@chdot I remember being told more than 50% of police in Edinburgh. Just an anecdote though. However, it makes sense for a job where a certain level of fitness is required.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Today's rubbish driving...
(11333 posts)- Started 13 years ago by Stepdoh
- Latest reply from wishicouldgofaster
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Posted 10 years ago #
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Anything approaching that level would be 'good news' for any employer.
I think Lothian Buses reckon about 10%.
Judging by the amount of all day parking around the Fettes HQ I just wonder...
Posted 10 years ago # -
Pity it doesn't result in a greater enforcement of traffic laws.
Even if it was publicised that they were watching it would have an affect.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Colleague's partner is a beat bobby in town and cycles in/out from Balerno most days.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I have an aquaintance (it is really my boyfriend who knows him, through crazy long-distance stuff) who is a policeman (I'm not sure what, if anything, he specialises in). I don't know if he cycles to work, but he certainly cycles (see crazy long-distance stuff above...). He had a story about being cut up by a bus and using, um, vigorous language in the general direction of the thing: I enquired if he would be able to stop and inform the bus driver that he was a policeman. I can't remember what his answer was in terms of the general principle, but I do recall he said that in that incident he was probably better off not, given the language he'd been using...
Posted 10 years ago # -
Council bin lorry decided to aggressively overtake me this morning as I was descending Ashley Terrace. It was just at the first bend with railings outside the primary school. I was in primary & doing approx 20mph, yet he felt the need to overtake on the other side of the road, on the bend, with him on one side of me and a nice railing on the other, ready to crush me.
Completely futile overtake, as I caught up with him at the Slateford Rd lights. I explained to him repeatedly, "There was no need to overtake me, it didn't get you anywhere... Look...", pointing to the child seat, "I have family, a wife & children..."
Response was some mumbling and blank looks.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Couldn't decide where to put this.
Was coming up kingsknowe brae and in the distance I could see a bike stopped, in behind a parked car. The road is two lanes at this point. Chap on mountain/hybrid and yellow hiviz. Bike pulls out and proceeds up hill, quite sedately. Comes to junction (maybe spylaw). Car has nose out into the lane, quite often happens here. Chap indicates to go left, I imagine I do not need to factor him into my equations any more, then he reappears on pavement on other side of car and back onto road. I cannot figure if he was helpfully trying to let the car out or making a point? He could just have pulled out into middle of lane and gone round. He was not shoulder checking in any of this. I then watch a 44 bus box him in. This was a bad manoeuvre by the bus driver. He should have held back behind us but overtook me in the outside lane then overshot the bus stop and stopped in front of the cyclist, completely cutting him up and boxing him in. totally wrong. But the driver made his error when he overtook me as he was going to have to stop at the stop. Anyway the bus pulls out then immediately stops. The guy on the bike has gone up the pavement and waited until the passenger alighted then remonstrated. Guy on bike not having good day. I am then behind this bus until juniper green. it stops at quiet stop before the chip shop. Three cars also stuck behind it. It then moves out from the stop and again immediately stops. I go inside and through the empty bus stop. The driver is on his phone. Am concluding as I type that we have a rogue Lothian Bus driver, unless he was just having a bad day too.
Posted 10 years ago # -
YOU ARE JUST A CYCLIST SO I CAN FORCE MY WAY THROUGH YOU.
I was in the right hand lane at West Maitland St waiting at the back of a long queue. Buses and lorries ahead meant I didn't want to filter to the front.
A First Bus turning from Morrison St at the Haymarket Bar decided that my presence wasn't going to stop him turning into the inside lane. He kept edging slowly forward, even though I was in his path. I got myself as close to the car in front as I could, and he still kept coming. Eventually when it was clear that he wasn't going to stop and that he was going to to hit the back of my bike I had to turn the whole bike side on to avoid my rear wheel being crushed.
What is so frustrating is that I had to concede my space due to his bullying and aggression. He has got what he wanted, so will carry on with this behaviour.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"He has got what he wanted, so will carry on with this behaviour."
Hope you got his number, that's one to report to the police.
