Cycle Lane Directions

LB6

I've a question, not sure if it's been posed before, but I searched and couldn't find it.

Here in Limerick. The cycle lanes are only on one side of the road. Should this mean that cyclists are only allowed to use the cycle lane if they are going in the road direction, or is it legal to use the lane to go both ways? It's quite narrow for two bikes.

I'm just asking, 'cause - while you're driving, it's very disconerting to have a cyclist coming at you on the cycle laneway and then swerving out into your car :eek: to avoid the cyclist that's going in the right direction.

Thanks.

Victor

If it is a cycle lane on the roadway then the normal keep left rule applies. It is less clear where it is not on the roadway, but keeping left would make sense.

DePurpereWolf

If it's anything like this:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=cork,+ireland&hl=en&ll=51.882068,-8.495243&spn=0.000026,0.019205&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=43.983628,55.371094&vpsrc=6&hnear=Cork,+County+Cork,+Ireland&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.881872,-8.494928&panoid=RorerezRT21AbPeqYmFvEw&cbp=12,305.6,,0,8.55

Then, no when coming from the opposite directions you shouldn't use the cycle lane, that's a one way cycle lane.

BostonB

The question has to be if you don't need a cycle lane on one side, why do you need it on the other. Makes no sense.

DePurpereWolf

There is not enough space for two cycle lanes because people still need to park their car. So one cycle lane is the perfect solution, everybody wins.

BostonB

Until you meet someone cycling on them in the wrong direction with no lights as is apt to happen.

marketty

DePurpereWolf wrote: »

There is not enough space for two cycle lanes because people still need to park their car. So one cycle lane is the perfect solution, everybody wins.

Just park in the cycle lane surely? :pac:
I'll get my coat....

galwaycyclist

Cycling on the wrong side of the road in a roadside cycle lane, or more particularly a cycle path, is one of the more dangerous things you can do on a bicycle and is associated with upto 12 fold increases in your risk of getting hit by a car at the junctions.*

If, for instance, the cycle lane has been provided to get you past queues of traffic then there is no need for one on the side of road that does not have queues of traffic.

* I should add that junction collisions already account for 75% of car/bicycle crashes

Lumen

On the upside, this behaviour creates excellent opportunities for games of salmon-chicken.

rich.d.berry

DePurpereWolf wrote: »

If it's anything like this:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=cork,+ireland&hl=en&ll=51.882068,-8.495243&spn=0.000026,0.019205&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=43.983628,55.371094&vpsrc=6&hnear=Cork,+County+Cork,+Ireland&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.881872,-8.494928&panoid=RorerezRT21AbPeqYmFvEw&cbp=12,305.6,,0,8.55

Then, no when coming from the opposite directions you shouldn't use the cycle lane, that's a one way cycle lane.

A little higher up the road in your link you find this merge with the normal roadway which dumps you right where you don't want to be, right in the middle of the crossroads. In my opinion it is more dangerous to be in the cycleway at this point than to be more conspicuously to the right. I hate these half-arsed attempts!

DePurpereWolf

That whole cycle lane is a joke. I actually have to applaud how Google could make a picture without a couple of cars parking in the cycle lane.
You see, there is children's playground right there, but no parking on that side of the road. I can understand that parents don't want to cross the roads with children so they all park on the cycle track, every day at leat 8.

Do it well or don't do it at all should be written in white paint on that cycle lane

smacl

rich.d.berry wrote: »

A little higher up the road in your link you find this merge with the normal roadway which dumps you right where you don't want to be, right in the middle of the crossroads. In my opinion it is more dangerous to be in the cycleway at this point than to be more conspicuously to the right. I hate these half-arsed attempts!

Cycle tracks that merge! God they really look after you well down in Cork. Most of them here in Dublin just end abruptly, like this one.

Joking aside, many cycle lanes around the town are a more dangerous option than cycling on the adjoining roads, in that they are incomplete and abandon the cyclist in the wrong lane at junctions. I think as an exercise, they should make the individuals who planned them try to use them for various point to point routes during rush hour, or with kids in tow. The state of the surface I could live with, but placing the cyclist in a more dangerous position than if the adjoining road was used is a disgrace.

coolbeans

LB6 wrote: »

I've a question, not sure if it's been posed before, but I searched and couldn't find it.

Here in Limerick. The cycle lanes are only on one side of the road. Should this mean that cyclists are only allowed to use the cycle lane if they are going in the road direction, or is it legal to use the lane to go both ways? It's quite narrow for two bikes.

I'm just asking, 'cause - while you're driving, it's very disconerting to have a cyclist coming at you on the cycle laneway and then swerving out into your car :eek: to avoid the cyclist that's going in the right direction.

Thanks.

The truth is nobody has actually thought this through. They just fired a bit of paint down with the "shur, it'll be grand attitude".

RobertFoster

smacl wrote: »

Cycle tracks that merge! God they really look after you well down in Cork. Most of them here in Dublin just end abruptly, like this one.

At least that one ends on a dished kerb, which doesn't always happen.

smacl

RobertFoster wrote: »

At least that one ends on a dished kerb, which doesn't always happen.

Love the way that last one says 'Stop' and is then followed by a stone wall directly in your path in case you didn't get the message, and a lamppost on your outside in case you have any plans of veering onto the road. Classic piece of Irish local authority design. Pity the poor Dutch tourist out for a spin in Portmarnock.

Surveyor11

This one in Clonee is my favuorite for abruptness - bike track coming out of town stops at a 6" kerb, no warning. http://g.co/maps/nq34y I always do think of my fellow Dutch cyclist who decides to head out for a spin and hits this.