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Near Misses Thread Volume 2 (So close you can feel it)

CramCycle

Same rule as the old thread…

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RobertFoster

doughef wrote: »

Cars are dangerous lads

I daren't look at mine sitting in the driveway in case it tries to attack me.

magicbastarder

doughef wrote: »

motorists are dangerous lads

FTFY

magicbastarder

mod note - doughef, do not post in this thread again. If you've an issue with that, PM me.

Other posters - do not respond further to those posts. The poster cannot reply and we should let this die anyway.

Stark

Anyone recognise the *****?

https://twitter.com/rohal_/status/1291763711015882753?s=19

MojoMaker

That boils my pi$$ :mad:

Langballs like doughef would probably try to defend that one too.

Breezer

Stark wrote: »

Anyone recognise the *****?

https://twitter.com/rohal_/status/1291763711015882753?s=19

That is criminal and I would hope indefensible. That lane is the pits in the afternoons/evenings (i.e. when it’s active; its a 16.00-19.00 one), people fly up it. And inevitably get stuck behind parked cars anyway. I go that way in the mornings and the opposite way in the PM. I’ve seen tons of close passes on cyclists and I’m always way out in the lane when I use it at any time.

ironictoaster

New cyclist here. This thread scares the ****e out of me! Still a bit nervous on the road but getting better. I get extremely paranoid when I hear a car behind me just about to speed past me even in a well marked cycle lane.

magicbastarder

was just saying this on a different thread in a different forum - the health benefits of cycling are estimated to outweigh the risks by a factor of somewhere between 11 and 70, depending on which report you read.

Breezer

ironictoaster wrote: »

New cyclist here. This thread scares the ****e out of me! Still a bit nervous on the road but getting better. I get extremely paranoid when I hear a car behind me just about to speed past me even in a well marked cycle lane.

The other way to look at it is that this thread prepares you for some of the rubbish that goes on on the roads, and how you can avoid a lot of it. I read the previous version of this thread daily when I started cycling regularly a few years ago, and I found it very helpful. It’s definitely taught me how to be a safer cyclist, and therefore has let me enjoy my cycling much more.

And (in Dublin anyway) cycle lanes have improved dramatically in the last 6 months. There’s new protected lanes popping up all over the place. They’re not all perfect, but they’re generally a lot better than what’s gone before. There’s a noticeable change in attitude amongst authorities and the media. It’s a good time to be starting out, I think!

ironictoaster

Thanks everyone. I am really enjoying it overall. The sense of freedom is great. Probably the best thing to come out of this pandemic for me.

ironictoaster

breezy1985 wrote: »

Just out of interest what kinda cycling you doing. Rural or urban and fitness or commute?

Fitness really or just cycling just for fun. I cycle around Blanchardstown, Castleknock and Phoenix Park.

magicbastarder

kenmm wrote: »

but a gesticulation after an incident just reinforces the 'Angry asshole cyclist' stereotype

it's a gesticulation, you can't tell from the video whether it was angry or not. the first appears to be a 'you what?' gesture and the second is a open handed, palm out gesture which i certainly wouldn't interpret as angry or aggressive, i'd often use it myself as an acknowledgement or an 'ah, it's grand' gesture?

buffalo

DelBoy Trotter wrote: »

But what is the actual point of putting yourself in that position when you know what’s about to happen? Being safe is a lot more important than proving you’re in the right

Because if you hang back and stay out of the way, the driver will sail on oblivious that they came *this* close to running someone over due to their sloppy driving and lack of observation. And they'll never realise that.

And next time the driver ends up interacting with a cyclist in the same way, that cyclist might not be so prepared. And what might happen then?

if you're prepared for it, you can show them that they need to be more alert and careful.

magicbastarder

kenmm wrote: »

I didn't say or interpret it as angry, how could I?

