Cyclists and the law,is anyone else sick of them breaking it

arybvtcw0eolkf

mrcheez wrote: »

Just curious what exactly is the problem when a cyclist breaks a red light?

They are going to hurt themselves more than anyone else.

OK I've posted about this a number of times in the cycling forum, as boards.ie has the worse search engine in the whole fooking universe I won't go looking for it however ~ Six months before my daughter was born I was knocked off my motorbike by a cycling who not only cycled through a red light but also against the flow of traffic, the end result was me spending 11 months out of work with two broken elbows and a broken wrist (scaphoid fracture) which almost refused to mend (it eventually did).

When my daughter was born I wasn't allowed hold her (by the midwifery staff) for fear of letting her fall.

Gets better (or worse) the next week a cyclist broke red lights at Heuston train station and killed a Garda motorcyclist.

Hurting no one but themselves?.

Yesterday at the junction of the Finglas Road and Tolka Valley Road a cyclist broke the lights and knocked down a child who was crossing at the pedestrian crossing with her mother ~ child wasn't hurt thankfully.

As I said earlier I'm a cyclist, I'd cycle almost as much as I ride my motorbike but I won't defend these little pricks.

Do other road users break the law, of course they do it would be retarded not to acknowledge that but cyclists jumping red lights is endemic (to Dublin at least).. Even I've been rear ended by cyclists because I've stopped at lights, or God forbid I stop for a pedestrian light ~ then I'm really risking being rear ended by a cyclist and regularly get angry stares and curse words thrown back at me.

listermint

Izaiah Helpless Switchblade wrote: »

OK I've posted about this a number of times in the cycling forum, as boards.ie has the worse search engine in the whole fooking universe I won't go looking for it however ~ Six months before my daughter was born I was knocked off my motorbike by a cycling who not only cycled through a red light but also against the flow of traffic, the end result was me spending 11 months out of work with two broken elbows and a broken wrist (scaphoid fracture) which almost refused to mend (it eventually did).

When my daughter was born I wasn't allowed hold her (by the midwifery staff) for fear of letting her fall.

Gets better (or worse) the next week a cyclist broke red lights at Heuston train station and killed a Garda motorcyclist.

Hurting no one but themselves?.

Yesterday at the junction of the Finglas Road and Tolka Valley Road a cyclist broke the lights and knocked down a child who was crossing at the pedestrian crossing with her mother ~ child wasn't hurt thankfully.

As I said earlier I'm a cyclist, I'd cycle almost as much as I ride my motorbike but I won't defend these little pricks.

Do other road users break the law, of course they do it would be retarded not to acknowledge that but cyclists jumping red lights is endemic (to Dublin at least).. Even I've been rear ended by cyclists because I've stopped at lights, or God forbid I stop for a pedestrian light ~ then I'm really risking being rear ended by a cyclist and regularly get angry stares and curse words thrown back at me.

Im a cyclist, a motorcyclist and car driver.

I also am sane enough to know that your anecdotes could be said for any other mode of transport.

I have seen the same things you posted above occur from all other road users.

There is a bit of a horn from people to vilify other road users, cyclists get a good bit of it. But its just people projecting their anger off against other people.

The facts are Humans are not perfect, Whatever mode of transport people use there will always be conscious and careful people and there will always be those that are willing to cut corners to get somewhere faster or some for the thrill of it.

The facts are that the mode of transport is not really the issue here, its Humans....



Also these threads are fierce boring.

mrcheez

frozenfrozen wrote: »

ah come on.. cyclist goes through red, motorcyclist hits them, or motorbike slows down, and gets rear ended by a car.

Of course going through a red when there is traffic coming from the side is dangerous and stupid, I'm talking about cyclists going through a red light when there is clearly no traffic (or pedestrians) coming for the next 15 seconds (cyclists have a higher position that someone sitting in a car so can see more clearly oncoming traffic).

