Bicycle Gardai on the Quays

biomed32

Just to give the heads up, Gardai on bikes are regularly on the Quays in the morning pulling over cyclists, its probably been going on for a while. I support what is being done as some cyclists can be pretty stupid on the road. What I am concerned about is that they are blatantly ignoring bad drivers along the same route...

brayblue24

biomed32 wrote: »

What I am concerned about is that they are blatantly ignoring bad drivers along the same route...

When they don't enforce the law-they're wrong
When they do enforce the law-they're wrong
When they single out motorists-they're wrong
When they single out cyclists-they're wrong

fishfoodie

biomed32 wrote: »

Just to give the heads up, Gardai on bikes are regularly on the Quays in the morning pulling over cyclists, its probably been going on for a while. I support what is being done as some cyclists can be pretty stupid on the road. What I am concerned about is that they are blatantly ignoring bad drivers along the same route...

Well all Cyclists needs to do is obey the Rules of the Road & then the Gardai will be able to free up the time to chase bad drivers ... :rolleyes:

The Quays is exactly the right place for the Gardai to be too, as there's been far too many fatalities of cyclists on the quays from riders being killed by turning HGVs

Greenmachine

confirmed saw them yesterday at the junction with capel street.

No bad thing.

I wonder if, when making a turn at a red, you can dismount, walk to the road you're joining, and remount at the side of it?

Technically you're a pedestrian, so you're not breaking lights. Mightn't work turning right though......

kenmc

Deleted User wrote: »

No bad thing.

I wonder if, when making a turn at a red, you can dismount, walk to the road you're joining, and remount at the side of it?

Technically you're a pedestrian, so you're not breaking lights. Mightn't work turning right though......

If I just miss a green light and know the junction enough to know I'll be waiting a while I often do this. Can't think of any reason why we can't do it.
Likewise I've often crossed the road on foot with a green man rather than wait for a full sequence of lights.
Oh and sometimes I even hop onto the cycle lane for a bit if it means I don't have to stop for red lights

Jawgap

brayblue24 wrote: »

When they don't enforce the law-they're wrong
When they do enforce the law-they're wrong
When they single out motorists-they're wrong
When they single out cyclists-they're wrong

they're not wrong, they're just not right!

They're right to enforce the law, but they (and we) would be better served if they (as in the senior officers who direct policy in this area) took a public safety approach, rather than responding to the latest Joe Duffy, Irish Times, George Hook rant by shooting a few fish in a barrel.

By all means nab the idiot and dangerous cyclists (nail them up I say:)) but do all the other road users doing obvious and dangerous things........and to my mind if they're on the Quays, mobile phone using coach and truck drivers should be top of their list - 30 minutes and you'd have half-a-dozen nabbed easy enough.

Of course, if you're on your bike stopped at the lights at O'Connell St Bridge and you point out the three trucks stopped all with drivers with phones clamped to their ears to the two Guards on foot, you're not only wrong, you're told to f%ck off!

studiorat

brayblue24 wrote: »

When they don't enforce the law-they're wrong
When they do enforce the law-they're wrong
When they single out motorists-they're wrong
When they single out cyclists-they're wrong

Don't be such a drama queen. :rolleyes:

The OP suggested they may be ignoring bad drivers. Stop exaggerating.

So is this part of the on the spot fine business? And more importantly does it have a catchy name like operation freeflo', "operation spandex" gets my vote.

magicbastarder

fishfoodie wrote: »

The Quays is exactly the right place for the Gardai to be too, as there's been far too many fatalities of cyclists on the quays from riders being killed by turning HGVs

given the HGV ban, there's much less of a need for them to be on the quays so.

anyway, people don't give out if there's an announcement of a clampdown on burglary, for example, 'because it takes resources away from other crime fighting', so it'd be a bit churlish to complain about a clampdown on bad cycling.

