I also do this to cars when they are not in the ASL.
I pull in front of them and give a big thumbs up.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Today's rubbish cycling
(4503 posts)-
Posted 9 years ago #
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To be honest I can see where dougal's coming from on this one. I've often thought that the "Good driving" thread on here should really just be the "Driving" thread.
Posted 9 years ago # -
The cyclist aiming to turn right from Gilmore Place at the King's Theatre junction this morning who initially thought about turning in front of me despite the lack of time and space available. Instead they hesitated, then they presumably did the same in front of the car behind me, the driver of which chose to blare their car horn aggressively at them. I have also mentioned the quite unnecessarily aggressive horn blared in rubbish driving.
Posted 9 years ago # -
My name is HankChief. I'm a Red Light Jumper and I ask for forgiveness.
Approaching Balgreen Road this morning I spot a van ahead with a faulty brakelight stopped at the pedestrian crossing (with lollipop lady). I pull up alongside and have a quick chat with him. In front the lollipop lady pulls down her sign and walks off the crossing so I proceed. I look round to work out why the van hadn't started moving and see the lights are still red and the lollipop lady glaring at me.
Sorry everyone.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Turnip 201411050852, who felt the need to try and squeeze me out crossing the tram tracks heading from Dalry Road to West Maitland. I usually go in a straight line until past both sets of tracks, then turn right, but Turnip tried to force me to 1: turn whilst on the tracks and 2: take them at a very shallow angle, which I did not think was clever.
Turnip 201411050854, who did the whizz-up-the-tram-lane-then-cut-through-on-my-inside-just-as-the-right-turn-filter-for-Torphichen-Street-goes-green trick at West Maitland Street's advanced stop line. He also did that thing where someone whizzes through a junction without slowing and then goes really slowly in the gutter along the next bit of road.Posted 9 years ago # -
Yesterday, and more rude than rubbish, but it really annoyed me as an example of low-level inconsiderate behaviour.
I was coming along the new bit of the Pinkhill path from Balgreen when I saw a dog walker ahead. I see this lady most nights and her collie always wears a nice reflective coat in the dark. It's also very well trained, so she is exactly the kind of responsible dog owner that people here always want.
Anyway, I rang my bell from some way back and she turned round, then moved over to the side as she always does. The dog lay down, as it's obviously been trained to do. Just as I'm about to slowly pass them, a bike comes hairing along in the opposite direction and squeezes past the lady, forcing me to stop. No "thanks", no acknowledgment, no apology.
When I went past the lady I thanked her and she thanked me, then said something along the lines of "some people have no manners". Agreed.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Not many light problems on the NEPN clockwise last night but two really stupid corner-cuttings by oncoming anticlockwisers.
This morning, heading from Bruntsfield into Earl Grey Street, the thin/short-hair/fixie/ear-tunnel courier jumped the red but then found himself trapped at the side of a car which had gone from Brougham Place to West Tollcross, whilst people who had waited for the green light were able to spot this blockage from a large enough distance to be able to avoid it.
Posted 9 years ago # -
A cycle courier (I think) went fast through the red at the pedestrian crossing on the eastern end of Melville drive, narrowly missing a crossing pedestrian who rightly remonstrated only to be greeted with a single digit response. I sympathised while waiting at the red, hoping not to polarise the modes of transports, but was unable to give chase as suggested due to my thighs of blancmange.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I was in Glasgow's west end yesterday to see the Alastair Gray exhibition. The cycle culture there appears to be quite different to that in Edinburgh. I noted;
* A family openly using the pavement on Dumbarton Road as a cycle path
* A worky riding home in the dark on the same road with no lights at all
* A fully functioning and very attractive cycle cafe;http://www.siemprebicyclecafe.com/
I couldn't stop myself naa-naa-naaa-nanaNAHing the Imperial March from my imaginary tricycle on Buchanan Street...
Posted 9 years ago # -
Followed a girl tonight who had a rear light with the projection of two red laser lines, one either side of the bike, in a sort of make-your-own bike lane. Problem is you only really saw the 'lane' once you were right there about a yard away, the light was on squint so the lane was at an angle, and the lane was about half the width of the actual lane we were both cycling in...
But that's not the rubbish part. The main light was perfectly, beautifully obscured by the seatpost attached big plastic mudguard. I probably should have pointed this out, but apart from the fact I was in a bit of a bad mood and couldn't face any argument that it may have sparked; I couldn't believe anyone could have put the light there, or the mudguard there, and not realised it made the light impossible to see until the very last moment.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Woman in front of me this morning on London Road had a rear red light, but mounted on the seat tube below the seat stays. Which was bad enough, if she didn't also have a rack with a solid top and panniers on both sides, meaning there was only a tiny cone of visibility for the light.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Saw a ninja cyclist riding back to Pollock Halls the other night. Caught up at the lights and noticed they had a working light on their helmet, but it was completely obscured by their mahoosive faux-fur hood at the back. I politely pointed out the problem but was given an indifferent reply. Oh well, I tried.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I told a young lady at Waitrose that her coat tails perfectly obscured her rear light the other night. I've done the same for riders whose lights are hidden by mudguards.
Not having a rear light seems like an imminent threat to life in Edinburgh. I will not let that lie.
Chap on the canal last night had no lights at all, but rang his bell constantly as he emerged from the gloom.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"Not having a rear light seems like an imminent threat to life in Edinburgh"
..........or is it?
I reckon we are all usually lit up like a christmas tree this time of year.
But given the number of ninja and poorly lit cyclists in Marchmont (to pick an area I cycle into every night) how come we dont see multiple EEN stories of 'unlit cyclist run over by unsuspecting driver'??
Or are most of them using meadows paths etc to University and only a few hundred yards on road?????
