Thank you to the driver of the black Mondeo that overtook me so carefully, completely on the other side of Gogar Station Road this evening. The trouble is, you did it on a blind corner that I know you couldn't see round, and there was a car coming the other way. Luckily for us both they stopped to let you complete your manoeuvre with damaging your car or pushing me completely off the road.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Today's rubbish driving...
(11332 posts)- Started 13 years ago by Stepdoh
- Latest reply from CocoShepherd
- This topic is
sticky
-
Posted 6 years ago #
-
If you were the Deliveroo rider (or following rider) heading north past the Kings Theatre this evening, I have a very good video of the white mazda that nearly killed you by turning right across your path into Gilmore Place.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Van driver shouting something aggressive at me (I really only caught ‘stupid’), presumably for the audacity of having a loaded tagalong on the road. The only one making it dangerous is guys like you. That said, when I was already rattled a bit by his shouting a couple of unforgivably close passes made it worse so I did dismount and cross rather than risk more driver fury when I needed to turn right.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Driver turning left from Princes Street onto The Mound. They were at least kind enough to slow down a bit to let a pedestrian finish crossing the road.
Posted 6 years ago # -
The sign on the traffic lights outside the Royal Academy says no left turn, so at the very least it was an illegal turn. If it was a private car then they shouldn't even have been on that stretch of Princes Street in the first place, of course.
When I worked in that part of town it was not at all uncommon to see private cars being driven east to west along Princes Street (west to east less so - the markings and signage are a lot less easy to ignore at the west end). Although it's almost understandable to take the first escape opportunity if you've found yourself where you shouldn't be (going straight on would be illegal too, anyway).
Posted 6 years ago # -
One of the problems in the city centre is they've prioritised 'flow' so much (multi-lanes, banned turns, etc.) that if you go wrong it's impossible to turn round or correct your mistake. You are then committed to driving miles in the wrong direction.
All city centre roads should be 1 bus lane and 1 general traffic lane in each direction, with few banned turns, but through-private-traffic prevented.
Oh, and traffic lights only letting one direction go at a time & a pedestrian phase between every traffic phase
Posted 6 years ago # -
It was a private car, and good point on taking the first escape route. Are all private cars banned or are blue badge holders exempt?
Posted 6 years ago # -
AFAIK blue badge holders are not exempt.
On page 21 of https://www.mygov.scot/blue-badge-scheme/blue-badge-right-responsibilities.pdf?inline=true it states "Badge holders are not entitled to drive in bus lanes during their hours of operation". From reading other sources found by Google it seems pretty clear that the blue badge is only intended to facilitate parking for the mobility-impaired, not driving to places to park.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Someone drifting in their (apparently untaxed) BMW round Gilmerton Dykes roundabout. Was difficult to tell if it was deliberate, but not sure which possibility would be worse.
Posted 6 years ago # -
The driver driving along Liberton Road at rush hour this morning, while using an iPad on their lap. They didn't notice me until I used my Airzound and shouted "Really? An iPad while you're driving?" at them, at which point he looked at me and went back to using his device (The car was moving the whole time, not stopped at lights).
He's getting reported tonight if the video is clear enough.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Not so pleasant encounter on the Pleasance on Friday with the driver of black cab 115.
I was in primary position as I was comfortably keeping pace two car lengths behind an Audi with traffic speed fluctuating. As I start to slow for stationary traffic ahead the driver of black cab 115 decides to perform a close overtake even though there is no space in front of me for him to go into.
Posted 6 years ago # -
um. wow.
i used to feel bad about 'holding up' drivers and then realised, i was only stopping them from getting to a red light a few seconds sooner.Posted 6 years ago # -
I wait behind so many vehicles every day - giant queues of traffic that don't move even as lights cycle through red-green-red - that I rarely care about that any more. Most of my commute is marred by drivers leaving their vehicles in terrible places (a traffic jam on a roundabout? how did this ever happen? how does it happen every single day?) that they can just thole the indignity of waiting that extra five seconds behind me.
Posted 6 years ago # -
“i was only stopping them from getting to a red light a few seconds sooner”
And ‘professional’ drivers should be more aware of that than casual ones!
https://theconversation.com/amp/road-rage-why-do-bike-riders-make-car-drivers-see-red-56290
Posted 6 years ago # -
I think you need a front facing camera too :-)
Posted 6 years ago # -
@ragingbike. Quite! The last one broke and I have been meaning to replace it.
More importantly, I need to practice some mindfulness techniques and not waste my time with angry people.
I often hold primary on that stretch of the Pleasance until the road widens at the St Leonards Medical Centre. I didn't move to secondary in this case as I could see the traffic several cars ahead was already starting to move when the car in front was stopping and didn't want to have conflict getting past the inevitable parked car outside the Breakfast, Brunch & Lunch cafe.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Few days ago I was overtaken by a Lothians Bus driver on Bristo Place. We were both turning left, and thankfully I realised what was happening in time to slow down and get a most magnificent view of the bus turning into the exact spot I would have been had I not slowed down.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@Frenchy
That is a nasty turn. Hard to get in primary but absolutely vital. That whole mini-gyratory is the work of Beelzebub.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Not todays, but a compilation of dashcam footage sent to Norfolk and Suffolk Police and acted upon:
Why can Police Scotland not manage to do this? Lack of enforcement is one of the top reasons - very possibly the top reason - for the proliferation of sh1t driving.
