Roundabouts

robfitz

dogmatix wrote: »

I'm not so sure the Walkinstown roundabout is so dangerous.
Are there many recorded accidents there?

I've had a (lucky escape) collision on my bicycle on the Walkinstown roundabout about 4 years ago. I was working in Park West at the time and would cycle along Saint Peter's Road through the roundabout and along Walkinstown Avenue. At the time (I'm sure it still is) it was fairly easy to move past the congested traffic up to the roundabout; at the exit the road widen into 3 lanes; I would take and hold the centre of the middle lane and wait for a gap. Once a gap appears you need to commit and just go; I would then take up central position in the middle lane and move through the roundabout; I can't remember if I would normally give hand signals, but having to lean avoid pothole and ruts in the road, and being able to quickly brake, mean it would normally be unlikely.

On the morning in question I was at the head of the middle lane waiting for a gap. I saw a gap as a white van past which was turning off to Greenhills Road. So I went after the van and was up to speed very quickly. While looking ahead I could see the first two cars at the head of the two lanes on Lower Ballymount Road move on through the gap; I could then see the next car (red) in the outside lane start to move forward, hesitated and then went. Clearly the driver hadn't seen me (spandex clad cyclists wearing yellow top) even though I was basically in front of her, and within a second or so we had hit each other in the middle lane.

The lucky part was that she had basically pumped the accelerator and then suddenly applied the break on seeing me so her overall speed was relatively low, and in my reaction to turn away from the collision the only point of contact was a direct hit of the corner of her driver side front bumper to my rear quick release hub. This impact managed to deflect my momentum and instead of falling off the bicycle I was able to keep upright and skid out and just jump off the bicycle onto my feet. I then took a minute or so to collect myself; the driver had cleared the roundabout and ran up to make sure I was ok; she was in worst state then I was. After a couple more minutes and checking the bicycle was ok and many more reassurances to the driver I was able to continue on my journey.

A couple of weeks later I was at a cycling related meeting with the Dublin Transportation Office so I mentioned to one of the cycling consultants about my incident and my felling that the Walkinstown roundabout must be one of the most dangerous junctions in the country for all road users. The response was that there is such a large fear-factor surrounding the use of Walkinstown roundabout that drivers are much more cautious when using it. But I feel this might only apply to serious accidents which get reported to the Gardaí and a large number of small collisions like mine get unreported.

dogmatix

robfitz wrote: »

A couple of weeks later I was at a cycling related meeting with the Dublin Transportation Office so I mentioned to one of the cycling consultants about my incident and my felling that the Walkinstown roundabout must be one of the most dangerous junctions in the country for all road users. The response was that there is such a large fear-factor surrounding the use of Walkinstown roundabout that drivers are much more cautious when using it. But I feel this might only apply to serious accidents which get reported to the Gardaí and a large number of small collisions like mine get unreported.

Thats insane! So the Powers-that-be are using the "fear factor" to avoid doing anything to improve cycling safety at that roundabout - essentially do nothing and let the situation self regulate.

Given the standard and planning of cycle lanes I this city you would have to assume there are a lot of clueless people in dublin corporation involved in traffic management and roads.

I also despise the "if it's a new road lets see how many roundabouts we can squeeze in" attitude. I mean surely there must have been a better solution then fitting five roundabouts between the ballinteer M50 exit and the Dundrum town centre. I'm surprised they did not stick a 6th one at the sandyford road junction.

prodigal_son

I just wind down my window and tell the beggars to feck off. I think its shocking that they get away with what they do, and if a gang started tommorow to go around looking for them and beating them within an inch of their lives, Id join it.

Maybe the L driver just made a mistake, Hopefully they will learn from it..

mickoneill30

You always have to drive as if everybody else on the road are idiots. Watch the cars approaching the roundabouts in case they don't stop. Take a note of other people using / not using indicators but never trust them. Leave piles of space between you and the car in front of you so that the guy / girl can have their accident whilst on the phone / doing makeup / messing with the radio without affecting you.
Most drivers are not idiots but you'll see so many cars each time you go out that if even only 5% are idiots that can add up to a lot of cars. Every time I go out I see someone doing something daft and to be honest I've done daft stuff myself (I presume we all have), but hopefully learnt from it.
It doesn't matter if someone else is in the wrong while they cause your accident. That'll be little consolation when you're dealing with insurance companies or worse, hospitals.

As for the beggars on the roads who the hell gives them money? They wouldn't be there if people didn't give them money. It can be a bit of an obstacle course trying to avoid them at some lights.

MontgomeryClift

mackerski wrote: »

Neatly negating the whole point of having a roundabout. Great idea.

Not having to stop is not the point of a roundabout. Not having to wait on lights is. You could do without the sarcastic 'Great idea' part of your post. It makes you seem like a bollix.