Jawgap

magicbastarder wrote: »

given the HGV ban, there's much less of a need for them to be on the quays so.

anyway, people don't give out if there's an announcement of a clampdown on burglary, for example, 'because it takes resources away from other crime fighting', so it'd be a bit churlish to complain about a clampdown on bad cycling.

I think it's a bit of stretch to compare burglary to bad / illegal cycling behaviours. One generally involves the invasion of someone's home, the other is just a relatively low level anti-social annoyance.

Lumen

studiorat wrote: »

The OP suggested they may be ignoring bad drivers.

I regularly see them pulling drivers using the bus lane on the north quay, particularly in the last few days.

Chips Lovell

The only threads you see more whataboutery in are the ones involving Northern Ireland politics.

rollingscone

I'd love to have a Garda follow me on my daily commute.

So many evildoers for him/her to smite.

RLJs, footpath mounters, dangerous undertakers, salmon. ...and that's before you start on the cyclists!

Luis21

Sat stopped at a red light on my bike the other day. Cyclist flew past me. 2 Garda cyclists across the road did nothing.

Laughable.

TheNog

biomed32 wrote: »

Just to give the heads up, Gardai on bikes are regularly on the Quays in the morning pulling over cyclists, its probably been going on for a while. I support what is being done as some cyclists can be pretty stupid on the road. What I am concerned about is that they are blatantly ignoring bad drivers along the same route...

This is a regular complaint but honestly only one Garda can deal with one person at a time in most circumstances. Of course another way of dealing with what you describe is the Garda noting the reg of the cars and sending fixed penalty notice in the post (if offence has occurred) which is far more efficient than cycling after a car to try and stop it.

TheNog

Luis21 wrote: »

Sat stopped at a red light on my bike the other day. Cyclist flew past me. 2 Garda cyclists across the road did nothing.

Laughable.

What if the Gardai were going to a non urgent call?? You wouldn't know if they were or not and I definitely don't know either but let's presume they might have been for a minute.

Scenario is that you work in a shop and report a theft. Two Gardai on bikes are dispatched because they the nearest available resource. It's a ten minute cycle say and your shop closes in 30 minutes. These Gardai see a minor offence being committed so stop that person. That could take anywhere from 2 minutes to ten minutes or more if that person is awkward to deal with. Gardai head off towards you when they see another minor offence occurring..... Do you see where I'm going with this?? If Gardai didn't show up to your theft call wouldn't you be giving out?

All incidents seen and calls received at the station have to be prioritised according to seriousness. Of course you could be right the Gardai could have ignored it for whatever reason but presuming that's what they did is pretty laughable too

NeedMoreGears

I wonder would a better tactic be to target all road users simultaeneously? Such an approach might diminish the " cyclists vs motorists" concept and simply put the focus on bad road users regardless of their chosen means of transport

Luis21

TheNog wrote: »

What if the Gardai were going to a non urgent call?? You wouldn't know if they were or not and I definitely don't know either but let's presume they might have been for a minute.

Scenario is that you work in a shop and report a theft. Two Gardai on bikes are dispatched because they the nearest available resource. It's a ten minute cycle say and your shop closes in 30 minutes. These Gardai see a minor offence being committed so stop that person. That could take anywhere from 2 minutes to ten minutes or more if that person is awkward to deal with. Gardai head off towards you when they see another minor offence occurring..... Do you see where I'm going with this?? If Gardai didn't show up to your theft call wouldn't you be giving out?

All incidents seen and calls received at the station have to be prioritised according to seriousness. Of course you could be right the Gardai could have ignored it for whatever reason but presuming that's what they did is pretty laughable too

Ok so :rolleyes:

downonthefarm

ahhh does this mean the junkies have gone to ground too??

studiorat

Lumen wrote: »

I regularly see them pulling drivers using the bus lane on the north quay, particularly in the last few days.

If Operation Spandex has more of them watching traffic in general then it can only be a good thing.

grodge

rollingscone wrote: »

RLJs, footpath mounters, dangerous undertakers, salmon. ...and that's before you start on the cyclists!

Your right, there is no plaice for those idiots on the roads :pac: