Is it really too much to ask of drivers to have even a cursory understanding of the Highway Code?
Yes.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Today's rubbish driving...
(11330 posts)- Started 13 years ago by Stepdoh
- Latest reply from fergus
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Posted 6 years ago #
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Highway Code, that is just advisory right? Amber that means start to floor it so that when you reach the red light you can scrape through as the cars come the other way?
Posted 6 years ago # -
Driver who went straight through the red at Western Corner, stopping in the middle of the junction leaving vehicles going to/from Ellersly Road to weave around her.
Posted 6 years ago # -
The MGIF driver who was the last in a row of three to overtake me on Montgomery Street yesterday. The first two were fine, plenty of room given, etc. However the follower MGIF had to roar past at some acceleration, then tuck in right in front of me, as there were motor vehicles approaching from the other direction.
I had "taken the lane" so it must have been frustrating for the poor souls. Of course there was a queue of traffic at the lights so the "advantage" gained from overtaking impatiently and aggressively on a 20mph residential street was about 25 yards at most. Slow hand clap.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Almost big smash head on two cars on the road over from the Moffat Road to Elsrickle.
Very large black Toyota four by four pulls out to overtake me and is fully on the other side of the road on a blind corner. The driver coming the other way not best pleased. He has to brake very hard and swerve a little across the road with the force of his braking.
The driver who is in the right is incandescent with the other driver, we just cycle on but we could hear him swearing almost all the way to the red barn cafe at elsrickle.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I've got a collection...
1) I'm waiting to turn right out of the top of Robertson Avenue. I know that the traffic from the minor road opposite (Hermand Crescent) gets its geen at the same time as the Robertson Avenue traffic. So how come the driver waiting there was able to nose out and drive away? Surely not by treating the red light as a Give Way sign?
2) Waiting at another red light in Livingston - I'm in the straight on lane and a private hire vehicle comes blasting through the red light on the right turn lane just before all the other traffic gets its lane and starts moving.
3) Our old friend the Gorgie Road / Dalry Road / Ardmillan Terrace junction. Another cyclist and I are 2nd or 3rd in the queue for the light to go straight on from Dalry Road to Gorgie Road. We get a green light and off we go. A car comes from behind. The driver passes the two cyclists on the left and attempts to get to Gorgie Road before us, forcing the other cyclist to stop (if it had been me I might have asserted my position on the road more forcefully, who knows). Anyway, hahaha, one of the cars in front is actually sticking to the 20mph speed limit so other cyclist and I hoof it along directily behind the care with the impatient driver....
Posted 6 years ago # -
Fairly close pass going up Orchard Brae. Not terrible, but enough to make me glance in the window as I filtered past a few seconds later. Driver was on their phone, so I stopped, knocked on the bonnet and asked them to put it away - they seemed surprised that I cared. Passenger in the car behind them gave a thumbs up and words of encouragement when they passed though, which was nice.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Heading South on Drum Street, Gilmerton yesterday afternoon when an elderly-ish guy decided he'd waited behind me long enough (20 seconds at most, this was outside Javits and we'd both stopped at the lights at the junction before) and it was his turn to be in front.
Unfortunately I was about 5 metres from the car in front of me, so he only managed to get his rear axle in line with me before realising there was oncoming traffic (as usual) and pulling to the left causing me to slam on the brakes and swear loudly.And then of course he drove fairly slowly down to the bypass, so I had to constantly feather my brakes the whole way down.
I went to stop / restart recording on my camera after that, only to discover I never started it when I left the house. *sigh*
Posted 6 years ago # -
@Stickman - the victim of that road rage sits next to me in the office.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@Iain McR: that isn't good. Hope he recovers.
Today's rubbish driving: driver of Tesla who undertook me going up Dewar Place, sped off on Gardner's Crescent before I caught up with him seconds later at the traffic lights queue.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Was waiting at the Chester St-Palmerston Pl lights last night. First of all I thought I could smell chips frying, then a 'food grilling' smell. Was wondering if someone was having a cheeky BBQ in the cathedral grounds, when I finally realised that the battered, rusty old Transit van in front of me was running on cooking oil...
Posted 6 years ago # -
"Today's rubbish driving: driver of Tesla who undertook me going up Dewar Place, sped off on Gardner's Crescent before I caught up with him seconds later at the traffic lights queue."
If it's a dark blue 4 door suv/sedanish thing, i know where it lives...
Posted 6 years ago # -
It was, with a registration plate along the lines of "T12 000"
Posted 6 years ago # -
Just had the two polar opposites of driving. Coming up Murrayfield Road at a snails pace today a car with plenty of time to pull out of Ellersly Road waved me through...then held back at the traffic island and then was happy to stay behind me at 12 mph up to the Q of traffic. What a lovely human being!!!
Then polar opposite... I slipped into the bike lane squeezing past a stationary BMW (in the bike lane) driver texting ...and pulled ahead of the range rover driver also texting at the front of the Q. I turned round and signalled to her politely to stop texting...When the lights changed I turned left into Ravelston Dykes Road. This is a 20 limit. So i pick up speed to 28 kmh on the straight and then hit about 32 as we begin the descent .. and shes revving behind me...with a blind summit coming up she decides to overtake so i take my brakes off ... probably about 50kmh and she is on her horn but cant catch me before the hill.....I get to the bottom and the red light and she starts in on me with help from the driver behind quotes 'my family are all cyclists and you give cyclists a bad name' me: you were texting and speeding' 'you give cyclists a bad name' 'I wasn't texting and driving' on and on... the driver behind...'you shoudn't be in the middle of the road' 'you dont pay road tax'
Driving a Range Rover she tries to overtake a cyclist at more than twice the speed limit on a blind summit and i have video of her texting behind the wheel.... and i give cyclists a bad name???? ...rant over..... the one thing i am very proud of is that i didnt swear once i'm improving. All on film ...should i report her? no point the police as usual will do nothing after all ive been hit 3 times now with video evidence and they either havent followed up or the driver got off.
