Cyclists on the pavement - rant

HardyEustace

STOP CYCLING ON THE PAVEMENT.

If you can't handle a bike on the road you shouldn't be on one.

And don't bother your ar*e throwing me a dirty look as I didn't move out of the way for the bike BEHIND me.

AAAAGGGGHHHH.

That is all.

Stupid_Private

I spend far too much time running on cycling paths to complain about a bike on a path.

Cars get pissed with cyclists and vice versa. Cyclists get pissed with runners and vice versa. That's just how it goes.

Munster_Gal

Cyclists should not be on the footpath
Pedestrians should not be on the cyclepaths

earlyevening

Cyclists on the footpath irritate me too, especially when they're covered in protective gear to keep them safe after they cycle into a pedestrian. There's a certain type of cyclist, usually a girl maybe in her 30s or an old person who can barely control the bike that frightens me. I feel less threatened by some 13yr old booting along. They're usually well able to control their bikes.

I do end up accidentally running on the cycle path a good bit (especially along Sir John Rogerson's Quay) and hate it (and feel secret shame) when some cyclist ends up ringing his bell to get me out of the way.

You can't win.

jinka

Just ignorance im afraid and our country is full of it im afraid.

mikemac

I'm with you OP!

And especially when they have helmet, gloves and hi-vis gear.
Probably cycle on the footpath as they reckon it's safer.

Well not safer for the pedestrian you hit at 30km per hour!
(easily achievable on a racing bike)

Though when I'm cycling I come across rollerbladers and joggers in the cycle lane.

Just can't win so I let it go, you'd be getting a heart attack from stress and rage otherwise

RacoonQueen

Some cycle lanes are on footpaths though, I don't really like using those cycle lanes on paths, they're not well marked so they always have pedestrians on them and they tend to end abruptly, I've had drivers(women) abuse me a couple of times though for using the road instead of the cycle lane on the path even though the road I am on is more than wide enough for me plus a car and it is far safer for me to be on the road than the path.

Stark

Munster_Gal wrote: »

Cyclists should be on the footpad

FYP.

chinguetti

Good point and well taken OP

However what about the people who walk onto a road without looking whilst wearing headphones and wonder why the oncoming cyclist roars at them to get out of the way. You can see this every morning (twice this morning) and evening (only once on my way home) all over Dublin city.

And yes, i roar and curse at these people and no, they do deserve it because you wouldn't walk out in front of a car so why would you walk out in front of a bicycle?

All people in this country, be they walkers, cyclists, car drivers, bus drivers or motorcyclists have terrible road manners, its the Irish mindset. Traffic lights here are seen as a challenge, not as a rule.

Bring back Judge and the Safe Cross Code. All together now 'Remember one...'

RacoonQueen

Stark wrote: »

FYP.

gerard65

OMG, like, why don't they, like, just buy a carr.

HardyEustace

I do realise that it's a problem caused by a lack of decent running and cycle paths.

However, I get very frustrated when people INSIST on cycling on the pavement when there is a bus lane beside them which means that there isn't the same danger from cars whizzing past.

I still have a scar on my arm from when a great lump of an idiotic woman crashed into me when she was cycling along the prom (not enough rolly eyes in the world). Unless you've a barbie or superman bike and still have your first teeth, YOU SHOULD NOT BE CYCLING ON THE PROM IN GALWAY.

Blockcypher

STOP CYCLING ON THE PAVEMENT.

Have to agree totally with this one.
I raced a bike for a few year when I was younger and have rode a bike in Dublin for a few years.
It's common in Dublin to have a cyclist wizz past when walking on the pavement, I've come to realize that when walking on the footpath I'm always checking behind for what's coming up (cyclists).
I'd hate to be elderly and having to deal with this problem
There are decent bike riders out there, but more and more I've seen them run red lights, up the pavement and the rest of it, I nearly gotten taken out by some guy flying through the red lights as I was crossing.
It's like this for us bike riders - If we don't respect the roads and other users, we're not going to get respected back, that's the way it works.
The Garda should clamp down really tough on this problem, but I realize that they've other serious issues to prioritize.

onimpulse

HardyEustace wrote: »

I do realise that it's a problem caused by a lack of decent running and cycle paths.

However, I get very frustrated when people INSIST on cycling on the pavement when there is a bus lane beside them which means that there isn't the same danger from cars whizzing past.

I still have a scar on my arm from when a great lump of an idiotic woman crashed into me when she was cycling along the prom (not enough rolly eyes in the world). Unless you've a barbie or superman bike and still have your first teeth, YOU SHOULD NOT BE CYCLING ON THE PROM IN GALWAY.

The problem with bus lanes is that they are probably the most dangerous place a cyclist could be on the road - that's why they don't get used. Busses pass you (usually way too close) and then jam on the brakes right in front of you to pull in at a bus stop - so you have to go around them - into the lane of traffic. Once you do this the bus comes behind you again - passes you and again stops at the bus stop right in front of you... it's cat & mouse... the only thing is that they often start to edge closer to the kerb while you're still at the side of the bus - so to avoid getting squashed between the bus & the kerb - you yet again have to jam on the brakes!

