Cyclists - aghrr

found this an interesting video from a biker's perspective in dublin.

I commute mainly by motorbike but sometimes by car , very rarely cycle (too dangerous IMO) and see these types of endeavours constantly. The video doesn't highlight issues caused by motorbikes too much (a bit biased but they exist also) but it should give people a good sense of perspective - it's not just one road group that can cause near fatalities - it's all, including the cyclists and pedestrians. Being a motorcyclist I'm a higher risk group than a car user but certainly have better protection mechanisms than cyclists - my best investment was an airhorn to remind those lane jumpers that i exist and own the piece of road i'm on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE2xNtjJeC0
 
Really hard to trawl through all the nit picking,that is dragging the thread to a different level!!

Cyclist hit my car when it was fairly new and cycled off on her merry way!

Some Driver behavior is breathtaking when it comes to cyclists,the amount of near misses I witness on a daily basis is truly scary!

I have been advised not to allow my teens to cycle to school,even though there is a cycle lane!
I have seen cyclists doing just simply stupid things and the same with motorists.
 
As both a cyclist and a motorist I regularly see both cyclists and motorists doing stupid dangerous things.

Its hard to cycle in Dublin. Most of the time the cycle lanes are in a bad state of disrepair, have kerbs up and down off them when there should be slopes, have pedestrians walking on them, or simply dont exist.

As a motorist its often hard to see cyclists - a lot of them dont make themselves obvious on the road. I personally nearly hit one a few months ago who was cycling along through road works wearing no helmet, a grey teeshirt, grey shorts and on a grey bike - it was sunny he just blended into the road works barriers as everything on him (and his bike) were the same colour as the barriers.

Ive also nearly hit cyclists who have just pulled out through red lights, or in front of me when Im turning.

However, Ive also nearly been hit many times by motorists who are not driving with due care and attention, who dont give me enough space, or who beep me as though I shouldnt be there - thus frightening the life out of me and nearly causing me to lose balance. I wear a helmet, dayglo coloured cycling gear and always have both front and rear lights.

I also have an issue with motorbikers who wear all black and have black bikes - do they realise they just blend in with the tarmac and are practically invisible?
 
As a cyclist of many years standing - doing far to little of it now - and currently both a pedestrian and a car driver, I see the situation from all sides.

Pedestrians are typically unobservant, and - with poor road crossing skills and earphones - are a danger to all road users.
Car drivers are typically unobservant, and with phones to their ear, are a risk to other road users.
Cyclists are typically more observant, signal late, fail to properly assess the speed of other vehicles and are extremely opportunistic.

In the case of what the OP witnessed, the cyclist would typically have been in the cars blind spot on the inside.
The cyclist would have failed to anticipate a parking manouvre and to have hung back to a safe distance to allow the car to manouvre.

I learnt through many years and many impacts that there is no point arguing that the other guy is wrong.
I was also a biker for many years and bikers have a very simple means of copping on, told in the following story.

"You may think you're hard, but the road has been here a lot longer than you and will exist long after you're gone and in any argument, you'll find its a LOT harder - in any argument you pick with it, the road will win, and it doesn't care."

"The road" in the above comment is a generic thing - all the things that are not you or your bike.
There used be nothing sadder to see a guy in the Honda Ward in Vincent's, his life's grace diminished, his family's hopes for his future dashed and him left maimed or cripped, possibly for life - and all his visitors agreeing -that "the other guy was at fault."

So for cyclists being cut up by a car driver - learn your road skills far better than that!
The car driver is just another threat to be assessed and dealt with in the way that best allows you to reach your destination safely.
And remember, most pedestrians are just car drivers with iPhones - allow for utter and total stupidity on their part.

FWIW

ONQ.
 
Complainer said:
That you're not being fully truthful.
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So you're saying the whole point of your response to my post was to say I was not being truthful?

I seem to remember attacking the poster and not the post being a bit of a no no on AAM?

As it happens I am being truthful. I don't speed. I see the speed limits as limits, not targets. I'm a careful driver and very conscious of the need to be.

Have you anything to say on the point of cyclists running red lights- or is it all okay because SOME motorists break the law?
 
Firefly said:
Is this aimed at me?
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Yes, I always quote one of Vanilla's posts above my comment when I want to aim something at you.

Every driver that I see on my commute round Dublin breaks the speed limit. The very rare exceptions are the very few very elderly drivers that crawl around. I don't believe any driver that tells me that they never break the speed limits in suburban areas.

The real point I was making was about the hypocracy of many drivers who get very uppity about cyclists breaking the law while they regularly and persistently break the law themselves.
 
Vanilla said:
Have you anything to say on the point of cyclists running red lights- or is it all okay because SOME motorists break the law?
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Isn't this the whole point, that there's a sense that all cyclists are portrayed as the same because some break the law? Yet all road users have some who break the law, so why do we only get threads about cyclists?

ONQ's post is ultimately how it is. If when cycling I stuck to having the moral high ground and being in the right, I'd have been blood splatter on the road a long time ago. Self preservation means I have to treat every motorist, pedestrian and other cyclist as a clueless idiot and adjust my cycling to suit. Sure it's a shame, but then when driving I have to take the same approach too.
 
Latrade said:
Self preservation means I have to treat every motorist, pedestrian and other cyclist as a clueless idiot and adjust my cycling to suit. Sure it's a shame, but then when driving I have to take the same approach too.
Click to expand...

Oops! Yes, I forgot to mention the other cyclists on the road.

There is nothing more lethal to EVERYBODY on the road, pedestrians, cyclists, car driver, bus drivers, bikers, everyone - than a NEW CYCLIST.

Possibly the safest are parents with kids, very particular about the rules of the road.

But a person cycling because they can't afford to tax or insure their car - well, thay have a chip on both shoulders.

They have absolutely no knowledge of where they should be in the road, how to avoid potholes and storm drain covers without crossing the white line and how to miss a dozy pedestrian crossing over inappropriately without hurling self-righteous abuse at them.


They'll be the one standing in front of the line of cars still trying to find their favourite tune on their iPod when the light has turned green, overbalancing because they are carrying a rucksack on their heads instead of keeping the weight low in panniers, and causing accidents on roundabouts because they haven't discovered cyclist friendly crossing points and cycle lanes.

Then, if you point out their all-too-obvious shortcomings they wll read you the riot act, say they have every right to bhold up traffic on five spoke roundabouts as they wheeze asthmatically around them and end by wobbling off in high dudgeon the wrong way up a one way street, expecting their dayglo jacket to absolve them from their crimes.

Oh yes, new cyclists...

Seen 'em all.



ONQ.
 
BTW, if a car driver DOES cut you up with crimnial abandon, just give him the cyclists revenge.

Catch him up at the next lights and deliver a open handed slap to the roof of the passenger compartment.
Obviously you should have nothing on your hand or forearm that will mark or dent his car, like a bracelet, watch or wristlet.

AFAIK, its perfectly legal, does no damage and if you stop right beside the door with your foot down, the driver cannot get out at you.
Inform him that the thump could have been you hitting the ground because of his recent manouevre and this was a warning - next time you'll report him.

I find that usually softens their cough - mind you I'm around six feet tall and over 15 stone - if I lean on the door edge, the suspension compresses, so that may help.

Also, always carry a phone with a camera, or a small camera.
Take the shot and call in teh offence giving the nubmer plate.
I find the police are VERY helpful in RTA's - they enjoy the work.

FWIW

ONQ.
 
If the bicycle was invented today, there is no way that the authorities would permit it to share road space with e.g. buses - would deem it too dangerous.
 
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