CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
sticky@Iain McR
Probably not your first consideration, but a careless driving prosecution of the bus driver would only be possible if a Notice of Intention to Prosecute is sent by Police Scotland and received by the registered keeper of the vehicle (presumably Lothian Buses) within 14 days of the incident. I would be shocked, shocked to learn the officer you had the misfortune to deal with had neglected to mention that fact.
So many yesterday:
@Iain McR - I'd suggest giving Cycle Law a quick call - they should be able to advise you, and should at least be able to tell you what the worst case result is for you if you're charged with dangerous cycling (Presumably just a fine, but I'm not sure).
Personally I'd pursue it regardless, but then I'm reckless like that ;)
Presumably you were moving while videoing? Any signs from the video that you weren't in control? I believe that ultimately that's what they have to prove to charge with dangerous cycling.
I had to go pick up partner and her kid from Waverly on Saturday afternoon, given imminent thunderstorms, so had to drive through the park. Three drivers overtook me (driving at 20) through the park, giving me daggers as they went past as I had the effrontery to stick to the speed limit in my classic. Most disconcerting, so the third one got an angry toot. Caught all of them at the first roundabout. Given that I know that it makes no difference what speed you go at, you wont get there any quicker, why don't other drivers? Is it the bike experience that tells you that?
@mgj yes cycling helps with anticipation, looking ahead, wisdom etc whereas driving means you must get in front
Of course at kings Theatre junction all bets are off
Cyclists can be rubbish there for sure
Driver of Premier Property Solutions van behaving like a **** this morning on West Maitland Street. Tailgating, brake-checking then finally left-hooking a cyclist (not me) who had the temerity to filter past him when he was stopped in the ASL. All to join the end of the queue on Palmerston Place a second quicker.
Driver of a private hire minibus going through a red light on Liberton Road at the foot of Gilmerton Road this morning, who then went straight to the front of the ASL at the Cameron Toll junction lights (Where the lights had been red for ages).
I made a point of (technically jumping the lights and) sitting in front of him and taking my time when the lights changed.
Driver of a 4x4 with ladders attached to the roof who was driving along St John’s Road looking at not one but two mobile phones. No hands on the wheel. He then went through a red light at the junction with Clermiston Road.
Yesterday evening: guy driving a dark grey/black Audi who, on two separate occasions (here and here), stopped at a red light behind the stop line, then after 20 seconds or so started creeping forward until his vehicle was fully past the stop line (in the second case, all the way through the ASZ) and then had to stop anyway because the lights were still red.
It's not as if he made a notably swift getaway in either case when the lights did eventually go green. Suspect it was just a (very bad) habit. Or else appallingly bad clutch control.
Also, at the Balgreen Road/Stephenson Road roundabout, the character in the Peugeot van who went all the way round the roundabout (from southbound on Balgreen Road to northbound on Balgreen Road) in the left-hand lane.
It is better for the brakes to creep forward if the discs are hot, the pad over the disc does not cool well so best to creep to avoid over heading the discs, but of course not over the line in to asl or past traffic light in an ideal world
Prior to pulling the trick at the first light he'd pulled out of a parking space in front of me, forcing me to slow down.
I'm so used to that happening that I didn't mention it. It can't have been more than 100m from there to the light. I seriously doubt that his discs even the tiniest bit hot at that point. In fact, I doubt it would be possible to get your brake discs hot enough for this to be a factor by driving anywhere within the Edinburgh bypass.
Also, if we accept for a moment that it is a part-way reasonable excuse, how can one then explain:
(a) Why so few other drivers feel the need to do this?
(b) How a driver can know how hot his/her brakes are? (I've never seen brake disc temperature displayed on a car dashboard.)
"Highway Code 114
You MUST NOT
use any lights in a way which would dazzle or cause discomfort to other road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves to avoid dazzling other road users (see Rule 226).
In stationary queues of traffic, drivers should apply the parking brake and, once the following traffic has stopped, take their foot off the footbrake to deactivate the vehicle brake lights. This will minimise glare to road users behind until the traffic moves again.
Law RVLR reg 27"
So that's clear then if they are creeping they have not applied the handbrake and are breaking the law, regardless of the temperature of their discs.
If you look at any stationary line of traffic you can see that this is another law which OLA motorists think is below them. I suspect many creeps are automatic drivers who rest on the foot pedal but don't have the required leg stamina to keep the brake applied until the light changes.
"So that's clear then if they are creeping they have not applied the handbrake and are breaking the law, regardless of the temperature of their discs"
Not 'quite'. The law is specifically about lights, and not using them in a way to dazzle. The 'MUST NOT' (and therefore the legal requirement) is not to dazzle or cause discomfort, specifically in this case, "Prohibited Use, 11. Any other lamp: Used so as to cause undue dazzle or discomfort to other persons using the road."
