In response to the above, Lothian Buses just rang to say they agree that the aggressive beeping close-honker was definitely too close and beepy and that they'll be doing something about it. I reiterated the "but your drivers are usually so thoughtful" thing.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Today's rubbish driving...
(11341 posts)- Started 13 years ago by Stepdoh
- Latest reply from Murun Buchstansangur
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Posted 11 years ago #
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Nearly doored twice just now on a ten-minute run to the shops. Once by a private hire taxi, parked in a bus stop. He mutters apology as I swear at him. Second on way back home (by which time I've put my lights on as it's getting wetter and grimmer) by black cab just as I pass him.
Posted 11 years ago # -
good to hear Wingpig.
Have to say I was flabbergasted at the positive response I got from them.
Hopefully their actions involve more training than sacking. I'd rather a reformed driver was behind their wheel than a new potentially agressive/daft/ignorant one!
Posted 11 years ago # -
There are some temporary lights on my commute route in Livingston at the moment. As I'm pulling up to the amber light this morning a private hire taxi floors it to pass me and go through on red (not the first time I've stopped at the amber and cars behind have overtaken me to go through on red...)
Then a First Bus pulls up behind me. After a bit I get a (friendly enough) toot. I look round and the driver is gesturing at me. I think he is telling me that I should be cycling on the pavement! I shake my head. Unfortunatley the lights change before I can tell him that I use the roads legally, thank you very much. I take the lane through the road works and he eventually passes me with not much room to spare. I wish I had a head cam!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Thanks to the lady in the shiny 4x4 who nearly knocked me down as she pulled out of Wester Coates Terrace without looking and missed me by inches.
I stopped and turned back and pointed out to her the bright headlight, the flashing secondary light and my high-viz jacket and told her to look out.
She said sorry and the gave the classic excuse "I've got kids"!!!
It was damn close - she pulled out as I reached her and she must have missed me by about a matter of inches.
Posted 11 years ago # -
The guy driving a silver hyundai hatchback this morning who went through a very very red light on the Gogarburn roundabout this morning. He was so late the cars heading round to south gyle must have been close to having their nose taken off. Luckily it happens so often I know not to anticipate the amber.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Yesterday, hanging off the tail of a stream of police cars/vans hammering towards the east end to herd some football fans, was a plain silver hatchback. Tiny 'POLICE' text on the side, no lights, no sirens. Straight through red lights and pedestrian crossings, in the rain and dark, at high speed in the middle of Glasgow.
Just idiotic. Don't kill someone to get to a scuffle.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@Darkerside that's a pretty serious offence is it not? Worthy of reporting to Polis Scotchland? Shouldn't be too hard to identify which unmarked car it was.
There was an [ex] Strathclyde officer I think up in court recently for knocking someone down when he went through a red light with the blues and twos on.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Not an offence, just stupid. Could presumably go down the careless driving route, but that would never stick. I suspect, given how aggressively every police vehicle was being driven, that there was some genuine concern that something more critical than a scuffle between fans was going on.
Further details for the bored: Road Traffic Act allows various road users to claim exemptions for emergency purposes - treat red lights as give way, ignore speed limits, ignore keep left signs and various parking bonuses. Lights and sirens are a bonus and clearly helpful to gain the cooperation of other road users, but not required and don't validate the exemption.
The driver did have his hazards whilst moving, which probably is an offence...
Posted 11 years ago # -
@fimm - snap...
Yesterday, whilst heading up the Maybury Road dual carriageway which had 1 lane coned off I was in primary when a very small white car behind me beeped me. When I looked round the young lady gesticulated that I should be cycling in the coned off lane.
I returned the arm waving with a suggestion that she could drive up there if she wanted. She declined.
I'm not sure what her rush was, the queue to the casino was still waiting for her when she got there.
Posted 11 years ago # -
So I'm cycling along in the dark with my lights on. There are some cars parked in the inside lane, and I wish to move further out than I already am. There's a car coming up behind me, and it sounds & looks as though it is coming quite fast. So I signal right but don't move out much, if at all. The car overtakes me while I am signalling right and we all go on our merry way. It is just as well no one in the car I was passing opened a door, though.
I think I should have got further out earlier. I don't quite know what I think about the driver of the overtaking car.
Does it make a difference that it was a police car? I noted the plate as SN11 DYP which can't be quite right.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@fimm - Overtaking a vehicle signalling right is a no-no.
I've had a taxi driver have a stern talking to applied by a police officer due to the driver overtaking whilst I signaled - his defence "I thought he'd forgotten to cancel his indication"...!!?!?!
I'd complain to Police Scotland with the date/time/location/registration, but then I'd also have the camera footage to back it up.
The police may not take complaints about driving standards seriously when it involves the general driving public, but complaints against officers are taken seriously, and have to be investigated properly...
Handily, there's an online form to complain about police conduct.
It's for, amongst other things Complaint about staff (police officer, police staff, cadet or special constable). Where a member of Police Scotland has failed to meet the standards you expect or if you believe they have behaved unfairly or incorrectly.,
which includes driving standards, I would say!BTW, that registration does indeed exist.
