Cycling/Walking around the city

Iwannahurl

Are we speaking of ordinary everyday intimate contact between McAdam and Dunlop?

Is that what's so fabulous?

galwaycyclist

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Are we speaking of ordinary everyday intimate contact between McAdam and Dunlop?

Is that what's so fabulous?

Steady now

(Secret ingredient is one of Mr. Brooks sprung saddles - or a Galway Cycling Campaign Saddle cover)

Iwannahurl

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Yes big thumbs up. Council gets it right. Also the resurfaced section of the Monivea Rd up at Thermo King. Long overdue and very welcome.

So just ordinary tarmac then?

I have a reason for asking. The entries to some roundabouts have an anti-skid surface. Well-intentioned, presumably, but I have a theory that it encourages a fast approach speed and hard braking. Handy for motorists but not for cyclists or pedestrians.

galwaycyclist

Iwannahurl wrote: »

So just ordinary tarmac then?

Yes from external appearance just ordinary tarmac.

I have a reason for asking. The entries to some roundabouts have an anti-skid surface. Well-intentioned, presumably, but I have a theory that it encourages a fast approach speed and hard braking. Handy for motorists but not for cyclists or pedestrians.

I would have a related theory about those "low-noise" surfaces that are being used at other locations.

Since external noise is one of the indicators that drivers use to assess speed, or perhaps more correctly their level of "comfort" with a particular speed, could reducing surface noise encourage higher speeds?

WallyGUFC

Hmmm, a cycling around Galway thread but in the last 4 pages, systematic, intentional neglect of women and babies, as well as Thalidomide has been mentioned. Christ above.

I'd imagine the Moneen junction problem mentioned is some sort of oversight by the traffic management crowd, and I'm sure if it's brought up with them it'd be sorted/looked at.

It's an interesting question on whether lights/junctions should favour pedestrians/vehicles more. Ideally you'd want a balance, with plenty of people walking/cycling to work. But obviously most people in Galway, myself included, wouldn't be willing to do this due to numerous factors. That means the vast majority of traffic is motor vehicles. So surely they should be given preference. It's very hard to change societal norms. Maybe more pedestrian over/underpasses should be used?

galwaycyclist

WallyGUFC wrote: »

Hmmm, a cycling around Galway thread but in the last 4 pages, systematic, intentional neglect of women and babies, as well as Thalidomide has been mentioned. Christ above.

I'd imagine the Moneen junction problem mentioned is some sort of oversight by the traffic management crowd, and I'm sure if it's brought up with them it'd be sorted/looked at.

It's an interesting question on whether lights/junctions should favour pedestrians/vehicles more. Ideally you'd want a balance, with plenty of people walking/cycling to work. But obviously most people in Galway, myself included, wouldn't be willing to do this due to numerous factors. That means the vast majority of traffic is motor vehicles. So surely they should be given preference. It's very hard to change societal norms. Maybe more pedestrian over/underpasses should be used?

Hmmm. Maybe read the last four pages again? While I agree that pedestrians should be given preference that is specifically not what was being discussed.

What was being discussed was that pedestrians should be treated reasonably - this means not deliberately obstructing them for no good reason. There is a world of a difference between not blocking people deliberately and giving them preference.

joeKel73

It's not a matter of giving any one group preference, it's finding the right balance for everyone to move around the city easily.

Having pedestrian lights on red when the traffic is also stopped on red is no advantage to anyone and allowing them automatically go green when traffic is stopped anyway would make life easier for pedestrians.

On most of those new junctions I'd remove the pedestrian buttons and have a count-down timer for the pedestrian crossings and have them as part of the general junction cycle along with the vehicle traffic.

Iwannahurl

With regard to previous mentions of certain chiral molecules, the difficulty with analogy (or irony) is that people may take you too literally.

With regard to preferences, the fact of the matter is that government policy explicitly recognises the need for a road user hierarchy, with active travel and sustainable transport being the preferred options. For example, here's a quote from the current Design Manual for Urban Roads & Streets:

To encourage more sustainable travel patterns and safer streets, designers must place pedestrians at the top of the user hierarchy.

That's the rhetoric anyway. However, the by now deep-rooted car-is-king culture still dominates, so imo it'll be a long time before the DMURS brings about anything that looks like radical change.

galwaycyclist

Iwannahurl wrote: »

With regard to previous mentions of certain chiral molecules, the difficulty with analogy (or irony) is that people may take you too literally.

There was no irony involved, the "mistake" (if there was one) was to assume a shared understanding of the term "hypothetical".

The lesson learned is to use very plain English if discussing the practices of council staff.

Micilin Muc

More oil on the eastbound N6 cycle lane between Tuam Road and Ballybane (Font and Morris). How does oil even get on to a cycle lane??!

snubbleste

Micilin Muc wrote: »

More oil on the eastbound N6 cycle lane between Tuam Road and Ballybane (Font and Morris). How does oil even get on to a cycle lane??!