For these situations I see no problem with going through a red (it can be treated like a Stop sign) and this is how the law works in many parts of the US or France. Yet many people do have a problem with this.. so I want to know why. Are they just disgruntled that they have to sit in traffic and think "why should he be allowed to go ahead of me... he doesn't even pay road tax Joe" etc etc?

mrcheez

Izaiah Helpless Switchblade wrote: »

OK I've posted about this a number of times in the cycling forum, as boards.ie has the worse search engine in the whole fooking universe I won't go looking for it however ~ Six months before my daughter was born I was knocked off my motorbike by a cycling who not only cycled through a red light but also against the flow of traffic, the end result was me spending 11 months out of work with two broken elbows and a broken wrist (scaphoid fracture) which almost refused to mend (it eventually did).

When my daughter was born I wasn't allowed hold her (by the midwifery staff) for fear of letting her fall.

Gets better (or worse) the next week a cyclist broke red lights at Heuston train station and killed a Garda motorcyclist.

Hurting no one but themselves?.

Yesterday at the junction of the Finglas Road and Tolka Valley Road a cyclist broke the lights and knocked down a child who was crossing at the pedestrian crossing with her mother ~ child wasn't hurt thankfully.

As I said earlier I'm a cyclist, I'd cycle almost as much as I ride my motorbike but I won't defend these little pricks.

Do other road users break the law, of course they do it would be retarded not to acknowledge that but cyclists jumping red lights is endemic (to Dublin at least).. Even I've been rear ended by cyclists because I've stopped at lights, or God forbid I stop for a pedestrian light ~ then I'm really risking being rear ended by a cyclist and regularly get angry stares and curse words thrown back at me.

All those examples are cyclists going through red lights when it's not safe to do so. That should be illegal I agree.

When it's safe to do so then I think red lights should be treated as STOP signs.

It's far more dangerous for a cyclist to launch from traffic lights when positioned to the left of a stationary vehicle, and far better for them to be far in advanced of traffic before the traffic moves off, so they are clearly visible.

ted1

stewygriffin wrote: »

I beeped at 2 grown men today breaking the red lights and allmost causing a bad crash on the Swords Road.
They caused a motorbiker to jam on his brakes and caused a car to skid out of control and almost wipe out the motorbiker.

I pointed to them at the very obvious red light that the rest of us were stopped at and abiding by.
One of the cyclists stopped and waved back at me and said sorry,the other gave me the one fingered salute and continued on as if nothing had happened.

Both cyclists were in good gear and on good looking bikes and wearing helmets too.

How is it that these cyclists think they dont have to abide by the law??

Also what would their attitude be to the motorbiker and car,if both had have ploughed into them and put them all in hospital??

Good rant, what about pedestrians crossing at red men, drivers breaking the limit, breaking lights, using mobile phones, etc
It what about motorcycles using the bus lane ?

ted1

Max Headroom wrote: »

Not every car or biker runs red lights, but 99% of cyclists i've seen do....

I suppose you think that all Muslims are terrorists. Well if 1 is, they all must be.

Carlos Orange

mrcheez wrote: »

Are they just disgruntled that they have to sit in traffic and think "why should he be allowed to go ahead of me... he doesn't even pay road tax Joe" etc etc?

I'd prefer not to have cyclists cycling at me when I cross the road with the little green man flashing. I'd also like not having cars doing so but that I recall only once has it happened. Usually they have either cleared the junction by that point or are stationary (relatively or completely). I don't think it is an unusual preference that requires detailed explanation.

ted1

Izaiah Helpless Switchblade wrote: »

OK I've posted about this a number of times in the cycling forum, as boards.ie has the worse search engine in the whole fooking universe I won't go looking for it however ~ Six months before my daughter was born I was knocked off my motorbike by a cycling who not only cycled through a red light but also against the flow of traffic, the end result was me spending 11 months out of work with two broken elbows and a broken wrist (scaphoid fracture) which almost refused to mend (it eventually did).

When my daughter was born I wasn't allowed hold her (by the midwifery staff) for fear of letting her fall.

Gets better (or worse) the next week a cyclist broke red lights at Heuston train station and killed a Garda motorcyclist.

Hurting no one but themselves?.

