Today's rubbish driving... « CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum

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Today's rubbish driving...

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Started 13 years ago by Stepdoh
Latest reply from fergus
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nevelbell
Member

@waverley - I could hear her approaching at speed and thought she'd go round the other side of the ped-island, which happens all the time on that road - and when she tried to squeeze past, I was thinking, this person is insane!
When she past there was no recognition of doing anything wrong, she just looked straight ahead as if nothing was out of the ordinary!

You'd think that people would slow down on a road that has a nursery, a park and a school on it.

Can't wait for the 20mph limit to come in!

Posted 9 years ago #
twinspark
Member

I've just about been taken out by white BMW B13 EVE as I was coming round Greenhill Gardens. They decided to follow a Cyclist out of Church Hill (cyclist made a poor decision in my view also) ignoring the fact I was on the main road at speed with "Right of Way". Still don't know how I avoided them.

Vacant look on female drivers face said it all!

Posted 9 years ago #
mgj
Member

Saturday's rubbish driving actually. I was on my way to Dobbies (hence in the car for a change), and was hooted at by a big black BMW behind me because I would not overtake a cyclist where there were double white lines in the middle of the road because of upcoming bends. Cyclist was doing his best and around 20 mph, even up hill. Must have cost me seconds but I wasn't that impatient, but it is really stressful having someone that close behind you trying to push you on. Driver was probably ranting about old bangers shouldn't be allowed on the road etc. (Glad I obeyed the law anyway, as the head-on crash that I was being encouraged to have would have been with a police car)

Posted 9 years ago #
dougal
Member

The woman who used a side street to perform a turn, by cutting across my lane from the opposite direction (plenty of distance, no problem) but then immediately reversing out, back into the path of me and one other cyclist. We had to perform a rapid "split" left and right around this brand new obstacle.

As my fellow traveler said, "I could have done without that this morning".

Posted 9 years ago #
Mandopicker101
Member

Not sure if this is rubbish driving, but it did give me cause for momentary concern (but then maybe I'm just being overly cautious/sensitive).

I've noticed a lot of drivers seem to approach Give Way lines at junctions with speed, almost as if they intend to drive straight through or lift their foot from the gas pedal for a beat then continue or jump on the brakes if the way isn't clear.

I know its all about 'making progress' as my driving instructor used to say but the more it happens, the more I'm finding it just comes off as aggressive/inattentive (or aggressively inattentive...). A couple of times I've had to scrub off speed in case they go for it, resulting in a 'WTF' type shrug from me and a 'What's yer problem pal?' look in return.

This happened to me yesterday coming into a very wide and open junction (I had right of way) in Musselburgh. Having duly clocked an approaching car I was dismayed that it didn't seem to be slowing down much as it got up to the Give Way line. So much so that I slowed myself as I thought the driver hadn't seen me and was going to continue.

However as I got to the middle of the junction the car went from 20-ish MPH to zero in about three seconds as I went past. Not sure if the driver just has total confidence in their braking power or if they hadn't been looking/hadn't seen me (hard to imagine - although a dreich morning, it wasn't exactly a 'pea-souper' plus I had a blinky light on).

Driver didn't seem surprised, phased or gave any outward reaction (as I might have been if I'd not been paying attention or genuinely not seen a cyclist and just avoided clattering into them).

Is it just me?

Posted 9 years ago #
Min
Member

Not just you, I have noticed it a lot too. And often in conjunction with using any bike lane that might be there as an advanced stop line for themselves too.

Posted 9 years ago #
steveo
Member

I've noticed this getting worse too, even in the car folk doing that give me cause for concern. I was taught to approach give way slowly and be prepared to stop but if there is a gap you're more likely to make it if you've got time to assess it rather than hammering up where you'll most always have to stop.

Posted 9 years ago #
dougal
Member

Yep, totally common. Between accelerating up to the Give Way line, nosing out into traffic so the driver door is above the Give Way line or the straight-up SMIDSY it can be really scary passing cars emerging from side streets.

The "making progress" dictum is IMO licence for dangerous driving and nothing more. It's the mentality that says the speed limit is a target, that cyclists in front of you are impeding you, that waiting at a junction long enough to actually take in your surroundings is impeding others.

Posted 9 years ago #
amir
Member

I hate that. Plus the zooming out even before you've even passed. Plus the edging out. Plus ....

That Neil Grieg of IAM might be better making the case for higher standards of driving rather than his irrational "expert" opinions

Posted 9 years ago #
Mandopicker101
Member

OK, glad it's not me...but I wonder if there's an all pervasive fear of 'holding up the other guy' among drivers.

