*also = almost. There was no contact!
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Today's rubbish cycling
(4520 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
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Was it you in the pale blue Poc helmet, green socks, black courier bag, dark grey Giant hybrid?
Bit of a reckless chump you were, Jumping onto pavement in two different locations (once across oncoming traffic) to avoid red lights and trying to take a roundabout in the wrong lane and almost ending up under the bumper of the car you didn't look to see if it was coming.
Posted 11 years ago # -
at roundabout St Johns Road/Glasgow Road about 8ish this morning, two cyclists undertaking Citylink 900, via the pavement, just before the roundabout, bus had to brake sharply as one of them cut back into the road. Do your bikes not have brakes?
Posted 11 years ago # -
I watched a cyclist jump every red on the way up Leith Walk yesterday evening. Stupid, but not overly dangerous. When he got to the London Road roundabout, he undertook a boy race who was indicating left onto London Road, cut right in front of the car, and headed up towards Picardy Place. Crazy...
Posted 11 years ago # -
Me.
Part 1.
Coming up Lower Gilmore Place to take the left into Gilmore Place. I don't slow enough for the turn, and pull out in front of a car I should have waited for. Not right in front of said car, and I think "oops" and keep well to the left to make it easy for them to pass me. Driver sounds the horn and then pulls a very, very close pass on me. I'm unimpressed, and do my best Mark Cavendish impression in order to catch them at the red lights at the King's Theatre junction.I tap on the window. The driver turns out to be an elderly man. He winds down the window. I get my breath back, and speak calmly
"I'm sorry I pulled out in front of you," I say, "but there was no need for yout to drive at me like that."
"I didn't drive at you..." he starts off, and then the left filter goes green and off they go.Part 2.
Boyfriend and I are coming along East Preston Street and stop in the ASL. The lights change and the two cars behind us pass us and we all go down West Preston Street. The front car drives right into the ASL. This happens to me a lot - I'm convinced that it is deliberate. So I go round the front of him anyway and hold him up all the way until we've made the turn onto Melville Drive.
I really must not do that in those circumstances - in fact I really must not return poor road use with poor or agressive road use of my own.Posted 11 years ago # -
"really must not return poor road use with poor or agressive road use of my own"
I think that is a useful philosophy.
Hard to do sometimes though...
Posted 11 years ago # -
Had to get the bus in this morning which gave me a perfect view of the lady on the Ridgeback Tourer join Princes St Eastbound in front of my bus. She was waiting to join the road and I saw her shoulder check, I assume she would wait until we passed, but nope...straight out in front of us. Driver had to move to other lane to avoid her.
We then joined a huge tailback of buses just past the Mound where she proceeds to thread herself in between two parallel buses inches apart then squeeze past the left hand one which was so close to the one in front if the driver had even moved slightly, she would have been trapped.
Breathtaking stupidity.
Posted 11 years ago # -
This morning heading west on Melville Drive, red light just before Marchmont Road, a big truck indicating left and slightly into the cycle lane. Not really somewhere I'd be thinking about riding up the inside to gpo straight on. But the chap in front of me clearly thought differently. Light turned green as he got level with the cab, and fortunately he put a spurt on, and the driver was paying attention.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I see cyclists undertake left-indicating vehicles a lot. I'll do it if I'm *VERY* confident that the lights aren't going to change any time soon, and that there's space in front. Scary.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Yep, that's my approach. If I know the light sequence, and I'm ultra-confident that that vehicle isn't going to be moving at any point as I go past, then I'll undertake. Otherwise, as I did this morning, I'll happily sit behind and let them complete their turn.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Nicely highlights the dangers of mixing inexperienced (or reckless / overconfident) cyclists,inadequate "painted on" infrastructure and heavy goods vehicles.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Indeed, kaputnik. People do silly things when presented with bad infrastructure.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"at roundabout St Johns Road/Glasgow Road about 8ish this morning, two cyclists undertaking Citylink 900, via the pavement, just before the roundabout, bus had to brake sharply as one of them cut back into the road."
Agree stupid, but also inconsiderate, how does the bus driver know what the cyclist is going to do, if he does see them in his mirror they are on the pavement, he doesn't know if they are going to stay on pavement and go round into Meadow Place Road or as they did bounce back onto the road.
I was on the bus sitting just behind the driver,it was not the manouvre expected from the cyclists either by driver or myself.
Posted 11 years ago # -
was possibly me. Cycling along a busy road in Dumfries, see a parked car in front of me, look over my shoulder and pull out to go round the car. I could see there was a driver coming up behind me but I wasn't expecting them to overtake me as I overtook the parked car - fortunately there was nothing coming the other way.
Yes, I should probably have signalled I was pulling out but I would have thought the fact that there was a parked car in front of me would have been clue enough - combined with my shoulder check. But thinking about it again, out on the rural roads, the look over the shoulder means 'I know you're there' and is often the signal to overtake.
