Great to see so many cycling to work in the Phoenix Park!

Drapper

Just thought cycling home the last few days and into work the amount of cyclist has increased allot! this is fantastic and I think pedal power is starting to gip the capital!

If your one of the Park Cyclists say AYe!!

Only gripe I have is so many walkers (wavey arms and all)
still insist on walking in the cycling lane! whereas the walking path is 3 times the width!! :(:( I've a park warnden drive on the walking path to stop a cyclist however they ignore walkers on the narrow cycling path! .......

milod

Drapper wrote:

Only gripe I have is so many walkers (wavey arms and all)

Yeah that gets right on my t1ts too - I use the park as part of a recreational cycle twice a week and Thursday eves is so bad I don't use the cycle path anymore. I'm sick of playing chicken with walkers who look at you like you've two heads despite the clearly marked cyclist icons every few yards.

Last week I finally shouted at a stupid cow who was so fat I had to run off on the grass to get round her. Fortunately her iPod saved her from my rather 'sizeist' outburst but I got a sound telling off from an old duffer who waved his cane and told me not to be cycling so fast... :mad:

Drapper

milod wrote:

Yeah that gets right on my t1ts too - I use the park as part of a recreational cycle twice a week and Thursday eves is so bad I don't use the cycle path anymore. I'm sick of playing chicken with walkers who look at you like you've two heads despite the clearly marked cyclist icons every few yards.

Last week I finally shouted at a stupid cow who was so fat I had to run off on the grass to get round her. Fortunately her iPod saved her from my rather 'sizeist' outburst but I got a sound telling off from an old duffer who waved his cane and told me not to be cycling so fast... :mad:

Well I'm living in the area all me life and it took years for them to put in the cycle paths and now it seems that walkers have made it thiers!!

I think its time we claimed it back :-) lol at high speed!! :D

milod

Drapper wrote:

I think its time we claimed it back :-) lol at high speed!! :D

I'm there! we'll get a load of bikers, call ourselves the 'Bells Angels' and tear a strip down the middle of the park scattering pudgy power walkers left, right and centre :eek:

beans

Anyone know whom to direct queries about this to? I'm a bit foggy on the ins and outs of park jurisdiction

I know the roads there are not private, but who pays the park wardens. With whom does the buck stop?

Edit - were I to guess, I'd say Dublin City Council!

Drapper

beans wrote:

Anyone know whom to direct queries about this to? I'm a bit foggy on the ins and outs of park jurisdiction

I know the roads there are not private, but who pays the park wardens. With whom does the buck stop?

OPW ? i've seen a few of thier vans in the park at the weekend and cutting grass etc.

beans

Isn't Google great?

" Maintenance of markings and Cycle Lane Surfaces are the responsibility of Traffic (Contact Frank Crowley 222 2508) ."

This seems like the contact to address the issue of poor marking on the cycle-lanes in the city.

Might be a number to pop in your mobiles

Drapper

poped in !

anyway it was a beautiful morning in the park! only one wanderer on the cycle path with ipod in hand and swinging the other widley ......

hunnymonster

Great to see this thread. I was beginning to think I was the only person annoyed by the walkers on the cycling path. I've stopped a couple of times to explain to people that they are walking on the wrong path and I've been given all sorts of abuse. I use the park to run a couple of times a week and I stay on the walkers path or grass for that. I cycle through there twice a day and use the cycle path as much as possible. 6-9 pm weekdays at the moment though is impossible and I cycle on the road. Possibly the only quality cycle lanes in the whole city and they're rendered unusable by lazy,stupid, selfish people

Drapper

hunnymonster wrote:

Great to see this thread. I was beginning to think I was the only person annoyed by the walkers on the cycling path. I've stopped a couple of times to explain to people that they are walking on the wrong path and I've been given all sorts of abuse. I use the park to run a couple of times a week and I stay on the walkers path or grass for that. I cycle through there twice a day and use the cycle path as much as possible. 6-9 pm weekdays at the moment though is impossible and I cycle on the road. Possibly the only quality cycle lanes in the whole city and they're rendered unusable by lazy,stupid, selfish people

I've started to tell people too ! kinda have to let them know its a "CYCLE LANE", one forgein guy actually shouted "be careful" to me the other eve!! :mad::mad: when I was in the cycle lane! what da FCUK! i was being VERY crareful I was not on the FOOTPATH !!