Posted 6 years ago # -
The A703 is a [Rule 2] horrible road.
Best one this evening was the drivist simultaneously (i) overtaking me despite oncoming traffic, (ii) overtaking on double white lines, and (iii) overtaking and leaving rather less than a gap of 1.5 metres.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@Ragingbike
its the story of the age really, isn't it
society loudly proclaims itself to uphold virtuous standards that it has no intention of honouring
righteous mofos like your good self, raging incandescent that the social contract has not merely been reneged upon.. its been pissed all over daily, in utter contempt
and then they'll make you pay.. for holding up that mirror
to reflect who they are.. in case they don't know
well maybe its just like bukowski said..
"I like dogs better than men and cats better than dogs and myself best of all, drunk in my underwear looking out the window.. the whole world is a sack of shit ripping open. I can't save it."
amen brother
Posted 6 years ago # -
the one thing i am very proud of is that i didnt swear once i'm improving
Worth mentioning that I've been told by the police that they won't prosecute drivers if a cyclist swears at them.
Posted 6 years ago # -
sounds plausible Frenchy, but do they need independent witnesses as to the swearing
if not, the game's a bogey, and is all too convenient for the rozzers
"so are you saying he swore at you?"
"eh? oh.. yes.. yes definitely.. he swore at me repeatedly, officer"
"be on your way then, sir. enjoy your evening."
Posted 6 years ago # -
I suppose a problem may arrise with vernacular colloquial dialect what appears to be a swear word to one person may not be to another, a word may be used in a non prejorative way. If someone in scotland used the C word in the scottish way would an english critiera be applied to determin if a swear word, this could be infered to be a cultural power grab from westminister applying an english criteria to scottish word use in scotlands capital
Moderator edit: Hyperlinks to swear word definitions are still swearing. CCE is multicultural. Have linked to the website instead.
Posted 6 years ago # -
but do they need independent witnesses as to the swearing
Probably. I was told this whilst showing them a video of the incident, in which I could clearly be heard swearing.
This video, in fact: https://youtu.be/WCQU3tCpeN8 (NSFW - swearing)
I maintain that swearing in this situation is perfectly reasonable behaviour.
Posted 6 years ago # -
When the kids are around, apparently 'turnip' and 'doughnut' are my admonitions of choice to bad drivers..
Posted 6 years ago # -
@frenchy, you were remarkably restrained
its not an understatement to say that i would have been over to the drivers side at the roundabout, rabid and ready to bite his face off
not that it would have come to it, as these guys* always back off from their docile passive aggression when encountering real adrenalised animal reaction
Posted 6 years ago # -
*except for the one every few years total psycho encounter
but they never drive vans, and are always calm
watch out for them
Posted 6 years ago # -
@Ed12
you sound like a good c***.
but there's so much more to be said on this subject, a whole thesis or two to be written, if it hasn't already ?
reminds me of jerry sadowitz, when describing jimmy hill as a poof, trying to explain that this scottish reasoning had no bearing on sexual orientation, which was entirely irrelevant
can i get a witness
Moderator edit: The c-word is not to be used. Have heavily masked it.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@bax, not sure Jerry Sadowitz is our most neutral cultural observer.
The chant used to tail off a bit so it went
We hate Jimmy Hill he's a poo......
Think society was more homophobic at the time so the zeitgeist producing this chant does contain a number of objectionable attitudes.
This continues today, less so. Maybe. Famous other homophobic football chants arounf Brian McLair ( possibly linked to fact he was a university student) and Graeme Le Saux (name and guardian readership). Though Pat Nevin's love of The Cocteau Twins merely left the yobs bemused?
On the c word, clear misogyny. In the individual and in the group level that would see this as acceptable
Literary references predate Irvine Welsh, Joyce uses it once but Beckett was partial to the c-bomb once a novel. With Welsh I sometimes wonder if he created the frequency of the use rather than reflecting the way it was previously used?
Accept other words such as daft or decent are used to soften the impact but still misogynistic on several levels.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Popularisation of the C-bomb in middle class circles may have been strongly abetted by Derek and Clive? Peter Cook a genius but a world-class misogynist.
I like the strength of the word when used correctly once a year. Taboo is an interesting way of generating power.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Cooky certainly misogynist, but as he did not like anyone, including himself also a classic Misanthrope
Posted 6 years ago # -
@the canuck: If it's a dark blue 4 door suv/sedanish thing, i know where it lives...
Point of information: a sedan is a saloon car. It has a definite "boot" ("trunk" where you come from, I think). SUVs are more like estate cars ("shooting brakes" in archaic UK-speak) on steroids, or over-inflated hatchbacks.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Hesitated slightly outside the Tollcross fire station. Couldn't remember which lane to take. So of course the Volvo behind starts hooting. I stop to see what he wants and the white van driver behind him starts an incredible volley of obscenities with his eyes popping out of his tiny shaved beetroot head. Half climbing out of his window so I can hear him better.
Called 101 and suggested he might not be in a fit state to drive.
Posted 6 years ago #
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