To the person who nearly knocked me down today...

RainyDay

durtybit wrote: »

If you had a close call with a lorry on your way to work similar to this scenario.. could you empathise?

Lets say he was indeed killed, what would that image be like for the mother and child?

No need for imagination - Carter can read exactly what it was like for this widow - wife and parent of a child with a disability

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/district-court/widow-tells-tralee-court-her-husband-always-wore-his-yellow-cycling-jacket-1.2119030

bobbyss

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

What's the point of this thread? Sympathy?

Maybe that it is important to be a careful road user?
Maybe a very important reminder that in the event of a road fatality, there may be family members bereft?

It reminded me to be careful as a driver, a cyclist and a pedestrian.

L'Enfer du Nord

2Mad2BeMad wrote: »

I have no problem with the majority of cyclists.

Only time I am ever annoyed by one is when its a skinny 2 way road and the cyclist is in front and theirs traffic building up because hes not going at a decent speed.
Can't over take him because cars on other side are already nearly touching your drivers side mirror.
Should be like a law if you are going that slow on a bike building up traffic behind you like that, that you have to pull in to let them go, like the law is for a tractor.

Like I said he was going slow, not sure if he was deliberately taken the piss or just in his own world but that sort of thing cracks me up, why delay everyone else because you like to cycle 5-10km per hour.

The speed of the cyclist is fairly irrelevant in the scenario you describe. Motorists are usually travelling at least 50 kmh. Very few cyclist would be going faster than 30 km h, most would going 20 to 25 km h. Either way if there's a cyclist that it's not safe to over take, and the motorist directly behind them waits for a safe place to over take, if this takes several minutes a tail back of cars will develop, they'll just be going 25 30 km slower than the speed limit rather than 40 km. Are you saying your happy happy to slow down to 20 km h? But it's the unlikely scenario of a cyclist going at 10 km h you object to? Both cause temporary tail backs.

From experience, for every motorist waits to over take safely there's one who will skim past you, inches away from you. You have a problem with cyclists on skinny two lane roads, think of the problems cyclists have with motorists skimming past them on these same roads. With the possible exception of the old Dublin road, nearly every road out of Galway is a fairly busy road with out continuous hard shoulder. Are you saying cyclists shouldn't be on these roads?

El_Dangeroso

One of the fundamental issues here which both sides seem to ignore is that the majority of Galway's road network is completely unsuited to the needs of both drivers and cyclists.

The roads are narrow and jam-packed. Ironically the very cyclists who object to a bypass (or knocknacarra-parkmore expressway call it whatever) are the very one's who would benefit the most. I guarantee 9/10 risky behaviour from motorists in the city is caused by the aggressive style of driving that people think is needed to negotiate the horrendous traffic.

If there was less traffic on the city roads (which would be facilitated by the bypass) there would be more room on the roads for all users.

YES I just opened the bypass can of worms and I say this as a regular pedestrian, occasional cyclist and driver that would not use the bypass when it opens as I have a really short commute.

jjpep

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

One of the fundamental issues here which both sides seem to ignore is that the majority of Galway's road network is completely unsuited to the needs of both drivers and cyclists.

The roads are narrow and jam-packed. Ironically the very cyclists who object to a bypass (or knocknacarra-parkmore expressway call it whatever) are the very one's who would benefit the most. I guarantee 9/10 risky behaviour from motorists in the city is caused by the aggressive style of driving that people think is needed to negotiate the horrendous traffic.

If there was less traffic on the city roads (which would be facilitated by the bypass) there would be more room on the roads for all users.

YES I just opened the bypass can of worms and I say this as a regular pedestrian, occasional cyclist and driver that would not use the bypass when it opens as I have a really short commute.

I haven't followed any of the debate at all around the bypass either online or otherwise. Yes, there is for sure too much traffic in galway and anything that might help relive that must be looked at in a serious way. Ironically enough the incident I'm talking about in my op happened when the road was very quiet...

El_Dangeroso

jjpep wrote: »

I haven't followed any of the debate at all around the bypass either online or otherwise. Yes, there is for sure too much traffic in galway and anything that might help relive that must be looked at in a serious way. Ironically enough the incident I'm talking about in my op happened when the road was very quiet...

Oh that guy's behaviour was totally inexcusable busy or quiet road regardless. If you have even a scrape on your leg I would be making a claim on his insurance.

dr.bollocko

Everything wrong with the Galway forum in 1 thread.

biko

Feel free to report any post you have issue with.

Whereisgalway

Cyclist wearing dark clothes, no lights and no helmet in the pitch dark, without using any hand signals cut across my car to turn right into a housing estate. I beeped he gave me the finger, I stopped the car to have a word with this fella and he pegged it off. I found the majority of cyclists have no accountability for their action

bobbyss

Was driving into Moycullen in the last few days on the new road. Part of the road seems to swerve on a slant just before the river and at on point you would think there is a car on the same lane as yourself coming at you.

