This morning.

Dublin (exact location unspecified).

Taxi driver TaxiMatt writes:

Now if only there was somewhere safe for this cyclist to cycle and no I’m not tarring you all with the same brush…

Update:

FIGHT!

Thanks Oisín O’Connor

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57 thoughts on “Lane Brain

  1. jockey

    All of the rushing, all of the anger, all of the stress and frustration with others. All to arrive a few minutes earlier to a place that would probably not miss us.

      1. scundered

        Most cyclists also drive cars, plus roads are paid for out of general taxation too, whatever made you think it was only motorists?

  2. Boj

    Whenever I see these articles now all I can hear is a big baby crying…
    YOU….just drive your taxi and obey the rules of the road
    and YOU…cycle in your lanes and cycle safely(and put a helmet on for god’s sake).
    BOTH of ye…shut up and go about your day!

    1. hansel

      Did you click on the link Boj?
      The cyclist explains why he chose not to “cycle in his lanes” by uploading a video of what happened next…

      As for helmets, are they HGV-proof?

      1. Boj

        Both ‘explanations’ are irrelevant. See last line of my previous comment for my opinion of this situation.
        As for helmets, why NOT wear one? Better safe than sorry…or dead eh?

        1. george

          By the same token why NOT stop posting your opinion which is completely uninformed as you seem unwilling to look at the video of what actually happened. You seem like the big baby crying about a post on the internet so maybe take your own advice.

          1. martco

            right the pair of ye

            everyone’s right here and nobody’s right here

            the REAL problem is that both of these passionate people (cyclist & taximan) are being forced to share the same road infrastructure 99% of the time

            the answer is spend the money & build proper physically segregated cycling lanes…not painted lines, not lanes that share footpaths sometimes literally dissecting things like people standing at bus shelters, not 1.5m personal space zones, not lanes where the fella on the bike is forced to crossover directly into motorised traffic lane to negotiate a junction

            drivers, cyclists, pedestrians – ALL gobsheens at least once a day everyday – so if we want to seriously save lives let’s build please!!

          2. george

            Don’t give me “the pair of ye” like you’re the grown up voice of reason. The cyclist in the video has done nothing wrong. Both the white car and the phone using taxi driver have.

          3. Cian

            martco you’re not wrong.

            However in the cities there isn’t always the physical space to build separate pedestrian, cycle, and motorised lanes.

        2. hansel

          You’re absolutely right Boj, I always wear a helmet while driving. Better safe than sorry, considering the amount of motorists that die from head injuries. We should make it a law for cars to be painted hi-vis too. Maybe if they paid more non-existent concrete tax too. And whatabout the whatabout while you’re at it?

          Watch the video if you feel like it. But commenting on it without watching it seems a bit pointless.

          1. Boj

            Why are you comparing car safety to bike safety? A bit silly to suggest bike safety be adopted into the cockpit of a car? Anyway…here’s hoping you got on well with your day!

    2. george

      You’re incorrect. The cyclist is in a safe position as they aren’t turning left. The correct space would actually be in the cycle box but the white car has illegally stopped on top of it.

      1. edalicious

        The same lads that shout at you for not using the bike lane will shout at you for getting in their way for using the bike box. I’m starting to think they don’t care about appropriate road use at all and just don’t want to be mildly inconvenienced by other road users.

        1. Cian

          it’s gas. Because that cyclist isn’t actually slowing you down.
          If the cyclist decides to drive a car – then they will slow you down.

    1. Boj

      Smack your skull off the road there with and without a helmet…then come back and tell us which feels less superstitious.

          1. Boj

            So no helmet travelling at speeds over 30km seems like the safe option. Did you fall off your bike already?

      1. Ads

        I did. The paramedics told me it was lucky I had no helmet that day as it would have caused neck or back injuries.

      1. Robert

        sorry I menat “after he hit a pedestrian”

        actually, speaking as a cyclist … it’s pedestrians that are the worst … no awareness

    1. ____

      If you’re implying that if it were a continuous line he’d have to use it, then that’s not what it means.

      1. paul

        nope, just that under certain circumstances and while driving safely, a car can utilise broken line cycle lanes. This was explained to me recently enough, I had been ignorant of the differences beforehand.

  3. Dr.Fart

    i didnt see the taxi go into the cycle lane in the vid. both are the scourge of irish roads anyway, taxis and cyclists. the absolute worst. neither think rules apply to them.

    1. Spaghetti Hoop

      They are both the top two road-user groups for rule evasion on my commute. Illegal turns, lane-hopping, no lights, no signalling – brutal.

      1. Leopold Gloom

        The 10% of all drivers with penalty points would indicate that yo are wrong. The absolute immesaurable amount of drivers who use their phones while driving, indicates you are wrong.

        The something like 50%+ of drivers who have admitted to speeding, would indicate that you are wrong.

