CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
sticky58 plate light metallic blue VM Passat Estate. Forced his way past me while I was turning right from Stevenson Rd into Westfield Ave., fast & narrowly squeezing between me & traffic island. Not a turn I'd usually make, but then I'd been visiting Wickes*. Then he left hooks me at the lights with Gorgie Rd.
Very dangerous. Avoid.
Kicking myself for not getting full reg.
*Possibly the most bike unfriendly DIY store there is
1) Encountered a group of neds near the end of the WoL path, where it is about to pass under the Gt/N Junction St bridge. Ahead of them was a boy around 10 years old, wearing a #9 Hibs shirt and riding a quad bike! As I slowed and passed him, I told him to get it out of there immediately. Straight away, I heard one of the accompanying neds shout a challenge at me. When I reached the Leith Police Station, I told a couple of officers just about to enter from their car. One of them said he believed it had just been reported to colleagues. I hope they got picked up.
2) On the return journey, a red transit stopped almost entirely on top of the ASL box outside the police station on red. After shaking my head at him as I passed to get in what remained usable, he blasted his horn and threw his hands up angrily at me. Prat.
3) Last, but by no means least, you may remember the following from a month ago:
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!
...
if anyone knows of a driving school out that way with a car like that, name and shame!
Unbelievably, it happened again! Having left Tranent for Macmerry (on my way to Gullane eventually), I had another dangerously close pass from this same car! The driver's reaction this time was to make swearing gestures towards me as he sped off. I was only able to get the fact that one of his phone numbers begins 0845, so not much help. I asked an RAC driver further along the road if he was familiar with the car or driving instructor's business but sadly he wasn't.
This moron needs removed from the roads permanently - he's not only unfit to be an instructor, he is clearly not going to be teaching learners how to behave around cyclist.
Focus,
Not saying this place was the culprit but from the pics, they appear to have some white Minis with a racing stripe on the roof (can't make out if they're red) & some of the pics have an 0845 number.
That was the one I thought of but my search engine refused to countenance such a spelling mistake.
"my search engine refused to countenance such a spelling mistake"
Other spelling mistakes available.
There's another one too. BM ? BMI? something like that. We actually saw one in East edin yesterday, but don't think my camera was working at that point.
@ Murun Buchstansangur
Thanks for the info. I'm not certain that's the culprit from the photos there. Unfortunately, the concentration on trying to stay alive and the disbelief that a driving instructor would act like that (twice!) means I haven't taken in as much information as I would have liked to.
I would say though, that the racing striped are red and green, combining with the white paintwork to give an Italian look. That fact even has me second-guessing myself and wondering if it's a sporty (new style) Fiat 500, but I feel the roof was longer and flatter than a 500.
I think it might be time to break out my older camera(s) since I am not going to throw more money at my broken main cam after a second fault. If I can just get this liability's identity...
Red mBMW being accelerated through a pedestrian crossing as the light went from amber to red only to suddenly realise that the car in front had already stopped. There could not have been as much as an inch between the rear bumper of the front car and the mBMW's stupid front foglight thing.
Private hire people carrier jinking in between me (turning right) and another cyclist (going straight on) on Easter Road this morning. About 50cm off my left elbow. What annoys me more almost every morning as I make that right turn is how long it takes for someone in the stream of slow oncoming traffic to ease off a wee bit and leave enough of a gap between them and the car in front for me to get across the road. What is it about 'must keep up with the traffic' that stops people driving cars thinking 'oh, there's a squishy human being in the middle of the road, I'll let them get out of there'. Rhetorical question!
I had a nasty experience wth a private hire people carrier on Dundas St last year - Pilkington's hire, reg 5 TUM - same one? Tried to bully me out of primary. Reported to police but they weren't interested.
I would not normally mention such an occurrence, but the opportunity for shameless schadenfreude is too good to miss.
Stupid very close pass on Blackford Avenue by a big blue status symbol 62 plate BMW forcing oncoming traffic to brake - only to turn left within a matter of metres down Oswald Road. I carried on to turn right up Kilgraston from Grange Loan. Looking left I noticed the traffic lights further south down the hill with said BMW waiting in the queue, with plenty of space and time for me to turn right. Gave him a friendly (slightly modified) wave, when he buzzed past on the way to the next set of lights, but stopped to say hello to some folk on the way so didn't get to exchange pleasantries.
Honked at while riding alone cluny gardens earlier tonight. The passenger of the car was best described as gargantuan and through the rear window I could see a similar mass driving the car.
