Oh don't get me thinking I'm going to have problems with this camera! This one does have a reset button which the instructions suggest is for those instances when the camera goes flup, which in turn suggests there is a possibility it might happen...
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Today's rubbish driving...
(11330 posts)- Started 13 years ago by Stepdoh
- Latest reply from fergus
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Posted 12 years ago #
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Flup as in no-more-space-to-record. I thought I'd stuck the spare card in this morning but it too may be full, awaiting extraction and inspection for what I thought was worth keeping.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Leith Street is rapidly becoming my nemesis. Heading south this morning in the middle of the bus lane to prevent a left hook from traffic wanting to go down Carlton Rd. I was travelling at same speed as the traffic in front when a BMW overtakes on the right then indicates left and starts to move over whilst next to me. Where the hell did the driver think I'd gone to?
Posted 12 years ago # -
That is a horrendous bit of road for dangerous driving. I have even had drivers undertake me on the left to go straight on at this section.
Posted 12 years ago # -
....is brought to you by big blue Menzies Distribution truck.
6.45am, bottom of Chesser Avenue, lights are green, I have a clear road ahead, I am in a slightly left of primary position (as I usually try and avoid the manhole cover on the exit).
Then I hear a roar, I cant quite believe it, but I know whats coming.
Menzies guy decides to try and overtake / left hook me - until I (hitting the anchors and almost trackstanding) remonstrated in a "Are you trying to ***king kill me??" way while waving like a looney.
Size of truck / gap / fences on the junction mean that I would have been in bother if he had completed his move.
He did apologise 100 yards along gorgie road - but that wouldnt have helped if I was under his wheels.
p.s. it was gloomy when I left home, so front and back lights were on and I was riding a BRIGHT YELLOW bike and wearing a white cap - no excuse for a SMIDSY, he did see me, this was just poor driving.
All truck drivers should be made to watch that recent YouTube vid of the near left hook in London caught on helmet cam.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Last night heading east along Salamander Street at about half ten the light for the junction with Salamander Place started to turn when I was about forty metres away, leaving loads of time to stop. At least a couple of seconds after I'd stopped the rising whine from behind turned into a whoosh as a shiny silver numpty steamed straight through, its only redeeming behaviour being that it was well clear of me even though I was in a sort of well-off-the-kerb 1.5ary position. I think I was recording at the time so it'll be interesting to see if his number plate comes out.
Posted 12 years ago # -
White Luton van, RE08 MWV, managed to make it around the corner from Gorgie Road onto Ardmillan Place with phone in one hand applied to head and cigarette in the other and seemingly no hands on the wheel!
Posted 12 years ago # -
It is with a heavy heart I have to report that Paragon Trade Services of Slateford Road are named for ironic effect.
I pulled into the ASL at the junction of Slateford Road with Shandon Place, taking a place in the middle to avoid blocking the turn-left lane.
Paragon's white Astrvan squeezes into the ASL beside me to the right. I shook my head -as you do- to be to be treated to the usual tosh by the passenger and driver.
"Do you think we're too close" (they were nearly touching) "The [ASLs] don't apply after 6" and to cap it all "Who pays road tax anyway?"
Judging by the Google reviews, best avoided. I certainly will.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Often parked legally but not helpfully in the lane as you come through the lights at Robertson Ave junction just outside Freewheelin cycles. as i understand it, not predisposed to cyclists. Saw the van at the colonies before the Shandon junction. I always look out for it because they are not predisposed to cyclists and therefore need to be clocked.
They have clearly behaved like a couple of tubes in the alibali post above so please everyone look out for them
Posted 12 years ago # -
@gembo Yep, I pass it almost every day - nice to have to pull out into the traffic just at that point thru the lights.
Posted 12 years ago # -
@nelly that's the boy, certain curmudgeonly look about Him as I passed today.
