CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!

Today's rubbish cycling

(4520 posts)

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  1. MeepMeep
    Member

    +1 here for an off due to ice this weekend too. Lost the back wheel on a patch of ice coming out of my flat complex in Chesser before I'd even got to the road.

    Scuffed palms and a couple of minor bruises, but like Eddie mostly pride dented since it was in front of a driver dropping off a passenger who promptly run over to me asking if I was alright. I try not to make a habit of falling off my bike but when I do I never really know whether I'm actually ok till I've stood up and checked self and bike - and also in this case, the bottle of wine I had in my bag as a gift.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  2. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Pick a lane, any lane....

    Coming up Lothian Road, lights green for the right turn into West Tollcross, car at the head of the queue indicating right and waiting for opposing traffic to clear, twonk on a minimal red singlespeed behind. Suddenly decides that where he actually needs to be is on the right hand side of the right indicating car, not filtering, just positioning himself exactly where the car would be turning.

    Driver is good, gives him time to turn as the traffic clears. Cyclist is in the middle lane, which is the left side lane to turn right into Semple Street, car behind, me behind the car. Lights turn green as we roll towards them, twonk takes the turn by moving fully over into the right hand lane. Then straight after the turn drifts back into the left. The thing is, if it had been a quick shift about then fine, but he was plodding along, did no shoulder check to drift into the right lane, then no shoulder check to drift back into the left.

    Fortunately driver still paying attention and hlding back. Not over yet. Cyclist indicates to turn left into the underground car park, makes the turn in the right hand lane down the ramp, so as if he's going to Scottish Widows, before then drifting once again left without looking to turn into the car park on the left (so not even straight on into the NCP).

    Totally oblivious riding. Fortunately a good and patient driver behind at all times.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  3. steveo
    Member

    Been trying to think who that could have been but I don't reconise the bike might be someone in the newly occupied parts of the buildings, that garage is probably getting quite busy now...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  4. twq
    Member

    I think I know who that was... might stealthily print this and leave it on his desk.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  5. 559
    Member

    Heading north around 5pm on NEPN between Roseburn and Craigleith, fairly quiet both directions. Cyclist behind about 2 bike lengths all good :) Cyclist behind decides to wait to pass me when someone coming towards us, after long stretch with no oncomers!
    As he draws along side I made polite comment about the quality of his manoeuvre, his response was forceful, objectionable, bullying and OTT.
    I have no problem dealing with this, but others beware.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  6. Focus
    Member

    Numpty crossed the Whitehouse Loan ped/cycle crossing in front of me after the lights had changed in my favour (on the road).

    Me: "The lights apply to you too"

    Him: "I wasn't anywhere near you"

    Me: "A red light still means stop, moron"

    Him: "Don't talk to other people like that!" (I kid you not)

    Me: "If you act like a moron, I'll call you a moron"

    Oh, and he had no lights on. Not sure he even had any fitted. Such a sensitive soul for a fifty-something(?) bloke who doesn't care about either the law or common sense.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  7. allebong
    Member

    I seem to be seeing quite a few intermittent pavement riding roadies these days. By that I mean people with decent road bikes, kitted up with lycra/shorts, hiviz and helmet, who are riding fine along a road but decide when they get to a junction or set of lights to just nip onto the pavement for a bit and rejoin later on.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  8. wingpig
    Member

    I'm not sure how much of what is being saved by someone going from the corner of Lothian Rd/West Approach to Rutland Square on the pedestrian footway instead of via the roads, but someone was whizzing through it today. Helmed, so possibly not a courier, and also going faster than the couriers generally go through there. Possibly qualified as an intermittent pavement-riding roadie from his gear.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  9. allebong
    Member

    I witnessed a rather odd RLJ yesterday evening. I was behind a few cars on Chester St waiting to turn left onto Palmerston place. I could see the ASZ was free but I didn't think it worth trying to filter forward. This was demonstrated to me by another cyclist, helmented (sic) and lit up with loads of random lights on bike/body/backpack, who slid up the inside of the lane at the kerb. There was extremely little space and he had to take a foot off, lean the bike sideways, and scoot himself along the kerb with his foot and even then he was within a whisker of hitting someones mirror.

    Now at the front, the determined person sat there for around 10 seconds with the lights at red, and then...well, he didn't cycle through the lights, he kept his left foot off the pedal and used it to push off the kerb till he was round the corner. Then he started pedalling normally until I inevitably caught up with him a minute later after the lights changed.

