knucklehead belting wrong way up cycle lane

Itsfixed

There i was, approaching the main traffic light junction in Ranelagh this morning (the triangle bit) coming from the canal direction. The lights are red so i slow down to stop only the see this eejit in full lycra getup belting up my cycle lane directly towards me. he was going very fast with a look of steely determination like 'I know what i'm doing is wrong, but f***ed if i'm going to let anyone stop me'.

My reaction, I'm ashamed to say, was to move out of the way and shout at him as he was going past, just missing a woman and her daughter who were edging out to cross the road, by centimetres. They simply did not expect to see him coming the wrong way up a cycle lane.

I'm sorry I did'nt just stop and hold my hand out and force him to stop. The woman had obviously seen it all before, shaking her head in my direction. I was actually ashamed because its knuckleheads like this guy who give us a bad reputation.

I do break red lights occasionally and all that, but this guy is taking the piss out of our sometimes 'selective' application of the highway code, and really pissed me off in the process.

Sorry rant over.

rubadub

Was there arrows on the cycletrack/way?
I have encountered this a few times. I am not even sure about who is in the right legally. Many cycletracks have no arrows showing which way is correct, it is presumed to be in the flow of traffic next to it I suppose. If it is either way then the people in the flow of traffic should have "more rights", by law of common sense.

It is more a problem on dual carriageways, where people may be on the wrong side since they are only going to the next lights, or cannot make it, you see lots of schoolkids do it. I sometimes go the wrong side on the N11, BUT if somebody is coming I stick totally to one side and slow down. Most will do the same, get off the track and onto the path or onto the rough, but the way some arseholes do it you would swear you are in the wrong, like the prick you described.

There are a lot of unwritten laws that should be obeyed on cycletracks. I hate people cycling dead centre, real slow. Or people wavering is even worse. I go fairly fast on my bike also and sometimes get lycra boys tailing me really close (dont know the term). I hate that as I fear if I have to brake they will hit me. Lycra boys should only do it to fellow lycra lads who give them the nod or something (if they must at all.)

Also people get pissed off at slow people overtaking them at lights, doesnt bother me too much though.

And dont get me started on teh cops, had 2 feckers on the N11 this morning foxrock-whitescross patch, parked directly on the cycletrack, not even a driveway section, had to go up on the grass to pass, loads of girls going to school so cant even use the path. if I wasnt on my MTB I would have had to stop completely.

BeerNut

Am it ranting tiem?

I had a cyclist tailing me one evening last week wearing a head-mounted lamp with a bright, flashing, white light. I wear a ree-vu helmet and it was extremely annoying, if not dangerous. I'd say car drivers would find it as bad.

Rubadub, it don't think it's a presumption that traffic on cycle tracks ìs one-way unless otherwise indicated; I think the same rules apply to them as do to the main traffic lane, unless otherwise indicated, i.e. you travel in the left-hand lane only.

I don't think I've ever seen arrows on a bike lane. If the picture of the bicycle is upside down, you're going the wrong way!

Cabaal

To be honest the lane goes with the traffic flow, if he was coming towards you then he was in the wrong in that lane

joker77

I commute on a bike to and from work, from Milltown to Smithfield. I was working for a while out in Deansgrange, also commuted from Milltown to and from there.

More and more, I'm seeing people on bikes doing either stupid or disrespectful things.

I had a guy on a bike coming at me, the wrong way down the cycle lane, WITH NO HANDS. I was very tempted to push the plank into the bush as he went past, instead just let an almighty roar at him.

What p*sses me off the most at the moment, is when cyclists don't give way to pedestrians if there is a green man up at the lights. I'm seeing this a lot and it really irritates me. I hate it when pedestrians walk out in front of me on the road without looking, but equally they have every right to expect to be able to cross the road at crossing when the green man is up without the risk of being mown down by some idiot cyclist.

Danbo!

While everyones ranting about problems with cycletracks, what about mopheads in cycle tracks revving along behind you? "rrreeevv".....slow down....."rrrreevv"... slow down...pain in the ass. Although theres nothing quite like moving out of the cycle track and overtaking them, while they struggle along.

i know the cycletrack the OP is talking about and theres none of this 2-way or "against the flow of traffic" stuff going on. It really is idiots like this that give cyclists a bad name. He'll get his when a motorist is leaving a garden and only looks right while turning left.

cowan

Out at DCU I see it all the time, especially around 9am, the kids from the cycle lane cycle the wrong way up the cycle lane, and there's loadsa them, they take it over, going the wrong way, so I have to push out into the traffic, which is full of people dropping their kids off at the school, and have no worries about just pulling in onto you without looking, its ridiculous. And yesterday I was waiting on a bus on the malahide road at rush hour, and there was this muppet cycling down the outbound lane(busiest lane) the wrong way and not even in the cycle lane, just blatently into traffic, he even cycled past a guard, did the guard do anything?

Bicyclegadabout

Itsfixed wrote: »

...

Did you actually call him a knucklehead? Did you poke him in the eye and hit him in the face with a big pot as well? That would've been great, woop woop woop!

SRSLY though, I see it every day around fairview. It'd be easier for them to just go the right way. People is just plain stupid. One must just try to accept this.

fish-head

There's really no accounting for bozos.

cyclopath2001

BeerNut wrote: »

If the picture of the bicycle is upside down, you're going the wrong way!

