Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Cycle lane

Options
  • 12-07-2020 12:53pm
    #1
    shutup
    Registered Users Posts: 507 ✭✭✭


    I understand Cyclists in Ireland are not legally obliged to use a cycling lane where one is provided.
    However, in the interest of understanding for New cyclists and all other road users who may not have any experience cycling could you give some explanation and reasons why you would not use a cycling lane.


«1

Comments

  • Options
    #2
    DelBoy Trotter
    Registered Users Posts: 1,477 ✭✭✭DelBoy Trotter


    The cycle lane could be in terrible condition

    Some cycle lanes have poles in the middle of them :rolleyes:

    Cycle lanes can be full of grit/stones/glass as traffic pushes all that sort of crap to the left of the driving lane

    Some cycle lanes have drains and man hole covers in them, which aren’t particularly safe when dry, but can be like glass when wet

    Pedestrians/children/dogs walking on or stepping into the cycle lane without looking (mainly when they are the same height as the footpath)

    If it’s a raised cycle lane (same height as the footpath), it makes it a lot harder to take a right turn as you have to come off the curb

    Some cycle lanes have terrible designs. The cycle lane could end and it will spit you out onto the road at a right angle, which basically means stopping dead if there is any traffic coming before you can join the road, so it’s easier to stay on the road in the first place

    Some drivers see the cycle lane marking as some invisible wall between them and the cyclist, so don’t bother giving the proper distance between them and the cyclist


  • Options
    #3
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 28,543 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    Here's 25 reasons

    https://irishcycle.com/2015/11/05/images-25-reasons-why-cyclists-dont-use-cycle-lanesy

    Here's a few thousand reasons

    https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeTheCycleLanes?s=09


  • Options
    #4
    Wishbone Ash
    Registered Users Posts: 24,961 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    They are designed by non cycling motorists and most are just a 'tick box' exercise. Can you imagine the controversy if non-motoring cyclists designed roads. That whinger Faughnan would be on every radio talk show.

    Get a bike and try for yourself and you'll wonder why anyone uses them.


  • Options
    #5
    shutup
    Registered Users Posts: 507 ✭✭✭shutup


    DelBoy Trotter wrote: »
    The cycle lane could be in terrible condition

    Some cycle lanes have poles in the middle of them :rolleyes:

    Cycle lanes can be full of grit/stones/glass as traffic pushes all that sort of crap to the left of the driving lane

    Some cycle lanes have drains and man hole covers in them, which aren’t particularly safe when dry, but can be like glass when wet

    Pedestrians/children/dogs walking on or stepping into the cycle lane without looking (mainly when they are the same height as the footpath)

    If it’s a raised cycle lane (same height as the footpath), it makes it a lot harder to take a right turn as you have to come off the curb

    Some cycle lanes have terrible designs. The cycle lane could end and it will spit you out onto the road at a right angle, which basically means stopping dead if there is any traffic coming before you can join the road, so it’s easier to stay on the road in the first place

    Some drivers see the cycle lane marking as some invisible wall between them and the cyclist, so don’t bother giving the proper distance between them and the cyclist

    Great answer. I think it would be really helpful for non cycling motorists to read that.
    Thanks


  • Options
    #6
    shutup
    Registered Users Posts: 507 ✭✭✭shutup


    Wishbone Ash wrote: »
    They are designed by non cycling motorists and most are just a 'tick box' exercise. Can you imagine the controversy if non-motoring cyclists designed roads. That whinger Faughnan would be on every radio talk show.

    Get a bike and try for yourself and you'll wonder why anyone uses them.

    I have three bikes. I did about 30km with you a few years ago on the boards charity cycle.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    Tenzor07
    Registered Users Posts: 8,604 ✭✭✭Tenzor07


    shutup wrote: »
    I understand Cyclists in Ireland are not legally obliged to use a cycling lane where one is provided.
    However, in the interest of understanding for New cyclists and all other road users who may not have any experience cycling could you give some explanation and reasons why you would not use a cycling lane.

    Hey, the state spends €Billions on Motorways for Motorcars, why don't they use them all the time instead of taking space in the city??