I'm really of the opinion that cyclists are just an inconveninece on the roads as far as road planners are concerned despite all the lip service they pay to encouraging it. They try to put them in where ever they can fit them & claim they have so many km's of cycle lanes when in actual fact most cycle lanes are too dangerous to use.

It does bother me when I see cyclists on paths all the same but also when runners & walkers block the cycle lanes. The funny thing is that the few cycle lanes that are actually safe to use are the one's full of walkers! Very annoying - I don't mind the runners so much - prob because I do that too

spaceylou

nah my favourite "cycle lane" in dublin has to be the one that doubles as car parking spaces in Ranelagh - defies logic!!!

But back on topic - nasty cyclists on the footpath (me included occasionally) - pity we can't adopt a model that other countries seem to have adopted with out too much hastle of shared spaces for joggers/runners/cyclists/walkers....it is just a matter of proper planning (not just the lip service referred to by the last poster) and a bit of education/promotion for the general public (which includes the walkers, joggers, runners and cyclists)....

tunney

spaceylou wrote: »

nah my favourite "cycle lane" in dublin has to be the one that doubles as car parking spaces in Ranelagh - defies logic!!!

But back on topic - nasty cyclists on the footpath (me included occasionally) - pity we can't adopt a model that other countries seem to have adopted with out too much hastle of shared spaces for joggers/runners/cyclists/walkers....it is just a matter of proper planning (not just the lip service referred to by the last poster) and a bit of education/promotion for the general public (which includes the walkers, joggers, runners and cyclists)....

As a cyclist and a runner I think you should be allowed deck anyone using inappropriate lanes. Runners should clothesline cyclists on the path and cyclists should smack people running in the cyclepath in the head with their ulocks.

TFBubendorfer

tunney wrote: »

As a cyclist and a runner I think you should be allowed deck anyone using inappropriate lanes. Runners should clothesline cyclists on the path and cyclists should smack people running in the cyclepath in the head with their ulocks.

Whenever I'm visiting the in-laws in Dublin I tend to head towards Killiney on my runs. That includes a mile or so along the N11. The foot path is broken concrete, the cycle lane is smooth. I'll be using the cycle path for as long as the foot path remains in its present state, and no roaring and threatening cyclist is going to stop me. Having said that, I've never had an incident. The two occasion when a cyclist actually came up from behind I stepped off the cycle path in plenty of time.

Stark

Well since you're too precious to run on the footpath, that means that cyclists have to use the road instead of the cycle path. Which of course puts them at risk from irate bus drivers and the like. You should try running on the road instead of the footpath and see how long you can ignore roaring and threatening motorists.

TFBubendorfer

Stark wrote: »

Well since you're too precious to run on the footpath, that means that cyclists have to use the road instead of the cycle path. Which of course puts them at risk from irate bus drivers and the like. You should try running on the road instead of the footpath and see how long you can ignore roaring and threatening motorists.

Before you make any more unnecessary comments, at least be so kind to read my entire post - it's not that long. The only two times a cyclist came along, I stepped off the cycle path.

And btw, yes, my knees are precious to me.

Stark

Correction, you stepped off the path the only two times you realised a cyclist was coming along. A cyclist isn't going to wait until he's right behind you to see if you'll get out of the way, he's going to have to leave the cycle lane well in advance of seeing you ahead as you can generally only get safely back on the road at certain points.

onimpulse

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

The two occasion when a cyclist actually came up from behind I stepped off the cycle path in plenty of time.

I'm wondering how you know they are behind you so you can get out of the way? You wouldn't be able to hear them with traffic / wind (as any runner reading this will know). So you must see them - how exactly? Eyes in the back of your head?

My life is more precious to me that your knees - obey the rules of the road!

scottreynolds

tunney wrote: »

As a cyclist and a runner I think you should be allowed deck anyone using inappropriate lanes. Runners should clothesline cyclists on the path and cyclists should smack people running in the cyclepath in the head with their ulocks.

. Survival of the fitest. What is it that drivers hate cyclists, who hate runners, who hate predrestrians and cyclists and Triathletes hated by everyone.

What really annoys me when running on the path is how slow people walk and not at all in a straight line. Don't people realise that there's I'm ciming -- get out of the way. My run is 15km not 15.1 cause I had to dodge you.

Pedestrians should be banned from pavements between the 'peak running' hours of 7-9am and 5-8pm.

macy9

People jogging 2-abreast in the cycle lane/cycle pavement (the green one) in the Phoenix Park.

Agghhhhhh

Id also like to point out that its awkward for cyclists to click out of our cleats to prevent crashing into people who refuse to move and also racing tyres don't fair so well on thick grass like that of the Phoenix Park.

Seres

one of the bonuses of living in the sticks , you rarely meet any other cyclist or runner , however we do pay for it with the sh*t road surfaces