CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!

Today's rubbish driving...

(11333 posts)
  • Started 13 years ago by Stepdoh
  • Latest reply from wishicouldgofaster
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  1. deckard112
    Member

    Defintely a day for it today. On commuite this morning passing the South Queensferry filling station at Ferrymuir Gait(after crossing the bridge)and riding past the exit. Van driver(Livingston Landscapers or something like that)watches me approach the exit then rather than wait for me to pass decides to pull out almost into my path. It wasn't the closest pass I've had but I waved at him and shouted why he couldnt wait for me to get past the exit (where he could then pass safely).

    It was his reaction to that which was astounding. Slams on the brakes, winds down his passenger window and starts screaming abuse at me. Drives off, stops at the junction to turn right onto Ferry Muir Road, waits for me to catch up, actually gets out the vehicle and once again starts screaming!!

    At 7am I couldnt really be bothered getting into anything so I simply cycled past him slowly as I turn left towards the B800.

    He then jumps back in the van and screcches off at high speed (coz that would show me!)

    A very angry man. I consoled myself with the knowledge that he will either have a heart attack/stroke from high blood pressure or will try that with someone more willing to 'engage' and show him the error of his ways.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  2. ARobComp
    Member

    yes well I suspect that he's back as Transport for Edinburgh with his (sometimes fine) slightly dodgy regular videos of cyclists doing silly things.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  3. algo
    Member

    @ARobComp - I got the impression it was a pizza delivery company or similar, rather than a taxi.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  4. twq
    Member

    Buchanan Skip Hire truck driver on his phone this morning as he turned into Morrison st from Semple St.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  5. ARobComp
    Member

    @algo - I think that it's a taxi as I was watching his vid and thought I could see his car reflected in the back of a black taxi minivan with it's yellow light on. You might be right though with the rebrand that he's just done.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  6. twq
    Member

    Fast & proper response from Buchanan Skips:

    I would like to thank you for alerting us to such a serious and potentially dangers situation.
    We have not yet managed to identify the particular driver in question but we will be holding an emergency meeting about this issue and reiterate the company "no phones policy" tomorrow before any drivers leave he depot.

    All our vehicles are fitted with 2 way radio systems and hand free systems to the company phones so the driver must have been on his personal phone preventing us from identifying him from the phone records.

    please be assured this matter is not settled and we will endeavour to identify and reprimand the driver.

    Regards -----------
    (transport manager)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  7. allebong
    Member

    Utter madness on Landsowne Crescent this afternoon, could have ended much worse than it did.

    I had just turned right off Palmerston Place behind a taxi. He initially veered onto the wrong side of the road (not a one way anymore) then settled down for a few seconds before putting a left signal on. I'm a decent distance behind him but he isn't showing any signs of stopping - just slowing down very gradually. I can't quite see if there's any oncoming traffic and with the speed he was still going I didn't fancy an overtake so I stayed back. He passed Grosvenor St with the left signal still on, now slowed a bit more so I consider an overtake.

    Now, everything happened very quickly. I've been aware of some traffic coming up behind me, there's two cars, both of which now decide to overtake me and the taxi. First car makes it past the taxi (who is slowing but maybe doing ~12mph) and the second car tries the same. Then another taxi appears suddenly in the oncoming lane and is primed for a head on with the second overtaking car.

    Did I mention said second overtaking car was immediately to my right, with his front end just about to pass the back of the taxi, and I had parked cars to my left? Oh crap, this is about to get bad. Idiot taxi still not stopped in front, overtaking car now realising he's not making it, but I'm in the exact spot he needs to be in to pull in. Instant decision, handful of brake and I fall right back to open a gap big enough for the second car to squeeze in, the oncoming taxi scrapes past and only now does the original taxi begin to properly stop. Yes, he'd had that left signal clicking away the whole damn way along Landsowne Crescent and had stopped right before the Zebra crossing.

    If the driver of the second overtaking car had instinctively swerved out the path of the oncoming taxi I would right now likely be getting hooked into some machines at A+E. The thing I hate about this, is I was trying to be cautious as I didn't know what on earth the taxi was planning on doing, nor did I feel it safe to try and overtake (difficult at that speed anyway), yet I still ended up in a potentially very dangerous spot.