  • Options
    #8
    Wishbone Ash
    Registered Users Posts: 24,961 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    shutup wrote: »
    I have three bikes. I did about 30km with you a few years ago on the boards charity cycle.
    I thought the username rang a bell alright! :)


  • Options
    #9
    Weepsie
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 19,944 Mod ✭✭✭✭Weepsie


    Big one for me is having to give way for traffic on the road constantly. Particularly on long stretches with lots of junctions.
    If I want to keep going straight , but I'm in the cycle lane I usually have to stop, wait for traffic to turn/merge and then get going again.

    Taking the lane means I can carry on and maintain priority for the most part.


  • Options
    #10
    shutup
    Registered Users Posts: 507 ✭✭✭shutup


    Tenzor07 wrote: »
    Hey, the state spends €Billions on Motorways for Motorcars, why don't they use them all the time instead of taking space in the city??

    So you don’t use a cycle lane because the state spends billions on motorways etc ?
    Seems you felt I was attacking cyclists and you dove in defence.
    I’m not trying to start an argument about cyclist versus motorists. Quite the opposite. I’m trying to let people know why cyclists don’t use them.
    I am a cyclist and I’d love to see more bikes in the road.
    Although I was very put out by a cyclists behaviour on the drumartin link road on Friday and I am wondering why he was in traffic like a mad man goading people into arguments instead of being up on a great stretch of cycle lane.


  • Options
    #11
    shutup
    Registered Users Posts: 507 ✭✭✭shutup


    Wishbone Ash wrote: »
    I thought the username rang a bell alright! :)

    Was a great day. The echelon from glencree was intense.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #12
    RacoonQueen
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 20,364 Mod ✭✭✭✭RacoonQueen


    There is often no 'flow' to get onto them, you may have to stop, leave the road and dismount to enter it and then it may bring you on a very indirect route.
    Can be hard to turn right from them especially if they are ones like the above...you can end up effectively losing right of way at junctions i.e you are stuck at bike/pedestrian lights waiting to go straight but if you'd remained on the road you'd have already been able to go straight.
    Some drivers thing they include a magical forcefield
    It makes some drivers forget that cyclists are there and a cyclist may have right of way to continue straight while a driver may pull right across them to turn left because they don't even see them/consider that there is another lane carrying traffic to their left

    One major issue for me is that they are often designed just to get cyclists out of the way of motor vehicles and not thought through properly.


  • Options
    #13
    duffmann
    Registered Users Posts: 50 ✭✭duffmann


    Difficult when cars are parked on the cycle lane


  • Options
    #14
    Pinch Flat
    Registered Users Posts: 7,761 ✭✭✭Pinch Flat


    Was out for a solo spin earlier. Took me up around balrothery and swords. Some nice new cycle lanes there. I chose to use these as the road is narrow with lots of speeding motorists. As I got nearer home I decided to use the cycle lane at the airport near st Margarets, not bad, but dumps you back on a narrow road abruptly near the timer yard. Theres also no easy way on to it. I would have to stop on a busy roundabout/ road and bunny hop a kerb. So I joined half way a longer where there is an entrance to a farmers field. Further on i jumped on the cycle lanes around ballycoolin. Not bad but you have to yield every where a road crosses, including the garage along the way. This reinforces in motorists minds that they have priority which in reality it should be the opposite - giving way to the more vulnerable road users. But hey that's Ireland and it's car culture. Further towards blanch shopping centre, the cycle lane actually takes you left - no space to cross at the roundabout and go straight on Again presumably to facilitate motor traffic. I was a bit meh about them. There's very little joined up thinking when they're built and certainly not built with cyclists welfare front and foremost.


  • Options
    #15
    Tenzor07
    Registered Users Posts: 8,604 ✭✭✭Tenzor07


    shutup wrote: »
    So you don’t use a cycle lane because the state spends billions on motorways etc ?
    Seems you felt I was attacking cyclists and you dove in defence.
    I’m not trying to start an argument about cyclist versus motorists. Quite the opposite. I’m trying to let people know why cyclists don’t use them.
    I am a cyclist and I’d love to see more bikes in the road.
    Although I was very put out by a cyclists behaviour on the drumartin link road on Friday and I am wondering why he was in traffic like a mad man goading people into arguments instead of being up on a great stretch of cycle lane.

    Ah the old "I'm a cyclist meself"....

    The point you missed is why should cyclists use cycle lanes all the time if motorists don't use motorways all the time?