I was taking primary in order to avoid the myriad potholes. Moved in and got buzzed and honked.
I gave chase and almost caught them as they were in the left lane to head along through the traffic lights to w.saville tcce but they swerved left and up w mains road, cutting up a cyclist turning right in the cycle lane. Real big of them. clearly worried about having a conversation about why they honked.
If I hadn't been on the cross bike I'd have caught them!
Lady in a black Range Rover, Reg plate SS50, turning right through the King's junction whilst drinking a cup of coffee. (Yesterday)
DESPERATE to get in front of today's 'last Friday of the month' ride to Sciennes Primary to get to the back of the stationary queue.
Only just got inside of the pedestrian "refuge" ahead of the bikes.
Ooh look, everyone caught it up -
Click to see the numberplate.
Show this to Keith Brown. Tell him he needs to be educating drivers about the risks they pose to cyclists going to school, not educating school cyclist about bikeability. Bikeabiliy has its place but its one tiny cog in a whole mechanism of safety which need to turn, for everything to work safely.
Not entirely sure why this driver pulled out on to the roundabout and then blocked the exit I was aiming for. Although in fairness, hardly anyone seems to realise that the exit is there, and they did at least apologise. No harm done. New brakes work!
@Kenny,
I come down that road to that roundabout from the opposite direction, have had "discussions" recently with drivers coming down Quality Street, you do not understand the give way to the right on roundabouts.
Yeah, I come down the opposite way sometimes too when going to work if traffic is bad on the Queensferry Road. Basically, you just have to assume cars don't realise that the road exists, due to it rarely being used by any vehicle at any point.
@ Kenny
That D Mains roundabout is a bad one for inconsiderate and unobservant driving. If I was being critical, the video does make it look like you approached the roundabout at speed and without slowing before joining it. That does not, however, excuse the car driver for entering the roundabout without giving way to traffic from the right. The fact there was a car on your left (albeit stationary at the ped crossing), potentially obscuring your arrival, should have told the driver to wait till they could clearly see there was no-one approaching. It doesn't matter that you were going straight ahead, you still had right of way.
Far too much proof today that PoP is necessary and that its aims need to be met.
But first, yesterday. Riding southbound along Murieston Crescent, towards Dalry Road, I was confronted by a silver people carrier careering round the corner towards me (at as close to 40mph as it could manage from joining from Dalry Rd) on my side of the road!!! It barely got into its own lane before hitting me. I braked as best I could but I had cars behind me. Lunatic nearly killed me.
Onto today...
1) Viewforth (again!). On the way to Pop, a small silver people carrier just can't wait to pass me as soon as we crest the bridge over the canal. The driver proceeds to cruise 2/3 into the ASL box at the Gilmore Pl (red) lights. I stop alongside, in the filter lane and let the driver know it's 3 points, £60 fine.
The young mother driver (with small kid in the back!) puts on an "I couldn't care less about you" grin, and seconds later she drives forward until her bumper is completely over the front white line, laughing as she did so. I said, "Now you're just being childish" and she continued laughing whilst anticipating the change of lights. So she was basically a RLJ three times at the same junction! How will she feel when her child becomes a KSI stat because of a similarly irresponsible driver?
2) I get the feeling a number of motorists decided to be angry about cyclists from PoP spoiling their 'right' to drive at their chosen speed as I climbed Queens Drive from St Margaret's Loch. Firstly, a BMW passed too close to a number of us riding uphill.
3) Seconds later, a Merc driver blew his horn before pulling the same manoeuvre. Just in front to me, he got stuck behind a rider who had chosen to ride in primary. He ws cetainly riding wider than I would have felt necessary, but I would defend his right to do so, especially as he pulled over into the first lay-by he came to. But the impatient Merc driver even felt it necessary to take both hands off the wheel to throw them in the air :-(
3) But the worst example came shortly fore the right-left bends approaching Dunsapie Loch. A small people carrier paased me with only a few centimetres to spare whilst leaving 40-50cm on his right. When I made a pushing motion with my hand to indicate he needs to move over when passing, he first of all made a swearing gesture. But it was what followed immediately after which shocked me. He violently swerved his vehicle right-left-right as a sarcastic response, startling the two cyclists ahead of me who he was passing at the time!!! And he had a young child strapped in the back, whose head was tossed from side to side by his horrendous actions! It amazes me that there are parents for whom the safety of their own children means nothing when they have an anti-cyclist point to make.
