Cyclists - Junction of Dame St/South Great Georges St

A contributing factor to this is reduction of legal safe routes for people using bicycles to get around the city. The city is full of wide one way streets crying out for contra flow cycle lanes. The city council is a afraid to be bold and radically redesign our car centric city. On top of this the existing Luas lines and those in construction don't help one bit. People on bicycles being banned from those routes often when offering large detours as an alternative often understandably take the shortest route.

This junction is important for people cycling from all directions. For me, using Capel Street, it offers a convenient route into that part of town. The return route being a lot more hazardous and crazy. Breaking lights upsets pedestrians big time. Why are they doing it ? To get ahead of the motorised traffic before it tears off perhaps ? The city once again being car centric caters for people walking and cycling poorly. Instead of being given priority over everything else, the have long waits, poor infrastrucure and inconvenient detours.

ceannair06 wrote: »

Particularly those coming down Sth GG Street and going right towards College Green.

THERE IS A RED LIGHT THERE. YOU HAVE TO STOP.

Shout louder on boards, that'll surely stop them. :cool:

Report them.

ceannair06 wrote: »

Someone is going to be killed one day by your selfish actions and the chances are it will be a pedestrian.

Nobody is going to be killed.

But, you're right, this is a dangerous junction that I cycle through every day - the problem is as much pedestrians crossing against the red man as it is cyclists though. Something needs to be done to reduce the traffic flow on either one of those two streets because there are too many pedestrians using that intersection for what it can handle which is another reason why you find people crossing against the red man. Those pedestrians aren't going to go away so they should look at limiting the through traffic at that junction starting with private cars and taxis. Maybe introduce additional restrictions against left or right turns somewhere.

AngryLips wrote: »

Nobody is going to be killed.

I witnessed the accident about 13 or 14 years ago when a guy was killed by a cycle courier who was on the path at the junction of Merrion Row and Pembroke Street. Sure, it was an isolated occurrence, but it can happen.

AngryLips wrote: »

... they should look at limiting the through traffic at that junction starting with private cars and taxis. Maybe introduce additional restrictions against left or right turns somewhere.

Or maybe just start fining pedestrians, cyclists and drivers who break the lights. If people don't have respect, it needs to be taught.

PEDESTRIANS, STOP JAYWALKING WHILE I'M TRYING TO CYCLE OR DRIVE THROUGH TOWN!!!!

Grrrr *shakes fist*

SeanW wrote: »

How? They don't have to carry registration plates, and even if the guards could identify them and be bothered to chase them down, the worst that would happen is a slap on the wrist fine, no penalty points or anything.

And it shows.

If the cyclist has a drivers licence then I was fairly certain that penalty points could be added to it for offences committed whilst cycling.

Obviously the main issue is that there is little to no enforcement of traffic law for any cohort by AGS.

schemingbohemia wrote: »

If the cyclist has a drivers licence then I was fairly certain that penalty points could be added to it for offences committed whilst cycling.

My point is they're not required to hold a license because they ride a bike.

ceannair06 wrote: »

I honestly don't get the whining on here about "boo hoo it's a car-centric city". No one is saying you can't use the roads but why does that mean you cyclists think the road rules and the Highway Code don't apply to you ?

As a cyclist the Highway Code definitely does not apply to me as I dont live in the UK.


I do however try to observe the Rules of the Road..


And the road does not "rule"

Cyclists do (joke)

SilverLiningOK wrote: »

The infrastructure for people walking and cycling is dominated by the excessive space given to cars. While cars get minutes of green lights, pedestrian barely get 10 seconds, and at some junction this is not enough with the volumes of people. People cycling should be able to bypass many junctions, as have been successfully engineered in many other european cities. Momentum is important for both people walking as well as cycling. Waiting around while the cars get favouritism makes no senses at all.

A pet peeve of mine in a similar vein are junctions where the lights are controlled by sensors that are actually incapable of detecting many bicycles! So a cyclist is left with the choice of either break the law or (at certain times of the day) wait for several cycles of the lights to go for a heavier vehicle to pull up over the sensor. Pure idiocy and ignorance of certain road users, IMHO.

SilverLiningOK wrote: »

Unfortunately in English we just have one word "cyclists", whereas in Dutch there are two. Fietsen for ordinary day-to-day cycling, and wielrennen for riding a bike for speed. In our anglophone world, cycling seems to conjur up images of racing, lycra and speed. Everyday cycling is for transport usually at a slower pace in everyday clothes for your destination. The motorist/cyclist/pedestrian bickering somehow always seems to home in on the sporting image rather than the utility transportation one. Wonder why is that ?

Actually (and this is speaking as both a leisure and commuting cyclist, as well as a driver), a lot of the worst behaviour that I see from cyclists comes from those that you describe as being associated with transport cycling. My commute is up to 15km each way, and since I have cycling kit I wear it on the commute (which may associate me with the sport aspect in some eyes, though I commute with a pannier). However all too often I see:

• Careless breaking of red lights (i.e. zip through having hardly looked, as opposed to slowing for it, or going carefully through an empty/quiet junction)
• Manoeuvres (lane changes, etc.) made without adequate observation/signalling
• "Shoaling" past other stopped cyclists to get to the top of the queue at a junction, in many cases when they have already been passed by the stopped cyclists and thus force them to overtake again. This is primarily a manners/courtesy thing, but ultimately it creates unnecessary frustration and risk for both cyclists and drivers if the cyclists have to get past the shoaler repeatedly.
• Salmon cyclists, whereby they go the wrong way down one way streets (Merrion Street Lower to name one), or down the wrong side of the road in a cycle lane (Phoenix Park is lethal for this)

By contrast, the only potentially dodgy cycling that I knowingly engage in is that detailed in the first part of my post, when I may amble (and I mean amble!) through a junction on a red light because I know the light will never go green for me alone (SSG and Leeson Street junction used to be one of these). Ideally I would wait till near the end of the pedestrian lights on all entrances to the junction if that is part of the cycle. And even then I will go through very slowly, and always yield to pedestrians who obviously have right of way over me.

I'm a cyclist and I have to say I am sick of other cyclists booting through red lights whilst pedestrians are crossing .

Absolute d*heads. Just because I cycle doesn't mean I have to show no regard for others.

Drivers get all the flack but cyclists are getting too messy .

Oh and this thread aint about motor vehicles so leave them out .