  • Options
    #16
    DelBoy Trotter
    Registered Users Posts: 1,477 ✭✭✭DelBoy Trotter


    Tenzor07 wrote: »
    Ah the old "I'm a cyclist meself"....

    The point you missed is why should cyclists use cycle lanes all the time if motorists don't use motorways all the time?

    You’re coming across like an asshole tbh. Shutup hasn’t attacked cyclists, and has even shown that he’s been cycling with one or two from this forum and you jump down his throat.

    Its posts and attitudes like yours that don’t help the situation at all when it comes to cyclists V cars and trying to get better cycling infrastructure


  • Options
    #17
    tomasrojo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,745 ✭✭✭✭tomasrojo


    In Dublin, I find by and large people cycling do use the cycle lanes in the inner suburbs and city centre, and they do use the ones that offer a quieter cycle outside the inner suburbs.

    The ones people really don't use or the ones that take you off the road for a few dozen seconds and then drop you back on the road, or put you in a position where you have to yield to side traffic.


  • Options
    #18
    Tenzor07
    Registered Users Posts: 8,604 ✭✭✭Tenzor07


    DelBoy Trotter wrote: »
    You’re coming across like an asshole tbh. Shutup hasn’t attacked cyclists, and has even shown that he’s been cycling with one or two from this forum and you jump down his throat.
    Its posts and attitudes like yours that don’t help the situation at all when it comes to cyclists V cars and trying to get better cycling infrastructure

    The topic "Why don't cyclists use the cycle lanes" has been done to death here on boards and in the media..The threads take up the same question in one form or another...
    It never ends well, so do we really need another thread when if you search on boards for "Cycle lanes" you will find dozens of threads like this one: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=100546839

    Going back years. So if someone really wants to know why Cycle lanes aren't used all the time, then search here or Google..


    Oh if you want to discuss me coming across like an Asshole then PM me.


  • Options
    #19
    shutup
    Registered Users Posts: 507 ✭✭✭shutup


    Tenzor07 wrote: »
    The topic "Why don't cyclists use the cycle lanes" has been done to death here on boards and in the media..The threads take up the same question in one form or another...
    It never ends well, so do we really need another thread when if you search on boards for "Cycle lanes" you will find dozens of threads like this one: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=100546839

    Going back years. So if someone really wants to know why Cycle lanes aren't used all the time, then search here or Google..


    Oh if you want to discuss me coming across like an Asshole then PM me.

    Were you on the drummartin link road on Friday.

    Thanks everyone else for the good answers. Much appreciated


  • Options
    #20
    Tenzor07
    Registered Users Posts: 8,604 ✭✭✭Tenzor07


    shutup wrote: »
    Were you on the drummartin link road on Friday.

    And if I was? What of it, it's not illegal to cycle on the road, that section of the city bound lane is downhill so 40kph is quite well within reach, hardly likely to hold up any motorist.


  • Options
    #21
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,575 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    mod note - to those bickering, cut it out now. it's a nice sunday, walk away from the computer/phone.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #22
    iwillhtfu
    Registered Users Posts: 6,368 ✭✭✭iwillhtfu


    Tenzor07 wrote: »

    Oh if you want to discuss me coming across like an Asshole then PM me.

    Put the handbags away :D

    I think most cyclists would love to have the opportunity to use a purpose built cycleway for all of their spins but instead we're handed a cross between reasonable sections and others like back roads in Mogadishu.

    My main gripe with them is the way they just randomly finish or dump you back into a live lane. Then other times they skirt around housing estates with the footpath then you've to stop and yield to traffic just to carry on straight. Others you can't even get onto without having to mount a kerb.

    I don't think anyone enjoys sharing the road with cars but here we are and it will not change in any of our life times.


  • Options
    #23
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 28,543 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    shutup wrote: »
    Were you on the drummartin link road on Friday.
    If you're talking about the section where Drummartin Road meets Eden Park Drive, it could well have been me on Friday.

    https://goo.gl/maps/XvgecUUN62aBujnbA

    I avoid that stretch of cycle lane like the plague. The design at the junction with Eden Park Drive has resulted in motorists flying out towards the junction, never considering the possibility of a cyclist on the cycle lane. With the descent, it's easy to build up quite a speed there, so why would I choose to put myself in a position where I have to give way to an exiting motorists, instead of taking the lane, and requiring the motorist to give way to me - the natural scheme of things at a T-junction?