If you look out the window to the south now,there is an amazing full moon shining brightly, that coupled With the heather on the weekend in pentlands strongly suggests autumn is upon us
Posted 12 years ago # -
No post-Olympics dividend in evidence today. Did two rides today - Broughton St to Chambers St and back this am, then Broughton St to Arthur's Seat for a few laps. In approx 80 mins of riding I saw:
-Blatant red light ignorance from a red VW (I think) at Leith St heading south. I was in bus lane, a van had passed me ahead of the ped crossing in right hand lane, lights at the junction ahead of Calton Road had turned red, so van was slowing for them when I heard revving engine and this red car shot past me on the right, turned into the middle lane and through the lights fully two seconds after the the lights had changed. No direct threat to me, but could easily have totalled a ped or a car pulling out of the junction on the left.
-Three separate instances of black cabs trying to squeeze me into the gutter at a roundabout or start of a bus lane.
-Two private hire cabs pulling bizarre overtaking manouvres.
-One black cab pulling out in front of me into the box junction at West Nicolson St, then just staring at me while I waved at him.
-One overweight blonde lady trying to negotiate the roundabout next to the Holyrood car park in her overweight silver Mercedes SUV one handed (and not using her dominant hand, judging how badly she was doing it) with a mobile phone clamped to her right ear.I don't know if three weeks' holiday has made me particluarly sensitive to crap urban driving, or have standards dropped dramatically now the Fringe is over and schools are back?
Posted 12 years ago # -
@gembo Good call, ideal opportunity to think how impressive it was to get there with just an HP calculator for guidance!
@PS You've put being moaned at at the lights into perspective! Hope tomorrows better for you.
Posted 12 years ago # -
@alibali TBH, at no point did I feel threatened or endangered by any of that (the benefit of taking primary, I guess, as I could control the squeezes to some extent), just slightly taken about by how bad the driving was. However, I may have a crick in my neck tomorrow after repeatedly shaking my head today...
Posted 12 years ago # -
Dear Mr First Bus, if I am two thirds of the way down your side and going uphill, putting your indicators on and pulling out will not cause me to magically disappear.
Thank you.Posted 12 years ago # -
Guy yesterday on Leslie Place who peeped me for going "too slow" then ran a red light and got stranded in the box junction causing a big traffic jam and much honking from his fellow motorists.... Who's the F@nny now buddy??
Posted 12 years ago # -
PS, were any of the van, taxi or private hire cab drivers overweight or do you only bother to note that about women? (Assuming the drivers of all those vehicles are men). I'm not aware of any evidence that weight impacts on driving ability so I'm not sure why you mentioned it.
Posted 12 years ago # -
@Kirst One wasn't. As for the others I couldn't tell, I'm afraid, as they were coming at me from behind. The mercedes woman I got a good look at as she was coming towards and past me at the roundabout and moving very slowly on account of the size of her vehicle and the difficulty of steering it with her left hand. I probably would have mentioned it if the cabbies were overweight though, as I'm an equal opportunity sizist.
Apologies for any offence caused by mention of said driver's size. If I could go back and edit I would remove mention of her hair colour and sex as well, as I'm not aware of evidence that they impact driving ability either. And make and type of car too.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I think that there is general agreement that Lothian bus drivers are amongst the best but today I felt compelled to send the following email to the company. It helps that there are usually positive in their response.
"Dear Sirs,
Knowing that you recognise the importance of careful driving by your bus drivers, I would like to draw your attention to an incident today.
I was travelling south along Gilmerton Road south of the bypass but north of Dobbies when a no 3 bus passed me very closely. The fact that he then put his hazard lights on indicated to me that it was meant as a "punishment pass". I hope you will appreciate that this is potentially dangerous behaviour and at minimum is likely to put cyclists off.
The highway code indicates that sufficient distance should be given when passing cyclists. In addition the bus driver did overtake where there was a double white line and I was probably exceeding 15 mph.
If the driver meant to signal that I should have been on the shared use path adjacent to the road, it might be pointed out to him that he has no business policing the roads and that his punishment pass was certainly not the action to take. It might also be pointed out that cyclists do not have to travel on cycle facilties and in fact, at the speed that I cycle, government guidance indicates that it would be better to use the road.
Of course shortly after the pass the driver stopped at the Dobbies bus stop, making the gains in time made by passing me immaterial.