Posted 10 years ago # -
If you didn't get his number, there's probably enough CCTV round there to have seen it at some point.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Yesterday. 6.15pm. Doubeparked. no lights. facing wrong way. Bottom of Merchiston Ave / intersection w/Gilmore place (Granville terrace)
Posted 10 years ago # -
@ Stickman, my method for dealing with a**holes like this dude is as follows.
Point at bike and self, eyeball driver, point at vehicle moving at you, make hand signal to intimate contact, stare at driver again, slowly draw finger of hand across your throat whilst pointing at him/vehicle and yourself with your free hand.
Solves everything most times.Peace
Radgeworks
Posted 10 years ago # -
Struggling to follow that. Video demonstration required!
Posted 10 years ago # -
Following on from the taxi driver who did the same recently, a silver BMW(!) 4x4 (X5 or similar) came round the corner of Russell Road at the NEPN zig-zag entrance with it's driver-side wheels over the centre-line markings, nearly hitting me in the process as I indicated to turn off to the path. The idiot driver must have seen me waving my arm in disgust - or thought they had hit me (or I it!) as (s)he then braked under the bridge with a line of cars behind him/her! So stupid was that manoeuvre that the driver behind flashed their lights in warning!
Needless to say, most of th cars following it had similarly come round far too close to the centre-line, though it was the only one with it's wheels wholly over it.It' a totally needless way to drive when you consider how wide that corner is, corner-cutting to save a fraction of a second.
I think I'm going to have to try to re-train myself to hop onto the shared use pavement before going under the bridge although that means crossing diagonally in front of the junction with Sauchiebank, which carries its own risks of poor driving.
Incidentally, did anyone ever get to the bottom of the "Caledonian Cycletrack" confusion which I see was discussed in this thread? That sign is doubly misleading, both pointing in the wrong direction and mentioning a route name nobody knows of. Perhaps if CEC at least painted a bicycle and give way markings on the pavement, it would be more obvious where the signs intends you to go?
Posted 10 years ago # -
As Focus points out, one of the problems with the Russell Rat Road Run is the pair of 90 degree turns to go around what used to be the brewery; neither of which provides any visibility of what's coming the other direction. It really should NOT be possible to pass a cyclist doing 15-20mph through this section. Doubly frustrating as either end is nearly always a big messed up queue of motors.
Time for that letter to Lesley Hinds?
Posted 10 years ago # -
@ MKNS, sorry but i dont ever do videos.
However, if you break it down into little steps, one movement at a time, and do it slowly, maybe even in the mirror, thats fine, and just like any decent martial arts sifu would tell you, you can then speed it up again for use in realtime. And trust me, when the adrenaline kicks in, that can be almost automatic. I did put commas in to indicate the stages, but you didnt pick up on those, my bad i reckon.
Hope you never have to do it, and really nobody should ever have to do it in an ideal world eh.
Regards
The Radgeworks
Posted 10 years ago # -
Yesterday's bad driving was by....me. Delivering a plinth across town required city centre motoring. In the piddling rain. The buses were queueing up at the stops on Newington Road to the point where overtaking was indicated and appropriate.
I look in the wing mirror. I indicate. I perform a life saver. I look in the wing mirror again and move out enough to see round the bus. There is no reinsertion point visible and I abort the manoeuvre.
At this point a cyclist comes past giving me the "glare'n'headshake" treatment we know so well.
Why did I, a hundred mile a week cycle commuter, not see him? Three main reasons;
1) The wing mirror was streaked with rain and the headlights of cars behind me caused a mosaic of sparkling dots.
2) The cyclist had a low output single LED front light on continuous mode.
3) The cyclist was dressed in black.
In short, his weedy light merged into the general glitter of a wet night in town, his black clothes merged into the background and he wasn't in my head-check visibility zone at the time I looked.
I'd feel guilty if he hadn't....jumped the next red light we came to!
Posted 10 years ago # -
So it was mainly the cyclists fault then?
Posted 10 years ago # -
I'm not a massive fan of the concept of 'fault'. Unless there's an intention to hurt or a culpable lack of attention then the best you can hope for is for all involved to learn some more roadcraft.