    Sigh.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  8. Radgeworks
    Member

    @ Allebong,I am very sorry to hear about that incident mate.
    Its on my regular commute and i too have had a few hairy moments to and from Palmerston Place along there since it went back to 2 way, as well as at the really really bad junction onto Palmerston Pl from Grosvenor Crescent, which ive nearly been cabbaged on a few times with Taxis from Grosvenor St banging along Lansdowne to it too. Do take care here folks, its another potential deathtrap.
    Ive been hassling the council about the taxis at Haymarket Terrace and Rosebery Crescent, this has precipitated a meeting now, so do please keep complaining, they are listening allegedly. Radgeworks.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  9. Focus
    Member

    Sounds sadly like the sheep mentality of some road users (I won't restrict it to motorists but they tend to carry the highest risk factor for others). Once one makes a move, the following drivers automatically do the same without considering the risk. <shakes head>

    Posted 10 years ago #

  10. earthowned
    Member

    @ Allebong - that sounds like a bad'un, but on the plus side you had the split second necessary preservation sense to get out of a bad situation.

    I had a weird one with a taxi this morning. Heading uphill on the royal mile just past the primary school when a black cab heading downhill towards me pulls over onto my side of the road as if to park, but keeps driving straight at me to get that little bit closer to the school gates. No intention of stopping whatsoever forcing me to swerve out of his way. Plonker.

    As an aside, I'm always surprised by the number of taxis dropping children off at the school. At least 3-4 per day. Seems an expensive way of doing it.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  11. Stickman
    Member

    I remember at primary school in Glasgow that a lot of the kids in council care homes were dropped off by taxi. Also some of the children with mobility problems got council assistance, which in practice meant taxis.

    This was more than 25 years ago now though - things may be very different now.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  12. wingpig
    Member

    Red-for-danger impatient cow/pig-threatening minibus PN03 CWJ is suspected to be a child-ferrying service, which makes its driver's behaviour all the less acceptable.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  13. wingpig
    Member

    BEEMERS. Blue beemer, identifiable by the frantic whining of the engine as it turned off Abbeymount to Abbey Lane. Unfortunately it was unable to overtake before I reached the left-turn up to London Road. Unfortunately there were oncoming things preventing overtaking up the hill. Unfortunately the lengthy queue meant that by the time I reached the top the lights had gone red again. Unfortunately there was insufficient space to nip round the inside when I turned right and unfortunately the next set of lights were already turning red when it reached them, though it didn't stop it going through them. It then went into Meadowbank car park, where it would presumably have found a much nicer parking space if it had been ten seconds earlier getting there.
    Greyish Beemer, attempting to bully me into the gutter so that it wouldn't have had to go the wrong way round three keep-left traffic islands.
    Red Beemer, ignoring my right-turn signal and accelerating past inches from my neighbour's van, before slowing down twenty yards up the road when even its driver realised it was going a bit too fast down a winding parked-car-filled residential street.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  14. ARobComp
    Member

    703 today heading from bilston to the 702. White van tries to overtake on a blind corner. Car coming. Much shouting from me - WOAH WOAH. He brakes and pulls in behind. A second later and Only other option would have been to swerve left and facilitate my transition to the big peloton in the sky.

    He looks at me but doesn't register any sort of emotion. Overtakes with tonnes of space so maybe he did learn his lesson.

    Still closest I've come to being squished in a while

    Posted 10 years ago #

  15. Focus
    Member

    Had a nice 40 mile ride to Tranent and Longniddry on Friday for the most part (apart from a puncture after I'd got no further than Leith Shore (I'm blaming a sharp piece of salt on the NEPN as the hole was very small and round but with no signs of tacks or similar).

    Unfortunately there were a number of too-close passes, usually just before there was space or a gap in the traffic of course. But the worst example was the driver of a white mini with red racing striped over its roof. Mere inches off my elbow and with parked cars on my left as I was heading towards Tranent, I threw my hand up in disgust, only to get a fist shaken at me by the driver.

    Why was that any worse than countless other rude and dangerous drivers? The car belonged to a driving school! I would think twice about taking lessons from someone with racing stripes on their car in the first place, but I definitely wouldn't employ that idiot to teach me about responsibility towards other road users! Smaller driving schools or individuals must rely heavily on word of mouth, so how that kind of behaviour makes sense to them is a mystery to me.

    Sadly, I didn't get the name of the driving school or the licence number (and my camera is out of action again) but if anyone knows of a driving school out that way with a car like that, name and shame!

    Posted 10 years ago #

  16. wingpig
    Member

    Today's rubbish delivery-parking: large white box van/small lorry parked in the bus lane, blocking it across its entire width, right on the apex of the left-hand bend down Bruntsfield Place near Vélo Écosse, finessed with the driver opening his door wide and leaving it open as he flumped down and wandered slowly around to the front of the vehicle.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  17. Stickman
    Member

    More rubbish delivery driving:

    A yellow CityLink van overtook me and the cyclist in front of me going uphill on Roseberry Crescent just before the corner. If anything had come round the corner he would either have been hit or would have swerved into us.

    Of course I got round the corner to find him parked and getting out of his van, so his manoeuvre saved approximately 2 seconds.

