CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!

  1. ejstubbs
    Member

    Yodel van "ghost" double-parked outside Cash Converters on Dalry road (ie had double been parked, but had been left there long enough for the vehicles parked legally next to the kerb to have departed, leaving the van "floating" in the middle of the traffic with no visible means of support).

    Posted 6 years ago #
  2. mfcity
    Member

    Two close calls with drivers queuing at traffic lights today: in the morning, on Lauriston Gardens, I was filtering past on the inside to get to the green light when a white van lurched over to the left as if to pull up onto the pavement. He had emergency flashers on (what does that mean in this situation ?) and I hit his wing mirror as I tried to get out of the way.
    Then this evening, while crossing Dean Bridge, filtering by stopped traffic on the inside, I was dismayed to see a passenger open his door directly in front of me. Too shocked to say anything, but fortunately I was rolling very gingerly and stopped in time. He didn’t seem to recognize the potential risk, though.
    It made me wish we had the cycle lane dividers you find in Belgium, though the old Edinburgh infrastructure would make this difficult to install in many places (the bridge, for example).
    Sheesh.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  3. chdot
    Admin

  4. dougal
    Member

    @mfcity I was nearly doored outside Sainsburys Leith Walk while riding on the segregated (on-pavement) cycle path. Passenger swung the door right out, didn't see me, stepped out, didn't see me, closed the door and walked across the path in front of me, then saw me.

    Conflict designed into the system.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  5. chdot
    Admin

  6. 559
    Member

    @dougal
    ive not cycled on LW for a while but viewed lanes from a bus recently and was appalled.

    Leith Walk cycle lanes are a joke and a waste of money,
    1.Why is the lane not continuous, every time it crosses a side street there is a give way line, if cycled on the rode you wouldn't stop for those junctions as you would have right of way. give way lines should be on the road traffic, entering/exiting side streets.

    2. Cycle lanes are too narrow.
    3. Cycle lanes are not immediately obvious to peds
    4. Cycle lanes curving left and right to suit bus stops, laybys etc, should be straight. Look more like a "cycle road" so that peds and drivers are more aware.
    5. More obvious boundaries between ped/cycle lane.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  7. Stickman
    Member

    The driver who made an illegal left turn from Charlotte Square into Princes Street, then after realising their error tried to reverse back around the corner.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  8. Stickman
    Member

    Black cab driver SF66 GZK on his phone as he turned onto Queen St from St David St: the tell-tale stare at the glowing lap gave him away. Professional driver.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  9. Rob
    Member

    I'll never understand why some people are so desperate to overtake. Wrong side of the road round a blind corner just to park up.

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    Posted 6 years ago #
  10. dougal
    Member

    Complaint sent to Lothian Buses.

    "The driver of number 26 (SF17 VOG) close-passed me on my bicycle this morning some time between 0745 and 0750, both heading southbound outside the Playhouse heading towards Picardy Place roundabout. I looked over as the front of the vehicle passed and saw that the driver was not looking at me or the road but at a device (phone?) in his hand. I initially screamed in fright at the pass, then shouted him to put his phone down. The driver didn't react to my shout while I could see him, then drove off without stopping to acknowledge his error or apologise. At the roundabout we took different exits."

    Posted 6 years ago #
  11. Ed1
    Member

    https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/drunk-woman-who-drove-mobility-scooter-on-wrong-side-of-edinburgh-road-banned-1-4678354

    I wonder what legislation the mobility scooter was crushed under. Also banned from driving for 16 months was not aware need a licence to drive scouter I assume that is a car drivers licence that revoked.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  12. dessert rat
    Member

    pointed out to a driver on Seafield Rd this evening that he shouldn't be on the phone while driving (he was typing).

    Apparently I don't have the right to tell him as a) I don't pay tax and b) I was weaving in&out of the traffic)

    Posted 6 years ago #
  13. gembo
    Member

    @iainmcr
    It is his bosses you need to tell. He should be sacked unless mitigating circumstances?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  14. fimm
    Member

    Sometime last week.
    I stopped at the red light at the 5-way Gorgie Rd/Dalry Rd/Henderson Terrace etc junction; I'm going Gorgie Road to Dalry Road. A van pulls up to my right, in the lane to go up Henderson Terrace. My lights go green, while the "right turn" filter for Henderson Terrace stays red. The van driver pulls away, nearly taking out someone who has legally moved off under a green light from the Dalry Road direction.

    Don't know what they thought the red light was for, or whether they just moved because I moved without looking at the light (this is possible).

    Posted 6 years ago #
  15. ejstubbs
    Member

    @fimm: "...whether they just moved because I moved without looking at the light (this is possible)."

    More than just possible, I'd say it was quite likely.

    When I lived in London, there was one particular set of traffic lights near where I lived which had two straight ahead lanes, and quite a long cycle on the lights. It was ridiculously easy to tempt an eager driver in the other lane into a false start just by letting your own vehicle drift forward a foot or so. (I was young and foolish in those days. I'm not proud of it.)

