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

@buffalo

Only like this, though there's no elegant way to attribute the quote to a poster or post like you could with BBCode ([quote=buffalo] etc.)

Cyclists can be traffic in a general traffic lane, no objection. And they can be traffic in a cycle track. I'm not sure what difference that makes?

Part of a road does not meet the threshold of lane, no. Any reference to a lane (apart from bus lanes, etc.) in the SI that I see, explicitly calls it a 'traffic lane'. That is marked by the likes of RRM 003 (a broken white line), whereas cycle tracks are marked by RRM 022 or RRM 023.

I would love for someone to show me the SI that defines a cycle track as a lane with all the associated protection that bestows. Or tell me I'm being a moron and point out the inconsistency somewhere. I spent an evening a long time ago trawling various Road Traffic Acts and could not find it. According to Google, there is literally not a single reference to a 'cycle lane' on IrishStatueBook.ie: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Airishstatutebook.ie+%22cycle+lane%22 But as magicbastard points out above, the RTA SIs are layers upon layers, so there could well be something I'm missing.

Even if you look at the detail in SI 2012/332 which made it legal for cyclists to overtake on the left. Drivers can overtake on the left "in slow-moving traffic, when vehicles in the traffic lane on the driver’s right are moving more slowly than the overtaking vehicle", i.e. a driver cannot overtake on the left within the same lane, only in the next lane. Cyclists can overtake on the left "where vehicles to the pedal cyclist’s right are stationary or are moving more slowly than the overtaking pedal cycle, except...", i.e. cyclists can overtake on the left in the same lane. I know this covers roads with no cycle tracks, but my reading is that it also covers roads with cycle tracks in the traffic lane.

By the way, I'm not claiming any of this makes sense or should be defended. I just want to make the current legal situation clear (or be corrected!). On a unrelated note, an advanced stop box - for cyclists to position themselves ahead of motor traffic at a light - is bounded by two stop lines. It is an offence for a cyclist to cross the first stop line to enter the ASB while the associated traffic light is red, and not all ASBs have a cycle track feeding into them (where the stop line is usually discontinued). Which is nonsense.

I got a cargo bike on Saturday, and despite its ginormous size and corresponding difficulty in not seeing it, I had two near misses just cycling it home.

First at the relatively new cycle track outside the shops in Kilmainham. I'm almost certain it was deliberate. I was waiting at the lights nearby and noticed a Range Rover parked in the crosshatching outside the lane with the hazards on. After my wait of a minute or so at the lights, I got my green and started off. At the same time, the driver got out of the car and ambled around to the far end of it.

He timed it so that he stepped into the cycle track right in front of me and conspicuously did not even glance in my direction. In hindsight, I should have asked him if he was grateful for my anticipation and advance braking. No doubt if I'd hit him (and scooped him up into my box), the narrative would be that it was the fault of the new cycle lane and the poor man was just minding his own business when he was hit by a bloody cyclist.

Later in the journey, I was coming to a crossroads. One car is stopped in the straight/right-turn lane, I'm heading for the left turn lane. There's a green filter light, but it appears to be broken on the nearest light, but it's clearly visible on the far side of the junction. As I approach the junction - about three car lengths out - a driver of an Audi cuts in tightly from the other lane between me and the stopped car. Then she slams on the brakes a few metres in front of me. I brake and cyclist instinct sends me up her inside in an attempt to filter, and the cargo bike hits the curb.

I point at the green light across the junction, she points at the red light on this side. She makes a hands-in-the-air gesture, I point at the green light again. Both lights then turn yellow, and red. We both sit and seethe. To give her the benefit of the doubt, she was probably concentrating too hard on not running me over while performing a daft overtake to notice the green light. Then again, who would bother overtaking that close to a red light?

As if they plan to stick to it.

Had one with a Dublin Bus on Monday on way home from work pull straight across me into a bus stop even though I was already inside the "bus stop" square.

Had to fling myself to curb to avoid getting killed. Went around other side and said it to him and got the usual "yeh i did see you so what" answer. Bus driver behind driving an aircoach actually said to me that he pulled straight in on top of me as I was taking pictures of bus and driver.

Took pictures and details and made complaint to Dublin Bus about him.

Just got mail back from them saying they are investigating and reviewing the cctv but can't let me know the outcome due to GDPR. What a crock of horsesh*t. So this guy is probably going to get told off, if that and is free to do it to someone else then straight away

Ok. That's the sort of road I avoid if I can. Busy road, nowhere to pull in and let faster traffic past

I don't drive in heavy urban traffic. If I go to Dublin, I park at the Red Cow Luas and take public transport.

Regardless, it's a false equivalency. A cyclist filtering through heavy urban traffic is not the same as vehicles travelling at 80kph.