But others might. And it's a stereotype for many people.

what's the takeaway so? don't even give a conciliatory gesture?

buffalo

DelBoy Trotter wrote: »

So you think correcting people on the road when you have also made a mistake (putting yourself in that position when you know it’s going to happen) helps? I certainly don’t. There’s a difference between taking your lane when it’s safer for you and will make motorists realise it’s a bad time to overtake, and going up the inside of traffic which you know is turning left just to prove a point (again bringing it back to my original point that it’s better being safe than trying to prove you’re right)

So you think letting people continue to make poor decisions without even minor consequences (drawing their attention to it) helps? I certainly don't.

The next time they make that same poor decision, the consequence could be much greater - potentially fatal for someone. Left hooks are the most frequent killer of cyclists in Ireland, or were at one point. HGVs usually responsible for the deaths, I can only imagine how many smaller vehicles caused injuries.

Chips Lovell

Mod Note

Keep it civil please. It’s possible to disagree with a one another without calling each other’s posts “dumb”.

Be nice.

randomname2005

kenmm wrote: »

Well it didn't appear that way when people are banging on about irrelevant situations (dual carriageways, wtf) and teaching people how to drive.

But if you do get the point (ie don't put yourself in danger) and you either think that is dumb or it doesn't apply then fair enough.

I only originally posted because I thought this was a non event and a pretty dumb position to be in (the inside of a van at the corner of a junction).

Edit: and since we just had a new cyclists posting immediately before, I would say that I would advise anyone to practice better observation skills and not put yourself in this position. To me that's common sense.

In the video the road is reasonably traffic free and it would have been feasible for the cyclist to hang back in this case without being delayed too much. But consider rush hour where there is a queue of slow moving traffic. Are cyclists supposed to slow down and ensure they are not in every driver's blind spot at every junction? It would be difficult to maintain progress if you were to do that in many areas of Dublin city and probably other areas too.

I think the more realistic approach is to encourage cyclists to cycle cautiously, being aware that scenarios like this are likely to happen and they need to be ready to react to it like this cyclist did. Maybe cycle with hands on the break levers most of the time in areas like this? Remind novice city cyclists that you can't cycle with your head down looking straight ahead. You have to expect that the pedestrian will step out in front of you, that the driver will turn without looking or indicating, that the parked car door will open.

magicbastarder

in a situation like that, i'm happy enough to take the lane and insert myself into traffic, but it's not something i suspect a nervous or novice cyclist might be comfortable doing, so i'm hesitant to recommend it.
plus, the fact that the cycle lane is now wanded would make that more fraught.

however, if a cyclist was to have to sit behind a slow moving van in a junction-heavy area like ranelagh, lest the van driver do something stupid, kinda removes one of the benefits of cycling in that not getting stuck in vehicular traffic is one of the attractions of it.

anyway, the van driver was an idiot, he'd clearly passed several cyclists and was not moving nearly fast enough to clear them before swinging left. and it's not as if AJR was melting along at 40km/h.

magicbastarder

kenmm wrote: »

So is the conclusion from this (apart from the van driver Fu(king up, which is obvious) that as a cyclist, there is nothing to learn from such incidents?

not sure i'd agree with that assessment? i disagree with some of the conclusions made by other posters (yourself included - what drew me in was the 'don't gesture at motorists' comment), but that doesn't mean there's not a debate to be had.

my takeaway from this is that the parking protected cycle lanes are not an unwelcome move in ways, but they're clearly no panacea to issues cyclists face, and can make some of them worse.

MojoMaker

Heading through Ranelagh towards UCD the new wanded lane causes big problems at the junction with Chelmsford Rd, one of the busier junctions on that stretch. The cycle lane dumps the cyclist out into the middle of the left turning lane who have a green filter arrow, there is nowhere to stop 'cleanly' if you're going straight.

I cycle this route most mornings and without fail every morning I will see at least one vehicle accelerate when seeing bikes in the cycle lane to get to the end of the wanded section before the bikes reach it - in order to pull a rapid left hook so as to avoid waiting for a handful of bikes going straight on to effectively clear the lane.

