Inchicore Road cycle lane

'68 Fastback

Hi all,

From reading a load of the threads here its obvious that i share the same opinions on cycle lanes as most of cycling forum.
On Saturday, myself and the ladyfriend were cycling into town from Inchicore along the contra-flow lane. As we approached the Hilton a massive coach came around the corner, from the park direction, and pulled into the cycle lane right infront of us and the driver starts shouting that its a one way road, to which I reply, its a contra-flow cycle lane. He laughed and asked me to tell him where it says its a two way lane so I point out the broken line and tell him about the rules of the road, maybe he should read it. A slanging match ensues, which my GF is still looking at me funny for, the Taxi behind the bus got involved(while he was pulling out to get gone before the Gardai saw he was illegally parked!), lots of commuting fun for all.
Long story long, took a pic of his bus, brought it down the road to the Gardai who where very concerned. They took the coach details, company and reg. We had a bit of a chat about the lack of sinage and enforcement on the cycle lane and the Garda insisted on giving me all his details(first time thats happened) and he said he'd call the company to let them know what their drivers are up to.

So, rant over, anyone else have similar experiances?
Who do you hassle to get better signage?

Thanks for reading!

Pigeon Reaper

It's a bad spot for cars and buses blocking the cyclelane. There's lots of coach and car spots on the otherside of the road outside the gaol but drivers still insist on blocking the cycleway.

penexpers

I work beside the hotel and there's always either coaches or taxis parked there. I've given up pointing out the contra flow cycle lane. The problem is that there isn't a set-down or waiting area for the hotel and there's no coach parking in the hotel car park either, so I think it's poor planning that has led to this situation.

Taxis tend to congregate outside the old courthouse across the road but will wait in the cycle lane if they are waiting on a fare from the hotel.

BoycieIRL

Its a very bad spot - whats even worse then the coaches are the people driving out from the apartments. Was nearly wiped out by some half asleep lassie who just drove out looking to her left to check for oncoming traffic as she blindly turned right and drove up the cycle lane. Luckily there was nothing coming behind her which allowed me to swerve around her as she slams on the brakes in horror and amazement at my presence.

'68 Fastback

BoycieIRL wrote: »

Its a very bad spot - whats even worse then the coaches are the people driving out from the apartments. Was nearly wiped out by some half asleep lassie who just drove out looking to her left to check for oncoming traffic as she blindly turned right and drove up the cycle lane. Luckily there was nothing coming behind her which allowed me to swerve around her as she slams on the brakes in horror and amazement at my presence.

+1 on the apartment traffic. That road is part of my daily commute, not just weekends. There's nearly always someone looking at IMMA and turning right onto the road just at the wrong moment.

tomasrojo

Same experience -- buses and taxis constantly blocking the lane, forcing you out into oncoming traffic. Similar experience with people driving down it -- also people swinging into the lane to overtake slower traffic, or to get around cars waiting for a parking space to clear in front of Kilmainham Gaol.

It requires a fundamental re-think. Possibly making some use of the very wide footpath in front of the Hilton and the Old Chocolate Factory (or whatever it's called now) to create an off-road cycle track (not that these are generally a good idea, but neither are on-road cycle lanes that place cyclists on the high side of one-way traffic).

I wrote to Dublin City Council asking them to consider flexible bollards or something similar to stop traffic veering at high speed into the cycle lane further down Inchicore Road where the road narrows into a blind corner. They said they sent an engineer and he saw no speeding or encroachment of the cycle lane. Yeah, right. Unless their engineer stood there in an official-looking high-visibility jacket staring at the traffic. In that case, I imagine he might well have seen very well-behaved drivers.

'68 Fastback

tomasrojo wrote: »

Same experience -- buses and taxis constantly blocking the lane, forcing you out into oncoming traffic. Similar experience with people driving down it -- also people swinging into the lane to overtake slower traffic, or to get around cars waiting for a parking space to clear in front of Kilmainham Gaol.

It requires a fundamental re-think. Possibly making some use of the very wide footpath in front of the Hilton and the Old Chocolate Factory (or whatever it's called now) to create an off-road cycle track (not that these are generally a good idea, but neither are on-road cycle lanes that place cyclists on the high side of one-way traffic.

I wrote to Dublin City Council asking them to consider flexible bollards or something similar to stop traffic veering at high speed into the cycle lane further down Inchicore Road where the road narrows into a blind corner. They said they sent an engineer and he saw no speeding or encroachment of the cycle lane. Yeah, right. Unless their engineer stood there in an official-looking high-visibility jacket staring at the traffic. In that case, I imagine he might well have seen very well-behaved drivers.

Did you write to anyone in particular or a department. I'm going to write myself, it would be good to get the letter into the same hands that yours went to. I live in the Works in Inchicore and i reckon about 5/6 of my cycling neighbours would do the same.

tomasrojo

I emailed
traffic@dublincity.ie

The reply came from
Anne Tynan
Staff Officer
Roads and Traffic Department.

I'm pretty sure she was just relaying a response formulated by someone else.

'68 Fastback

Cheers for that, I'll email so.