Anyway lets keep the presure on !

(There is an old lady who walks in the park every morning with a zimmer frame in the cycle lane! it mad! I feel sorry for her but I tend to cycle around her on the grass incase she keels over! )

Anyway lets all email the wardens office and tell 'em

hunnymonster

a little off topic, but where should the roller bladers be? I guess they are too fast for the foothpath but they are too slow for the cycle path and the side to side teps they take mean they take up the entire path. Ok when I'm on the mountain bike but not so much fun on the road bike.

Drapper

hunnymonster wrote:

Great to see this thread. I was beginning to think I was the only person annoyed by the walkers on the cycling path. I've stopped a couple of times to explain to people that they are walking on the wrong path and I've been given all sorts of abuse. I use the park to run a couple of times a week and I stay on the walkers path or grass for that. I cycle through there twice a day and use the cycle path as much as possible. 6-9 pm weekdays at the moment though is impossible and I cycle on the road. Possibly the only quality cycle lanes in the whole city and they're rendered unusable by lazy,stupid, selfish people

I've started to tell people too ! kinda have to let them know its a "CYCLE LANE", one forgein guy actually shouted "be careful" to me the other eve!! :mad::mad: when I was in the cycle lane! what da FCUK!

Anyway lets keep the presure on !

Ther is an old lady who walks in the park every morning with a zimmer frame in the cycle lane! it mad! I feel sorry for her but I tend to cycle around her on the grass incase she keels over!

Anyway lets all email the wardens office and tell 'em

beans wrote:

Isn't Google great?

" Maintenance of markings and Cycle Lane Surfaces are the responsibility of Traffic (Contact Frank Crowley 222 2508) ."

This seems like the contact to address the issue of poor marking on the cycle-lanes in the city.

Might be a number to pop in your mobiles

Beans I really think the PArk is OPW not DCC

beans

Indeed, it seems the Office of Public Works are the people behind the Phoenix Park. They can be reached at 647 6000

blorg

But cycle lanes are just perfect for joggers.

hunnymonster

in much the same was as my handle bars are perfect for breaking joggers elbows

Mucco

My solution would be to cycle on the road. I don't want to sound flippant, but I find the road faster and safer.
M

hunnymonster

faster yes but safer? Annoying as she is, I would rather take my chances being twacked my an overweight pensioner "power" walking than getting a side impact from a SUV. Only time I would consider the road in the PP safer is when there is a lot of ice. The cycle paths are not gritted.

Gearoid28

I cycle in the park twice a day. I have to say Im totally miffed at joe bloggs on the cycle path. Bot what rights do us folk that cycle have. Where would we stand if we did hit some one on the said cycle path. I had one of these power walkers and her little dog hit myself in the park near the castleknock end. She was of all things walking/jogging backwards. So I stop the bike and waited to see if she would stop or go around, but the poor lady went over my front wheel. She had the cheek to say i hit her. lol Untill i explained I had been stopped and that if she liked i call the gardai for her. lol she did not want that as we both went our way. Do we have any rights as I see it we dont have any in the cycle lanes on the roads. So what difference would it make if its in the park.? I find the best way to get them to move is shouting look out, as if ur about to hit them. lol they move quiet enough. Their not happy but they move, Thing I tryed a while back was a horn called a zounder i think the name was, air horn any way, same as a truck horn. but stopped using it as it was too loud, lol (not good when there ol folk about) lol

Drapper

Sat and Sun is out for cyclepathes in the PArk, I've given up! (and BH Mon too)

blorg

hunnymonster wrote:

faster yes but safer? Annoying as she is, I would rather take my chances being twacked my an overweight pensioner "power" walking than getting a side impact from a SUV. Only time I would consider the road in the PP safer is when there is a lot of ice. The cycle paths are not gritted.

