifically connected to phone use by the driver.

Greentree_uk · 29-04-2019 05:45PM

And for todays Close pass Taxi Plate 17482 142-D-22090, never caught up with him unfortunately https://youtu.be/ch9r2_F6Gtg

29-04-2019 05:55PM

The pass was indeed close but I'm bitterly disappointed you didn't ride up that inviting looking ramp at the end there

Greentree_uk · 29-04-2019 06:02PM

Deleted User wrote: »

The pass was indeed close but I'm bitterly disappointed you didn't ride up that inviting looking ramp at the end there

Yeah I was very tempted! surprisingly nothing there to block it.

mr spuckler · 29-04-2019 06:02PM

Greentree_uk wrote: »

And for todays Close pass Taxi Plate 17482 142-D-22090, never caught up with him unfortunately https://youtu.be/ch9r2_F6Gtg

shockingly bad from the taxi driver.

on the ramp - fair play to the truck driver for leaving the cycle lane free, a very rare thing indeed.

tnegun · 29-04-2019 08:57PM

I knew there was a chance of this happening so I made eye contact and drew level with him he was looking at me when it put the indicator on ffs

https://vimeo.com/333187009

blackwhite · 30-04-2019 08:19AM

Ran to work instead of cycling today - on Alexandra Rd there were a lot of guards, 2 fire brigades and an ambulance - shoe on the road and bike up against the railing. Looked like someone was getting attention inside the ambulance.

Fingers crossed all ok.

xckjoo · 30-04-2019 09:40AM

Had a close pass from a Buslink driver this morning but my camera mount wasn' secure so there's a crazy shake. Anyone able to recommend free stabilization software?

Hurrache · 30-04-2019 09:51AM

Youtube used to be able to do it, according to this lady it's no longer available, but she has a tutorial about how to do it using free software
https://www.videoproc.com/video-process/youtube-video-stabilizer.htm

xckjoo · 30-04-2019 12:06PM

Here we go. Shake was crazy bad but should be watchable now.

https://vimeo.com/333307638

jjpep · 30-04-2019 12:10PM

xckjoo wrote: »

Here we go. Shake was crazy bad but should be watchable now.

https://vimeo.com/333307638

That's bad. Hate going up that hill. Always take the lane (and occasionally get beeped at, but hey...) Until past the council offices and the road widens.

Definitely report though.

xckjoo · 30-04-2019 12:13PM

jjpep wrote: »

That's bad. Hate going up that hill. Always take the lane (and occasionally get beeped at, but hey...) Until past the council offices and the road widens.

Definitely report though.

Ya I take the whole lane going up the hill and normally stay out further, but the fact that there was no oncoming traffic made me a bit complacent. I've reported to buslink. Will see what they say before deciding to report it to the Guards.

Fighting Tao · 30-04-2019 08:26PM

This one happened last July. It's the only one that I reported to the guards and that was due to it being right outside a garda station. Scared the crap out of me. Got a pulse number and made myself available to make a statement at any time. However, by the time the guard got around to it apparently, a time limit had passed to take the statement! He did say that the driver was called into the station the day after the incident and ended up in tears.

I was moving at 30kmph at the time, coming around a blind bend (due to vehicles parked) and I was taking the lane.

Excuse the bad hiding of the number plate and face.

magicbastarder · 30-04-2019 08:29PM

seems to be a youtube glitch there; video doesn't play for me. is it set to public?

Fighting Tao · 30-04-2019 08:32PM

First time uploading ever to youtube...apologies for the technical issues. Will try to resolve.

ETA...think it's working now.

magicbastarder · 30-04-2019 08:35PM

s/he was all over you - you can even see near the start that another motorist appears to have had to take evasive action due to the first botched overtaking attempt.

Fighting Tao · 30-04-2019 08:40PM

magicbastarder wrote: »

s/he was all over you - you can even see near the start that another motorist appears to have had to take evasive action due to the first botched overtaking attempt.

