Dummy opening post
Bonus points/ free cake if they manage not to become road kill while navigating the Southern Cross junction.
You can also get access to any CCTV from the bus cameras that shows yourself, which helps to cut out the discussion about the nature of the pass. There's a guide on IrishCycle.com to requesting the CCTV details.
Somebody proposed this training tactic to the former CEO of Dublin Bus on Twitter a few years back. He responded to say it would be too dangerous.
Don't attribute to intentional what can more easily be explained by stupidity.
School season is about to kick off but I thought I'd have a few more days. Coming up towards the N11, In the bike lane when a car came past within 2cm, and then continued to drift in slowly for the next 100m, not wobbling, precision driving. It was only a few seconds after I realised it was not intentional, just tiredness/inattentiveness/stupidity. I mean the outcome, if it went wrong, is not mitigated by this fact but it was nice to realise it wasn't unjustified rage.
To give an idea of the closeness, I was on my not normal 36cm handlebars. If I had the 44cm the bike came with, they would have taken my bars from under me.
Held off posting this for a while because it was with the Gardai. However, it's been 6 months since I gave them the footage and a statement, and I've heard nothing back. Probably the closest I've ever come to being seriously injured on the bike.
The wide-angle lens on the camera doesn't do it justice, but the van swerves into my path to avoid colliding head-on with the truck. It was total insanity.
The worst part is that we're 30 seconds or less from a long, wide stretch of road; where passing is much safer. All this risk, all the lives put on the line (at least mine and his) for 30 seconds.
This is what the Gardai, the RSA, and all of the road safey bodies need to focus on. Not helmets, high-viz, or victim-blaming. We always hear of the tragedies, but these near-misses are happening too, and most aren't on video. Just becasue they "got away with it" and no one got hurt is not an excuse. We can't bring people back when they're gone, so sh*t like this needs to be made an example of. This needs to be stamped out the hard way.
And for the record, I had front and 2 back lights. I was in high-viz. I was wearing a helmet. All of which would have done the sweet sum of f*ck all had this gone slightly differently.
@Schorpio F*ck me is all I have to say to that, maybe 2 seconds away from a fatal collision for either you or the driver. What are the Gardai playing at, the number of easy offences you could add together there and have them close to off the road with minimal effort is ridiculous. No wonder I gave up reporting.
straight into a blind bend on the wrong side of the road.
I'd quote-tweet an RSA tweet about road deaths with this, and suggest that perhaps Garda inaction is a major cause of encouraging reckless driving like this.
JFC, even if there had been no cyclist present, that was absolutely crazy driving. With the cyclist in the mix, it was just plain lethal, and deliberately so. Shame on AGS for not acting on this.
I do sense that given all the tragic events of the last few weeks that now is a good time to try. You could send to journo of below article and/or Liz O’Donnell to ask why the guards don’t enforce the law on near misses. Something has to change.
It's obviously just the "bad roads" in that clip. Nothing to do with dangerous driving. Or do we only use that excuse when it's a single vehicle collision with kids?
Shocking driving in that clip.
What kind of punishment though? If the OP hasn’t been called as a witness to a court case, what’s the worst punishment that the driver could have gotten? (just trying to understand)
The oncoming truck is braking very very heavily, ABS fully engaged. I'd imagine he was empty or it would have been another story.
Agree if they took a formal statement it's being taken seriously so I'm not sure it's wise to be posting the video yet, the wheels of justice turn slowly.
I've heard back maybe 50/50 from the traffic watch reports I've made. It would be worth the effort to call back to at least know the report went somewhere to keep faith in the system.
Not necessarily. After both parties have given statements, a file would be sent to the Inspector for a decision. The Inspector may well decide not to progress matters.
I had one Garda Sergeant telling me that he couldn't tell me the actual outcome of a particular report for data protection reasons, but he was assuring me that appropriate action was taken.