Yesterday at the junction of the Finglas Road and Tolka Valley Road a cyclist broke the lights and knocked down a child who was crossing at the pedestrian crossing with her mother ~ child wasn't hurt thankfully.

As I said earlier I'm a cyclist, I'd cycle almost as much as I ride my motorbike but I won't defend these little pricks.

Do other road users break the law, of course they do it would be retarded not to acknowledge that but cyclists jumping red lights is endemic (to Dublin at least).. Even I've been rear ended by cyclists because I've stopped at lights, or God forbid I stop for a pedestrian light ~ then I'm really risking being rear ended by a cyclist and regularly get angry stares and curse words thrown back at me.

Any details on the cyclist killing the Garda motorcyclist can't see anything on google

Magellan Murphy

Izaiah Helpless Switchblade wrote: »

Or bikers who ride in cycle lanes ~ lets open this up a little

Cyclists don't use the lanes so some one may as well use them.

ted1

Magellan Murphy wrote: »

Cyclists don't use the lanes so some one may as well use them.

The large tyres snd suspension make the cycle lanes ideal for motorbikes as the majority are not suitable for regular bikes

Chuchote

ted1 wrote: »

Any details on the cyclist killing the Garda motorcyclist can't see anything on google

I don't believe it. This would have made five-inch-high headlines.

There are three answers to the problems posted here:

The government should immediately finish the four cycleways that are half-built now:

• Grand Canal Cycleway
• Royal Canal Cycleway
• Mountains-to-Sea cycleway along the Dodder and meeting the
• Liffeyside Cycleway

which would take a great number of cyclists out of general traffic, and the law and signage should be changed to allow cyclists to pass through certain lights where it's safe, on the same plan used in Paris;
and there should be an immediate installation of networked cameras on traffic lights and on the front and rear of buses to photograph people breaking lights and illegally using bus lanes. In the case of cars, these would read the licence plates and send out penalty points automatically, which would automatically be added to the driver's licence.
Some people would try to combat this with "I wasn't driving my own car", but photographs would disprove this; if people came to court with this claim, they'd be fined for wasting court time.
As for cyclists, since virtually all take the same route every day, it would be easy to catch and fine repeat offenders going through lights where it's not safe. (In the case of riders on Dublin Bikes, who seem to be the main lights-breakers, they can already be identified, for obvious reasons.)

I can't quite understand the rage of some posters about this. It annoys me when I stop at traffic lights and other cyclists sail by me and go through, but more because I think they're idiots; nine times out of ten I catch up with them when the lights change, and I'm not exactly Eddie Meckx. The blind rage, the horn-blaring, the screeching at people, seems to be about something else. (In fact, a driver roared out of a car at me a few weeks ago, "YOU WENT THROUGH A RED LIGHT!" What I'd done was dismount, walk my bike around the corner, remount and ride on - perfectly legal. Still baffled at the rage!

mrcheez

Chuchote wrote: »

The blind rage, the horn-blaring, the screeching at people, seems to be about something else. (In fact, a driver roared out of a car at me a few weeks ago, "YOU WENT THROUGH A RED LIGHT!" What I'd done was dismount, walk my bike around the corner, remount and ride on - perfectly legal. Still baffled at the rage!

I'm curious do these guys go up to people who don't pay their TV license and similarly act all enraged "You're breaking the LAAAAWWWWW!!!" ?

Carlos Orange

Chuchote wrote: »

I don't believe it. This would have made five-inch-high headlines.

Since this was posted about at least 8 years ago I think it is safer to assume it is true and happened a long time ago than to assume it is a long con.

Chuchote

psinno wrote: »

Since this was posted about at least 8 years ago I think it is safer to assume it is true and happened a long time ago than to assume it is a long con.

You're quite correct. I checked The Irish Times' archive, and it did happen, not eight years about but nearly 30, in 1988.

