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news
Dublin cyclist at junction (via TaxiMatt on Twitter)Video: Tables turned on tweeting taxi driver’s criticism of Dublin cyclist – thanks to rider’s rear-facing camera
A Dublin taxi driver who tweeted a picture this morning criticising a cyclist’s road positioning got a bit more than he bargained for – when the very same cyclist replied to his post with footage of the same incident shot from the rear-facing camera on his bike.
The original picture from Twitter user @Taximattdublin showed the cyclist ahead of him, riding primary as he prepared to turn right at a set of traffic lights.
The cabbie, in a reference to the adjacent cycle lane on the left hand-side of the road, wrote: “Now if only there was somewhere safe for this cyclist to cycle … ”
this is awkward
i stay central there because some drivers (yourself included) cant seem to keep out of the cycle lane as they go round the bend.
glad you still made the light while tweeting, although traffic wasn't moving so it didnt make much difference#FaceItDown pic.twitter.com/iJ2AuXuLbp
— Alan D (@AlanDub13) November 21, 2019
In his reply the cyclist, @AlanDub13, said: “This is awkward,” adding a laughing emoji.
“I stay central there because some drivers (yourself included) can’t seem to keep out of the cycle lane as they go round the bend,” he explained.
“Glad you still made the light while tweeting, although traffic wasn't moving so it didn’t make much difference.”
Indeed, the video shows that after turning right, Alan was able to swiftly move past the queue of motor traffic that had built up after the junction.
In what turned out to be a good-natured exchange by the usual standards of interaction between cyclists and taxi drivers on the social network, TaxiMatt said, “I take your points on board” and added that he had been using a dashcam and had pulled in safely to tweet the picture.
I take your points on board.
The Merc shouldn't have been in the cycle box.
I did not tweet while driving as the time of tweet was 9:24, timestamp on video is 9:21. Plenty of places for me to pull in and tweet safely.— TaxiMatt (@Taximattdublin) November 21, 2019
I didnt take the picture while driving, it's called a dashcam
— TaxiMatt (@Taximattdublin) November 21, 2019
He added: “I definitely have gathered more insight as to why a cyclist would position themselves here and I thank Alan for posting his side.”
Yes I definitely have gathered more insight as to why a cyclist would position themselves here and I thank Alan for posting his side
— TaxiMatt (@Taximattdublin) November 21, 2019
It's fair to say though that a number of Twitter users took some delight in the cabbie been pulled up on his original tweet thanks to the video provided by the very cyclist he was criticising.
O.W.N.E.D. pic.twitter.com/oiDFbVxcEC
— Dom the Tea Drinker (@Tdr1nka) November 21, 2019
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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22 comments
maybe the taxi driver thought the cyclist should be in front of the white car at the advcanced stop line?
I think the white car is taking up the space.
Sorry TaxiMatt, but that delayed pull away from the light, the uncontrolled swerve over the cycle lane and the slightly wobbly correction thereafter has all the hallmarks of...a driver pissing about with his phone when he should be concentrating on the road with both hands on the wheel.
I don’t use Twitter, but surely somebody thought to check if there’s EXIF metadata on the pic the cabbie uploaded which would identify if it came from the dash cam or if he is bs-ing and used his phone. Odds on it’s the latter because a proper dash cam will overlay a time and date stamp which would appear if you’ve grabbed a frame from video.
I wondered about the exif, but I'll bet Twitter strips it out.
If you have alook at the twitter thread, there is a fair bit of dashcam footage from the taxi, the bottom of the frame is dominated by a Dublin club (some sport I guess) scarf and reflection, which does not seem to be present in the picture that featured in the ridiculous complaint about the positioning of the cyclist.
Just saying...
Calling BS on the dash cam claim.
Please show me the dashcam that you can pull footage from and have it online in 3 mins!!
Also LOL at the folks who think it's not possible to take a landscape photo with a mobile ... if he wanted a pic showing both cyclist and the cycle lane, he probably needed to turn his phone side on.
Perhaps someone can take a look at the metadata from the pic and call it one way or the other ...
