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“Yes” – driver’s startling response to cyclist who asked if he was drunk

The driver added: “If I was coming down speeding after a few pints you're dead and your bike is squashed”...

A cyclist who asked a driver in Limerick whether he was drunk was startled to receive the reply “yes” from the motorist.

Aidan Hogan posted bike cam footage of the bizarre incident to Twitter, which happened as he was cycling down St Joseph’s Street.

With a driver coming towards him, Mr Hogan was forced to pull into a gap between two parked cars to let the vehicle through.

The driver said to him: “What are you doing on the road there?” to which Mr Hogan replied, “On the road?”

“Yes,” said the motorist. “Yes, you’re on the road.”

“Oh yeah,” replied Mr Hogan. “Where should I be?”

In response, the driver said: “If I was coming down speeding after a few pints you're dead and your bike is squashed.”

The cyclist then asked the driver if he was drunk, and apparently surprised by the immediate affirmative response, asked the same question again, the driver once more replying, “yes.”

Mr Hogan then said to the driver that he would take his registration number, to which the response was, “Yes, do you want the reg?”

“Yeah, I do, yeah,” he replied, the driver telling him to go ahead and take it before driving off.

Posting the video to Twitter, Mr Hogan observed that it was “so nice to meet new people on the street.”

He continued: “Looks like they don’t have time to pull in to the left for a few seconds to leave a bicycle through, but turns out they actually have plenty of time for a little stop-n-chat and to threaten some violence.”

While some Twitter users urged him to report the incident to the Gardai, Mr Hogan said he wasn’t sure the issue would be taken seriously.

Another person commenting on the video suggested it would be easier if the cyclist simply got out of the way, but was told that the cyclist had “every right” to be on the road.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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7 comments

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cmedred | 1 year ago
1 like

Is this the Limerick version of a two-way road or was the cyclist pedaling the wrong way on a one-way? If it's the former, what's the beef? Nobody should be going more than 10 or 15 mph on a road like that , and slowing down and/or stopping to pullover and give way is just gonna happen. Is the thing here that motorists should never be expected to pull over and give way to cyclists? The idea of someone "coming down speeding'' on such a road is nonsensical even if cyclists didn't exist. 

 

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NOtotheEU | 1 year ago
5 likes

I had a nice chat with a driver yesterday and I thought it could have been Martin73.

Waiting in the middle lane of 3 at a red light in the ASL box a driver in a red Fiat Seicento pulled up to the left of me and wound down his window. As I prepared for the usual abuse he said "I'm glad to see you have a light and hi-viz. I'm a cyclist too and most of them don't bother"

The guy was so cheerful and friendly I didn't have the heart to tell him my that I had a light on in daylight because of bad drivers or that he shouldn't be in the ASL. 

I expected to be told "get off the road!" so I'll count it as a win.

Avatar
Brauchsel replied to NOtotheEU | 1 year ago
7 likes

If you're a cyclist too, you're allowed in the ASL box. Even if you happen to be driving a car at the time. 

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NOtotheEU replied to Brauchsel | 1 year ago
1 like

Good point, and to be fair to him it was a tiny car!

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janusz0 replied to NOtotheEU | 1 year ago
2 likes

Is anyone aware of any car driver that's been fined or even just ticked off for being in a ASL box?

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Rendel Harris replied to janusz0 | 1 year ago
6 likes
janusz0 wrote:

Is anyone aware of any car driver that's been fined or even just ticked off for being in a ASL box?

Yes, I've had several reports to the Met that have been three pointed and £100 fined, all driving in a long time after the red. However, they were all more than a year ago, I wrote to the Met earlier this year and asked if there was any point in continuing to report them as they seemed to be ignoring obvious offences I'd submitted; they replied that for them to NIP now the driver had to be fully filling the box (i.e. right up to the ASL) and for it to be a single lane box. This appears to make an assumption that it's OK for the cyclist if it's a two-lane box as they can go in the other half; fine if you're going straight on or turning right, not so helpful if the driver is occupying the whole of the left-hand lane box and one wants to go left. So apparently it's OK to break the law as long as you only break it a wee bit...

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Owd Big 'Ead replied to janusz0 | 1 year ago
1 like

Yeah, the police go after them occasionally here in Derby. The biggest offenders are those wonderful, professional, taxi drivers!

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