The accused man, who was in the city to buy trophical [sic] fish, rode down a one-way street against the traffic, and out onto the quays near Heuston Station. When the garda tried to evade him his motorcycle crashed into the quay wall…
[Sergeant giving evidence] accepted the accused's explanation that he had not seen the 'one way' traffic sign for Watling Street.
[Cyclist's] counsel told Mr Justice Frank Roe that the accused had asked him to publicly express his sorrow and anguish to Garda [X's] family. It was an unintentional crime due solely to his carelessness and folly, and [the cyclist] realised he was lucky to be alive.

I've taken out the names of the cyclist and the garda; no need to reawaken the horror and sorrow.

frozenfrozen

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Red lights that are there for traffic management/ easing... I don't have an issue with cyclists breaking.

Nearly all traffic lights are for traffic management. That's why we have them in cities and not in the country - where at junctions everybody, or nearly everybody, understands how to yield.

The vast majority of cyclists who break red lights are doing so because it is safe to do so and inconveniences nobody. Following a similar logic, I would be more than happy for "left on red" to be introduced for motorised traffic and for traffic lights in certain areas to be disabled at night and junctions revert to usual 'yield' rules. There would be work to do around road markings and education but it would make sense.

Cyclists who shoot through red lights without looking for traffic don't tend to last long. Cyclists who shoot through red lights into crossing pedestrian traffic are beneath contempt and appear to follow the all too common attitude amongst road users that is "I am bigger than you so get out of my way"

dunsie2013

First off I commute daily by bike, through a mix separated cycle lanes, bus lanes, and done for 15 years. Consensus view is cyclists disregard rules of road for various reasons, and I think most cyclists see a lot of rules broken by drivers, so respect is not there by different groups of users. That said places like Rathmines have improved over the last few years, as more people cycle, drivers are less likely to not consider cyclists, but unfortunately the standard of cyclist has gone down, only my opinion.
Also the Councils have done very little to address pinch points, where it is obvious there is insufficient space for cars and bikes. Most common behavior I see

Cyclists:
Running red lights
On Footpaths
Drivers indicating and cyclists unwilling to give way / wait
Too many cyclists follow the person in front automatically

Drivers:
Sitting in Yellow Box
Running red lights (last 2 cars through on orange/red)
Driving in bus lanes
Parking in / Driving in cycle lane
Not letting buses to merge back after a stop


1) Garda Enforcement
Current system means it takes a guard ages to deal with each offence.
Give a number of guards bikes with Go Pro video on bike (front/rear) and helmet, with Mic to record commentary, registration of car etc.
They patrol city / towns at rush hour. If they see offence, pull car, image of driver; no filling out tickets etc; Civilians then issue notice to registered owner. Registered owner pays fine unless they nominate pictured driver.
For bikes, it is more difficult, but I think this would be one reason for a National ID card, or requirement to carry ID, if stopped on bike you must produce it.
May need change in law, but if you knew enforcement was proactive, much messing would stop.

2) Education
Cyclists /drivers need to be educated about the lack of road space, and need to allow both space. I think this needs to be on back of buses, social media, Colleges.

- Drivers, respect bike lanes
- Cyclists, if driver indicates, you should give way
- Truck Blind Spots Dont go up inside of bus or truck

3) Bike To Work Scheme :If you apply, you must do an on line course on good cycling practice, and pass to get the tax break.

4) Mandatory training for Dublin Bikes users. If you register you must do on line safety training, and refresh annually.

5) Mandatory wearing of high viz by motorbikes and cyclists, and possibly helmets

Chuchote

There's no need for a national ID card; it's already an offence to give a false address to a garda.
There's no need for mandatory hi-viz and helmets; that's people's own business.
Who's going to pay for all this 'mandatory training', and does it replace the existing bike training in schools?

ted1

dunsie2013 wrote: »

First off I commute daily by bike, through a mix separated cycle lanes, bus lanes, and done for 15 years. Consensus view is cyclists disregard rules of road for various reasons, and I think most cyclists see a lot of rules broken by drivers, so respect is not there by different groups of users. That said places like Rathmines have improved over the last few years, as more people cycle, drivers are less likely to not consider cyclists, but unfortunately the standard of cyclist has gone down, only my opinion.
Also the Councils have done very little to address pinch points, where it is obvious there is insufficient space for cars and bikes. Most common behavior I see