Thankfully I did not know exactly how they were driving behind me until I watched the video back. They crossed a solid white line at the crossroads and missed me by a few centimetres as they pulled in to avoid the traffic island. Obviously, they thought that I was squishy and would cause less damage to their car than the traffic island.

hesker · 30-04-2019 10:07PM

Ended up in tears....

Yeah at the prospect of some action being taken against them. Tears are always the last defence.

p15574 · 01-05-2019 09:00AM

Fighting Tao wrote: »

However, by the time the guard got around to it apparently, a time limit had passed to take the statement!

I'd say that's bull****. Too much paperwork to do their job, more like. How long had passed?

Tombo2001 · 01-05-2019 09:10AM

Fighting Tao wrote: »

This one happened last July. It's the only one that I reported to the guards and that was due to it being right outside a garda station. Scared the crap out of me. Got a pulse number and made myself available to make a statement at any time. However, by the time the guard got around to it apparently, a time limit had passed to take the statement! He did say that the driver was called into the station the day after the incident and ended up in tears.

I was moving at 30kmph at the time, coming around a blind bend (due to vehicles parked) and I was taking the lane.

Excuse the bad hiding of the number plate and face.

OK Crap driving and I wont make excuses for Crap driving.

However

This video is a really good illustration of two things.

(I) why are parked cars given so much priority on city roads. Its something that is rarely if ever spoken about......its quite one thing for drivers to be given priority over cyclists........but its quite another for parked cars to be given priority over both drivers and cyclists.

The road in question could easily accomodate a proper seperate cycle path and leave plenty of room for cars - so that no dodgy overtakes are needed. But instead, parked cars are given priortity? Why = nobody owns a slice of that road. Where does that entitlement come from.....

(ii) Traffic Islands do what exactly? Apart from leading to dodgy overtakes. Would it be too much to let pedestrians walk all the way across in one go.

Finally - if I ever did set up a twitter account, whats a good hashtag for "the person I feel sorry for here is the poor driver, they must be very upset"...

Seth Brundle · 01-05-2019 09:21AM

Tombo2001 wrote: »

(I) why are parked cars given so much priority on city roads. Its something that is rarely if ever spoken about......its quite one thing for drivers to be given priority over cyclists........but its quite another for parked cars to be given priority over both drivers and cyclists.

The road in question could easily accomodate a proper seperate cycle path and leave plenty of room for cars - so that no dodgy overtakes are needed. But instead, parked cars are given priortity? Why = nobody owns a slice of that road. Where does that entitlement come from.....

Look at the opposition to BusConnects. People want their cars and expect that because they pay motor tax, they should be allowed leave their car on the road for most of the day.

Tombo2001 · 01-05-2019 09:24AM

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Look at the opposition to BusConnects. People want their cars and expect that because they pay motor tax, they should be allowed leave their car on the road for most of the day.

I suppose the difference here is that for local residents, its a matter of convenience.

For cyclists, its a matter of safety.

So why does it seem to matter more to local residents?

The other point - in several of the places above, it seems to be FREE on street parking which I just think is a big NO NO these days except within housing estates.

Tombo2001 · 01-05-2019 09:26AM

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Look at the opposition to BusConnects. People want their cars and expect that because they pay motor tax, they should be allowed leave their car on the road for most of the day.

I suppose the difference here is that for local residents, its a matter of convenience.

For cyclists, its a matter of safety.

So why does it seem to matter more to local residents?

The other point - in several of the places above, it seems to be FREE on street parking which I just think is a big NO NO these days except within housing estates.

Its the same thing in Fairview where they wanted to cut down the trees and put in a proper bike path. Sorry no - we want our trees......more important than cyclists......

Why do cyclists put up with this?

Seth Brundle · 01-05-2019 09:33AM

Tombo2001 wrote: »

For cyclists, its a matter of safety.

So why does it seem to matter more to local residents?

Because of the "fupp you in your lycra" attitude?

Tombo2001 wrote: »

The other point - in several of the places above, it seems to be FREE on street parking which I just think is a big NO NO these days except within housing estates.

Again, there would be uproar at the local elections and possibly at general election time.

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

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