    I think it's another symptom of the way that too many road users seem to approach every journey as if it were a race.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  16. @dougal I tweeted Lothian Buses about the 22 driver the other morning who close-passed a cyclist just after the Playhouse as we headed towards Picardy Place. He couldn't wait the fraction of a second for the car coming up from behind in the other lane to pass, so just skimmed past the cyclist.

    It scared the life out of me to see it as a passenger.

    I gave them the time, direction, bus number and asked them to check the onboard cameras and have a wee word with the driver about passing cyclists safely. They said they'd passed the message on to the garage, so whether anyone took any action I'll never know.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  17. chdot
    Admin

  18. davidsonsdave
    Member

    Driver of a red Ford Focus BF65 YBH who drove though the Toucan crossing on Hope Park Terrace the other morning when the green man/bike was on.

    Probably not illegal as he had already crossed the white line in slow moving traffic, but certainly rubbish.

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    Posted 6 years ago #
  19. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Meanwhile in Bath, Somerset:

    "
    The father added: 'The limit is 20mph and I think I was doing about 24mph at the time – but I don't know why it is 20mph as you can walk faster than that.'
    "

    said no law-abiding driver ever.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  20. dougal
    Member

    The world record is a smidge over 10mph, for anyone wondering what speed people can actually walk at.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  21. Frenchy
    Member

    I explained that instead of stopping an accident they could have caused one as they were at the end of the drive and holding a black object, which could cause someone to stop suddenly.

    I can't think of any reason I would stop suddenly in this situation, but perhaps I just lack imagination?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  22. Frenchy
    Member

    The world record is a smidge over 10mph, for anyone wondering what speed people can actually walk at.

    Liberton & Gilmerton councillor Derek Howie won two Paralympic gold medals for walking; his speed in the 1500m walk in 1976 was 8.5mph.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  23. dougal
    Member

    Also a sub-10s hundred metres comes out at ~22mph.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  24. fimm
    Member

    Yesterday:
    Someone managed to drive their car into the hedge near where I work. Looked like they failed to take a bend. 40mph speed limit, which I assume isn't respected. I wonder how fast they were going... no one hurt AFAIK.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  25. earthowned
    Member

    Today's angry beepy driver award goes to Mr. Grey Nissan Quashqai.

    Heading uphill on Canongate there was Q of cars 4 deep waiting to turn left at the junction with St.Marys St, but Mr. Quashqai couldn't wait so he crossed onto the other side of the road and floored it roaring up the hill…only to get stuck behind a waiting bus, then the next set of traffic lights at the bridges.

    On green Mr. Quashqai floors it again and cuts through the pedestrian zone on the royal mile (Loading only) because the barriers are down. Gets stuck at the next set of lights at George IV/Mound junction. Being on a bike I can filter to the front again.

    The junction is jammed so when the lights changed no-one can move (apart from the bikes) so lots of angry beeping because IMPORTANCE! By the time Mr.Quashqai catches up I’m at the roundabout at the Hub and turning down Johnson Terrace.

    I’m going at the same speed as the car in front but Mr.Qashqai thinks I shouldn’t be in front of him so keeps trying to overtake, draw alongside and nudge in front. Except there’s no room. Obviously the horn will speed things up because I’m in the way.

    Oh dear I have to slow down to see what the emergency is. Lots of angry waving at me. I’m not sure what the problem is. Slow down a bit more. More angry waving. Is there a something wrong with my bike? Slow down some more. Driver is going to explode with impatience so he pulls alongside window open and screams obscenities. Oh dear someone has gotten out of the wrong side of the bed this morning.

    I wonder if Mr. Angry Gammon face got to his important meeting on time?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  26. Frenchy
    Member

    https://youtu.be/PJfqJ_MQfNg

    "I'm a professional driver, so I'll just do a U-turn on this busy road without even bothering to indicate. That seems sensible."

    Also, another professional driver undertaking stopped traffic, because clearly they can't have stopped for a reason. Glad I was paying attention to the possibility when the first driver flashed their lights to let me out.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  27. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    A Czech-plated articulated lorry steaming through all the roundabouts on the Queensway in Dundee irrespective of priority. Cars screeching to a halt to avoid being flattened. The drivers of the cars now know what it feels like to be a cyclist on a gyratory.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  28. gembo
    Member

    I have been on The Kingsway, Dindee, unpleasant to humans and others. Also Hipsway have reformed. Probably

    Now you tell me ther is a Czech Queensway up there too.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  29. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    You say King I say Queen let's call the whole thing a secular republic.

    Does that dual carriageway pre-date the ascension of Her Britannic Majesty? Time flies huh?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  30. gembo
    Member

    Dindee has changed utterly. Winnie used to be their MP for chrissakes.

    D'ye ken the hill toon clock?

    Posted 6 years ago #

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