    Also, after Eden Park Drive, the section of bike lane at the bus stop isn't good for anybody, so I avoid that too.

    https://goo.gl/maps/3aFiQSGmG3NyYfCF8


  • Options
    #24
    Johnny Jukebox
    Registered Users Posts: 656 ✭✭✭Johnny Jukebox


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    If you're talking about the section where Drummartin Road meets Eden Park Drive, it could well have been me on Friday.

    https://goo.gl/maps/XvgecUUN62aBujnbA

    Great photo - why should a cyclist have to yield here ? (you can clearly see not one but two yield signs on the ground here). It makes no sense that cyclists should have to yield at this junction but other traffic does not.

    Given a choice why would I use a piece of infrastructure that engineers me as a 2nd class road user when I could *legally* use another piece of infrastructure one meter to the right where I am a 1st class road user, same as other traffic.

    This is on my commute, and I have seen near misses, stand offs, rows and 1 collision here.


  • Options
    #25
    shutup
    Registered Users Posts: 507 ✭✭✭shutup


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    If you're talking about the section where Drummartin Road meets Eden Park Drive, it could well have been me on Friday.

    https://goo.gl/maps/XvgecUUN62aBujnbA

    I avoid that stretch of cycle lane like the plague. The design at the junction with Eden Park Drive has resulted in motorists flying out towards the junction, never considering the possibility of a cyclist on the cycle lane. With the descent, it's easy to build up quite a speed there, so why would I choose to put myself in a position where I have to give way to an exiting motorists, instead of taking the lane, and requiring the motorist to give way to me - the natural scheme of things at a T-junction?

    Also, after Eden Park Drive, the section of bike lane at the bus stop isn't good for anybody, so I avoid that too.

    https://goo.gl/maps/3aFiQSGmG3NyYfCF8

    I caught up to the cyclist in question just passed the luas station and he was going straight on towards The Goat.
    Unless going right on to Kilmacud Road I think the cycle lane should be used during that section. It’s actually a really good lane.
    However, using the road isn’t my problem with this individual.
    He was barely peddling and it was frustrating to be stuck behind.
    I got passed where it turns to two lanes but kept an eye on him.
    His bike handling through the backed up traffic when we got close to the lights was appalling and dangerous.
    He stopped to argue with a driver. He must have been passed before I caught up to him and wanted to make a point. So he was in the newly formed second lane blocking that too.
    Then when he got to the lights having filtered badly up to the top he started another argument with the guy at the top of his lane. That driver may have slightly encroached over the white line.
    So in that short stretch he was cycling badly and started two arguments.


  • Options
    #26
    eeeee
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 6,831 Mod ✭✭✭✭eeeee


    shutup wrote: »
    So you don’t use a cycle lane because the state spends billions on motorways etc ?
    Seems you felt I was attacking cyclists and you dove in defence.
    I’m not trying to start an argument about cyclist versus motorists. Quite the opposite. I’m trying to let people know why cyclists don’t use them.
    I am a cyclist and I’d love to see more bikes in the road.
    Although I was very put out by a cyclists behaviour on the drumartin link road on Friday and I am wondering why he was in traffic like a mad man goading people into arguments instead of being up on a great stretch of cycle lane.

    I cycle on the Drummartin Link Road, and I don't use the cycle lane, because it is basically a footpath for the most part, people with buggies, dogs one xtendable leads, kids wobbling about. It also completely disappears before the Beacon junction.
    I stay out on the road until after the roundabout, where I go straight on (and not on the M50!).

    It's a good example of a cycle lane that is good in theory but poor in practice. It is difficult to get onto in the first place, but because it's the same level as a footpath that runs alongside a public park, it just becomes a footpath.

    And that's all before you get to the inability to socially distance on it as a result of how busy it is with pedestrians.


  • Options
    #27
    tomasrojo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,745 ✭✭✭✭tomasrojo


    c
    AndrewJRenko wrote: »


    Also, after Eden Park Drive, the section of bike lane at the bus stop isn't good for anybody, so I avoid that too.

    https://goo.gl/maps/3aFiQSGmG3NyYfCF8

    I go down that way, and I use the cycle lane there just to avoid being hassled, but they're not good cycle tracks, especially the second one, which I've quoted. I ring my bell going down it now if I'm the only person cycling there, because one day someone emerged from the hedge without looking, heading to cross the road!


