CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting

Today's simultaneous bad cycling/driving event

(9 posts)

  1. LaidBack
    Member

    This comes under 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'.

    1. On my invisible recliner heading along Forest Road
    2. I catch up Deliveroo rider wearing headphones and moving slower
    3. Taxi is behind us both
    4. Entry to Gerge IV segregated lane is partially blocked by van
    5. Deliveroo roder goes straight on slowly
    6. I see a chance to get by the slower rider that now has taxi driving close to him upset that he is not on lane blocked by van
    7. I get alongside him just as he decides to turn back onto lane though space in bollards.
    8. Close thing as I take evasive action by using the walking part of lane - kept on bike just.
    9. Taxi gets by - happy that both cyclists have almost eliminated each other!
    10 Traffic light red anyway so we wait behind the taxi.

    One of these things - if Deliveroo had gone onto bike lane I would have gone straight on quickly and only rejoined bike lane if I felt appropriate. I do use though 99% of time.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  2. gembo
    Member

    Not a fan of big cans when cycling

    Or running

    I get lost in music

    I do like the cyclists with their radios blaring though

    Posted 2 years ago #

  3. ejstubbs
    Member

    @gembo: Not a fan of big cans when cycling

    I'm not a fan of cans - other people's that is - when they're walking. The other day on the canal towpath I ended up stuck behind a dude wearing a massive pair of headphones and progressing somewhat ploddingly on foot at about 2mph. I rang my bell, shouted "excuse me" but nothing seemed to get through to him until a chap coming the other way on a bike actually stopped, waved at the pedestrian and then pointed at me. Turning round and seeing me - stationery - behind him caused him to leap to one side in surprise (of course: whoever could have imagined that someone else might be trying to use the same path with marginally greater despatch than oneself), then stumble around pulling himself together while myself and the guy coming the other way waited for the whole situation (which wouldn't have needed to be a 'situation' at all if the dude had been paying a tiny amount of attention to his surroundings in the first place) to settle down.

    The only things worse than cans in this respect are earbuds (wired or wireless) that are nearly invisible from behind, so you can't tell whether the unresponsive pedestrian has simply chosen to render themselves oblivious to the world around them, or is just being plain rude.

    [/rant]

    Posted 2 years ago #

  4. LaidBack
    Member

    Cans on while cycling probably annoyed taxi man more than me. The double sin of not using bike lane didn't go down well.

    I knew Deliveroo guy was risk averse as preferred to not squeeze through small gap onto cycle lane between van and bollard.

    Role of guilt...

    Van driver for blocking lane.
    Taxi man for not just staying at 12mph behind Deliveroo up to red light.
    Me trying to undertake a less attentive cyclist with helmet and phones.
    I should have stayed on road and overtaken but wondered if he was going to U turn.

    Impatience always has repercussions!

    Posted 2 years ago #

  5. Roibeard
    Member

    you can't tell whether the unresponsive pedestrian has simply chosen to render themselves oblivious to the world around them, or is just being plain rude

    Or has a sensory or cognitive impairment...

    Robert

    Posted 2 years ago #

  6. ejstubbs
    Member

    @Roibeard: Or has a sensory or cognitive impairment...

    Well yes, that too. I think the point I was clumsily trying to get at was that the nearly invisible headphones tend to make one consider such an impairment, and then when you finally do reach a safe place to pass you find that auditory oblivion was in fact an active choice on their part.

    I once followed an old boy along the towpath (again) for getting for a mile before he noticed me. I'd given up with the bell and polite calling out as he obviously couldn't hear me, so was a little miffed when he told me off for not using my bell when he did let me pass. But there was no point in making an issue of it.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  7. fimm
    Member

    <Picks vaguely appropriate thread>

    Had an interesting interaction with a driver on the way home yesterday. I'm waiting at the Gillespie Crossroads traffic lights, heading into town. It's about 7pm and pretty dark.

    There's a shout from behind "No rear lights!". Now I had struggled to get my rear light to turn on when it had started getting dark, so I rather anxiously investigated. It is working fine.
    "What do you call this, then?" I ask, pointing at it.
    I get some muttered reply about "Well I couldn't see it."

    I don't think it was at all malicious - from the tone of his voice he was trying to be helpful. I think the problem was that the light is on my rear rack and is a vertical bar so looks a bit like a car light - although I run it on a setting where it strobes slowly without ever going out. I will dig out the rest of my rear lights now - I normally run three on that bike, and the one on the saddlebag that I run on flash would have solved yesterday's problem, I think.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  8. gembo
    Member

    Yes, aLDI on line have front and back I am going to buy

    Also thought my Belgian cap was a bit thin for the impending winter but my winter cap is too thick for autumn so I need another one. I thought this last night and Victory Chimp made me one today. They say the cap,is Water resistant and Zwift resistant which is funny.

    Weird blind driver of Gillespies X road, where is your red light, here it is.

    But goog reminder need Xmas tree lights on now

    Posted 2 years ago #

  9. Yodhrin
    Member

    Hmm. I wonder how long you could run a string of actual christmas lights from one of those powerbank thingies - might be worth doing for a winter Critical Mass(since nobody else but other riders would get the joke :P).

    Posted 2 years ago #

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