Wrong way in a bike lane - Who's at fault?

galwaycyclist

kerryked wrote: »

Happened again this morning in the same spot. Different cyclist i think, this guy slowed down a bit. I smiled and waved, resisting the urge to mow him down :pac:

You need to report it to the Guards. Also you need to see it recorded in the station daybook and get the name of the officer. If the officer takes out a loose piece of paper and starts writing then assume that your report will get filed in the bin.

mrcheez

ted1 wrote: »

People should walk towards the oncoming traffic

Exactly, stick to the LHS of the pathway when walking.

Allows joggers to overtake you on RHS and you also walk against oncoming traffic when on the road-edge side of the path.

2RockMountain

kerryked wrote: »

Just want to get people's thoughts on this one.

Was travelling to work one morning last week. As you drive out of my estate on to the main road you have to cross over a cycle lane, where you would expect bikes to be coming from the right, same as cars.

However, this particular morning I was pulling out, I stopped at the main road, checked for traffic on my left and right, also checked for bikes coming from the right, it was clear so I proceeded to go.

Next thing I know, I can hear bike breaks being squeezed and theres a cyclist inches away from my bonnet - he was coming from my left hand side in the bike lane.

Just wondering, if there had been an accident who would be at fault here? The cyclist for cycling the wrong way (is there a wrong way?) on the bicycle lane or me - the driver - for not properly checking for approaching traffic?

Why was your bonnet blocking the cycle lane? You should have waiting back behind the stop line until you had a clear opportunity to exit the side road.

mrcheez

2RockMountain wrote: »

Why was your bonnet blocking the cycle lane? You should have waiting back behind the stop line until you had a clear opportunity to exit the side road.

I don't think the OP was stopped on the bike lane, they pulled up to it afaik, but didn't look both directions before pulling out over the bike lane.

2RockMountain

mrcheez wrote: »

I don't think the OP was stopped on the bike lane, they pulled up to it afaik, but didn't look both directions before pulling out over the bike lane.

Sounds to me like the bonnet was blocking the cycle lane.

"theres a cyclist inches away from my bonnet"

mrcheez

2RockMountain wrote: »

Sounds to me like the bonnet was blocking the cycle lane.

"theres a cyclist inches away from my bonnet"

I read that as "inches away from the bonnet after pulling to a stop".

Anyway both parties are at fault really here: driver should always look both ways before pulling out (to watch for anyone coming from the LHS like joggers or dogwalkers, etc)... and bike was going against the flow of traffic potentially being hazard to other cyclists.

kerryked

2RockMountain wrote: »

Why was your bonnet blocking the cycle lane? You should have waiting back behind the stop line until you had a clear opportunity to exit the side road.

I was stopped before the cycle lane My bonnet wasn't blocking the cycle lane. I checked both left and right for cars, obviously didn't check thoroughly enough for cyclists approaching from the left. I'd find it hard to believe anyone would check for cyclists coming from the left in a bike lane 100% of the time, it's really not something you would think about imho.

I know there's partial fault on my part for not thoroughly ensuring a clear path to proceed, but the cyclist approached at some speed, without any reflective/bright colours.

I know this wouldn't have been an acceptable excuse had an accident happened.

Anyway, everyone will have a different opinion on it depending on you're point of view, but hopefully this thread will have encouraged people to take an extra second to look for things they may not ordinarily expect while in the car.

check_six

What's clear to see is that using a cycle lane gets seriously risky at a junction. The most dangerous part of any trip is at junctions (for all road users).

Cycle lane design in Ireland is for the most part very poor to downright hazardous. Some designs mean that the cyclist loses priority at every junction regardless of whether they are on the major road or not. Some designs have the cyclist on the wrong side of the road coming up to junctions. This is by far the most vulnerable position for a cyclist as no one will expect them to be coming from that direction.

The OPs incident may not have involved a lane that was designed to be contraflow, but it's impossible to tell from a car approaching the junction what way the cycle lane is designed.

The other problem is that the people who use cycle lanes the most are less confident and less experienced cyclists. They are the very ones who cannot identify what a dangerous position they are putting themselves in by using what they perceive to be a 'safe' cycle lane. They follow the lane and put themselves directly in harms way.

Poor design is creating these hazards.

beauf

Often see tourists going the wrong way on cycle lanes. I always wondered why. I most often see it where there is a cycle lane on one side of the road only. Maybe they think if theres only one its a two way cycle lane.