Crazy Cycle Lanes

kramxw

There must be some Irish equivalents........?

Look Here

rubadub

My pic would be of the bus inspector at foxrock church who insists on standing in the centre of the cycleway, he usually does it right on the little yield/zebra crossing bit. I reckon he is waiting for cyclists to complain so he can point to the zebra crossing.
Prick is there almost everyday!

Downtime

I see something similar to 8, 9 and 10 every day.

Especially outside Ashfield College / Templeogue Tennis Club / The Morgue in Templeogue.

Funnily enough the bus stop in Templeogue is right beside the bus lane coming from town. So when the bus opens its doors everyone walks out on to the cycle lane.

roadmanmad

It is good practice for a cyclist to be aware of their environment on the road.

Passengers from a bus should really have right of way.

A Cyclist should stop before the a bus door to avoid getting near a passenger.

This should only apply where a cycle lane exists. Where lanes do not exist buses should be passed on the outside.

I accept there are daft positioning of bus stops and cycle lanes, but we have to make these safe for ourselves.

Why put yourself at risk of hitting an old biddy.

rubadub

roadmanmad wrote:

Passengers from a bus should really have right of way.

A Cyclist should stop before the a bus door to avoid getting near a passenger.

Yes, and it should never come close to that because a decent driver will see the cyclist and not open the door allowing people out. This often happens halfway between whites cross and foxrock church. People are always walking on that stretch too.

Buses are acceptable, what pisses me off is secondary school kids bailing out of cars that pull up on cycleways.

robfitz

Here is a general selection from my Cycle Gallery page (any one got any better comments?).

Welcome to Dublin.
Hope you had a nice stay.

Maybe theres a problem with the road marking?
The cycle track continues to the right.
That's how I cross the road.









The jokes, there is no cycle track when you follow the arrow.






The pole isn't in the cycle track.


Which lane?



Slalom
How wide is a cyclist?
Cyclists slow down.






Cycling on Sunday, isn't that a sin?








Elephants!
Another way to slow those speed cyclists.

Not the nicest cycle track to cycle at night.

roadmanmad

Excellent, photographs by Robfitz. Effort required to get those.


We do not have too many examples of cycle lanes like that in Cork.

Then again, we do not have too many cycle lanes.

cyclopath2001

Never fear, there's a committee working on it.....

MINISTER OF STATE CALLELY CHALLENGES
VELO-CITY INTERNATIONAL CYCLING CONFERENCE

Mr. Ivor Callely, T.D, Minister of State at the Department of Transport today (Tuesday, 31sT May 2005) challenged delegates at an international cycling conference to create a safer and more attractive environment for cyclists. He asked delegates to “… produce conclusions and recommendations that have a lasting influence on the development of cycling in Dublin and elsewhere in this modern era”. The Minister of State was opening the Velo-city Conference which is being held in Dublin Castle over the next four days.

Minister Callely spoke of the commitment of the Government to the development of cycling in Ireland. He pointed out that in the Programme for Government a commitment had been give to expand “…the national network of cycleways in order to encourage more people to cycle and to promote cycling as a safe and healthy mode of travel”. The Department of Transport is co-operating with Local Authorities to provide cycling facilities in Dublin and in other cities throughout the country. In the case of Dublin, total investment in cycling facilities and associated studies over the past decade has reached nearly €30 million.

The Minister of State pointed out that it was “… important that the cycling facilities that are provided have a heavy emphasis on safety”. Incorporating cycle lanes as part of Dublin’s quality bus network has been hugely instrumental in providing a safer environment for cyclists and in contributing, in yet another way, to modal shift from the private car.

In conclusion, the Minister of State pointed to the need for a more holistic approach to cycling; an approach which addresses the real and perceived safety concerns of potential cyclist, in order to create an attractive environment for cyclists. To help develop such an approach, the Department of Transport has recently requested the Dublin Transportation Office advise on the future direction of cycling policy for the Greater Dublin Area.

Civilian_Target

Rob: While you're out Blanchardstown way, there's two you missed. Going east though Blanchardstown village, there's that cycle lane with a 45 degree 1-foot kerb cutting across it. And down at castleknock there's one that cuts straight across a roundablout in the wrong direction.

Ghost Rider

Excellent work, Rob. There should probably be a website dedicated purely to these photos as there are dozens more yet to be taken, especially on the Dublin's north side. The thing would be to sort them by postcode and to give each photo an address. That way the City and various county Councils might make some use of them.

(That's if they ever develop in interest in providing proper cycle lanes, rather than the imitation ones we currently have, most of which are optional, judging by the farcical legislation. As it stands, we're more likely to get decent elephant lanes than bike lanes...)

Iób

Ghost Rider wrote:

Excellent work, Rob. There should probably be a website dedicated purely to these photos as there are dozens more yet to be taken, especially on the Dublin's north side. The thing would be to sort them by postcode and to give each photo an address. That way the City and various county Councils might make some use of them.

DCC should ask DTO for a grant to do a website of these, with a clickable map, bringing up photos, identifying each location by address and direction, describing the problem etc.

Also this should form the basis for a complaint to the Ombudsman.

cyclopath2001

I&#243 wrote: »

DCC should ask DTO for a grant to do a website of these, with a clickable map, bringing up photos, identifying each location by address and direction, describing the problem etc.