It would be nice if you didn't have to stop when approaching a roundabout. But the right to 'proceed' is being abused by morons who just glance to their right and speed on through. Of course you're required to 'prepare to stop' and 'take due care' but these are fuzzy rules that are open to interpretation.

Capt'n Midnight

mickoneill30 wrote:

Most drivers are not idiots but you'll see so many cars each time you go out that if even only 5% are.

when it comes to roundabouts most drivers are idiots.

you could count on your thumbs the numbers of people who indicate right when going straight through on walkinstown roundabout or those who indicate right when taking the second turn on a roundabout with three roads on it

today saw an L driver indicate right on a roundabout and go straight on , still they did indicate left when exiting the roundabout which a large fraction of irish motorists don't do.

Del2005

MontgomeryClift wrote: »

Not having to stop is not the point of a roundabout. Not having to wait on lights is. You could do without the sarcastic 'Great idea' part of your post. It makes you seem like a bollix.

It would be nice if you didn't have to stop when approaching a roundabout. But the right to 'proceed' is being abused by morons who just glance to their right and speed on through. Of course you're required to 'prepare to stop' and 'take due care' but these are fuzzy rules that are open to interpretation.

You are supposed to prepare to stop when approaching all junctions, even light controlled ones. The people who don't stop at roundabouts are the same people who fly through a red. No point in making new rules for people who ignore the ones we already have.

pirelli

You give way to anyone on the roundabout. You must give way and you must observe carefully before entering.

Capt'n Midnight

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

when it comes to roundabouts most drivers are idiots.

you could count on your thumbs the numbers of people who indicate right when going straight through on walkinstown roundabout or those who indicate right when taking the second turn on a roundabout with three roads on it

today saw an L driver indicate right on a roundabout and go straight on , still they did indicate left when exiting the roundabout which a large fraction of irish motorists don't do.

If ever there was a roundabout that needed proper "feeder" lane markings(like those on the M50 - Tallaght roundabout) & "get in lane" signs at the enterances, this one is top of the list!

jimmycrackcorm

I'm always expecting the ops situation to happen on roundabouts. It also happened to me in Ashbourne on a mini-roundabout which are even worse. I had properly indicated but I realised that not many people would be expecting anyone to travel in that direction as it is almost as if going back the way you came, so I watched the left oncoming traffic very carefully and judged that the front car was going too fast to the roundabout approach.

So I just stopped on the roundabout as the car to my left came flying on and skidded right across in front of me. Driver never slowed down at all and only realised I was indicating right when I had to actually stop for her on the roundabout. I was ok about it because it reinforced my experience and ability to anticipate the stupidity of others. The other driver got quite a scare and probably learn a life lesson from it.

Had I stuck to my right of way, that car would have ploughed into the left hand side of my car and possibly killed my three year old sitting in his car seat in the left hand side of the back.

Those mini-roundabouts should be done away with as no one treats them with any respect.

Caychadh

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Those mini-roundabouts should be done away with as no one treats them with any respect.

Just wondering what is the point of mini roundabouts? I don't really get them or what purpose they serve.

AugustusMaximus

Ah, this reminds me of what happened going into Mahon Point Shopping Centre a few weeks ago.

Coming up to the 2nd round about, I was in the right hand lane to go right up to Tesco while another car was in the left hand lane. He didn't indicated so I presumed he was going on straight.

Anyways, he follows the entire roundabout around and goes right with. Seeing at the last second that he went all the way around I took avoiding action along with beeping the horn.

Anyways, he stoped and then blocked the road in front of me. A French man of North African decent gets out of the car and starts telling me how I was completely wrong. After I tell him he is wrong he then started to threaten me and proceeded to try to open the door of my car.

After a while he ****ed off. The guy had a serious attitude problem and a complete lack of knowledge of the rules of the road.

Caychadh

Caychadh wrote: »

Just wondering what is the point of mini roundabouts? I don't really get them or what purpose they serve.

They are used where a minor (but busy) road meets a major road, Drivers on the minor road are able to turn right onto the major road without having to wait for the road to be clear in both directions.
Otherwise there would always be a queue of traffic trying to exit the minor road.

blackbelt

I am under the impression that a significant proportion of motorists in this country are just plain stupid.

OP,I was driving over to Liffey Valley a few years ago when the exact same thing happened to me.I was in the campus of the shopping centre (where there are a hundred big and mini roundabouts) and I was on the roundabout.Traffic was stopped on my left and some aul bitch comes flying onto the roundabout without looking.Had I been 2 seconds ahead,she would have flown into the side of me.

Motorists on the N4/M4/Liffey Valley and Red Cow side of Dublin are animals and don't seem to care about safety once the f*ckers know they'll get ahead by about 20 yards.I was in shock when I was learning to drive when my instructor told me that 60% of Irish motorists do not know how to use a roundabout properly.This covers indicating and joining the roundabout.That just puts into perspective your predicament there as well as the carelessness of motorists.