The applying the handbrake is 'should', and is best practice, so as to avoid sitting on the brake pedal, causing that dazzling. So not applying the handbrake, but also not keeping the foot on the brake pedal, is not illegal.
It's fuzzy, as with a lot of road traffic laws. Of course creeping past the stop line is an offence in its own right (and personally when driving and I'm in a queue I do the whole, car in neutral, apply tyhe handbrake, thing).
BMW driver texting whilst driving on Lasswade Road tonight. Kid in back seat, "Baby on Board" sign in the rear window.
Heart in mouth moment as a foreign-reg BMW drove on the wrong side of the road approaching Hermiston roundabout from Calder Road.
@WC thanks for clearing that up. I had of course forgotten that some roads can be flat.
Bit of a moment this morning as a council truck's reversing lights came to light in a narrow residential street - I bailed to the right, seeing a gap in parked cars.
Two passengers in the cab - having driven into a street where basically only the truck could fit, then realising it was a mistake, I'd expect them to send a passenger out to make sure it was safe. Could've been someone driven in behind them, a pedestrian crossing from the pavement between cars, someone pulling out from a parking space, or, indeed, a cyclist who had slowed to give room having seen the truck braking initially, anticipating something else might happen.
Central Cabs taxi driver trying to overtake me while i was signalling and turning right pointed at my rear light and said 'the reason you have that on your bike is so you can cause trouble' .... I mean WTF ?
Bizarre. Could they have thought it was a camera?
Driver of a black Ford Focus travelling towards me in the oncoming lane passing parked cars on Mortonhall Road this morning hit my hand with his wing mirror as he passed. I was maintaining a straight line on my side of the road also passing parked cars and actually had to swerve away from him.
Had he had slowed, I could have easily have gone into a space that was a few meters ahead on the left. He had also just passed a space on his left which he could have stopped in.
Straight after hitting me with his car, he is on his horn and is chasing me in reverse back along the road. I had considered not stopping but there were people around and I felt it was safer to stop there than risk him turning around.
After a sweary start on his part, with him claiming I hit his car, I calmly stick to the fact that he drove at me in the oncoming lane and hit me with his car and didn't give me anywhere to go. My patience for making sensible suggestions to his questions of what he was supposed to do came to an end when he uttered the classic phrase "I am a cyclist myself". To my mind, that is a bit like Godwin's Law.
I'd expect them to send a passenger out to make sure it was safe.
This should be mandatory for any reversing operation.
So many times I've seen bin lorries reverse around the corner into side streets, straight into the path of kids crossing the road.
I was going up the slope in Buccleuch Street approaching a car parked in the cycle lane. As I checked my shoulder I saw that the cars behind me had no intention of giving me any space so I slowed down and eventually lost all momentum and stopped. Having waited for a gap I started moving around the car and wobbled on the up slope. This resulted in me being nearly taken out by the car coming up at way more than 20mph (is Buccleuch St 20mph?) and giving me no space at all even though the driver would have had ample opportunity to see me starting the manoeuvre. I'm pretty inured to close passes but that was a genuine heart in mouth moment.
@piosad - "is Buccleuch St 20mph?"
I've noticed recently (Yesterday) that I go all-out through town unintentionally, because the closer to car-speed I'm going, the easier it is to merge. And of course, the more MGIF's I get from people seeing me on a bike and thinking "Must be doing 8 mph"...
It's rubbish car design really, I think. Small Honda set off from parked right in front of me so I had to brake and stop to let them get away without swiping me. Why? Because they have mirrors that fold back when parked and take their sweet time to open up when the engine is turned on. They should open when the car is unlocked, and the engine should be immobilised until they're open, surely?
My wife's car's mirrors are stowed and deployed manually, with no warning light or beep if the car starts moving when they're still folded in.
I was overtaken at speed by the driver of a white SUV while cycling at 20 mph in a strong primary position with some oncoming traffic on Myreside Road late this morning. I caught and passed them at the junction with Colinton Road.
Big Man on a Gold Harley who I have no right to impede, close passes me on the Bridges as I am sitting in the middle of the lane 1m behind a bus just moving off on a green light, who then uses his bike to force me over to the left, all to sit in stationary traffic 1m behind said bus whilst I cycle off up the bike lane outside Blackwells.
The line of stationary traffic snaked all the to Edinburgh Bargain Store but of course it was me that was impeding him - and I have no right to do that!
@davidsonsdave - I've started just holding my line there and at the junction with the Royal Mile (Both Southbound), even if the line I'm taking happens to intersect other vehicles wing mirrors.
Frankly, I'm fed up at being squeezed to the kerb by drivers in the wrong lane, or who think I should be in the awful cycle lane (Which is full of pedestrians as well as vehicles during the fringe). And I've been told by police Scotland that they can't do anything about that sort of behaviour because there's no collision (Which I know is nonsense).
Tailgated and revved at by a van driver in Valleyfield Street. Just… why?
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