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

TooObvious wrote: »

Near miss yesterday cycling along the strawberry beds outbound. Was stuck behind a taxi and van on the speedbumps section, when a lady driver in a Opel SUV of some sort, tries to pass me out on one of the bumps. She had nowhere to go once past me and would had to have driven me off the road to actually take the spot she was aiming for. Que huge arm waving and gesticulation from me! I took the middle of the lane and sat there all the way (whilst keeping up with car traffic) to the turn off for Rugged Lane. At which point she turned off and beeped her annoyance at me.

A little bit further on, I got a punishment pass for breaking a red light. Yes, I broke a red light on the way into Celbridge, I looked very carefully, no traffic or risk so I moseyed on. Not much further along Yaris driver sped by me at close quarters to join the queue of traffic ahead. I had words with him and the first thing he said to me was "you jumped a red light, you could have been killed", couldn't fathom that he had put my life at risk and broken a number of laws in doing so.

Why though? not justifying the actions of the driver but you've saved a few seconds at most , the same argument cyclists use against drivers every day

stryker mcqueen wrote: »

Why though? not justifying the actions of the driver but you've saved a few seconds at most , the same argument cyclists use against drivers every day

And for that he must have his life threatened.

Out of concern for his safety of course.

Would definitely be more than a few seconds saved by the way. On my 10km commute, the first 5km where the lights are spread far apart takes 10 mins and the second 5km takes 20 mins.

Stark wrote: »

And for that he must have his life threatened.

Out of concern for his safety of course.

Would definitely be more than a few seconds saved by the way. On my 10km commute, the first 5km where the lights are spread far apart takes 10 mins and the second 5km takes 20 mins.

No one said the driver was right, but we all have the same rights on the road and the rules are there to obey. Don't have a go at someone else if you can't obey the basic rules of traffic lights

average_runner wrote: »

No one said the driver was right, but we all have the same rights on the road and the rules are there to obey. Don't have a go at someone else if you can't obey the basic rules of traffic lights

Just to be clear - if you've committed a far more minor offence which endangered nobody, you're then not allowed to complain about the person who endangered your well-being? We should get this missive out to the general population immediately!

mr spuckler wrote: »

Just to be clear - if you've committed a far more minor offence which endangered nobody, you're then not allowed to complain about the person who endangered your well-being? We should get this missive out to the general population immediately!

I didnt say that at all, please show where i said that.

What I said is it ok for a car to break a red light safely like it is for a cyclists?

stryker mcqueen wrote: »

So you break numerous lights to save time?......leave earlier

Did I say that? No I didn't :rolleyes:

km991148 wrote: »

I had a good few hours cycling about Dublin yesterday (haven't been on Dublin roads much at all recently).

There is a marked increase in aggressive behavior across the board as well as a lot of generally sloppy/poor standard of road use. Generally:

- No one seems to be able to read the road more than 4 meters ahead (unless the road is an about to change traffic light, see below).

- No such thing as 'ambler gamblers' at all, but several full red light violations at each change of the lights (I don't think I seen a single junction where people would stop on yellow/red).

- Lots of dipsh!t overtakes to race towards a queue of traffic 20-30m up the road (while forcing me to touch brakes and scrub 1/3 off my speed).

- Moving away from junctions while still obviously checking the phone.

- cyclist overtaking centimeters away (I nearly knocked on off as when I turned to check traffic behind - he was just offside/rear of me - I got a fright and wobbled very slightly into his direction!)

- The infrastructure is struggling to cater for current traffic and everyone seems to be getting more annoyed with this.


Not saying I never make a mistake or do something silly, but it really seems chaotic out there - as if people are trying to do things in the most awkward way.

I agree with what you're saying and I too have witnessed many of the examples you have listed.
I will also add blatant widespread speeding and deliberate tailgating of others who want to drive lawfully and not want to speed.

navandude wrote: »

I agree with what you're saying and I too have witnessed many of the examples you have listed.
I will also add blatant widespread speeding and deliberate tailgating of others who want to drive lawfully and not want to speed.

ye - few crazy amounts of speeding (again, I can be a bit heavy footed at times, so not saying I am superior in any way) - but I can't ever see the need to do over 50mph (estimated obviously) on merrion road between blackrock and ballsbridge (again, to get to another Q of traffic..).

That was one instance of a few, and my estimation was when I was traveling at about 30mph

average_runner wrote: »

What I said is it ok for a car to break a red light safely like it is for a cyclists?

I’d say it is. Many countries allow for cars and other vehicles to proceed on red as long as it’s safe to do so. We just haven’t legislated for it here. In saying that, I’m not sure if Irish road users are mature enough to do this safely and considerately even if it was legal.

Pinch Flat wrote: »

I’d say it is. Many countries allow for cars and other vehicles to proceed on red as long as it’s safe to do so. We just haven’t legislated for it here. In saying that, I’m not sure if Irish road users are mature enough to do this safely and considerately even if it was legal.

I don't think it's about maturity of drivers, it's about enforcement of laws and the likelihood of being caught. All road users would 'mature' quickly if the odds of a Garda catching and penalising you were high enough.

Buffalo wrote:

I don't think it's about maturity of drivers, it's about enforcement of laws and the likelihood of being caught. All road users would 'mature' quickly if the odds of a Garda catching and penalising you were high enough.

Yup, people talk about Irish people as if we had unique genetics or something, "only in Ireland" etc. US people are even worse when it comes to bad driving, selfish entitlement mentality, dickish litigation culture etc. But the system of treat red light as "yield" when turning right (would be turning left here) works for them.

I actually think it would slow down traffic at junctions and make people more observant if we had more cases where the red light was treated as a yield right of way. Maybe a switch to flashing amber at off-peak times or something. At the moment, people just put foot to the floor and drive through green lights with blinkers on as they're overconfident about not meeting someone coming from another road. I've seen cases where the traffic lights are temporarily out of action in an area, and oftentimes traffic flows a bit better with everyone being careful and polite to each other as they make their way through.

Let's not forget, we have a lot of junctions without traffic lights and somehow people manage to negotiate those junctions without getting killed. We don't *need* traffic lights to be able to get around and yield right of way to people, they just make it easier for people to get out of side roads onto busy streets where they would otherwise never get a gap.

Two this morning.

First was a completely pointless overtake on a bend, with oncoming traffic, up to the back of a queue at the next junction less than 20m away, where I then passed them.
Not the worst I've ever had. The lane is thankfully wide enough there that there was some room, but they never left the lane.

Second was exiting a roundabout. There is an off-road cycle lane around the outside of the roundabout, but I have given up on it because of the poor quality of the dipped kerbs where it crosses the approach roads, and the need to give way to traffic entering and exiting the roundabout at speed at every exit. I now take the lane on the roundabout and I get through it quicker and with less potential for conflict.
As I approached my exit (onto a dual-carriageway), a mercedes approached the roundabout from the entry just before it, coming off the motorway. I exited the roundabout, and the driver of the mercedes was taking the same exit behind me. I was already to the left of the left-hand lane, and moved to access the off-road cycle track again, when i heard a revving engine and the merc driver overtook me in the lane. They were maybe a hands-breadth from me. There was no need for it. there was a whole other lane for them to move into. Even then, if they'd waited literally a second longer i would have been in the cycle lane and out of their way.

The only way I can rationalise what happened is that they took offense to my presence on the roundabout.

I have the video, just need to review it again when I get home to decide if I take any other action.

Not a cycling near miss, but got a text to say my housemate was knocked by a car while walking to the bus stop this morning. The fun has begun.