....was the guy who squeezed between a line of cars and then went straight through the red light at the junction of St John's Road and Clermiston Road, then through the red light at the pedestrian crossing immediately afterwards. Only just missed getting taken out by a car coming from Clermiston Road.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Today's rubbish cycling
(4520 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
-
Another one from yesterday - I was being dropped off halfway to work, and we were driving on the south Park road (I know, I know). There's that road that comes out on the left that goes down to the bottom of the Innocent Tunnel. Cyclist coming up. Without looking right at all turns left out of that road right in front of us.
It's a blind corner there so only option to haul on the brakes.
Kind of a reverse SMIDSY.
Posted 11 years ago # -
A lass exited Valleyfield Street, crossing Leven Terrace, without looking, fortunately the driver was a) not going too fast, and b) had good reflexes - even so, a denture-swallowing moment for the poor chap.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Definitely me today- riding up an empty bus lane when streams of peds started crossing on a red man. Was on the folder so did the whole bell thing rather than stopping as I should have. Shouts of outrage.
Posted 11 years ago # -
RLJ from me. Was thinking of something else.
Posted 11 years ago # -
...yesterday,with additional rubbish pedestrian-ing, was the guy cycling westbound on Princes St in front of me, with earbuds in, who collided with a pedestrian (crossing at a red man).
His visibility of her as she crossed was completely unobscured the entire time she was crossing, and her view of the cyclist (luckily the only traffic at that point) was only obscured by the hood of her jacket which was tightly pulled about her face.
Yes, it would be nice if pedestrians always looked before crossing a road but the cyclist had plenty of space to slow down and avoid the collision, which would've been the 'nice' thing to do.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"Definitely me today- riding up an empty bus lane when streams of peds started crossing on a red man. Was on the folder so did the whole bell thing rather than stopping as I should have. Shouts of outrage."
I've been guilty of that before. Then afterwards reflected that there was a bus blocking their view of the red man, and the traffic was clogged so actually I should have been more aware that people wouldn't be expecting something to come through the bike-sized gap, and that I will have come across as a typical arrogant cyclist telling people that the light was green for me and they damned well better get out of my way. Was rather ashamed of myself for that.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"Was rather ashamed of myself for that."
That's nice...
Posted 11 years ago # -
Outside the National Gallery?
Posted 11 years ago # -
More just a loss of control, not actually rubbish cycling. On the canal yesterday, passing under one of the cobbled bridges, the girl in front of me and a chap coming the other way clipped handlebars. He went straight into the water and lost a lot of skin on his arm to the stonework. He decided to press on - hope he made it back to Fife ok.
Posted 11 years ago # -
As much as I despise the cobbled bridges I can't help but think if they were smoothed over you'd just have people going through blind twice or thrice as fast. Now in an ideal world everyone would ding their bells and give way as appropriate. Or, in the most ideal world, we wouldn't be forcing bikes, peds, runners, families with prams and dogs etc to all get shoved through the same blind narrow poorly surfaced passages.
Any guesses on if we'll ever see bridges rebuilt/widened to accommodate the full width of the towpath or is that me living in fantasy land again?
Posted 11 years ago # -
@snowy that is a bad one
@allebong, would be good if they could pave over canal, as hardly any boats on it, but towpath v busy :-)
Posted 11 years ago # -
8 miles of the Monklands canal is paved but it's the M8 from Townhead to Easterhouse so I'm not sure I can recommend it.
Posted 11 years ago # -
in the most ideal world, we wouldn't be forcing bikes, peds, runners, families with prams and dogs etc to all get shoved through the same blind narrow poorly surfaced passages.
Nobody is forced to use the towpath for anything.
Personally I always dismount before crossing under the cobbled bridge bits, Also on the aquaduct. The only time I don't dismount under the canal bridges is when there is a clear sight line through and the surface is tarmacced, IIRC there's one near Fountainbridge where this applies, and another ijust before the turnoff to WoL path/railway path.
My opinion is that it's foolhardy at best, reckless most of the time, and at worst agressive riding to cycle round those narrow, slippy, uneven, blind bridge bends. If people are in a rush to get somewhere by bike there is a decent road running parallel to the canal.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Oh, I was a silly rubbush cyclist this afternoon.
Had just crossed the toucan on Broughton Road from the St Mark's park path to proceed down MacDonald Road, and saw that No.1 son had fallen behind. Pulled into a nearby empty parking bay to wait for him, stopped, put my left foot down on the adjacent kerb.....and my foot slipped off into the gutter.
Timber! I fell right over, the bike landing on top of my leg. Ended up rolling onto my back in the middle of the pavement. Very undignified! Luckily not serious cuts, blood or fractures. Rather bruised elbow/forearm , skin scraped off left ankle, and stiff shoulder/neck.
Clumsy fool! Managed to regain my dignity by the time my son arrived, none the wiser as to my wee fall.
Posted 11 years ago # -
And how is the bike?
Posted 11 years ago # -
I personally go for the extreme slowing method under the blind bridges. Similar to other extreme sports like basejumping, bear-blasting, downhill MTBing, only it's really sedate and safe.
