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

I have had similar on the south circular Road where there are 2 bus stops on either side of the road. When there is a bus stopped at either or both, some traffic _must_ overtake, leaving me with just enough room.

The other day, I moved right, towards the centre of the road and the oncoming car "had to" stop. He glared and pointed madly at me, not realizing (or I wish he would realize) that what he was complaining about me doing is exactly what he wanted to do i.e. drive at someone on the other side of the road an make them stop.

I disagree. First of all, it's not advice: it's me saying what I'd do. Secondly, if I hug the right, a car in the RH lane can overtake me on the inside easily (bad driving, dangerous driving? what are you talking about). The important difference with between what I'd do and what's in the video is that I'm less inconvenient to the drivers, which is something that's often overlooked by entitled cyclists; it's important to maintain good vibes between drivers and cyclists, and vice-versa. When I come to the point that the two lanes diverge, then I can begin to choose the point at which I move back to the LH side of the lane, if I even need to do that. I've been cycling a long time in the city of Dublin, almost daily, and I can handle myself well in traffic. I seldom have near misses, and when I do I don't come on websites to whinge about it, instead I get on with my life.

Really? It's seriously annoying and has the term shoaling. It's rampant on the quays in Dublin which is plagued with out of sequence traffic lights every few hundred meters and narrow cycle lanes (where they exist) making overtaking difficult. I don't so much mind it from the electric bike brigade who take off with gusto and clear a path but the Dublin bike users who force their way to the top and break lights to toddle along at 10km/h in a form of rolling road block are a different matter.

I'm not a fast cyclist but have had words with various cyclists who I've repeatedly overtaken along a short stretch of road, not one were able to explain why they push their way to the top of the queue of other cyclists.

Above is regarding other cyclists waiting at lights, I generally always filter past motorised traffic and wait in the advance bike box areas when safe to do so. A cyclist of any ability will always be faster than cars, vans, buses etc along heavily built up areas with poor light sequences such as the Dublin quays.

Not a close pass, just stupid driving. Heading down to buy a sliced pan in my local Centra.

I signal my intent to turn at a junction where I'm taking a left, oncoming vehicle indicating right, just before I start my turn, the wan in the car indicating right darts across the road in front of me.

I brake, and she comes to a complete stop, before indicating right again, and parking contraflow (which I think should be illegal anyway) right on the corner of the junction.

I contemplated saying something, but as I looked at her I realised my presence hadn't even registered with her.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a Google maps image of the junction, and the pin is where she parked.

I originally posted this one last December. The driver tried her best to give me the run around, but her insurance company has now accepted full liability and is refunding me for the damage to my Garmin, lights etc. and the cost of the physiotherapy for my injuries. I didn’t pursue a full blown personal injury claim. Part of me wishes I had because the driver made things difficult for me, but I’m mostly just happy it’s dealt with. I’m healed up, not out of pocket, and the driver will have a nice reminder to look where she’s going the next few times she renews her insurance.

Apologies again for the language. That tarmac hurt!

Cars turning right as I have a green light to go through a junction drives me absolutely insane.

The worst junction for it on my daily commute is just at the bottom of Leeson Street before you hit the canal.

If I'm cycling on a green and it's just me, no other cars in my lane, there's a 50/50 chance that silver car below is going to take this red path as I approach, as if I'm not there at all.

When I approach that junction, I either hope the light turns red or there's a bus ahead of me that I can catch up on and use as a shield. Actually say to myself 'oh ffs, here we go' if I'm approaching on a green.

Literally lost count at the amount of close calls I've had there. I'd say I get someone cut across in that red path once every two days at least.

Has resulted in everything from me having to hammer on and almost go over the handlebars while they go on their merry way, to both of us hammering on and stopping in the middle of the junction, to people seeing me last minute and swerving like lunatics.

Worst actually is when a car goes across the red line who actually had enough time to go across before I approached but then a stream of cars blindly follows him, straight into me and I've to hammer on my brakes.

Rant over but yeah, be careful at that junction, it can be a bit hairy during the morning rush.

I don't know if you cycle at all, but if there's an obstruction in your lane, you're safer moving out of it nice and early, rather than just at the point of obstruction, as drivers may not be expecting such a manoeuvre.

This is all aside from the fact that there's no legal obligation on the cyclist to be in the lane at all.

I'll say it again. Cyclists are part of traffic, not obstructions to it. A cyclist bears no responsibility for the actions of a driver overtaking, any more than another car, or a bus, or a tractor, or any other vehicle in traffic. There is no obligation whatsoever to use a cycling lane.

As regards your cycling bikes in Dublin, at what point would you have left the cycling lane in that situation?

Hand signals are grand, but being in the sight line of drivers in your lane is safer than switching lanes. The cyclist in the video above passed the illegally parked car safely. The driver who overtook him did not do so safely

I honestly think that in the example above the cyclist had ample opportunity to move left, let the car behind pass, then move right to pass the parked vehicle. I think the cyclist correctly took the lane when overtaking parked vehicles but missed an opportunity to share the road when cycling between the two parked vehicles - especially when the distance between the two parked vehicles is considered.

I call custard on your claim to ever actually cycle @Sono Topolino

Nobody who hates cyclists enough to cycle through ALL the old tropes could actually be a cyclist themselves.

Person in a car is my suspicion.

Not me... saw a female cyclist down on Walkinstown roundabout this morning. Was being tended to by a few people. Was talking, hopefully not serious and only bruised and shock. Didn't see the incident. But I did encounter 2 motorists who saw me coming , totally under estimated my speed and pulled out in front of me, causing me to brake hard enough ☹️

I've been advocating for years that it should be part of your driving test to cycle in traffic for 1 km.

Report him. Might go nowhere, but might get him a flea in the ear.

Unfortunately another fatality today

"Gardaí have launched an investigation into a fatal crash that claimed the life of a cyclist in Co Clare today"

RIP 🙏