    I was tempted to say something to him but he appeared angry and aggressive even walking to the back of the van, so I left him to it.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  18. fimm
    Member

    Boyfriend was driving at 60 mph yesterday, we were overtaken on a blind bend when there was a dual carriageway literally just round the corner. Mental.
    (No, not the A9, but the A1.)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  19. Kenny
    Member

    The spidey sense was telling me something odd was about to happen just before the car tried to overtake two bikes:

    [+] Embed the video | Video DownloadGet the Video Widget

    Posted 10 years ago #

  20. davemorrison
    Member

    Driving to work this morning I saw a cyclist come as close to being wiped out as possible. I joined a queue of four cars waiting to turn right from South Bridge onto Chambers Street. The last car heading North passed and three cars safely made the turn. The light was still on green when the fourth car, Silver Skoda Fabia (SA51 ZVG), turned without checking for oncoming traffic. I know he didn't check because I saw the cyclist coming down from the direction of the Festival Theatre from behind him in plenty time and as he made his turn I found myself yelling at him to stop. Fortunately the cyclist saw this develop too and took evasive action, missing the front of the car by a whisker, and ended up on the pedestrian crossing island.

    My adrenalin was going having just watched this so I can only imagine how the cyclist felt.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  21. neddie
    Member

    Middle-aged driver of a blue Honda Civic (Type R, I think) decides to pull out of Merchiston Ave, to go straight across, just as I was passing on Merchiston Cres., despite my having right of way.

    He would have hit me side on if I hadn't shouted, and I had my toddler on the back too. So, if you've just nearly hit someone in your car, and their toddler is visibly crying because of all the shouting, and they've had to stop to re-assure their toddler, what do you do...?

    a. Park where you can safely, get out, say sorry and ask if they are alright; or

    b. Do the 'royal wave' and then just drive off?

    Yep, thought so!

    However, a kind pedestrian did stop to sympathise and tried to cheer the boy up.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  22. ianmb
    Member

    @davemorrison - saw pretty much the same thing tonight. Car turning right from South Bridge to Chambers Street didn't see a bike until it was almost too late. Bike possibly didn't see the car as he kept going but fortunately car stopped just in time.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  23. Snowy
    Member

    @eddie_h Sorry to hear that. Glad all ok.

    I mentioned that junction before and I'll say it again - nowhere else will you be as convinced about your powers of invisibility.

    Highway code: "The “STOP” sign and road markings: you must stop before crossing the transverse line on the road and ensure the way is clear before entering the major road."

    STOP signs on Merchiston Ave from both directions seem to be treated as 'slow to about 10mph and then carry on regardless' signs.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  24. Min
    Member

    I have almost been wiped out there a few times as well. I think because the junction is so wide they can just pretend they "didn't see you".

    Posted 10 years ago #

  25. paul.mag
    Member

    Skip truck SN63 EPL this morning heading west along Glasgow road decided that there was plenty of space in the lane for us both. Am pretty insensitive to close passes these days usually greeting them with a shake of the head or even a raised hand in the "WTF" way but this one actually made me shout out. Anyway, phoned the company involved (ain't google wonderful) and was assured that the driver will be spoken to.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  26. chdot
    Admin

    "Skip truck SN63 EPL"

    This one?

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/blaircamerontransport/11194103403

    It's bright orange - you should have seen it coming...!

    Hope they agreed to phone you back with an update.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  27. paul.mag
    Member

    Yup that's the one. You're quite right @chdot I feel that I've let myself down. I've also never felt that the little mirrors are a good idea, last thing I want to see before getting splatted is a skip truck half a foot away. I'd rather know nothing about it.

    I didn't ask them to phone me back tbh despite the sincerity of the guy on the phone I can only imagine he will tell me that the driver thought he had given me space and won't do it again and possibly that he's sorry.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  28. chdot
    Admin

    "I'd rather know nothing about it."

    I think I generally agree!

    Perhaps best to trust the company's sincerity and processes.

    Meanwhile 'we' know what to look out for!

    Posted 10 years ago #

  29. paul.mag
    Member

    Yup, when doing my CBT my instructor told off one of the other riders for doing a belated left shoulder life saver when exiting the roundabout as there was no point in looking at a car seconds before it hit you. Either execute the life saver properly or don't bother at all

    Posted 10 years ago #

  30. wishicouldgofaster
    Member

    I had a pointless overtake done on me this morning. This then developed into a drive into the ASL and swerve slightly to the left in an attempt (I felt) to block me.

    If we are serious about road safety in this country the police have to start enforcing the rules of the road. (Especially for instances highlighted in posts earlier to mine)

    Posted 10 years ago #

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