Quite a few incidents seen by me too on the way home from pop. Two car drivers had the must get in front of cyclists attitude despite it being unsafe and pointless in doing so. The fiasco started opposite the commie and continued to the meadows. This must have been mighty scary with the folk that had kids.
After that I was almost sideswiped going along by the meadows by a car drifting into the cycling lane. Lastly at Tarvit st a woman driver half in the asl, a family on bikes decided it best to sit forward of it and partially block the crossing as it was probably the safest option for them to get over safely.
@Focus That was me who was blocking the Merc as mentioned in point 3, having also just been passed by the BMW from point 2... Given the narrowness and relative steepness of that particular part of the road, I was being cautious to try and prevent any close passes before moving over and letting cars through at the lay-bys, as you said, giving the respectful drivers a wave of thanks in the process. The same tactics worked absolutely fine when I did a few laps on Thursday morning... Thanks again for shouting at the Merc driver on my behalf - I was briefly expecting a confrontation when it appeared to slow after passing :-\
@Focus @jdanielp I think there is momentum building for getting more of HP shut to vehicles, more often -
http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12676&page=2#post-150568
@ jdanielp
No problem :-)
You were quite right to do what you did, and sometimes I do the same. As cyclists, we are vulnerable and should feel justified in holding up motorised traffic when we feel it is unsafe to make a pass*.
The attitude of a number of drivers was worse than I'd experienced up there in some time. I did challenge the swerving driver to pull over and discuss his issues but unsurprisingly he just continued to drive on, and clearly at more than 20 mph.
With all of that, I forgot to mention the First bus driver who cut into the cycle lane at the Dalry Lidl before indicating he was pulling into the bus stop! As he had just overtaken me, he knew exactly where I was.
*As always, I avoid using the term "overtake" when critical of road use because to overtake is to pass safely and responsibly, changing lanes completely if at all practical.
Two bits of wretched driving;
1) First was by me last night. I was musing on PoP at the time too, pulled out onto Gilmerton Road at about 20h00. It was getting dark, fog was down, it was raining. Totally failed to see the cyclist dressed in head to toe black with no lights. Sensed them somehow and looked right to see them level with me. No harm done, but I could look harder and (s)he could get some bleedin' illumination to help me out.
2) This morning a lady tried to overtake me on the zig-zags on the approach to a pedestrian crossing. She bottled it and drove sideways into me rather than striking the central reservation. I caught her up twenty seconds later and initiated a polite conversation. She tried to insist that cyclists should be in 'cycle lanes' until I asked if she wanted me to call in her six-point offence or if she would prefer to call it in herself. Face dropped to the extent that I was certain she already had points. I explained that I can cycle in any lane I fancy, and that she should be careful with her tonne and a half of metal.
One motorist this morning in a dark grey Toyota Auris clearly didn't care for PoP's manifesto, *undertaking me* about 15 metres from the lights to beat me to the right turn from Lanark Road into Inglis Green Road.
I was actually already pushing towards the junction, but lagging a bit behind the motorist in front of me because I was accelerating 35kg. I noticed Auris driver was in some sort of hurry, later weaving left and right as though desperate to overtake more vehicles.
I amused myself with another dose of schadenfreude because by the Calder Road Auris driver's anxiousness to speed along the road had resulted in opening up a gap this many car lengths long: 0.
Very dangerous close pass today on Ratcliffe Terrace heading south - despite attempting to take primary to go past parked cars. Metallic blue high roof transit reg no. SP02RHO - noticeable for the apparent bull horns on the bonnet.
Well aware of me and close pass as the grinning passenger could be seen in the near-side mirror looking to see my reaction. Then they parked up within a few metres on the wrong side of the road blocking the QBC... they hoped to get a reaction as I came past clearly but I politely declined.
Rubbish driving and passengers in the green peugeot 306 last night heading up the A89 past Broxburn. Very close pass on what is a very wide road with the passengers grunting something as they went past. They got stopped at the lights half way up and I decided to filter past them nervously. As expected a similar occurrance as they went past again with them attempting to scoosh me with a water bottle this time. Thankfully I didn't have opportunity to catch them again.
Car looked really unsafe with the passenger side suspension looking shot. Not sure if the significant bulk of said passengers was to blame for this or not.
@galaxy. Bad luck you didn't get the plate. I reckon its worth checking dodgy looking cars against the motor insurers & MOT databases.
Police might be more interested then...
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