Anyway, driver gave me a finger wagging in the rear view mirror, I gave them a 'WTF?!' shrug back, no harm done & I'll be a bit more explicit with my signals next time. That said, signalling on a bike is not costless, especially on potholed roads
Posted 11 years ago # -
No no no. What you're supposed to do is stop behind the parked car and wait for the rest of the road to be clear before proceeding round it.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Ah, I realise now I should have used one of my cycling superpowers to move the parked car out of the way http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/rosamund-urwin-six-powers-we-cyclists-never-knew-we-had-8731402.html
Posted 11 years ago # -
Sequence we train kiddies on Bikeability National Standards for passing a parked car is:
-Look over shoulder
-Adopt Primary position a reasonable distance before reaching the car you need to pass
-Keep an eye on the parked car in case it starts moving or door opens.
-Make sure other side of road is clear if getting out of the door zone is going to take you into the opposite lane
-As you get close to the car, look over shoulder again and move out far enough to clear door zone
-Pass car
-Quick left shoulder check and move back into secondary position.We teach them not to signal for this manoeuvre - that is only used for making turns.
I would agree that the look over the shoulder can mean "I know you're there" but I've never taken it to mean "please overtake me now".
Posted 11 years ago # -
I think the "taking primary early" bit is important. I pull out long before I get to the car I'm going to pass. This warns the car behind. It means that if they do pass close straight away, I've got room to my left. It also makes the move out to the right smoother, less sudden and unexpected.
I've some cyclists ride right up to the back of the car before pulling out. This often means that their turn is sharper, so they pull further out into traffic, they do it slowly, and this often seems to catch drivers unawares.
Posted 11 years ago # -
yup, did all that. Interesting that you *don't* signal.
It may be just rural Dumfriesshire, but the look over the shoulder as an invitation to pass seems universally understood here. I actually used it this morning to encourage a vehicle to get past me because I knew there was a particularly narrow, bendy potholey bit coming up and I didn't want them to lose patience at the worst moment. Something to be aware of if you're coming from elsewhere!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Personally I'd never signal to move out round a parked car, but sometimes the look over the shoulder can be seen by the odd driver as a challenge to overtake before I've moved out.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I've always imagined that the shouldercheck and trying to make eye contact with the car behind is an indication not to pass and that I'm checking behind before I move out to pass the obstruction. I wouldn't normally indicate to pass an obstruction unless I felt I had to make an official lane change and somebody was close behind and I wanted them to back off and not try to pass me.
The extended arm can then be used to give a thumbs up to driver for letting you make your manoeuvre.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Or the finger if they try and roar past.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I learned to be careful about indicating when pulling out to pass a parked car. When I did indicate, I had a bloke on a bike zoom up the left hand side of me, between me and the parked car (I was avoiding its door zone) and I accidentally swiped his face with my arm when I indicated to move back left. As I recall he told me off for not having turned right "like I was indicating".
Lots of folk seem to think that indicating signals an impending turn. (I had the same from a particularly ignorant Lothian Buses driver.) It doesn't, necessarily. It can also signal pulling out or pulling in or changing lane.Posted 11 years ago # -
Re. left turning large vehicles. A decent driver won't turn left if there's already a cyclist in the middle of the road waiting to turn right in case the bus tail-swipes them. Arguably the bike should be in the middle of the lane but I generously allow space for others to pass. Maybe far too generously.
Posted 11 years ago # -
This is interesting. I do signal to move out round parked cars - I think of it as changing lane (even if there isn't an actual cycle lane to move out of). One reason would be to point out to any driver behind that's I'm not Danny MacAskil and don't intend to go over the car...
Posted 11 years ago # -
We've mentioned cyclists going the wrong way down the one-way section of Fountainbridge onto Lothian Road before. It's a busy section, and just a bit daft. But at least they're only really risking their own lives. So I was a little more perturbed to see a lady indulging in the salmon cycling this morning with her very young kid in a seat on the back.
She didn't dismount at any point either. Cycled right up to the juntion with Lothian Road, waited for the lights there to go red, then raced across to turn right to head up to Tollcross before the traffic coming from the east got going.
Frankly irresponsible when you're in charge of someone else.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I always teach 'look, signal,lifesaver (look)' before every manouvre. It's good practice to learn that as stock.
Any kind of signal, even a wrong one, at least alerts other road users to the fact you intend to make a manouvre. Making no signal at all means you may surprise them.
Of course, staying in control of the bike is paramount so there are times when signaling may be inappropriate or downright dangerous. Good judgement tends to come with experience though and, sadly, a lot of 'cycle training' is just a matter of ticking boxes for some 'trainers' :-(
Posted 11 years ago # -
Would usually signal if having to move out to pass a parked vehicle, and indeed any turn left or right, signals tells other road and pavement users where you are going(if they choose to read the signal)I am critical of any road users who don't signal, its courtesy and safety.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Today's rubbish cycling was me. I was turning right out of a very quiet side road and a wee girl and her dad (or grandad perhaps, not sure) were ambling across the road from a path on my nearside to the pavement on the far side of the main(er) road. I thought I'd allowed enough time for them to clear the road because the pavement doesn't start until a bit further down the road, but I went a bit too soon, and the girl jumped out of her skin when I passed her four feet away and at not much more than walking pace.
I could have rung my bell but I didn't, and I was too impatient to wait five more seconds. :-(
Posted 11 years ago # -
@arellcat - that is probably two Hail Marys then all is forgiven
Posted 11 years ago #
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