Pedestrian crossing - UCD

Viscount Aggro

Whats the rule here?

Twice this week, I have nearly been run over, using pedestrian crossing in Belfield.

I started cycling on the crossing… a car saw me, and kept driving towards me. It was a close call.

He started giving me verbals, that it was for pedestrians only.

I have his car details. UCD dont want to know about it.

zell12

clue: pedestrian crossing

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058392222/pedestrian-crossing-ucd

UCD do not police the roads. It would be a matter for the gardai and without video evidence to backup your allegation, it would be your word against theirs

Anyhow, whilst it sounds like the driver was a prick, you probably shouldn't cross until they have stopped or at least slowed down.

(ps cars don't see you!)

clue: pedestrian crossing

I think many crossings in UCD are for shared footpath/cyclepaths but the OP can confirm if this was the case.

Viscount Aggro

Cyclepath meets the pedestrian crossing .. theres no separate lane for bicycles on the crossing.

Maybe the rules of the road do not apply in Belfield… its private property.

Wishbone Ash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123113445#Comment_123113445

Ideally, you're required to dismount and walk across. (The motorist sounds like a bit of a dickhead all the same as cycling across would be quicker and to their benefit).

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123113445#Comment_123113445

Whilst it may be private property (I'm unsure if the roads are), it is a public place - the road traffic laws apply and it is the gardai who enforce these.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123113407#Comment_123113407

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123113445#Comment_123113445

UCD is covered in CCTV and from my time there, many of the pedestrian crossings are covered. This said, very few are actually shared usage (I think it might be one and the signage is legally dubious), despite many people cycling on them. None of the pedestrian crossings are for bikes but a) it can be hard to tell and b) that gives no excuse for someone to try and scare (or worse) someone else.

Contact Donnybrook Garda station, you have a limited time they hold the CCTV. UCD won't do anything unless the gardai contact them but they will keep a record of it if you contacted Estates or SIRC

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123113445#Comment_123113445

anyone know the crossing being discussed? is there google street view imagery of it?

Viscount Aggro

Its a corner near the Belfield church

granturismo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123115419#Comment_123115419

It is a pedestrian crossing or signed as a joint pedestrian & cyclist crossing?

If its only signed as a pedestrian crossing, cyclists have to dismount/stop to cross.

ETA: Didnt realise it was a traffic light crossing - obviously cars should stop if they have a red/amber light at the crossing in magic's post below and pedestrians & cyclists should cross when they have green.

magicbastarder

it's confusing so. the path leading up to it is clearly marked as a shared foot/cycle path, but the light shows a pedestrian light only.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3061558,-6.2171964,3a,75y,274.51h,69.15t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1soZyMnatl51bgR-xqA4F4gw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D20.849050848684072%26panoid%3DoZyMnatl51bgR-xqA4F4gw%26yaw%3D274.5142129221813!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDEyNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

ARX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123115488#Comment_123115488

So it's the inverse of this layout in Stillorgan, where there's a bicycle traffic light but no cycle path. Jesus, how do we manage to make an arse of simple things time after time in this country?

RebelButtMunch

Here's a beauty, if you like steel poles

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123115488#Comment_123115488

That looks like a "Toucan". If the light was red for the main traffic (car) then they don't have any excuse, you could be doing handstands or there could be nobody crossing at all and they must stop.

buffalo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123115488#Comment_123115488

I'm going to wager that it's this one the OP is talking about:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/SVrZ4wUHW7gMhrQL6

It sounds like it's not signalised, otherwise the driver would absolutely be in the wrong. You can see a cycle track parallel to the road that doesn't really go anywhere.

My two cents - it is indeed a pedestrian crossing, so by the letter of the law the OP should have dismounted. But of course, the driver should be less of a dickhead, but it's hard to legislate for that.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123115488#Comment_123115488

That's not the crossing near the church, that's the chaplaincy. The crossing near the church is a zebra crossing. Bike paths come right up to with 2 metres of it then there are yield signs. Technically you should dismount, in reality there are shared usage on both sides. Neither excuse the driver being a bell end.