Having cycled and driven round Edinburgh for at least 10 years or so now, I've noticed a marked change in driver attitudes, both to cyclists and other road-users (busses, motorbikes, cars, taxis etc). Someone reflected that the epic swathe of roadworks thrown up by the trams seemed to make everyone much less patient and much more stressed (no-one is exactly sure what's open/closed/what speed). I'd hate to be a learner driver these days!

Posted 9 years ago #
Wilmington's Cow
Member

Young-ish guy with a complex in a white Ford Focus this morning. Tailgated a car past me and another cyclist on York Place this morning. Car 1 a reasonable distance out, he was far too close. Of course queue of traffic after the Elder Street turn, and it was soooooo obvious.

Slow, slow, slow, and move left right up against the kerb (no passenger, so not dropping off or anything). Of course these kind of people usually have peas for brains, because by moving so far left there was a mahoosive car-spaced gap to his right, so I went round that way and filtered to the front.

I may have waved my pinkie finger at him.

Posted 9 years ago #
Stickman
Member

Row of vehicles all stopped on the double and single yellow lines on Fountainbridge this morning. Combination of:

- white van on double yellows, but magic parking lights on
- various people dropping off kids (including one woman who is parked there every single morning, even after her kid has gone)
- a couple of people who obviously had life-or-death calls to make

Fortunately there is a painted cycle lane all along here, so the council has made provision for cyclists....

Posted 9 years ago #
wingpig
Member

I think my recent habit of complaining to Lothian Buses about every instance of subjecting me to discomfort has already exhausted Lothian Buses' complaints-handlers' patience allowances. "I was unable to see an incident matching your description" indeed. Their reply got the service number wrong but the fleet number correct, so they're presumably seeing the correct CCTV footage but are wilfully not attempting to interpret it from the point of view of the potential squishee.

Posted 9 years ago #
Mandopicker101
Member

Shiny white Merc driven carelessly by glam-looking lady on George Sq in Glasgow. Me in the inside lane turning right just outside the Council HQ. Merc-lady in the middle lane also going right...oh no Merc-lady's now cutting in front of me to get past a bus.

Thankfully the cantis are working fine on the crosser. I treated the oblivious Merc-lady to my best Hard Stare and consoled myself with harsh wishes of broken fingernails.

Posted 9 years ago #
geordiefatbloke
Member

Beamer driver attempting to intimidate me this evening. Heading home west along Corstorphine road approaching the junction with Saughtonhall Drive, lights on red. I'm in primary in left hand lane (bus lane but becomes left turn lane for cars near the junction), approaching the red light. Car in right hand lane attempts to move into the space I'm occupying in left hand lane (no indicator for this manoeuvre) but I hold my line and they desist and come in behind me. Lights change, I set off. Turns out the driver is, like me, going straight on but was trying to get a jump on the queue by undertaking in left hand lane. I carry on in to the bus lane, they obviously have to go back in to right hand lane (having failed to gain any ground in the queue), but as they pass me they do so closely and slowly in a deliberate manner, with the driver leaning across to the passenger window staring at me. I had done nothing wrong other than exist as far as I can tell.

Posted 9 years ago #
geordiefatbloke
Member

Last night's (Thu evening) rubbish driving, I'm going west on Strathearn place, driver approaches junction from Greenhill Gardens. They stop. Wait. Then pull out right in front of me causing me to have to brake sharply to avoid collision. On confronting the driver I get a (to be fair genuine) sorry, I just didn't see you. The most galling thing was I'd just got a new front light even brighter than my old one (which in a normal universe should have been bright enough anyway!). No mate, you just didn't look.

Posted 9 years ago #
fimm
Member

Rubbish parking and rubbish anti-cycling sticker:

Posted 9 years ago #
algo
Member

One of Bono's hatchbacks today followed me down Grove Street, Morrison Street, Torphichen Place and onto Palmerston place. It swerved about behind me all in a fluster, gesticulating wildly, trying desperately to undertake or overtake. I was having to hold back while following the car in front of me, so I'm not sure where he thought he was going to get to...

Posted 9 years ago #
jdanielp
Member

The angry man who tried to overtake me on Balcarres Street as I was braking to give the driver of a Mini space to complete a poorly timed turn in the road ahead of us. The angry man then shouted at me though the open passenger's window when he did manage to overtake as I ushered him by.

