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

Saw the video.. Wasn't that close at slow speeds… Looked liek he was more bored than me.

I have sympathy for the bus driver… There is a cycle lane and cyclist doesn't want to use it…

There are paths, that is why we don't see people walking down the middle of the road.

Update on this, reported at the time to the taxi regulator. Good advise from members here including @magicbastarder and the seemingly now banned @AndrewJRenko that it was "The conduct, behavior of an SPSV driver" that I was reporting. After some back and forth with their compliance department for a number of weeks they accepted the complaint and asked for a signed statement. Sent that via email and case was then progressed to a solicitor firm on behalf of the NTA.

Had a telephone conversation with the solicitor towards the end of Nov who was excellent and advised of the likely process. He had nothing favorable to say about the driver and wouldn't be surprised if he contested the case since in his experience they were a litigious collective.

Received an update from the solicitor yesterday to say the driver was before a judge in the district court last week and had pleaded guilty to the charge (don't know what the exact charge was) and I would no longer be needed to give evidence. Driver had to pay a charitable donation and costs (don't know amounts) to avoid a conviction so I'll take that as a result as costs couldn't have cheap. Had a search but looks like district court minutes aren't published and are instead internal court records under the control of the presiding judge.

Taxi regulator complaint process not too bad and could be all done online. Much more efficient than the garda rigmarole of having to wait for and give a statement in person for the garda to then have to hand write it. That seriously needs to change.

People are incredibly stupid and can't see past their nose. First driver is bad enough with the fog lights on a clear dry morning but overtakes coming into a red light junction and just about manages to get in front. 2nd driver is just a dumbass and tries the same with no where to go, ends up half way out in the next lane and then having to pull in before we get a green light to proceed.

Deluge of an evening in the latest storm and flood warnings but at least traffic was very light. Excuse the brake squeal as my discs are brutal in wet weather.

Idiotic close pass by taxi driver in video below, squeezed between me and queuing traffic rather than wait 10 seconds for a clear road. Thought I was taking enough priority to prevent such moves. Left clip running and sped up to show he gained nothing, I caught up with him at traffic lights later and knocked on his rear panel as he was sitting at the crest of the bridge. Pulled up beside him then to see if he'd engage but not a peep and kept his distance thereafter.

It shouldn't be. In my aging Ford Focus you can only turn on the fog lights when the full/dip beams are on by pulling the knob out. It then has to be pushed back in before the lights can be turned off. It's a simple, mechanical solution but not present on our newer family car with automatic lights

Where do they get these bellends, and worse….who gives these bellends actual taxi licences?

Agree completely. We're all susceptible to it to varying degrees. I had one langer accelerate up the inside of me from the lights at the Donnybrook stadium junction into town this morning (you know the one where the road merges from two lanes to one lane) to pull in front of me so he could get one car ahead. I was conscious of being pissed off for the next few minutes. Slights that would otherwise wash off you like water off a ducks back in any other context seem much more deliberate when done in a car. It's even more bizarre because we're a nation obsessed with apologising for everything "oh, sorry" "no, go ahead" etc etc. But behind the wheel of a car, locked into the traffic grid system, rules imposed on us, freedom to move severely restricted… we become ass***es.

And yet, what studies have been done as to driver behaviour, what manufacturers can do to lessen issues, what road designers can do, what education needs to be done etc. None. I'm convinced that half the anger towards cyclists is down to the fact that they're perceived as being unfairly free from car-caused traffic issues in a "they think they're so great don't they" kind of way. Definite vibes of that from so many conversations I've had with people. When you calmly talk through the issues - "yes but why does THAT bother YOU?" - it invariably comes down to that. You can even see it in the other thread on here that I'm not going back to, with the snide "wannabe tour de france cyclists" comments.