I prefer not to look negatively. The chap sucked it up and everyone went on their way. The hope is that people have learnt something and the world is better for it. Sneering at people will likely undo any positivity.
Sucked it up, sorry but he's backtracked and is doing damage limitation as he was outed for the moron he clearly is, also outed as someone who needs to have his licence revoked because as a driver never mind a professional one he clearly hasn't got a clue!
Taking potshots at the driver is a waste of time in this instance. He and many of his followers learned a couple of things this morning: firstly that cyclists don't have to use the bit of road with a painted bike on it, and secondly that lots of us have cameras and we're watching. These are both good things.
Everyone involved should now be turning their attention on the authors of the ridiculous road design that paints ASZs in the exact shape of a lorry cab blindspot, lanes in the door zone, etc, and demands better. Won't happen obviously.
I bet taximatt wishes he'd not tried to be a smartarse... the thread is now comedy gold. Sadly the original good natured exchange seems to have been overtaken.
Was he either seriously considering that the cyclist should be in the left hand cycle lane to turn right, or was he just hoping to use his pic of a cyclist not in the cycle lane to shit-stir?
Either way taximatt is an idiot.
In all honesty it's just nice to see an exchange between 2 road users in an almost civilized manner. I do not see why the Taxi driver needed to say anything but people often do, especailly when behind a steering wheel. Good on the cyclist for getting his point accross and hopefully this has raised some awareness.
I want to agree, so badly I do. And I do think maybe the Taxi Driver has gained some perspective and insight. But his initial tweet shows that was very much not his aim, it was more the fact that the cyclist 1) somehow miraculously found the tweet, 2) also had footage to demonstrate his case.
The cynic in me says this gave the Taxi Driver little option that admit his initial view was wrong - admittedly in this day and age at least that is quite an achievement.
Though the point remains that his initial tweet very much looks like an attempt to start a rant at cyclists, as well as being a bit threatening in that somehow the cyclist was in danger waiting patiently at a red light - another apparently miracle given apparently 95% of cyclist don't stop a red lights.
Actually I thought the taxi-driver was relatively gracious about it all, in the end.
Maybe I just have low-expectations of taxi-drivers.
Only as he knew he'd been caught using his mobile whilst driving. gone for a deflection technique of being nice...
I think that may actually be the truth of it. Possibly he was panicking slightly at the thought that he might end up in trouble himself?
It's _still_ an improvement over what I expect from the average cab driver, though. Compared to this case, the chap's behaviour was quite civilised.
https://road.cc/content/news/25146-london-cyclist-strangled-taxi-driver-...
Furthermore, at no point in the incident did his shorts fall down, so, really, he's quite Zen by taxi-driver standards.
So the driver pulled into the side of the road to spend time tweeting about the modicum of time lost, waiting behind a cyclist.
I'd like to see the timestamped video of when he was pulled over to tweet.
Don't know why, but he only said "Plenty of places for me to pull in and tweet safely."
Not that he actually did.
Also, the photo in the original tweet is different to the dashcam footage. Possible photo with his phone ... Which he pulled in to take safely, obviously.
I'm not really buying the 'nice to see a pleasant exchange' ... Look at the @s in the original tweet, Taxi driver tried to hang him out to dry ... Police, Council, Road Safety Authority & a couple of Cycle Advocacy accounts.
He's a taxi driver, taxi drivers almost always speed, go through red lights, use their phones, and generally do most things which drivers shouldn't do behind the wheel. Oh, and their indicator bottles are always empty.
Some people are amazing.
Spots cyclist in front of him, he's annoyed
Despite seeing the cyclist is perfectly positioned to turn right he still tweets anti cyclist rubbish and omits to tell the full truth. Apparently does all this by collecting screen grab from dashcam, whilst pulled over at the side of the road.
Then thanks the cyclist for tweeting back 'his side'.
So a professional driver doesn't know where a cyclist should be positioned to turn right ,or they're a stirring little liar
and maybe you're just a nitpicking arsehole
xx