I did learn that with the best will in the world motorists don't always see cyclists. Particularly in the dark and wet of a winter city night. I'll also take more care to switch from full beam to flashing when I come off the canal at night. I hope the cyclist has reflected on why I didn't see him.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Not a specific instance of poor driving, more an observation covering the car collective.
This winter have noticed a large number of cars with one faulty headlamp, way more than normal I think, but this may just be my perception.
Posted 10 years ago # -
More Lothian Bus engine-rev-threat discourtesy: LRT vehicle 611 being a number 34 southbound on Lothian Road between Wagamama and Paper Tiger area, who left it until the last possible second before deciding to brake to not run into the back of a woman on a bike heading south who was heading up to the point where the road narrows and passes through a pinch-point.
Posted 10 years ago # -
559 - There was a car driving along lothian road yesterday helpfully flashing the car in front (repeatedly- for over a minute) to let him know he didn't have his lights on.
Except he did have his lights on (at the front) but his rear ones were out leading to much rage and confusion being induced in the driver in front.
I mirthfully watched this happen as I ate my reduced to clear Hoisin Duck Wrap.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Seriously bad driving tonight was the lorry driver who overtook myself and another cyclist on Comiston Road tonight at about 5.35pm. We were heading south on the stretch from Braidburn Valley Park to Buckstone shops. It's two lanes either way but we were passing parked cars. Coming up to a traffic island I was aware of the traffic continuing to overtake, there is enough space if done safely. The lorry driver decided not to overtake safely and passed us at speed leaving about 1ft of space if that. I swore profusely which confused the cyclist in front of me and set off in pursuit of the lorry. Unfortunately the hill beat me and I couldn't quite catch up even though it got slowed by traffic. That was probably for the best.
I really don't like traffic islands. Most traffic doesn't slow and treats them as a chicane to be taken at speed. . There is also parking usually allowed next to them on the wider roads which just creates a pinch point. Surely there is a better way. It's not the first time on that stretch of road I've nearly been wiped out.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Unbelievable traffic this morning. Not sure if it's just that I was on a different route at a different time, but colinton/bruntsfield place were mad.
At the light controlled crossing near bruntsfiel primary! a whole group of mums and kids were crossing - quite briskly- when the lights started flashing. Bloke in black hatchback next to me started pushing up towards the crossing. He didn't actually drive at them or anything, and they ignored him (wonder if that happens quite often), but the queue of traffic in front of him was no more than 2-3 metres ahead (and solid at least as far as the kings junction).
I just do not understand what this guy thought he had to gain by doing that, or why he would bother.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Close passes at haymarket, on morrison and brougham street this morning. holding off commute till later when quieter.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Waiting till 9:30 did nothing - still crazy driving all over the shop today!
Posted 10 years ago # -
It was a bit mad today. My favourite was a close pass from a motorcycle in the Green Lane on Gilmerton road.
After inevitably catching the dude up at the next lights I think he sensed my resentment. Tried to pull away sharpish and...stalled his litre sportsbike.
Stalling a Honda Fireblade in a Green Lane is the biking equivalent of pulling a whitey half way up the Mound wearing a replica King of the Mountains jersey. Deeply, deeply uncool.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Taxi cut right across me as I approached the barriers at my office today. I shouted and enquired of him if he had any mirrors. No swearing from me, on this occasion. Just a dumb look in response.
Funny thing was, he left sharpish from the front of the building, without any fare, when he saw me approaching from the bike sheds.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Can people keep a look out for a taxi with a gopro/similar camera on his windscreen. It's a classic style black cab.
Cheers
Posted 10 years ago # -
The guy who was posting selectively-edited (and ponderously-captioned (including derogatory comments about the fares he was transporting at the time)) clips on YouTube from a taxi-dashboard-mounted camera a while back appeared to be operating a company called "Edinburgh 561". I chanced upon cab #561 shortly afterwards and noted the number plate but didn't spot any camera or mount through the windscreen at the time.
Posted 10 years ago #
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