    Credit for being different I suppose.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  10. ARobComp
    Member

    @wingpig I must admit to using the cut through under Standard Life there sometimes although I tend to walk to the tunnel past the entrance from the ped crossing then remount up to rutland square. Main reason being that it avoids having to pull into the massed taxi rank to go across the ambiguous festival square, or tangle with the bottom of lothian road traffic, then the potholed cobbles and ridiculous driving and parking outside the cally hilton/waldorf. Possibly 50m of slight illigality however I rarely pass closer than 2m to anyone and save myself about 2 mins plus stress and possible death.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  11. gembo
    Member

    At Gillespie crossroads this morning the green man came on. This stops the cars in all directions. The crossroads was therefore empty. After about a second a young chap appears on a mountain bike, good kit, cycling up from colinton, over the entire crossing with everyone watching and then down towards wester hailes.. total Co Co

    Posted 10 years ago #

  12. Stickman
    Member

    I had a very close pass from someone on a red road bike on St John's Road this evening. He gave me a bit of a fright as I didn't hear him coming and he was really close - really, really close! If I'd moved out about six inches to avoid a pothole (which does happen in Edinburgh) we would have collided.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  13. ianmb
    Member

    I had to take the car today and saw pretty much the full set of bad cycling. Cyclists without lights, others going through red lights and some good efforts at pavement cycling. I wish more cyclists would obey the rules of the road and not give the law abiding majority a bad name.

    (I also cars going through red lights, speeding and some terrible parking (incl. on pavements) to give it some balance.)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  14. gembo
    Member

    Balance in my bad cycling example came when I cycled through Gillespie crossroads, as the first car I went past had so much muck on it that the number plate was completely obscured. That is Co Co too.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  15. kaputnik
    Moderator

    It's almost invisible on my camera because of lack of light, but a tweenager on a BMX last night went bombing down the unofficial mudchute route alongside the steps between the new tram overbridge at Saughton Mains / Carrick Knowe and the pavement where the Broomhouse Path ends, before shooting straight onto the road at the bottom and then hedding towards Stenhouse Cross. Naturally he was on a black bike, was dressed in black (including protective baseball cap) and was too cool for school to have fitted any lights.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  16. wingpig
    Member

    Schoolchild going north along Duddingston Row in the middle of the wrong side of the road.

    Head-bobbing effort-making pretend racing-man who didn't have a bell or didn't think it necessary to use one when overtaking someone on the Innocent who was moving into the middle of the path to avoid a puddle of damp leaves.

    Head-bobbing effort-making pretend racing-man II who didn't give way to the people waiting to cross Leamington Walk at one of the raised slow-down bits.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  17. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I was being a passenger in a car and we were beyond the stop line and waiting to turn right from Mayfield Road into West Mayfield when the lights went back to red.

    Today's rubbish cycling was the guy in beige sports jacket and chunky black glasses who came flying down the Causewayside hill and sailed straight through the red light. My driver hit the brakes and the cyclist had the temerity to stare and mouth a rude word at us. I laughed heartily.

    Just minutes earlier I'd been watching the pleasantly high numbers of cyclists on the QBiC riding towards KB, past the West Savile junction. Out of about 30, I'd say about 29 obeyed the traffic lights.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  18. Instography
    Member

    The bicycling man in a hurry who decided that the best approach to turning from Lothian Road onto Princes Street was to go down the middle of the two lanes heading for Charlotte Square before cutting across the front of the right hand lane to join the buses heading along Princes Street. He failed to negotiate the cars, almost taking the wing mirror off one, although he did give a quasi-apologetic not-worth-looking-back-for wave. The man in the car used the opportunity of opening the window to fix his mirror to loudly comment on his funny armhole. At least I think that's what he said.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  19. algo
    Member

    Bloke in fancy gear on a fancy mountain bike, who decides to bypass the northbound temporary traffic light on Marchmont Road, by performing a really impressive high-speed jump onto the pavement narrowly missing several school children, a magnificent jink around someone walking with the aid of a stick back onto the road and away like the wind. I was really impressed.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  20. MeepMeep
    Member

    Me on my morning commute, though by no means a deliberate act of poor cycling. I pulled out on a car on the Broomhouse Roundabout - I didn't see the vehicle behind the one I had planned to move out after until I had started to move and I was too far out to stop. All primarily because the driver of the 'hidden' car had positioned their vehicle so far up the exhaust of the car they were following round that the headlights of car 2 were practically completely obscured.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  21. jdanielp
    Member

    I'm getting fed up with the increasing number of 'in a hurry' cycle commuters heading into town in the morning who don't leave enough space or time to safely overtake pedestrians on the canal tow-path when I'm approaching in the other direction, forcing me to give way to them, as exemplified today by the guy who was in the process of overtaking a pedestrian at speed just before the last canal bridge, despite that fact that I rang my bell when approaching and whilst under the bridge. Not much fun...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  22. Greenroofer
    Member

    Today's prize (from me, at least) goes to the gentleman cycling slowly into town on the towpath near Craiglockhart who had a bright white light on the back of his bike.