Posted 9 years ago #
gembo
Member

@algo, the diminutive Irish warbler is sending his hatchbacks to Edinburgh now?

Posted 9 years ago #
Stickman
Member

Bin lorry driver on his phone as he manoeuvred to pick up bins on Baird Grove this morning. One of his colleagues angrily shouted at him "get off your phone!" - no wonder. I wouldn't like to be emptying bins into the lorry if the driver is distracted.

Posted 9 years ago #
Wilmington's Cow
Member

Eep, too right!

Waiting behind a Stagecoach to turn into George Street from St Andrew Square this morning, one private car, a private hire cab, and a works transit coming the other way all turn in despite the 'Buses, Taxis and Cycles' sign.

The Stagecoach then drives all the way along the first section of the street in the bike lane.

And at the first lights/roundabout a works van in the left turn only lane that I had bother with a taxi from last week is also going straight ahead, and does so right on my back wheel (I'd filtered to the ASL).

At the end of George Street another works van is stopped in the ASL.

Cyclists eh? Think the Highway Code doesn't apply to them.

Posted 9 years ago #
dougal
Member

Aggressive overtake by driver of Rabbie's minibus on Leith Walk, which got him absolutely nowhere, other than the wrong lane. He ended up going all the way round Picardy Place roundabout before turning up Leith Street.

What a hero.

Posted 9 years ago #
chdot
Admin

Posted 9 years ago #
kaputnik
Moderator

Black taxi "just dropping off" on the double yellow lines with double yellow bars on the pavement outside the Waverleygate / old GPO building, blocking the outside lane and meaning a G4S coin lorry coming up from Leith Street couldn't make the turn, got stuck in the yellow box and had to 3-point its way around the cab.

Posted 9 years ago #
Wilmington's Cow
Member

Almost forgot, last night had a true moment of muppetry.

Heading downhill on Holyrood Road after the Pleasance. The road surface is abysmal; I'm keeping pace with the car ahead, leaving a sensible braking gap, at about 25mph; there's queueing traffic coming the other way; the road narrows ahead because of works on the buildings; and the traffic lights on a ped crossing are changing to red. Why wouldn't the VW Golf driver try to overtake me...

Must have had his bonnet inches from me. I gave him a hard stare / glance at which he took both hands off the wheel to remonstrate with me, almost rear ending the car in front which had now come to a halt. This was just where the cycle lane appears, and there was a queue of about 30 cars, so naturally I didn't see him again.

After that it was just people breaking the 20mph limit happily through the park, and in the streets around my house.

Cyclists, think the Highway Code doesn't apply to them.

Posted 9 years ago #
threefromleith
Member

Every day, every driver WITHOUT FAIL driving up the road towards Edinburgh Park Station is driving far in excess of the posted 20mph limit.

And without fail, they roar up and try to overtake me on the very sharp left-hand bend at the top, almost wiping me out as they cut in to clip the apex.

It's so common that I'm shocked now when they don't try to overtake.

I've tried everything to stop it - holding a strong primary as I approach the corner; signalling at them to hold back; screaming at them. Nothing works, and one day one of them will be successful in running me over.

Posted 9 years ago #
CJC
Member

My very-narrow-only-really-one-lane street is used quite frequently as a rat-run to avoid the traffic lights and queues on Minto St and Causewayside. These rat-run drivers never obey the 20mph limit so I've taken to waving them down and telling them its a 20 (if I'm on foot) or cycling annoyingly slowly in front of them whilst not allowing them space to pass.

Almost every morning I see the same mother in her people carrier driving her children to school. Every time she shouts something inaudible at me as she tries to force her way past me.

Posted 9 years ago #
Wilmington's Cow
Member

If I see drivers coming the other way on the main street through our area who are waaaay over the limit (and it's so easy to tell when someone is doing 35-40 in a 20 zone, and I've seen people getting close to 60) I've got a little downward push motion that is supposed to be me telling them to use their brake. Get lots of confused looks, but that may make them slow down (wondering what on earth I'm doing).

I thought of a different tactic if someone stops to berate me for telling them to slow down, that being to warn them that the police are about with speed cameras (they never are obviously)...

Posted 9 years ago #
Chug
Member

if someone stops to berate me for telling them to slow down...warn them that the police are about with speed cameras

+1 for this

That's a very cunning tactic, and turns you from the stroppy resident (in their eyes), with whom the driver wants to argue, into the white knight who's "on their side". I think I'll use that one in the future.

Posted 9 years ago #