Do you think the only problem is that the DTO and Dublin City Council don't know what's going on?

I think the issue is more than that.

Iób

cyclopath2001 wrote:

Do you think the only problem is that the DTO and Dublin City Council don't know what's going on?

No. I think they don't understand what they're doing. Most of them don't actually use bicycles. The right selection of photos will make it obvious and will serve to embarrass them into action. There may be someone in the DTO who would like to have this happen. (I know there used to be.)

cyclopath2001

I&#243 wrote: »

No. I think they don't understand what they're doing. Most of them don't actually use bicycles. The right selection of photos will make it obvious and will serve to embarrass them into action. There may be someone in the DTO who would like to have this happen. (I know there used to be.)

It depends on whether or not you believe that the authorities actually care about cyclist welfare and promoting safe, efficient transport options.

If you read the relevant legislation, you'll find that the whole thrust is to side-line cyclists so that maximum road-space is made available for motor-traffic. The change made in 1998, by the PDs to allow motor vehicles to drive in cycle lanes demonstrates that, as far as cyclists are concerned, the Penal laws are back.

Squirrel

If I ever have a camera with me I'll take some of the cycle lanes around Templeogue and maybe Ballinteer/Dundrum/Stillorgan where I run. There is some pretty bad ones about the place alright.

And robfitz, it's like you're stalking me, I spend an awful lot of time near where most of them photos were taken, all over the city

Victor

I&#243 wrote: »

No. I think they don't understand what they're doing. Most of them don't actually use bicycles.

Exactly, most inspections by engineers seem to be done while hanging out the window of a 4x4.

cyclopath2001

Victor wrote:

Exactly, most inspections by engineers seem to be done while hanging out the window of a 4x4.

That's if the inspector was a concientious one. From what I've seen, most inspectors were probably reading the motoring section of the 'Independent' back in thir offices at the time.

BTW I cycled from Artane to the city yesterday. It's been a while since I've been on that route. Lanes at narrow sections in Artane and Donneycarney have been removed completely.

Heinrich

One "site" worth photographing is at the secondary school and Collins Avenue Extension entrance to DCU at school start/finish times. It must be the longest car park in Dublin. It is a pure hazard for the few pupils who cycle!

These cycle lanes are pretty worthless and a waste of red paint and broken glass! I enjoyed some great paths and lanes in Geneva. The paths are either raised or completely separated from the roads. Lanes are marked as they are here. Drivers are less inclined to park or open the doors as they do here. Maybe French swearing is more effective.

cyclopath2001

Heinrich wrote:

Maybe French swearing is more effective.

Or maybe Swiss law respects cyclists.

Part of the problem here is the way the PDs changed the cycle lane laws in 1998 so as to permit driving and parking in cycle lanes.

**Timbuk2**

robfitz wrote:

{Pictures}

Excellent post

Some of those made me laugh

John_C

cyclopath2001 wrote:

Part of the problem here is the way the PDs changed the cycle lane laws in 1998 so as to permit driving and parking in cycle lanes.

I think that the problem is more fundamental than that. A lot of cycle lanes are in places where they simply don't fit so drivers are forced to drive and park in them. The law reflects the reality of poor road design.

impr0v

The reality is that the motoring voter shouts louder, is more numerous and better represented. There is some genuine good will towards cyclists but a lot more apathy. The cyclist is someone to be begrudingly accommodated if possible, but not to the detriment of the motorist. There is still an ingrained idea that the cycling commuter is a floral print wearing do-gooder to be tolerated with a throw of the eyes to heaven, or ridiculed for not living in the real world if they get above themselves.

Civilian_Target

They've started implementing a cycle network here in Belfast recently and it seems to be pretty damn good -- there's not very many lanes at the moment but the people in Dublin should come and look at them, all the kerbs are appropriately lowered/raised, all the blocking signage is removed, cyclists are rarely forced to yield and they're well surfaced and maintained. Occasionally they can be tricky to join, but there's always a point where you can join sooner or later, and they tend to be quite coherent over long distances.

The best by far though is the offroad Lagan Towpath cycle lane, its hard to get up speed because there tends to be pedestrians on it but it's a beautiful cycle, you wouldn't know you're in the city at all.

Pherekydes

Bursts of traffic speeding along the wide carriageway make this bridge unpleasant, it's even worse if you actually try to use the northbound centrally positioned cycle lane. The junction at the northern end, which is designed like motorway slip roads, is notoriously unpleasant. The southbound cycle lane is bumpy and leads into a bus stop followed by four lanes of traffic jam.

I wonder who was the genius who decided the middle of the road was a good place for a cycle lane?

The sign in the left foreground says it all.

Mucco

Slow coach wrote:

I wonder who was the genius who decided the middle of the road was a good place for a cycle lane?

The sign in the left foreground says it all.

Thankfully they've removed that lane from Blackfriars bridge.

M

Cabaal

Slow coach wrote:

I wonder who was the genius who decided the middle of the road was a good place for a cycle lane?

The sign in the left foreground says it all.

The fact that there's flowers beside the sign suggestsions somebody been killed recently on that road...I wounder was it a cyclist?