Be careful cycling over the Luas tracks

crosstownk

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

You omitted Mathews Coaches! :mad::mad::mad:

My bad. Any sign of a white coach behind me heading out through Drumcondra and I immediately take the centre of the bus lane. It's either that or I get my elbow brushed :mad:

Danbo!

My father in law had a bad fall off the bike near charlemont, heavy rain, trying to avoid another cyclist that had taken a spill on the luas tracks just as it curves around from Adelaide Rd. The two of them ended up in the same ambulance, and then same ward in St James'. Turns out they live in the same estate.

Father in law came down so hard he ended up with a false shoulder. And just like in the movies, he was literally days away from retirement, I think maybe 5 or 6 days. His retirement plan was cycling and painting. Cycles are out and it took him a couple of years to raise his arm enough to be able to use an easel. Some luck.

I've been particularly careful on luas tracks since, my usual route takes me under them along the canal luckily.

John_Rambo

Danbo! wrote: »

My father in law had a bad fall off the bike near charlemont, heavy rain, trying to avoid another cyclist that had taken a spill on the luas tracks just as it curves around from Adelaide Rd. The two of them ended up in the same ambulance, and then same ward in St James'. Turns out they live in the same estate.

Father in law came down so hard he ended up with a false shoulder. And just like in the movies, he was literally days away from retirement, I think maybe 5 or 6 days. His retirement plan was cycling and painting. Cycles are out and it took him a couple of years to raise his arm enough to be able to use an easel. Some luck.

I've been particularly careful on luas tracks since, my usual route takes me under them along the canal luckily.

OK, although I dropped the mic... bunnyhops aren't for everyone.

Genuinely sorry for you're father in law Danbo. Hope the shoulder works out ok for him.

Danbo!

John_Rambo wrote: »

OK, although I dropped the mic... bunnyhops aren't for everyone.

Genuinely sorry for you're father in law Danbo. Hope the shoulder works out ok for him.

Ah yeah it was probably about 5 years ago at this stage. Still has a bit of limited motion but he's teaching art these days so getting by. He mentioned last week he was considering getting a bike again, and he's got two false hips. Mad bastard.

Chuchote

tomasrojo

Can you bunny hop a bakfiets?

Chuchote

tomasrojo wrote: »

Can you bunny hop a bakfiets?

Apparently, yes

tomasrojo

He cheated by having no cargo or children!

MB Lacey

tomasrojo wrote: »

Worst fall I ever had (I've only had a few) was in front of St. James' Hospital. Teeming rain, couldn't get a decent angle, but it wasn't the tyres getting stuck in the track. The bike just slipped away from under me. A diverting fall, I think it's called.

Same. A few weeks ago in the pouring rain I cycled up James St, was focussing on going over the luas lines at an angle, as I've sucessfully managed hundreds of times before, bike slid from under me. My right leg is still heavily bruised and swollen. Very painful and it was quite scary having a fall amongst so much traffic. I'm an experienced cyclist and pretty confident in traffic, but that shook me.
Apparently a work colleague told me that approx 10 mins later he passed the entrance to James' Hospital and saw an ambulance attending to another cyclist whose bike had just skidded on the same wet luas tracks, unfortunately a car was close behind and drove over the cyclist
Wet luas tracks are lethal.
I'll not go that way again when it's raining.
I'm quite concerned about the increase of this very real hazard going through the city.

Is rubber at the side of the lines really an option?

Pepe LeFrits

Haven't fallen on the LUAS tracks but I did get caught out once by these diverging tracks on the way to Dublin port: https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.3510913,-6.2223429,3a,75y,354.69h,68.27t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suv4Az6RZQAWvD1GpTFuVkw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I always try to cross any tracks at a good angle but that particular time I got distracted at the wrong moment by a problem with my rear wheel. Sore one.

Weepsie

MB Lacey wrote: »

Is rubber at the side of the lines really an option?

Its been done elsewhere and has been mentioned on here before. I posted an example of it in some thread recently too.

MB Lacey

That would be great, imagine if they actually implemented such a safety feature for us.
I'm guessing if they were going to, they would have already on the existing tracks.

cython

MB Lacey wrote: »

That would be great, imagine if they actually implemented such a safety feature for us.
I'm guessing if they were going to, they would have already on the existing tracks.