Sometimes my pulse rises to 60bpm, it gets that gnarly bone-shredding bro extreme radical bro bronies.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Jaw dropping moment yesterday morning, saw cyclist heading east in Waterloo St (Glasgow) on the bus lane which is only west bound, totally ignoring the two way cycle lane on the other side of the road.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@wfb, alas one of my Topeak Bar'n'Mirror™ bar ends was damaged: the mirror bit came loose, unfolded, and was promptly snapped off at the hunge. Oh well, got 4 years out of it and a few bike drops, scrapes etc. before that happened. Time to retire them I suppose...
Posted 11 years ago # -
Brompton rider who nearly got crushed by me as he came up the left side of the van at some considerable speed as I was turning and indicating left at the bottom of the high street yesterday evening. Jings man what were you thinking??
Posted 11 years ago # -
Canal towpath incidents tend to be a reflection of riders failing to recognise and take account of its inadequacy as a cycle-route. I'd categorise it as a leisure route rather than a fast commuter route.
Unfortunately, the council similarly fails to recognise this inadequacy, no doubt thinking along the lines of "we've provided an off-road cycle route, why would you need dedicated infrastructure along the road?".
Posted 11 years ago # -
Was the trip-to-the-RIE-in-waiting cycling the wrong way down the middle of the Glasgow Road bus lane! I almost ran into the guy as my brain couldn't quite compute he was actually there and actually being so stupid.
I shouted a warning and then a curse which he probably didn't hear as he was be-headphoned.
Black, disc-braked hardtail MTB, camouflage shorts, dark jacket and a sort of hunter-type peaked cap.
Idiot.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Idiot cycling the wrong way round the traffic island at the bottom of Scotland street. I slowed and pointed out that he was in the wrong, and he just smiled and shrugged an appology before carrying on in the wrong.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I was out in the rain last night and went a bit fast down Leyden Road (connects A70 to A71 with little bit in Kirknewton). Safe descent except if wet and front brakes a bit worn and corner coming up and you think you aren't going to make it. Just scraped through and no more, was quite scary, and might have said a bad word or two
Posted 11 years ago # -
I was a bit tired yesterday and filtered up between a car and a van on brougham street in toll cross a bit late. MAnaged to accellerate out of danger but a silly thing to do on a road I ride every day!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Spotted a guy on a TT bike, or a flash road bike with TT bars attached going the wrong way up morrison st on the footpath on Tuesday. Makes a change from seeing bmx-ers on paths i suppose.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Was a young lady in a turquoise jacket cycling down the pavement on Lothian Road who cycled straight onto the road (castle terrace) without looking. The traffic light had just turned green so traffic speed was slow enough to stop without broadsiding her. She got lucky today.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Me. Wasn't concentrating and misjudged going through the bollards at the west side of Roseburn Park. A less than graceful dismount ending up with a painful blow to the thigh.
Self-inflicted, but I've always thought those bollards were too close together......
Posted 11 years ago # -
Earbud-wearing RLJ-ing woman who sailed through the northbound light at Holy Corner. Presumably the earbuds prevent her hearing people shouting at her when she jumps lights and moves from the gutter to the white dotted line without checking behind her when she encounters stationary buses.
Less ostentatiously risky but still careless was the shoaling trackstander going from Earl Grey St to Lothian Road, whose forward-of-the-line position and wobbly set-off meant that he drifted well into the path of the car in the car lane before briefly returning to the bus lane.Posted 11 years ago # -
Two rude swervey-racing chumpcretins on the way home this evening. I think one of them was amongst the cluster of cyclists who followed each other along the gutter beside the cars jammed down the West Port only to find themselves in a cul-de-sac of parked cars and stopped cars opposite one of the Apices. Only one big one remained by the time I reached the other end of the Cowgate, so I politely positioned myself directly behind him rather than at the side, seeing as he was there first. A rude wee chap in a suit wended his way beside then in front of me but managed to wind up having his path blocked by the bloke in front, so swerved in and out of both our paths when the lights changed, doing that stupid tuck-straight-back-in-to-the-left-pretend-racing thing along Holyrood Road. With the pair of them veering from side to side all the way along Holyrood Road I stayed well back until the Scotsman lights. The wee one jumped them ever so slightly and seemed desperate to show how fast he was along Holyrood Gait, staying tucked on the drops all the way, unfortunately turning left at the roundabout, requiring me to have to continue watching and accounting for him. He almost bothered to look before veering to the right of the lane to go straight on down Duke's Walk and did actually slow down for some pedestrians crossing, unlike the big one who took advantage of me slowing down for the crossing to overtake as I braked, tucking back in front mere inches from my front wheel. The wee one did a couple more weaves through two other cyclists who had slowed for the crossing, followed by the big one, before they either settled down or gave up and stopped weaving, realising that the girl in the front of the bunch was way faster than them, whereupon they could be overtaken without too much risk of them suddenly darting across the lane. The wee one must have started chasing again as he suddenly appeared inches from my elbow to cut the circle of the mini-roundabout at Meadowbank Terrace after I slowed down for it. The big one plonked himself in front of me but behind the girl at the ASL leading to London Road but then forgot to watch for the lights changing.
Posted 11 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.
posts