Road surfaces are always slick after a dry spell. As it has not rained in so long, there are lubricants and stuff on the surface from all those motor exhausts. It will take another day or so for it to be washed away.

galwaycyclist

Micilin Muc wrote: »

More oil on the eastbound N6 cycle lane between Tuam Road and Ballybane (Font and Morris). How does oil even get on to a cycle lane??!

Same going east on the Quincentenial Bridge cycle paths this morning. Between the Newcastle lights and the bridge - I turned off the road at the castle so I dont know if its all the way to the Headford road.

The oil is in fairly regularly dispersed spots along the join between the footpath and the cyclepath. Leads me to wonder if its from a council van or from the sweeping truck?

Micilin Muc

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Same going east on the Quincentenial Bridge cycle paths this morning. Between the Newcastle lights and the bridge - I turned off the road at the castle so I dont know if its all the way to the Headford road.

The oil is in fairly regularly dispersed spots along the join between the footpath and the cyclepath. Leads me to wonder if its from a council van or from the sweeping truck?

I spotted that too this morning, I didn't any once I was past the steps for NUIG. Same in Bearna, all the way down the main street from Spiddal direction to the traffic lights.

The oil was the least of my worries today. I took the main coast road from Spiddal for a change and had plenty of motorists giving me less than half a metre when overtaking. Guess who I passed a few minutes later stuck in traffic :rolleyes:

whineflu

Granted I'm no eagle eye but I have yet to notice an oil spill whilst cycling over the quincentenary bridge.
On a related note I have never cycled over the bridge without encountering cyclists coming against me the wrong way. I find this confusing and dangerous especially considering the proximity to two lanes of speedy traffic. What is the preferred strategy for dealing with these rule flouting boors?

Micilin Muc

whineflu wrote: »

Granted I'm no eagle eye but I have yet to notice an oil spill whilst cycling over the quincentenary bridge.
On a related note I have never cycled over the bridge without encountering cyclists coming against me the wrong way. I find this confusing and dangerous especially considering the proximity to two lanes of speedy traffic. What is the preferred strategy for dealing with these rule flouting boors?

For the oil, look for rainbow patterns on the tarmac. At least on the Bridge it's not as much of an immediate danger as you won't be doing any cornering, but I'm sure the oil does stick to the tyres for a while.

The salmon cyclists do my head in. I just stick to the middle of the lane. I sometimes just say "cycle lane on other side" to them.

They're mostly cyclists coming from Dún na Coiribe, Castlelawn and Tirellan. I can see why they do it with the lack of a proper way to enter the cycle lane on Headford Road, and of course the Menlo roundabout.

Iwannahurl

The salmon cycling annoys me, and I once had a run-in with a heedless wrong-way cyclist, but I wouldn't characterise them generally as "rule flouting boors".

I suspect many of them are refugees from the Kirwan Roundabout. Why would any of them want to traverse that cycle-hostile nightmare, when they can stay on the right-hand (wrong) side of the city-bound carriageway, and then scoot over the QB without having to negotiate the apparently tricky 'Bodkin' junction as well?

Moreover, why would any NUIG-bound cyclist exiting Dun na Coiribe want to turn left here?

whineflu

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Moreover, why would any NUIG-bound cyclist exiting Dun na Coiribe want to turn left here[/URL]?

They could exit Dun na Coiribe onto the Dyke Road instead, go under the QB and up onto the correct side.

Iwannahurl

Now that you mention it, I think I may have been told about that before.

Is the Dyke Road route more practical and convenient than the wrong-way QB route?

Iwannahurl

I'm looking for examples of junctions in Galway City where local/residential side roads meet N-roads.

Here's one that I know of: junction of Bothar na dTreabh and Glenburren Park.

EDIT: now that I think of it, there could be many such locations, eg along the N17 Tuam Road. To narrow the focus, I'm particularly interested in examples of good and bad pedestrian crossing facilities, ie where the pedestrians are crossing the side road when walking along the N-road.

snubbleste

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Now that you mention it, I think I may have been told about that before.
Is the Dyke Road route more practical and convenient than the wrong-way QB route?

Clearly not..otherwise everyone would do it. Logic dictates that people take the path of desire..

I'll give an example.
I'm at AldiWest & wish to travel to the university. Do I go out the road entrance, wait for the light change, navigate the roundabout and perhaps experience the fabulous surface of old SQR ?
or
do I take the pedestrian entrance near the petrol station and salmon cycle part of the way to destination?
Time and safety dictate the answer.

galwaycyclist

whineflu wrote: »

They could exit Dun na Coiribe onto the Dyke Road instead, go under the QB and up onto the correct side.

snubbleste wrote: »

Clearly not..otherwise everyone would do it. Logic dictates that people take the path of desire..

The problem is that for a long time the only steps down into the NUI, Galway campus were on the north side of the bridge embankment.