It's a real hazard and only a matter of time before a serious left hook occurs and a cyclist injury at that exact spot. I normally break the wands and head into the traffic lane about 50m prior to the junction to avoid this situation, but isn't always easy/possible.

randomname2005

Effects wrote: »

Direct hit this morning. Cycling through Dún Laoghaire shortly after 7 am. A bee came out of nowhere, didn’t indicate, and flew straight into my mouth and immediately stung me on the lip.
Swelled up straight away and extremely painful!
Bee kept going but I pulled the venom sack and stinger out so she’s probably dead by now.

Ouch!

Duckjob

Pinch Flat wrote: »

ah stop. First time back on the bike in a while. Only a few minutes from my house on a sunday morning. Cycling along the cycle lane, but a motorist had decided to park his car, straddling both the cycle lane and pedestrian lane - nothing was getting past. I bunny hopped down and would have given him a shake of the head as I passed, but not content with parking on the cycle lane, he also nearly doored me when he swung his door open as I was passing. Happened here:

https://goo.gl/maps/W4GsfWxt46joxwqz8

"not a great place to park, you nearly doored me there" says I. He was like a primed fuse. "Well where the fcuk am I meant to park". "well not on a cycle lane anyway". at this point, I decided to disengage, as I see if over an above my call of duty to find parking for motorists who couldn't be arsed to find it themselves. A torrent of abuse followed as I waited at the red light " you fcucking cyclists, rabble, rabble". I cycled off shaking my head - I mean, he's committed a few offences with his sh!tty parking but it;s somehow my problem?

Incidentally, there are three parking spots, all within a 30 second to one minute walk away. here https://goo.gl/maps/6czDARicVugfK4S56, here https://goo.gl/maps/cwbHHGoeLVGdGDsx7 and here https://goo.gl/maps/T4j1ZPf4YaW4cHDs6. The last one the council kindly took away a few football pitches to facilitate the chronic antisocial parking on the porterstown road.

Remind me again why we don't use cycle lanes?

The icing on the cake is that he's probably the type that rants loudly and often about dem cyclists not using "perfectly good" cycle paths (that his road tax paid for of course)

Bunch of utter f***ing hypocrites, those types. Utterly sick of their sh*te.

Seth Brundle

Just saw this on twitter...

https://twitter.com/yascaoimhin/status/1298527182097199104

Stark

Yeah here presumably https://goo.gl/maps/k8xsJtuewVcVBgKU9 . It's one of those pedestrian crossings with the cycle lights before some gimp complains that he should have dismounted. One of those ones where you have to watch for traffic ignoring the red light alright.

magicbastarder

accessibility/permeability for cyclists who join from north strand itself, maybe?

Stark

Well there's accessibility for people joining from above at the other bridges. On the other side you're on a public road for a while though before rejoining the canal way so probably not an insignificant amount of work to have a grade separated crossing.

buffalo

kenmm wrote: »

Ouch, hopefully no lasting injuries..

I bet that's at the crossing of n strand road/ Amiens st- used the new path a couple of times, but people fly through that crossing.

From the structure in the background of the pic, it's more likely to be Sheriff Street Upper:

https://goo.gl/maps/sbtaQLLQM9DxLT919

edit: from memory, the problem here is that the crossing isn't synchronised with the junction, which is very close by. So drivers coming around the corner aren't looking for another set of lights so soon. It would be better if they all went red together.

buffalo

An aside, look at the rake of cyclists in the Google Streetview. Always heartening!

triggermortis

Had 2 close passes within 6 minutes of leaving home today. Second one was a truck that squeezed me towards the ditch as he passed. Morons

First car has barely touched the white line with its wheels, the second one was worse than it looked as it was moving in towards me

Seth Brundle

triggermortis wrote: »

Had 2 close passes within 6 minutes of leaving home today. Second one was a truck that squeezed me towards the ditch as he passed. Morons

https://iili.io/dPCPx1.jpg

https://iili.io/dPCiWF.jpg

First car has barely touched the white line with its wheels, the second one was worse than it looked as it was moving in towards me

What exactly is the legal situation there in terms of overtaking a cyclist with an adjacent white line?
Am I right in thinking it is not allowed?