Then again:
So I guess it would also be another example of "what the Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich called 'shadow work': unpaid labour that benefits someone else."
Posted 6 years ago # -
" “i was only stopping them from getting to a red light a few seconds sooner”
And ‘professional’ drivers should be more aware of that than casual ones!"
i'm blinking prophetic. Thursday evening, Princes street, stuck in a bunch of busses, positioned between the white line and the tram line. second cyclist joins me, taxi is revving bahind me. i've already put a hand out to say, 'don't overtake me.' so we're now Bus-cycle - cycle, + taxi just behind.
bus beside us moves, bus ahead moves, we move...
taxi overtakes. i swear a lot, loudly. my balance must be improving because i seem to remember making vigourous hand guestures.we all go through green light.
next light, at waverly hotel, is red. of course.
so i pop into the ASZ in front of him, and spend the next 5 minutes 2-3 cars in front of him, until he drops his fare.at which point i realise i've forgotten to get his number.
taxi drivers spend all day in traffic. how have they not learned that overtaking people will not get them any further along? surely we're supposed to learn through experience?
Posted 6 years ago # -
“
A young driver blasted through Montrose at twice the speed limit after panicking when he was spotted by police behind the wheel just a fortnight after being banned.
“
Posted 6 years ago # -
large tanker gave me a very welcome and rather wide pass as it overtook me just before the corner where Seafield Rd crosses the railway line.
It was so wide and considerate that he found himself on the wrong side of the road when we got to the corner, resulting in emergency braking on his part and 3 of the 4 rear wheels (that i could see) on his trailer locking up.
All very exciting as the direction of travel was away from me, less thilling for the cars on the other side I suspect.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@Iain McR - That sounded like his good intention relied on facing off oncoming traffic.
I take it you're not a fan of the (legal) pavement cycling here? I know it doesn't work for all routes / right hand turns etc
Posted 6 years ago # -
Amongst this morning's litany:
- A BMW being driven along Caiystane Crescent at well over 30mph (the road has been a 20 limit for months now). The road surface is in poor shape anyway, and has recently had patches shaved off the tarmac at various points along both sides, down to the setts in some places. There are also numerous triangular metal road works signs scatted around lying flat on their backs, presumably victims of Storm Callum. Hit one of those at that kind of speed and it could do a fair amount of not a lot of good to your car and/or adjacent other road users (eg me, in this case).
- Range Rover driver turning right off Comiston Road to access the Charwood car park, clipped the apex at the junction with Waterfield Road and was still doing about 30mph on entering the car park. If he had wanted to be an F1 driver he should have worked harder at it when he was growing up; it's too late now.
- Viridor bin lorry being reversed in to and along Viewforth Gardens with no banksman. (I'm pretty sure the HSE takes a dim view of such behaviour.)
- Old boy southbound on Bruntsfield Place in silver Merc chose to pull up about two car lengths beyond the end of the current lane closure just north of the Whitehouse Loan junction, thus creating an extremely unhelpful pinch point. Seemed completely oblivious.Posted 6 years ago # -
Someone shooting out a driveway on Wester Coates forcing me to brake. Shouted You Stupid Gendered Insult at her and got an apologetic grimace of the SMIDSY type.
Posted 6 years ago # -
It was a lovely morning to do my long commute to work which I have not done in a while. The ride was only spoiled by a person overtaking a line of traffic on the A70 while I was coming the other way. Goodness knows how fast they were going. I pulled up at the verge and in the end the pass didn't feel that close.
I do worry about an incident like this and although it was daylight I was still running my BRIGHT front light on flash. Clearly the driver either didn't see it/me or thought they could overtake anyway. If the latter, I'd like them to stand by the side of the road while someone barrels towards them at 70+...
Posted 6 years ago # -
Oncoming van driver well over into my side of the road, paying more attention to their phone than what was on the road in front.
Ten seconds later another van driver overtook me as I was 20m from a set of traffic lights (red at the time, of course). I was signalling right. This manoeuvre got them to the traffic lights approximately 1s before me, where they went into the left hand lane.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Had I not braked I would have been taken out by white removal van belonging I think to CHAS. Licence plate DY16 TWU
Turned right out of Newmills Road onto Lanark road west and into my path. He either did not see me or saw me and went for it anyway, assuming I would brake.
Posted 6 years ago # -
So much bad driving at the Waverley Bridge mini roundabout that I'd genuinely need a diagram to explain it.
Can anyone guess which roads the two drivers in the roundabout came from and which roads they're heading for?
Posted 6 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.
posts