        Cars are the scourge. Occupying endless emounts of civic space for the benefit of a few per vehicle. We’ve long since passe the point of having too many on our roads.

        1. Spaghetti Hoop

          Huh? Penalty points have nothing to do with taxis and cyclists breaking the rules. If you’re going to spout, be on point with it.

    2. hansel

      You know in the video, where he drives into the cycle lane? Well that’s the point where he drove into the cycle lane. At 13 seconds, if you care.

      They can both be scourges and the absolute worst, I’m fine with that.

      In fact, the only good drivers are the ones who drive the same vehicle as I drive, to be honest.

        1. hansel

          I didn’t vouch for Gretel, Cian. She drives a Ford Galaxy, so needless to say she’s an incompetent driver.

    3. SB

      A lot of cyclists ignore the rules of the road. But a higher proportion of drivers do so. The cyclists won’t kill you, the vehicles will.

  4. Mphone Oo

    All road users are pretty awful in my experience, including myself. I frequently make mistakes and probably have some bad habits.
    Be safe. Getting hit by a planet hurts a lot.

  5. ____

    I just don’t understand how the taxi driver didn’t immediately cop the very obvious reason for that positioning…and then after actually seeing them turn right still decided to tweet about it.

    1. hansel

      I genuinely blame the media, particularly radio shock-jocks.
      These have an almost-literally captive audience in drivers who are stuck in traffic. They regularly pontificate about how bad traffic is and how bad cyclists are as part of a set of us-V-them tropes. Then they play their ads for new cars. It’s easy to rile tired hard-working commuters up in order to keep them listening.

      It results in people like this taxi driver (who, incidentally comes across as a nice enough chap in later tweets) feeling vindicated at being “annoyed” by the cyclist ahead. You’re not annoyed at that cyclist my friend, you’re being riled up by a media who ultimately is paid to advertise a new vehicle to you.

      The fact that he doesn’t have a valid complaint isn’t the point. It’s always just “us-V-them”. It’s the immigrants, students, police, bouncers, bus drivers, cyclists. Just stay listening. And tell us what you think.

      From Quasqai.

      1. postmanpat

        Your right hansel. But your nuanced world view wont play well down here in BS comment land. Seriously though, it nice to know there’s some people out there who aren’t susceptible to corporate advertising. We are not all #TaxiMatts who probably pull in to the McDonalds drive thu after seeing a Big Mac on a bus shelter like a mindless drone. As a cyclist and driver I can honesty say the aggression on the roads (road that have never been safer) has never been as bad as its been this year. The perception of “danger” seems to be amped up, your right, probably by the irresponsible shock jock dopes who know the general public has sub 90 IQs, both cyclists and motorists. I bend the rules on the bike (run lights) and car (go over the speed limit) from time to time (every trip honestly) but I do so using my judgement and never recklessly or if I think it will negatively effect anyone or put myself in a bit of danger. Just like everyone else. For decades it was fine , but today you see self-righteous cyclists getting into fights with cars in bus lanes even though its not really effecting them. and self-righteous motorists beeping and flashing lights at cyclist who are in ” their” section of road and chose not to use the cycle lane for whatever reason (usually a car parked on it up the road so why bother) and again not causing any real delay to any party. Its nuts. I find you can tell the hybrid motorist/cyclists are the most courteous on the roads. The exclusive cyclist / exclusive motorists are the most aggressive. Its mostly noise pollution like shouting and beeping but I just laugh at them. People need to cool their jets. Quasqai’s are for wino-mammys!

  6. Liam Deliverance

    There is a left turning slip road to the left of the picture so for the white car and cyclist right is the only option as far as I can tell.

    If I arrived to this junction and lights were red I’d move up past the white car and stop, in cycle lane, so white car can see me. If cyclists central position was to stop left turning vehicles going across the front of him that might make sense.

    Professional Taxi driver fella – see his latest post image

      1. Liam Deliverance

        I’m not sure what you think he is right about, the cyclist is a motorcyclist, no context as to what actually happened in the accident so relevance to any point being made is unclear, if that picture is real then it is in extraordinarily bad taste, it comes across as more of a threat to cyclists than anything else and that does tie in with the mentality of many taxi drivers.

  7. Increasing Displacement

    This cyclist…brimming with cameras…in the middle of the lane…wearing black clothes (yes he has stripes of high vis, so what, wanna fight about it?) and has an electric motor…the worst kind of cyclist..the WORST

  8. Pat O'Kelly

    What’s really needed is for all road users to offer each other mutual respect and courtesy be they drivers cyclists or pedestrians

  9. Smith

    I cycle to work every day & a lot of motorists do lack awareness. At the same time, these self-righteous, indignant, holier-than-thou, multi-camera equipped cyclists are a pain in the swiss.

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