A _lot_ of research has been done on this issue around the world and the overwhelming conclusion in almost all of it is that the road is substantially safer than cycle paths. The main issue is junctions.

http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/digest/research.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bike_path#The_safety_of_segregated_cycle_facilities

Mucco

blorg wrote:

A _lot_ of research has been done on this issue around the world and the overwhelming conclusion in almost all of it is that the road is substantially safer than cycle paths. The main issue is junctions.

http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/digest/research.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bike_path#The_safety_of_segregated_cycle_facilities

Yup, and the cycle lane has just as many, and often more, junctions than the road. On the road, you can take lane and prevent any chancers overtaking you and turning immediately left, which is a common cause of crashes. I never have any problems on the road in the park.

M

cyclopath2001

In 1998, the PDs changed the law on cycle tracks so that motorists can use them too.

Remember that when the elections come round.

hunnymonster

Wow, I'm learning a lot.

Haven't read all the research yet but from what I have understood so far (thanks for the links and the links therein) most of the research applies to cycle paths that are an extension of the road not completely separate as we have in the Phoenix park. The junction issue remains though as do two of the other primary contributers to collisions (1) number of people cycling and (2) cycle "facitilty" surface quality.


Did the PD's really do that? Don't take this the wrong way but I don't believe everything I read on the internet. Do you know where I can verify this. It's absolutely a vote loser in my book. When the 30 new penalty points offences came in there was a lot of talk about driving in cycle paths being one of the offences. Is this true? How does that fit with the PD law? Legal numpty me :-)

cyclopath2001

hunnymonster wrote:

Did the PD's really do that? Don't take this the wrong way but I don't believe everything I read on the internet. Do you know where I can verify this.

SI 182/1997:http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZSI182Y1997.html#ZZSI182Y1997A8
(6) ( a ) A mechanically propelled vehicle, other than a mechanically propelled wheelchair, shall not be driven along or across a cycle track.

Changed in 1998 as folows

SI 274/1998:http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZSI274Y1998.html
I, Robert Molloy, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government, hereby make the following Regulations:—

(5) (a) A mechanically propelled vehicle, other than a mechanically propelled wheelchair, shall not be driven along or across a cycle track on the right hand edge of which traffic sign number RRM 022 has been provided, save for the purpose of access to or egress from a place adjacent to the cycle track or from a roadway to such a place.

RRM022 is the continuous white line type of cycle track. Most are not of this type, they're RRM023 (broken white line) type.

Bobby Molloy joined the PDs in 1986. http://experts.about.com/e/b/bo/Bobby_Molloy.htm

This is what is known as 'stealth' legislation. Because it's a statutory instrument/regulation, it doesn't get debated in the Dail. Few people notice the new regulations being passed.

All of the repressive laws forcing cyclists to use cycle tracks/ways and allowing cars to park and drive in them at the same time are contained in these statutory instruments.

The legally approved signs and road-markings for cycle tracks are described in http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZSI181Y1997.html (SI181/1997)

Drapper

cyclopath2001 wrote:

In 1998, the PDs changed the law on cycle tracks so that motorists can use them too.

Remember that when the elections come round.

NOTED !!! this makes me sick that muppet Tom Morrisey and his recent quest for transport for Dublin West the friggin Finna Geal turncoat

hunnymonster

thanks cyclopath.

RainyDay

Just dragging up this old thread to let anyone interested know about the OPW cycle tours of the Phoenix Park this summer - see http://www.opw.ie/Sumerfest2007.pdf for more details. This might be a good opportunity to 'encourage' OPW to do something about keeping pedestrians out of the cycle lanes.

kincsem

Drapper wrote:

only one wanderer on the cycle path with ipod in hand and swinging the other widley ......

Killnascully to blame for the increase in powerwalking imo

tampopo

thanks cyclopath too.

311

What happens if a cyclist hits a person walking on a cycling track.
Legally ,could the pedestrian sue the cyclist ?

blorg

_Brian_ wrote:

What happens if a cyclist hits a person walking on a cycling track.
Legally ,could the pedestrian sue the cyclist ?

Of course they could, same with a motorist who hits a pedestrian on the road. Whether they were successful or not would of course depend on the circumstances, but I would have my money on the pedestrian in most cases.

You don't have a license to mow down pedestrians on a cycle track any more than you have to mow down a granny crossing a road "because my light was green."