Posted 9 years ago # -
Nah, there are loads of ninjas on the Bridges, Princes Street, Broughton Street, which I guess tells us that, yes, it may be really irritating that these cycling punters are not making themselves more visible but, around town at least, they are visible to sufficient extent that drivers are able to see them and avoid running them over...
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Nelly - I reckon that in many cases the only bit of road being used is in Marchmont itself. The students in my block only go up to the library it seems - they are invariably unlit and using the pavements. I'm still quite surprised there aren't more incidents though. In the rain being able to properly interpret all of the lights around from a car can be pretty hard - almost impossible sometimes to spot an unlit cyclist. I drive around incredibly slowly in the van when it's raining as I find it so hard to interpret the collections of refracted light in the rain speckled mirrors… am I alone in that?
Posted 9 years ago # -
@algo asks if they are alone in driving to the conditions of the road.
If not alone then in the definite minority.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@dougal - thanks - really I meant to ask if I am alone in having difficulty interpreting the collection of lights I see through the rain.. my driving is as flawed as the next man's.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@algo
Not at all. I've posted previously about close shaves I've had with cyclists running low-power lamps on rainy nights when I've been at the controls of my automobile.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Was a Laid Back bike (maybe).
Could have been off ebay tho'. Man came into shop to say he'd almost hit a bike that didn't have a flag as he pulled out of his driveway. He was going out bonnet first so driving carefully (self evidently). Said he was almost hit / didn't see the bike. Was an HPV Grasshopper he reckoned or similar.
Guy was perfectly reasonable and applied the accepted logic norms of odd, low-down bikes need to make themselves more visible. (He was a cyclist too hence his knowledge of the possible model)
I did wonder if the cyclist in questions main error was a combination of road position and lack of headlight. Also wondered if he'd ever had a similar incident with an ordinary high-up bike.Basically his message was that all my bikes should have flags. My trikes do but I reckon two wheelers are higher and more visible - would suggest lights first.
I don't doubt his story but 'the recumbent attribution error' ©Dave comes to mind.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Calls to mind the legendary tale of Councillor Michael Stanton who told a disabled constituent he "should have gone to Dignitas" after allegedly finding him hard to see when pulling out of his driveway.
Google's first link when you search for the councillor's name makes instructive (potentially NSFW) reading.
Headlights on many cars are actually quite low down which further undermines claims of hard-to-see-ness in winter IMO. For instance, the light on my Raptobike lowracer was higher up than the headlights of our car at the time. Nobody *ever* told me the car was hard to see because the headlights were too low, but then logic doesn't really come into these things :)
Posted 9 years ago # -
Me. Overtook a slightly slower cyclist at the traffic lights at Myreside Road/Colinton Road heading north. As I overtook I suddenly realised that I needed to turn left onto Colinton Road and was going to have to cut across the path of the bike I'd just overtaken. I think I did it without inconveniencing them, but I may not have done. If it was you and I caused you any difficulty, I'm sorry.
It was an interesting insight into the left-hooks that we suffer from cars (essentially being the same thing). I was on auto-pilot at the junction because I do it every day, and when I made the conscious decision to overtake the bike, the auto-pilot forgot to remind me that I needed to turn left until it was too late. I'm sure it wouldn't have happened at a junction that I don't know so well.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I got shaved this morning coming down Harrison Rd from the canal to NEPN by another rider. Came up to the back of the queue, having a wee look before riding round the blind bend on the wrong side of the road (joys of the commute), and as I moved to the right, a chap whizzed past my elbow and off down the road.
Beat him to the lights. Guess I'm just getting overcautious with age!
Posted 9 years ago # -
Dave - You were on the Baron or regular?
If the former then the guy just 'had' to go by you!Greenroofer I did a similar thing on Sunday causing consternation amongst our LB group. Speed differentials aren't much on a bike. Many drivers assume that any bike is more or less static / street furniture so more common problem than bike to bike incidents.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I was on my white "maintenance free" bike, alas. It's so terrifically slow, he probably thought I'd stopped!
Posted 9 years ago # -
So as I joined Craigmillar Park I spotted a suicyclist. 'I'd get some of them there bicycle lights were I you' I opined.
The lady asked if being unlit was dangerous and I said it probably was, said she'd get a set from Amazon for a tenner. She was from Palermo and not used to our culture.
Also wearing her helmet back to front, with the rear high on her head forming a peak like a conquistador helmet. Didn't mention that to her - I'm not the fashion police.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Ned, on the phone, though with a fitful glimmerer on his handlebars, chuntering along the footway along Seafield Road and not properly anticipating that the car signalling to turn into Seafield Place might end up turning into Seafield Place as soon as the gap in the oncoming traffic reached the opening. He made a "MEEEEEGGHH" noise back at it after it beeped him.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Had a bit of a grumble at the cyclist who twice in rapid succession pulled himself up very close alongside me in the ASL reservoir, pre-empted the change in the lights (i.e. went on red when the companion signals were changing red) then wobbled across my intended path of travel and settled himself down to a walking-space pootle.
I was patient the first time and passed politely, biting my lip. The second time felt needlessly intentional so I gave him the benefit of my opinion of box positioning.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"Also wearing her helmet back to front, with the rear high on her head forming a peak like a conquistador helmet. Didn't mention that to her - I'm not the fashion police."
Ironically the helmet on back to front could, arguably, be the more potentially harmful. Though I'm the same, I've mentioned to a few people they should have lights (worst was a guy going through the entirely unlit Holyrood Park on the road); but have withheld advice on headwear positioning.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Someone, bent low over their bars, overtaking a pedestrian where there wasn't enough space underneath South Trinity Road, following (and presumably intending to overtake) the cyclist in front of them, who had had enough space.
Posted 9 years ago #
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