Also if you went under the bridge via the Dyke road to the steps serving the south side of the embankment there were no wheeling ramps for the bikes.*

Although NUI, Galway has now put steps on the south side of the embankment - dropping to the Kingfisher Gym - the wheeling ramps on the steps are incorrectly installed and not practical to use.

The wheeling ramps on the northern NUI, Galway steps are also incorrectly installed but the way the walls are constructed means the ramps can still be used to wheel bikes.

So regardless of desire lines, which are still relevant, both the city council and the university has been making it more awkward to do the right thing and less awkward to do the wrong thing. They have been pushing cyclists to use the north side regardless of where they were coming from or going to.

Of course it is profoundly ridiculous and incompetent design that did not include ramps in the embankments when the bridge was built.

* A submission was made at the time of construction that there should be wheeling ramps.

Micilin Muc

I had enough of salmon cyclists this morning. Heading east over Quincentennial Bridge I met a shoal of them who decided the best way to let me past them was through the middle. I just said "you're on the wrong side, cycle lane on the other side of the road". Most of them were completely taken by surprise at the sight of cyclist travelling towards them and didn't know what to do. Arghhhhhh.

Iwannahurl

I had a similar experience this morning.

While waiting to help my child cross at a roundabout, using those meaningless mickey-mouse dished kerb thingies, a cyclists came zooming past, heading straight for said child.

"What are you doing?" I said, because she could have gone behind us, or on the road, instead.

"You're on the cycle path!" she shouted.

We then had to wait, three times in succession, for the kindness of strangers in motorised vehicles to let us cross.

Thanks, Galway City Council.

GDSGR8

Iwannahurl wrote: »

I had a similar experience this morning.

While waiting to help my child cross at a roundabout, using those meaningless mickey-mouse dished kerb thingies, a cyclists came zooming past, heading straight for said child.

"What are you doing?" I said, because she could have gone behind us, or on the road, instead.

"You're on the cycle path!" she shouted.

We then had to wait, three times in succession, for the kindness of strangers in motorised vehicles to let us cross.

Thanks, Galway City Council.

In what way are they 'meaningless'?

jkforde

have been wondering about this for a while... what's the purpose of those embedded sections of yellow-ish tiling on the cycle lanes? some are placed at pedestrian access points but some are just in the middle of nowhere it seems.... and some are tightly ridged, others widely spaced and flatter.... just a wonderin'

while I'm at, why are there two slightly raised ridges of what seems to be paving bricks across the inbound cycle lane at the church in Westside... can't think of why anyone would install them

antoobrien

jkforde wrote: »

have been wondering about this for a while... what's the purpose of those embedded sections of yellow-ish tiling on the cycle lanes? some are placed at pedestrian access points but some are just in the middle of nowhere it seems.... and some are tightly ridged, others widely spaced and flatter.... just a wonderin'

Aids for the visually impaired.

galwaycyclist

GDSGR8 wrote: »

In what way are they 'meaningless'?

I suspect that what was meant was that, for the user trying to cross the road, they have a "meaning" that is other than what happens in practice. The "meaning" might be that this is a good place to stand if you want to cross.

Where as the design makes this a very, very bad place to stand.

If was looking for appropriate words to describe the nature of a design that puts crossing schoolchildren in conflict with cyclists coming down hill at speed, I would use words like "misleading", "dishonest", "neglegent" and "incompetent".

Micilin Muc

Was involved in a hit and run this morning. Was cycling eastbound along Western Distributor Road, just about to enter the roundabout at Ballymoneen and this woman overtakes me, brakes, pulls in on top of me and forces me into the kerb. I hit the side of her car but managed to stay upright but ended up stopped in the middle of the roundabout. No damage to me, the bike, or the car, although the chain did get stuck in the front derailleur for about 5 minutes.

Did she stop to check? No.

Also, she was turning left. Did she indicate? No.

This has happened to me all 5 times I have taken this road, but this is the first time there was a collision.

joeKel73

^ Would be tempted to get a helmet cam when hearing these kind of stories. Could put together a monthly collection of near misses at the very least!

irisheddie85

Micilin Muc wrote: »

Was involved in a hit and run this morning. Was cycling eastbound along Western Distributor Road, just about to enter the roundabout at the Clybaun and this woman overtakes me, brakes, pulls in on top of me and forces me into the kerb. I hit the side of her car but managed to stay upright but ended up stopped in the middle of the roundabout. No damage to me, the bike, or the car, although the chain did get stuck in the front derailleur for about 5 minutes.

Did she stop to check? No.

Also, she was turning left. Did she indicate? No.

This has happened to me all 5 times I have taken this road, but this is the first time there was a collision.

I think the sudden appearance of 3 lanes at that point gets some drivers a bit over excited.

What i do is take the centre of the lane i want to use early so there can be no doubt of which way I'm going from anyone coming behind.

Hope you're ok and don't discover any bike problems later