Cyclists:
Running red lights
On Footpaths
Drivers indicating and cyclists unwilling to give way / wait
Too many cyclists follow the person in front automatically

Drivers:
Sitting in Yellow Box
Running red lights (last 2 cars through on orange/red)
Driving in bus lanes
Parking in / Driving in cycle lane
Not letting buses to merge back after a stop


1) Garda Enforcement
Current system means it takes a guard ages to deal with each offence.
Give a number of guards bikes with Go Pro video on bike (front/rear) and helmet, with Mic to record commentary, registration of car etc.
They patrol city / towns at rush hour. If they see offence, pull car, image of driver; no filling out tickets etc; Civilians then issue notice to registered owner. Registered owner pays fine unless they nominate pictured driver.
For bikes, it is more difficult, but I think this would be one reason for a National ID card, or requirement to carry ID, if stopped on bike you must produce it.
May need change in law, but if you knew enforcement was proactive, much messing would stop.

2) Education
Cyclists /drivers need to be educated about the lack of road space, and need to allow both space. I think this needs to be on back of buses, social media, Colleges.

- Drivers, respect bike lanes
- Cyclists, if driver indicates, you should give way
- Truck Blind Spots Dont go up inside of bus or truck

3) Bike To Work Scheme :If you apply, you must do an on line course on good cycling practice, and pass to get the tax break.

4) Mandatory training for Dublin Bikes users. If you register you must do on line safety training, and refresh annually.

5) Mandatory wearing of high viz by motorbikes and cyclists, and possibly helmets

All good, except point 5. What about drivers shouldn't they have 5 point seat belts, neck braces and helmets. When a driver makes a turn without using their mirrors, a hi viz won't do you any good.

Carlos Orange

Chuchote wrote: »

There's no need for a national ID card; it's already an offence to give a false address to a garda.

Not really any point. Just have a bicycle reg plate and then they can issue automated fines for breaking red lights and going down one way streets the wrong way.

Tombo2001

Max Headroom wrote: »

Not every car or biker runs red lights, but 99% of cyclists i've seen do....

100% of cyclists I see aren't breaking speed limits on a daily basis; but 99% of motorists are.....

100% of cyclists I see aren't on checking emails and texts on their phone while driving.......but ....ok I wont say 99% but a good percentage of drivers are.

I could go on......

As for the 'red light' breaking......only the motorist who happens to be at the light when it is turning red can break it; and a good proportion of those do break the red light.

I see it all the time.....lights are turning orange....cars keep going.....lights turn red, and the one last car ploughs through at top speed. That happens most times the lights change.

ted1

psinno wrote: »

Not really any point. Just have a bicycle reg plate and then they can issue automated fines for breaking red lights and going down one way streets the wrong way.

Tell me, what upsets you the most about the above?
Because many countries alllow cyclists up and down one way streets, and many allow them to go through red lights, going straight on a t junction with a cycle path is a good example as the cars turning can't enter the cycle path. So the cyclist going straight won't interfere with cars turning.
It's also much safer than having a truck pull up along the cyclist at the light and fir the two of them to proceed together

mrcheez

psinno wrote: »

I'd prefer not to have cyclists cycling at me when I cross the road with the little green man flashing. I'd also like not having cars doing so but that I recall only once has it happened. Usually they have either cleared the junction by that point or are stationary (relatively or completely). I don't think it is an unusual preference that requires detailed explanation.

psinno wrote: »

Not really any point. Just have a bicycle reg plate and then they can issue automated fines for breaking red lights and going down one way streets the wrong way.

You seem to primarily have a problem with cyclists that shove their way through pedestrians, or into traffic?

I think we are all agreed that they are in the wrong, and you have no issue with cyclists going through red lights when there is no cross-traffic interference.

I can only assume you have the same contempt for people driving through red lights and pedestrians walking on bike-only lanes?