Something something "Road Tax" rabble rabble..... :pac:

In all seriousness, I cycle through College Green each morning, and every few weeks is a new guessing game as to how and where best to cross the tracks (going from D'Olier Street all the way to Nassau Street, so don't really have much choice), and that's with them partially filled in. I'm actually kind of dreading passing through there with trams on the line, and that removed.

Bloggsie

Muahahaha wrote: »

Was coming across OConnell bridge heading northbound from Westmoreland St direction earlier and saw a cyclist cream himself on the wet tram tracks. He was pedalling pretty quick and went over them at an angle and his back tyre gave way resulting in him taking quite a sommersault. I was on my motorbike and dropped my right shoulder to just about swerve around him and his crashed bike. If there was a car behind him he was defintely getting run over. I felt sorry for him as the exact same thing happened me on Luas tracks several years back out at Bluebell when riding a moped on a wet day and passing a line of traffic.

Trick is to never accerlerate/pedal when going over wet tram tracks, they are as bad as ice on a wet day. Freewheel over and you should be grand.

Im not sure how the northbound lane of OConnell Street will look after the Luas works are finished but I can see more of this type of accident happening when they are all fully installed as there will be more on-street tram tracks than ever before when they are all installed and there are likely to be conflicts for cyclists in a lot more places.

my former gaffer took a spill on those at the same point last year, bit of road rash, scrapes on helmet, gloves wrecked. he was more pissed at the damage to his bike that to him.

Bloggsie

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Jesus, that was a bit extreme!

In the grand scale of cycling hazards, I'd rate tram lines well down the list.

Id rate Peds with their heads glued to the phone just walking out in front as the biggest risk, I cant count the number of times a roar from me to some dozy numpty to stop them in their tracks & its " Ohh sorry I never saw you" from them, its one of the reasons I keep 1 foot unclipped in the city centre.

Bloggsie

Danbo! wrote: »

Ah yeah it was probably about 5 years ago at this stage. Still has a bit of limited motion but he's teaching art these days so getting by. He mentioned last week he was considering getting a bike again, and he's got two false hips. Mad bastard.

bionic father in law!

onmebike

I've adjusted my route to avoid Luas tracks. I used to cycle around College Green but having to travel parallel to them and then cross them at some stage was proving stressful - particularly as road-works hoarding's distance from the tracks were a bit variable.

I now go down Townsend street instead and don't have to worry about negotiating them and other traffic.

tomasrojo

"Cycle tracks" indicating an appropriate approach angle being painted on to address the spate of falls.

https://twitter.com/halfdaft/status/824735135522291712

magicbastarder

pedant hat on - that's the weirdest looking 45 degrees i've seen in a while.

OleRodrigo

Pedant hat on - probably the lack of depth in the camera lens.

tomasrojo

45 degrees isn't an ideal approach angle either.

punisher5112

tomasrojo wrote: »

45 degrees isn't a great approach angle either.

Better the 90' and turning right under a truck.

tomasrojo

Having a diverting fall on wet tracks and going under the wheels of a truck isn't a great outcome either.

jon1981

if you look closely at the picture it turns close to 90 degrees a few feet before the track. Depending on where you are between the whitelines you could be close to 90 degrees.

jon1981

Also you can't win! They make an effort to create awareness and people still moan, looking at the comments on the twitter page!

Cienciano

I saw 2 cyclists at different times fall at the luas tracks at Blackhorse. One guy was being really careful, bike went form under him and he hit his head hard enough to actually be bleeding at the back of his head where he hit.
Both times it was raining. Definitely avoid crossing them if you don't have to. You can cross them 100 times and get complacent, then when you're least expecting it you fall.

jon1981

Cienciano wrote: »

I saw 2 cyclists at different times fall at the luas tracks at Blackhorse. One guy was being really careful, bike went form under him and he hit his head hard enough to actually be bleeding at the back of his head where he hit.

Out of interest, did he wear a helmet (not starting a debate, just curious).

check_six

jon1981 wrote: »

Out of interest, did he wear a helmet (not starting a debate, just curious).

The cyclist? The Luas track? Or the black horse?

jon1981

check_six wrote: »

The cyclist? The Luas track? Or the black horse?

That didn't take long...

Cienciano

jon1981 wrote: »

Out of interest, did he wear a helmet (not starting a debate, just curious).

Yes, he did. It was sort of the lower part of the back of his head that he hit. The occipital bone (google is great)