  • Options
    #28
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 28,543 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    shutup wrote: »
    I caught up to the cyclist in question just passed the luas station and he was going straight on towards The Goat.
    Unless going right on to Kilmacud Road I think the cycle lane should be used during that section. It’s actually a really good lane.
    However, using the road isn’t my problem with this individual.
    He was barely peddling and it was frustrating to be stuck behind.
    I got passed where it turns to two lanes but kept an eye on him.
    His bike handling through the backed up traffic when we got close to the lights was appalling and dangerous.
    He stopped to argue with a driver. He must have been passed before I caught up to him and wanted to make a point. So he was in the newly formed second lane blocking that too.
    Then when he got to the lights having filtered badly up to the top he started another argument with the guy at the top of his lane. That driver may have slightly encroached over the white line.
    So in that short stretch he was cycling badly and started two arguments.

    I'm a bit confused if we're talking about the same sections. Are you talking about the bit of cycle lane that I posted two links to?

    If so, I don't see how you would have caught up at the Luas station. Maybe you could clarify?

    But regardless, it's not up to you to decide what parts of the road particular cyclists should use, just as it's not up to me to decide that these motorists should have been on the M50 anyway.

    People make their own decisions, whether you like them or not.


  • Options
    #29
    LeinsterDub
    Registered Users Posts: 8,229 ✭✭✭LeinsterDub


    shutup wrote: »
    I understand Cyclists in Ireland are not legally obliged to use a cycling lane where one is provided.
    However, in the interest of understanding for New cyclists and all other road users who may not have any experience cycling could you give some explanation and reasons why you would not use a cycling lane.

    Imagine someone found a country lane. And to meet a quota or to tick some box they decided to paint a line down the middle of it. Stick up a 120 kph sign and call it a motorway would you drive it like a motorway?


  • Options
    #30
    07Lapierre
    Registered Users Posts: 8,219 ✭✭✭07Lapierre


    07Lapierre wrote: »
    Imagine if the left lane on the m50 directed traffic up every slip road at every junction. Every car had to go up the slip road, stop at the lights, then once the light went green, the car could then drive down the slip road and rejoin the M50. Now imagine the left lane is covered in broken glass, gravel, debris and pedestrians. imagine that their is no legal requirement to use the left lane.
    How many people would do this, when they could just as easily move into lane 2 and bypass the slip roads and stay on the M50?

    This is exactly what is expected of cyclists and our cycle lanes. They are badly designed, not fit for purpose and It's more convenient to stay on the road.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #31
    CramCycle
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,525 Mod ✭✭✭✭CramCycle


    shutup wrote: »
    Although I was very put out by a cyclists behaviour on the drumartin link road on Friday and I am wondering why he was in traffic like a mad man goading people into arguments instead of being up on a great stretch of cycle lane.
    I rarely use the bike lane there are numerous designs flaws there. I occasionally use some of it if there are not pedestrians around but there are sections that are never good to use.
    shutup wrote: »
    I caught up to the cyclist in question just passed the luas station and he was going straight on towards The Goat.
    Unless going right on to Kilmacud Road I think the cycle lane should be used during that section. It’s actually a really good lane.
    Its actually really bad here, more so than most of the rest of it. Eden Park Drive is a fatality waiting to happen.
    However, using the road isn’t my problem with this individual.
    He was barely peddling and it was frustrating to be stuck behind.
    I got passed where it turns to two lanes but kept an eye on him.
    His bike handling through the backed up traffic when we got close to the lights was appalling and dangerous.
    Even at a slow pace, its nto two lanes for long, actually its 3, one for each direction.
    He stopped to argue with a driver. He must have been passed before I caught up to him and wanted to make a point. So he was in the newly formed second lane blocking that too.
    Then when he got to the lights having filtered badly up to the top he started another argument with the guy at the top of his lane. That driver may have slightly encroached over the white line.
    So in that short stretch he was cycling badly and started two arguments.
    He maybe a d1ck (he might not, I wasn't there) but it sounds like traffic was heavy enough that his slow peddalling made no difference to you or anyone else, as despite this, he still managed to filter at the lights. And if traffic was light, there are loads of safe times to overtake on that road.


This discussion has been closed.
Advertisement