Just to clarify - I was told when I gave my statement that the van driver would get "3 points, maybe 5". So, my assumption is that points and a fine would be issued. A no point was dangerous driving, court, or anything of that vein mentioned. If the matter was issuing a FCPN, then that process should be over - unless the van driver challenged in court, which I would guess unlikely if they were presented with the video evidence.
I was also told that I would get a call to let me know how it panned out, and that would be in a few weeks. I didn't seek it (or feel entitled to it), but it was offered without prompt, so I would presume it's AGS policy/standard practice. That was over 6 months ago.
Thanks to everyone suggesting tweeting RSA, AGS, journos etc. Unfortunately, I'm not on Twitter/"X". If anyone on Twitter wishes to send on the streamable link with a link to my post, feel free.
Unless you’ve a friendly Garda to give you an unofficial update, you aren’t supposed to get any updates unless you are the victim; potential breach of GDPR disclosing information about a potential offence by someone else.
I've had formal statements as a victim that went nowhere. A formal statement means nothing in regards Garda action.
Or if you give information about an individual whom you can identify - which they will argue is possibly the case in instances like this
On an near empty road you do 2 kmph over the limit, get your picture taken you get 3 points and a E160 fine.
Somebody getting “3 points, maybe 5” for that maneuver seems disproportionately low when its the exact type of behavior that puts people in coffins.
Thats it exactly - if you don’t end up in front of a judge for this, given how dangerous the manoeuvre was and the strength of the evidence, then there’s basically no real deterrent. Loosing your licence for a year or two seems more proportionate to me.
This is it exactly.
We have been hearing so much the past few weeks about cycling- and motor-related deaths. Everyone agrees that the tragedies are awful, but there's a "it'll never happen to me" cockiness to so many drivers. That's why it's so important that near-misses cannot, and should not, be tolerated lightly.
Drivers cannot be reckless and just get away with it, or get off lightly. That's the zero-consequence mindset which leads to deaths and injuries.
It needs to be the case that if drivers pull these stunts on the road, they know that any dashcam footage will land them in front of a judge and off the road.
Agree 100%.
As I said, I'm not friendly with the Guard I dealt with and I don't know them personally. The call was offered, and I accepted the offer.
Letting people know the outcome just seems like good policing to me. It would show that AGS actually do respond to reports and take action to try to make roads safer. It buys them goodwill in the community - something they sorely need more of.
it's an interesting one; as a witness to an offence - rather than a victim - do you have a right to know the outcome? are pentalty points or other non-criminal offences considered a matter of public record?
Part of the complication is that FCPNs and points aren't issued in Court, and therefore aren't on the public record, so if the Garda was to tell you that the driver of a specific vehicle had been issued with points, that is a potential GDPR issue. And yes, I know that GDPR is often an excuse, but this would be a legitimate concern. Having said that, I've had quite a few cases where Gardai told me exactly that.
Whether or not an FCPN has been issued is personal information if the person you disclose that information to can identify the other person. The guards cannot know for certain whether the complainant knows the alleged perpetrator or not, so they are under instruction not to disclose anything to avoid a potential complaint.
It doesn’t mean that they are right to do it, just that there’s a small risk that gives them a reason not to
The witness v victim, GDPR etc stuff etc is just a distraction. The issue is that points & fine punishment is not proportionate to the offence. For drink driving, it’s the potential loss of your licence + increased insurance costs + enforcement that has changed the behaviour. A similar approach is needed here.
With all the dashcam & video evidence available now, a small dedicated unit within the road policing division, backed up by the judiciary with consequential sentencing (legislation if necessary), could quite quickly change driver behaviour.
GDPR is about processing data and stored data, it says nothing about a Garda telling you about something they had personal knowledge of, if they were the one to issue the points for example. There probably is a separate internal policy restricting what they can say though.
Integrity and Confidentiality is one of the fundamental principles of GDPR. A Garda telling you about points/fines issued to another person is a breach of confidentiality.
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