With Dublin cycle tracks you cannot be sure. I've seen ones in Fingal with conflicting logos at each end.

Frog Brother

Bicyclegadabout wrote: »

Did you actually call him a knucklehead? Did you poke him in the eye and hit him in the face with a big pot as well? That would've been great, woop woop woop!

SRSLY though, I see it every day around fairview. It'd be easier for them to just go the right way. People is just plain stupid. One must just try to accept this.

Fairview is a pain, but can't blame some people. You get less confident cyclists cycling on the park side of the road the wrong way because the cycletrack from town on the shop side is a death trap. I nearly get killed all the time, and have had a few close shaves. it starts with the idiots parking at the big centra who park way out on the road over the cycle lane, then it is people jumping out of cars at xtravision, followed by the joke that is the cycle lane placed in the middle of the road after marino college.

Between the Maniac taxis overtaking other cars on the inside (ignoring the fact that a cyclist is there) and the buses impatinetly driving right up behind you it is a wonder not more people have been killed there. I bought my wife a bike for xmas, as she hasn't had one for years I told here to get off at edges hardware and cross over to the other side and go the wrong way. It's better than dying.

Tea drinker

noblestee wrote: »

He'll get his when a motorist is leaving a garden and only looks right while turning left.

Yeah, a guy had an encounter with my bonnet a few years back. Nothing intentional on my part.

A friend of mine sometimes walks from bus station a donnybrook and there is a cyclist tearing up the footpath there actually roaring at people to get out of the way! Now this guy I might intentionally hurt.

Bicyclegadabout

Frog Brother wrote: »

Fairview is a pain, but can't blame some people. You get less confident cyclists cycling on the park side of the road the wrong way because the cycletrack from town on the shop side is a death trap. I nearly get killed all the time, and have had a few close shaves. it starts with the idiots parking at the big centra who park way out on the road over the cycle lane, then it is people jumping out of cars at xtravision, followed by the joke that is the cycle lane placed in the middle of the road after marino college.

Between the Maniac taxis overtaking other cars on the inside (ignoring the fact that a cyclist is there) and the buses impatinetly driving right up behind you it is a wonder not more people have been killed there. I bought my wife a bike for xmas, as she hasn't had one for years I told here to get off at edges hardware and cross over to the other side and go the wrong way. It's better than dying.

I haven’t found the shop side as bad as that personally. That middle of the road cycle track annoys me, but I go up Malahide road so its no use to me. That tracks designed for Coast road users.

But the people on the track around the park, they don’t wear the hi viz, they don't have lights, it upsets me. There's babies and little puppies and stuff on that track, some caution is required.

In other news, the cycletrack through the park was reopened recently, so you can get from the Centra to the Westwood that way. It’s a bit shorter/nicer too. The park is closed at night, but as the evenings get longer it should be available for use by the evening commuters.

Frog Brother

They hadn't resurfaced the whole thing as I found out one rainy morning on the way to work and it was a mud track over the spot where the Port tunnel work was being done.

Fixe+muddy mess track = kirsties home videos

if the whole thing is tarmaced now it is a great alternative, and calming as
well. I'll check it out this afternoon and report back

mikemac

Tea drinker wrote: »

A friend of mine sometimes walks from bus station a donnybrook and there is a cyclist tearing up the footpath there actually roaring at people to get out of the way! Now this guy I might intentionally hurt.

Nothing a swift kick to the back wheel as he speeds past wouldn't sort out


That cycle lane at Fairview on the park side is a nightmare, no question.
To be fair it’s not always the pedestrians fault, near the bus stop and the pedestrian footbridge, it’s very narrow for pedestrians as well.

Now that the landscaping near where the port tunnel was constructed is finished, maybe the Council could build a new wide tarmac cycle lane inside the park from Westwood to Annessly Bridge. Make it wide and have a dividing line so cyclists can go to and from town.
Oh, and use coloured tarmac so pedestrians won’t wander into it (one can only hope!). It won’t cost much and it’ll last years.
Park being locked at night may be an issue however

This way, walkers get their footpath back and cyclists can speed through the park with little danger.
Only issue is will become a haven for rollerbladers. :eek:

Frog Brother

pre barcode crowd make this a no go a night even if they left the gates open.

SerialComplaint

Itsfixed wrote: »

There i was, approaching the main traffic light junction in Ranelagh this morning (the triangle bit) coming from the canal direction. The lights are red so i slow down to stop only the see this eejit in full lycra getup belting up my cycle lane directly towards me. he was going very fast with a look of steely determination like 'I know what i'm doing is wrong, but f***ed if i'm going to let anyone stop me'.

Contact the local Garda Station (Donnybrook?) and push them to watch out for this guy in Ranalagh and get him sorted out. I have seen somebody cycling against the flow in that same cycle lane further out - near the Esso station on Sandford Rd - maybe it was the same gobsh1te.

cowan

Frog Brother wrote: »

Fairview is a pain, but can't blame some people. You get less confident cyclists cycling on the park side of the road the wrong way because the cycletrack from town on the shop side is a death trap. I nearly get killed all the time, and have had a few close shaves. it starts with the idiots parking at the big centra who park way out on the road over the cycle lane, then it is people jumping out of cars at xtravision, followed by the joke that is the cycle lane placed in the middle of the road after marino college.

What about the bloody Wrights fish vans?