CramCycle

Thats it, drivers are always dicks there, coming off the roundabout too fast, parking on the foot pad etc.

Schrodingercat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123115599#Comment_123115599

That one is dangerous. When The pedestrian and bike lights are green you can't see the green bike light from from the road/ bike track (there is a black box around it), so it looks like a red light, but when it goes amber you can see it.
All pedestrian lights on the junction crossing both ways are green / amber at the same time.

So if you are crossing the road (going right on the picture) You have a green /amber pedestrian light and a bike coming up to the lights (going straight) sees an amber light and assumes (understandably) it is for them and doesn't realise it is not for the bike track. So if you are crossing on foot you have to watch out for bikes going straight through. And there are a lot of heavy cargo bikes on that route.

The junction would be far better off without the bike lights.

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123118056#Comment_123118056

I do agree, as far as I can understand it, about the letter of the law, but some people, not buffalo, really need to keep things in perspective. Somebody wheeling a bike across a zebra crossing versus riding it slowly across: nearly the same thing, except you're taking up less room when you're riding it. People riding fast on pedestrian infrastructure is obviously the height of discourtesy, and, by all means, send opprobrium their way.

ARX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123116081#Comment_123116081

Just out of shot on the left of that picture, at the entrance to the school: the bike lane is on a north-facing downhill slope and there is a kerb on the right of the lane which prevents the lane from draining. So in the winter it collects a nice slushy mass of wet leaves. The kerb is just the right height to pitch a kid head-first into the road if they skid on the wet leaves or touch the kerb with their front wheel.

Deagol

Just remember the absolute golden rule when on two wheels:

"He who insists on his rights might end up getting his rites".

Think of whom is going to end up worst off in the event of a collision and act accordingly. Treat everyone else on the road as if they are idiots and you'll be far safer.

MojoMaker

Welcome to the cycling forum Deagol.

Cycling, pushing a bike, walking, pushing a pram, crossing on an electric scooter - it's a stopping point for vehicles when faced with human traffic crossing from either side.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123120654#Comment_123120654

A sanctimonious & moralising 'golden rule' for people on two wheels, from one who never travels on two wheels.

Preacher.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123125316#Comment_123125316

Its the mentality of "first they came for..." . It might be helpful in the singular but terrible in the plural.

Charles Babbage

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123120561#Comment_123120561

A pedestrian crossing is for pedestrians, cycling, driving etc across it is not in any way acceptable.

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123125512#Comment_123125512

I've nothing to add to the excellent point I already made.

magicbastarder

Ah here, we'd all be safer if cyclists wheeled their bikes around beside them*all* the time, instead of cycling them.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123125512#Comment_123125512

Just because someone is guilty of something, which while wrong, at the time caused no harm to anyone and is unlikely to ever have done in the scenario described, does not give some shmuck the right to be threatening or abusive.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123120654#Comment_123120654

Pretty much the same logic applied by Putin towards Ukraine and Trump and Netenyahu towards the Palestinians. Tells you all you need to know about that "absolute golden rule".

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123125512#Comment_123125512

What about wheelchairs. And prams? Do you take the same absolutist approach to interpreting how motor vehicles should behave? If roads are for driving on and there are no car parking spaces designated… presumably you'd be of the firm view that in no way whatsoever should a car be parked there? I'll remember that next time I'm driving through my parent's estate.

It's funny how flexible people think the world should be when it comes to motor vehicle behaviour - taxi waiting for a fare? Shur just lash on the hazards and stop wherever ya like. Turning left 500m up the road? Shur hop into the bus lane and skip ahead. Delivery van making a drop off? Shur dump yerself there in the bike lane or pop up onto the footpath out of the way.

blackbox

If a pedestrian is at a zebra crossing they are supposed to put a foot on the road so that traffic knows they wish to cross and wait until it is safe. A cyclist should dismount and wait until it is safe rather than cycling straight across and hoping for the best.