Was behind a cyclist, and cars building up behind me, for a good portion of that road and overtook him when safe to do so.

The road is not finished but I noticed a very wide footpath, certainly on the left as you enter the village. Footpaths have to be the width of a double pram as far as I am aware but it seems wider than that. Anyone know if there is a cycle lane planned for that? In this age when there are more and more cyclists, do engineers have to factor in cycle lanes when planning new roads?
I think part of the front gardens of residents were taken to widen the road and wonder did this include space for cycle lane?

I don't know how much money has been spent on this road or indeed the new stone walls that are being built, but it is somewhat disappointing that no provision for cycle lanes seem to have been made. Wasn't this a golden chance to do things in a proper way? To the satisfaction of road users. Traffic is being held back by one cyclist going into the village. Not the cyclists fault of course. I wonder why, apparently, safe provision for them has not been made.

galwaycyclist

bobbyss wrote: »

Was driving into Moycullen in the last few days on the new road. Part of the road seems to swerve on a slant just before the river and at on point you would think there is a car on the same lane as yourself coming at you.

Was behind a cyclist, and cars building up behind me, for a good portion of that road and overtook him when safe to do so.

The road is not finished but I noticed a very wide footpath, certainly on the left as you enter the village. Footpaths have to be the width of a double pram as far as I am aware but it seems wider than that. Anyone know if there is a cycle lane planned for that? In this age when there are more and more cyclists, do engineers have to factor in cycle lanes when planning new roads?
I think part of the front gardens of residents were taken to widen the road and wonder did this include space for cycle lane?

I don't know how much money has been spent on this road or indeed the new stone walls that are being built, but it is somewhat disappointing that no provision for cycle lanes seem to have been made. Wasn't this a golden chance to do things in a proper way? To the satisfaction of road users. Traffic is being held back by one cyclist going into the village. Not the cyclists fault of course. I wonder why, apparently, safe provision for them has not been made.

I can guarantee that if any attempt is made to mark that footpath as a cycle lane then most cyclists will ignore it. Its a crazy idea given the nature of most of the cyclists using that road and what happens in Moycullen village where you are put back onto the road anyway. Most of them are sports cyclists or "roadies" they haven't a notion of hopping up on a footpath over that kind of distance.

If there is an issue regarding motor vehicles passing cyclists then the paved tarmac surface needs to be of adequate width 8.5 to 9.2m.

A lot of cycle paths throughout the city are, ironically, completely unfit and dangerous for cyclists.

endacl

gordongekko wrote: »

Surely not another motorist v bike thread.

Well, that'd be up to the posters, I suppose. Hopefully the grownups will be in the majority...

Edit. Just read the rest of the thread. 'yeah but you but wrong me right dribble'

jjpep

Deleted User wrote: »

A lot of cycle paths throughout the city are, ironically, completely unfit and dangerous for cyclists.

Couldn't agree more, and by extension, they are dangerous for everyone. Nobody ever intentionally leaves the house hoping to go cause damage to someone else but some of the infrastructure in Galway is just not set up right for everyone to safely use the roads together.

jjpep

endacl wrote: »

Well, that'd be up to the posters, I suppose. Hopefully the grownups will be in the majority...

Edit. Just read the rest of the thread. 'yeah but you but wrong me right dribble'

You know, I don't think its been too bad. Obviously the fanboys of their chosen mode of transport will always show up and be stupid but every topic ever on the internet is always going to draw out that kind of person.

endacl

jjpep wrote: »

You know, I don't think its been too bad. Obviously the fanboys of their chosen mode of transport will always show up and be stupid but every topic ever on the internet is always going to draw out that kind of person.

Pity. Just because the means of communication used thinks in binary, doesn't follow that the users should. The world isn't a 1 or 0 kinda place.

Or maybe thinking in binary is just a little easier for some...

gordongekko

galwaycyclist wrote: »

The problem there is that I have been at meetings where I heard the Garda rep say cyclists should be up on the footpaths. Also an attempt was made at one time through the council transport committee to address the issue of footpath cycling - on the grounds of it being illegal among other things. (It can also be more dangerous for the cyclists) The city officials reacted with something bordering on panic. They kept using the formula that "it was not correct to say it was illegal" to cycle on footpaths.

In the end they rolled out Councillor Billy Cameron to claim, as a man who had the ear of Minister Alan Kelly, that if the council had an acknowledgement of the legal situation in its policy documents then this would damage their ability to obtain central government funds.

Long story short there is every reason to believe that certain city officials have long had an "internal" policy of pushing cyclists up onto footpaths and that they have the support of people like Cllr Billy Cameron in doing so.

18 councillors but sure ya its one mans fault