I did not see the licence number of the bus, but it was a no 3 travelling towards Dalkeith and it passed the Dobbies roundabout at about 6.05pm today.
Thank you for your attention."
Posted 12 years ago # -
Letting a good side down, that one. Good for you, calling it in.
My rubbish driving witnessed today was midmorning today; that of a completely pointless double overtake attempt on Chesser Avenue's [I think blind] hill, where the extraordinarily predictable event of oncoming traffic had the driver muscle in, in front of the second of the two cars. There's two sets of lights over the crest of that hill, so you are almost never going to gain any time from driving quick. He or she didn't.
Posted 12 years ago # -
It's nice that Lothian Buses do respond - with other cases of rubbish driving there is usually no recourse.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Indeed. Tesco aren't exactly bowling me over with their response to magnatom, over in Tweetlund.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Have to say when I sent a complaint to Lothian Buses about a month ago regarding a really ridiculous overtake by one of their drivers the response was very quick and reassuring and certainly showed the benefits of the video recording on the fleet. Do feel that if I was to complain again that they would have better chance to actually assess what had happened than 'other operators' who don't have that available.
Of course, having said all that I'm looking at buying a helmet cam to highlight the incidences of buses stopping on top of the ASLs which is an area where many drivers are sorely lacking...
Posted 12 years ago # -
OK, scariest cycle home ever on Friday evening. I'm turning right in the High Street at the Tron (going up towards the castle). When lights go green, there is a taxi ahead of me, also going right. He gets through in a gap early. Going the other way is a taxi illegally turning right going down the High Street (its straight on only, now, despite there being two lanes that go down to one outside what used to be Pizza Hut before the bus lane). Tourist behind the taxi in what was obviously a hire care was very confused, but rather than stop, or go slow, went straight for me, and then when she did see me, decided to go to my left, onto the wrong side of the road into the face of oncoming traffic that had to swerve all over the place. No idea how I didnt get hit. Nowhere to go, no way to go there. How are some people allowed on the road? How do some traffic planners sleep at night?
Posted 12 years ago # -
Sounds nasty, hate it when people do things so ridiculously stupid because there's absolutely nothing you can do to mitigate it!
Re. right hand turn down the High Street, it's allowed for taxis, buses and bike (drove through the weekend before last and was getting annoyed at a taxi indicating right, then noticed the signs - it's a really poorly laid out junction).
Posted 12 years ago # -
Postcode Plumbers know the highway code better than most and in their version it's ok to drive really fast up a 20mph street and squeeze past some kids riding home from school. Also I don't know if you folks on here know this but if you don't have "all the cycling shit on ken? the yelly jaickets and a helmet ye cannae complain when I crash into ye" Postcode plumbers you are a classy outfit and no mistake.
Posted 12 years ago # -
@recombodna, maybe you can send a 'testimonial' to their driving skills and knowledge here:
Posted 12 years ago # -
@mgj Just asking, was the tourist a continental ie more used to left-hand drive? In a panic situation, they would instinctively go for the wrong side of the road.
(All the more reason to not have badly-planned junctions like the one you describe.)
Posted 12 years ago # -
Not exactly rubbish, just impatient...
Car passed us in a reasonable manner, but then had to stop at red lights. When the driver realised that we were going to filter and pull into the ASL in front of him, he drive into the ASL! Then the lights changed, so we didn't make an issue of it.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I didn't get that this morning, but I did get the variant where you filter past someone, the traffic column moves off and one of the drivers, having overtaken you, joins the queue further down as far left as possible to stop you filtering again. I wonder if they'd be embarrassed to stop and think about how infantile it is.
And it didn't work anyway; had to do the straddleshuffle to get round his mirror, but round him and back a-filtering I duly went.
The whole area round Gorgie's works is a great advert for bikes at the minute; filtering on my fixie like the most desperate of messenger wannabees is too much fun. Did spoil it a little with the pannier rather than my army surplus courier bag, and the bars being MTB width rather than riser hotdogs, but you can't have everything.
Posted 12 years ago #
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