Road level cycle lanes with divider - Who has right of way?

dubrov

I had a look at the lights at the junction this morning.

So there is a light for cyclists and it remains red when the main light goes green. It sits to the left of the main light and at first glance looks like a filter light for traffic not to turn left.

The main light then goes red after and only then does the cyclist light go green and only for a few seconds.

So I guess the cars have right of way initially and the cyclist is expected to wait at the lights until their turn.

This seems a mad design as 1) the cyclist loses right of way by using the bike lane instead of the road and 2) the cyclist will have to fully stop 90% of the time when they have built up good speed at the bottom of the hill.

The road does tighten after the junction and I guess the designers felt it was a bad idea to have cyclists and motorists merging.

McHardcore

It happened to me yesterday. I was cycling towards a junction on a designated cycle lane. There was a slipway to the left. A driver behind me went to turn left down the slipway and nearly hit me. They then blew me out of it with their horn as they had to stop. After passing through the cycle lane, they stopped again to roll down their window and call me a "stupid f*cker". I could see the dawn of realization on their face when they saw the painted cycle lane just there. Even then, it turned into a shouting match between the two of us where I was accusing him of nearly killing me and him swearing me out of it. It ended when we called each other a "stupid eejit".

I reckon he went away thinking he was still somehow in the right.

Good times!😁

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121797894#Comment_121797894

I'll leave somebody with more knowledge of the laws to opine. But for me, your experience is precisely why I don't use most cycle lanes. Or if I do, I leave them and take the road when approaching any kind of junction.

Perhaps this wouldn't be an issue if we didn't have so many ignorant, angry and selfish people in this country behind the wheel of cars. If there was a bit more of an acknowledgement that just because their vehicle is bigger it doesn't mean they've any more rights, that they do in fact 'share' the road with everyone else.

But then I've been called selfish by another 'cyclist' on this very forum for stating that most of the time I don't use a cycle lane. So I've three choices: 1) use the cycle lane and yield to cars at junctions where I in fact have right of way; 2) don't yield in those circumstances but have the "no point being 100% right but dead" line thrown at me and risk being hit by a driver who either is on his phone, speeding or assuming that I'll yield to his bullying; or 3) leave the cycle lane, take the lane as I approach the junction before moving back in afterwards, thereby ensuring my own safety but having the "selfish" argument thrown at me.

I'll keep taking the road thanks.

greasepalm

Many roads are much more narrow with cycle lanes and when turning into a road i check my mirror for bikes going straight ahead and yield to them.

Noticed more lights are for cars turning left or right and bikes would be in the cycle lane . They have to stop in the cycle lane for their right to move forward when they get the green bike symbol.

Cars crossing over a bike lane need to be aware and never assume they will stop at red light as seen loads of them run lights at UCD entrance.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121798135#Comment_121798135

I typically take the road as well at junctions, they aren't designed well and in peak traffic, if I am in the bike lane the risk of being hooked increases substantially. If that makes me selfish, so be it.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121798312#Comment_121798312

UCD is a joke in regards access/egress at the N11 side of campus. A prime example of a place that needs both red light cameras and average speed cameras.

Macy0161

If you mean Fosters Avenue, that's somewhere I take the lane at The Rise rather than cede priority at Fosters Avenue. Same as between The Hill and Kilmacud Road.

greasepalm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121798408#Comment_121798408

Yes forgot there also , Memo to self clean Wing mirrors to see more.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121798408#Comment_121798408

Same here, if I am not already in the bus lane I move into it before the rise. The number of cars who run the red, not to mention the delay that the red bicycle light brings, it just makes no sense. I think I have said it before as well, with the massive swing in and out around the bus stop, many motorists check, see nothing but by the time they actually move, the riders they didn't properly look for are now entering the junction.

Cetyl Palmitate

We have this one in Limerick. A fairly busy junction with most cars turning in or out of the side road. A 2 way cycle track on the inside.

It seems natural to have the right of way when travelling in the same direction as the cars in the lane closest to you. In general I find drivers do not cut across cyclists when travelling from left to right in the pic.

Cycling in the other direction is a bit less obvious. I would generally keep going straight through until a car doesn't stop. Again most times it is ok and drivers yield to cyclists. Often out of confusion as much as anything.

Macy0161

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121802253#Comment_121802253

It was always a problematic junction, but imo it's an example of a redesign/ lighting sequence designed for motorists rather than cyclists/ pedestrians (the cycle lane green is the same timing as the pedestrian crossing on Fosters Avenue iirc). If you use the cycle lane, you've a much reduced green time compared to before, and actually increased time for vehicular traffic (given they used to have to give way to cyclists going straight).

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121803667#Comment_121803667

I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of that junction redesign was lumped in with the "€1Bn on cycling infrastructure" figure that idiots like to (mis)quote. Which would be a double-kick in the nuts for cyclists "hey, sorry, we're taking away some of your rights and giving them to motorists, but you'll be paying the bill, cool?"