Why don't some cyclists use cycle lanes?

They are generally designed by motorists and people who think cyclists are not 'traffic'.

I popped into Decathlon this evening and decided to take the cycle track from the Ballymun Road and back.

On the way in, I had to go back onto the road anyway, because the cycle track was blocked off where there’s some work going on. I could have done some swerving around fences into the narrow temporary cycle track they’ve put in, but I didn’t trust it would be free of debris and I’d have had nowhere to go once in it.

On the way back out, I was forced to cycle through a very large and very wet bush which was completely blocking the cycle track, then ended up in a load of debris, then had to dismount and wheel the bike off a kerb, across a road and back up onto a kerb on the other side. And then I had to go back onto the road again anyway to turn right on the Ballymun Road southbound. I could have crossed at the toucan crossing and continued on the southbound cycle track, but that brings you left into Northwood a few metres later, and I wanted to go into town.

This is a cycle track built on what was a greenfield site, going to a large sports shop, that caters for cyclists. I won’t be taking it again.

You get complaints if you want to actually get up to a mildly challenging speed of 30km/h by people thinking the cycle lanes are like a child's playground rather than a commuting artery so you just can't win.

Like many of the previous posters, I would happily use cycle lanes if they were fit for purpose but unfortunately most aren’t!

Twice in the last few months I've been walking on the footpath, which has a cycle lane next to it, and have met a cyclist coming against me on the footpath. Both times I've had to move into the cycle lane to walk on as they continue cycling on the footpath. These are cycle lanes that have newly had bollards placed along them separating the lane and the road for safety.

Twice in the last week I had to leave the cycle lane and go into the road because there were cars parked in the cycle lane.

But it's not an us vs them thing. Yesterday alone I had to brake suddenly (in my car) on two different roundabouts, as people in other cars joined the roundabout incorrectly.

The fact that some people do the wrong thing in some circumstances has no real bearing on the discussion at hand

This little British clip sums cycle lanes up pretty well, same and worse examples here on these isles.

Parts of the N11 are like Paris-Roubaix.

There are people who take the piss though. I seen somebody last week cycling on the slip road between Sandyford and Dundrum M50 turn offs. It has one of the best cycle lanes you can find, completely secluded from the road.

I’ve listed my share of grievances over the years, here and elsewhere, including the points made by other posters above. This time I’m interested to see the 'overtaking' issue for off-road/protected lanes mentioned by two. Not that I’m fast enough to have to overtake much 😳, but when I do I often feel I have to get down /out of the lane onto the road to pass safely, especially as it freaks me out sometimes when other cyclists pass me closely. I think this issue is going to become more problematic as more of the 'protective dividers' are being slapped down onto roads to hive off very narrow (single-direction) cycle lanes (e.g. Newtownpark Ave, Rock Road, Kill Lane in Dublin). And even the (wider) bidirectional facilities such as the seafront development in Dun Laoghaire can be problematic when cyclists stray over the centre line 'for no particular reason' near oncoming riders, or travel 2-abreast /en-famille without a thought about how hard it is for riders to overtake them from behind etc.

You might think that, but you'd be wrong... /waves at @07Lapierre

Heh. :-)

In fairness, I think I've seen you post average cycle speeds of 50kmh? Speeds that made me raise an eyebrow, anyway. So no bother to you, I'm sure, or anyone who is properly fit but yes, that's a hill, certainly to someone as unfit as I currently am, and certainly to some of the cyclists I see regularly there going reeeallly slowly up the hill.

It's a classic really. Got international attention as well.

Part of the rationale was to make cyclists give way to the drivers, I assume. They definitely have to yield in any interpretation of the rules, I think, based on all the yield triangles.

When commuting I generally use them (even the N11!) except for one spot that throws you out in an awful position having ceded priority.

I carry on why a cyclist might use the road - generally full of crap (my experience is far more likely to puncture in a cycle lane than on the road), shared use or de facto shared use which isn't appropriate at any kind of speed, the ceding of priority, parked cars, awful exit points, other road users taking the space before looking to see if anyone is coming...

The tl:dr is they're designed by people who don't cycle, who just want people who do out of the way of cars (and to tick boxes).

Well I can’t be arsed explaining it to you again… but if you didn’t understand the first time, I guess there’s no point.

Having seen some new bike lanes go in locally, I'm pretty sure the fellas putting in the footpaths are told anywhere a path goes, put in a section of bike lane too. Unfortunately, that seems to be as far as the planning