    Strangely, he also had a white light on the front.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  23. gembo
    Member

    What about the woman in front of me at Tollcross? Skipped through an amber and a red on pedestrian crossings, then bumped up on to the pavement and round onto Semple St. Thought I would catch her at the junction to go down into the grassmarketnbut she skipped a red on pedestrian crossing then went straight through red light at the sainsburys junction and merrily on to grass market.

    Very nice long silvery bronze quilted jacket though

    Posted 10 years ago #

  24. allebong
    Member

    I've seen white at the back before, only from foot though, goodness knows how disorientating it would be if you're driving or riding from behind. Haven't seen red up front yet though. I've also seen green and even yellow LED lights on occasion - Tesco or somewhere were selling them for a bit if I recall.

    Also off-putting is someone riding with a torch either in one hand (wobbly bike) or dangling from the bars (wild swinging).

    Posted 10 years ago #

  25. Focus
    Member

    I've seen red at the front before (and I don't mean road rage!). Totally irresponsible. I've even seen a red light facing forwards on a helmet, and yes, the helmet was the right way round. Then again, I have seen people with helmets on back to front!

    Posted 10 years ago #

  26. Focus
    Member

    Mine tonight was when turning off Dundee Street towards the Telfer Subway. A no-light ninja on a road bike and wearing red and black (helmet and, I think, backpack) was barely visible as I made the turn.

    A consequence of being polite enough to use dipped lights on low power is that such idiots are harder to spot, especially if they are between you and the nearest street light and so not illuminated by it.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  27. allebong
    Member

    Saw a cyclist heading down Blackford Avenue last night with a good front light and apparently no back light. Looked closer and he had what looked like one of the EBC 5 led strip lights on the seatpost, perfectly visible from behind and at the right angle, but turned off. If it wasn't for the fact I was a passenger in a parked car at the time I'd have called to him about it. I'm assuming from the front light, pannier and decent amount of reflectives that it was an oversight and he wouldn't be the type of person to start spittling profanities when this would be pointed out.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  28. Kenny
    Member

    Rubbish parking, rather than cycling. Went to Tesco in Corstorphine this morning, was locking my bike up against the railing that surrounds the trolleys, keeping it away from the fire exit door, when I noticed that someone had parked and locked up their flat barred Raleigh right up against the fire door, which clearly opens out, rather than in.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  29. allebong
    Member

    I was considering this thread carefully this afternoon while waiting at a junction that is involved in going from the end of the canal to the meadows via Valleyfield street. Yes, that junction. Through some miracle I had arrived at the very front of the remarkably empty ASZ and would be going right when the lights went. Opposite me at Tarvit street was a hefty queue of cars but the frontmost one wasn't in the ASZ. I know they have priority but it'd have been very easy for me where I was and where they were to clear the junction before they did. Any other junction I wouldn't, and on this occasion I didn't, but it was very tempting. I like to think of myself as a 'law abiding cyclist' but it's such an appalling junction I think I'd be justified in getting clear of it ASAP. Not rubbish cycling then but I wouldn't judge anyone who did jook across* (as the term is) before.

    *Edit: 'Jook' has been in my vocabulary for ages and would be said when driving when someone cuts in close from overtaking; they jooked in front. If you're reading this at work I can advise you DON'T go looking up the definition online, while mine is there there are several dozen less, erm, savoury meanings.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  30. EddieD
    Member

    @allebong - I go through that junction everyday, and along with most folk turning right I go across the traffic coming out of tarvit street. Because Tarvit Street is offset to the left, you can slightly cut the corner and be safely out of range before the traffic starts. The offset also makes it a bit awkward to wait for the traffic, unless you stay in the ASZ.

    Sometimes it's not safe, but most times it is - and before the light sequence was corrected to not have a few seconds extra on Tarvit Street, if you didn't do that, you could be stuck for quite a while.

    Posted 10 years ago #

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