Robert
Posted 11 years ago # -
Following up to myself - rule 167:
167 DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users. For example... when a road user is indicating right, even if you believe the signal should have been cancelled. Do not take a risk; wait for the signal to be cancelled
Robert
Posted 11 years ago # -
According to just searching for that reg it's a Ford Focus Estate registered to the Costorphine Police Station.... pretty shocking driving for the police - I'd definitely report it.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Re overtaking on a right signal - came up behind a bus yesterday evening signalling to leave a bus stop (I stop and wait) when a large, sleek, expensive black car just motors past the both of us. Couldn't see the bus driver's expression, but he flashed his hazards as we both moved off, I believe in some shared exasperation and possibly thanks at least at me waiting (I hope so anyway). I could only shrug my shoulders and wave back...
Posted 11 years ago # -
Just seen a confused driver heading southwards down MMW from Teviot Place. He had to stop and reverse back up to the exit into George Square. No idea what was going through his head....
Posted 11 years ago # -
@Roibeard, @algo, interesting. I was mostly just having a bit of a complain (this is the thread for it) but I'll maybe make a complaint. Not that I'd expect anything to come of it...
Posted 11 years ago # -
@algo, have you got a link for searching for these things? I normally try through the DVLA site, but it asks for the model and won't give a result without it (unless I'm doing something wrong!).
Posted 11 years ago # -
Paolobr - exactly the same thing happened to me yesterday. Except that it was far from an expensive car that flashed past.
Have you see the new 'gold' Lothian double-deckers with the matrix display at the rear? It comes up with "Thank you for letting me pull out"!
-----
I wonder if they also have: "Sorry for cutting you up", too!
Posted 11 years ago # -
@wc - it's not great but you can find out the model here:
or here:
which will give you minimal info - at least to check if it's the right sort of car. This confirms that the BMW you saw should have been a golf.
In this case I just used google with the number plate, and a freedom of information document came up along with a load of other docs which seemed to confirm it.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@fimm I was mostly just having a bit of a complain (this is the thread for it) but I'll maybe make a complaint. Not that I'd expect anything to come of it...
The most likely outcome is that the officer's boss gives him an earful and you get a confirmation of this via email or a letter. Probably more than they would even attempt to do to a member of the public, yet I'd consider it a win in these circumstances if a driver was told that there had been a complaint about the standard of their driving around cyclists, and they should be more careful in future.
Unfortunately if it were a driver in the general public, they'll only get this sort of stern talking-to if they seriously injure a cyclist...
Robert
Posted 11 years ago # -
Nearly got run over twice cycling to work today, both large vans nipping past while things were coming the other way when I was going up the Cowgate. Then, a few hundred yards up the road, a bloke shouted abuse at me for pulling up about 6ft behind a truck that was indicating right. Turned out he was just getting into position to reverse back down the street. How was I supposed to know!?
Feckers. I was a right grump when I arrived for work.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Complaint form filled in... an earful to the officer would be a good outcome, as far as I am concerned, and I don't think the driving really merited anything more than that!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Haymarket to Shandwick place.
Two fun things from this morning on my new shortish commute from the So's new digs.1) indicators are completely optional
2) Don't worry about lanes just sit wherever you want.Also there were about a dozen taxi's in the haymarket rank. AHEM.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Got an email in reply to my complaint asking me to provide a phone number so they can talk to me... I am really not sure if I want to, or indeed if I'm just going to end up being criticised for riding in a dark jacket and woolly hat (as opposed to magic yellow coat and plastic hat...)
Posted 11 years ago # -
@fimm - I understand why feel nervous about such a response - I would suggest saying it isn't convenient for you to speak by phone and ask that the conversations happen in writing over e-mail maybe? Anything they say is then recorded and they are accountable without you having to record the phone call. I'm not sure of the legal situation regarding that in any case - someone else will surely know....
Posted 11 years ago # -
Working for a large financial company, my understanding is that it's fine in UK law to record a phone call but if you anticipate needing to make the recording (or transcript) available to a third party at any stage, you need the consent of the person being recorded - prior to making the recording. The start of the conversation is the traditional time to ask, so that the consent itself is recorded.
If you do not seek their consent, you may still record the call, but you'll only be able to use the resulting recording for your own review purposes, eg to be absolutely sure what was said.Posted 11 years ago # -
I don't anticipate somehow ending up with a criminal record or something! I'm just a bit nervous about it being entirely the driver's word against mine and he's only got to claim that he didn't see me and I'll feel that I'm making too much of a fuss about something that is really a very minor incident - I don't think anyone would be suggesting reporting it to the police if it were not for the fact that it was a police car.
On the other hand I've taken one step and feel like I shouldn't bottle out now. And they could just have ignored the email...
Posted 11 years ago # -
Coming back from stuffing envelopes for Spokes. At Tollcross heading from Brougham Street to Earl Greay Road. Car turns straight across my bows to go into West Tollcross. Missed me by inches.
Then about 15 minutes later I'm pushing my cycle down the pavement at Lothian Road, and see a cyclist coming off his bike and thumping a mini-bus which has forced him off the road by pulling over in a taxi rank on top of him. The cyclist was on his feet and not hurt, and the driver got out of the mini-bus, and apologised profusely, saying he hadn't seen him, so everything seemed okay. The mini-bus was full of wedding guests.
Made the envelope stuffing at Spokes seem worthwhile.
Posted 11 years ago # -
The driver at Tesco Musselburgh who managed to damage five cars and hospitalise an elderly man while "parking".
Sadly, "hospitalise" has transpired to "kill"
Posted 11 years ago #
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