Chuchote

Bicycle registration plates, by the way - a few countries tried this, including the bureaucracy-loving Swiss, and all gave it up as useless.
It would require hiring a new tranche of civil servants to administer it, assigning gardaí to inspect bicycles in the way they now waste their time inspecting tax and insurance, sending out tenders for manufacture, etc; and it would be utterly pointless as well as expensive. Do you want to pay for all this?
The idea of training cyclists in use of the roads - idiotic, honestly. Most cyclists are also drivers, and have already passed a driving test.
I'll tell you what: most of the cyclists who go through red lights (from my own observation, not any survey with a scientific basis) are between around 17 and 25. Most of the drivers who go through lights, use their phone while driving, speed and other terribly dangerous practices are… well, they're all ages. What about we ban the 17–25-year-olds from cycling and everyone from driving?

Tombo2001

Chuchote wrote: »

Bicycle registration plates, by the way - a few countries tried this, including the bureaucracy-loving Swiss, and all gave it up as useless.
It would require hiring a new tranche of civil servants to administer it, assigning gardaí to inspect bicycles in the way they now waste their time inspecting tax and insurance, sending out tenders for manufacture, etc; and it would be utterly pointless as well as expensive. Do you want to pay for all this?
The idea of training cyclists in use of the roads - idiotic, honestly. Most cyclists are also drivers, and have already passed a driving test.
I'll tell you what: most of the cyclists who go through red lights (from my own observation, not any survey with a scientific basis) are between around 17 and 25. Most of the drivers who go through lights, use their phone while driving, speed and other terribly dangerous practices are… well, they're all ages. What about we ban the 17–25-year-olds from cycling and everyone from driving?

As a cyclist........I would dispute that there 'fact'.

Except in the sense that generally speaking, there are more 17-25 year olds on bikes than any other adult age category.

2RockMountain

stewygriffin wrote: »

I beeped at 2 grown men today breaking the red lights and allmost causing a bad crash on the Swords Road.
They caused a motorbiker to jam on his brakes and caused a car to skid out of control and almost wipe out the motorbiker.

I pointed to them at the very obvious red light that the rest of us were stopped at and abiding by.
One of the cyclists stopped and waved back at me and said sorry,the other gave me the one fingered salute and continued on as if nothing had happened.

Both cyclists were in good gear and on good looking bikes and wearing helmets too.

How is it that these cyclists think they dont have to abide by the law??

Also what would their attitude be to the motorbiker and car,if both had have ploughed into them and put them all in hospital??

It's a good job we don't have motorists and motorbikers who routinely ignore red lights too, otherwise we'd have scenes like this on the streets every day, at just about every change of lights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc5VGuJvOVk

Oh wait...

degsie wrote: »

I see cyclists breaking red lights EVERY SINGLE DAY! It annoys and disgusts me

Let's have a more interesting discussion - let's discuss why you DON'T seem to notice, or be annoyed or be disgusted by the motorists who routinely break red lights, as shown in the video above. Why would that be?

Max Headroom wrote: »

Not every car or biker runs red lights, but 99% of cyclists i've seen do....

Slightly exaggerated, but not a million miles from the truth - but it is a very selective view of what happens on our roads.

For a start, what percentage of motorists comply with the speed limits all the time, every day? Possibly something similar to Apple's tax payment percentage?

Muahahaha wrote: »

One thing Ive noticed recently in Dublin is cyclists now using the middle of the road to filter past traffic, i.e. the extreme right hand side of the road that motorbikes also tend to use to filter. Im pretty sure cyclists are supposed to keep left unless theyre turning right but Im not seeing any of them turning right. So an extra hazard has now been added to the motorbiker commuting through town as these cyclists just pop out from between two cars to get into the middle of the road to filter.

Im a cyclist myself so am loathe to condemn them all as a group because they dont all behave the same and many you see actually look a bit nervous cycling in city traffic and they give you a wide berth. But there is a minority of cyclists who are taking the piss in the risks that they are taking.

Eh no, cyclists are NOt supposed to keep left. The RSA advise cyclists to stay well out from the kerb, and remind us that cyclists are as entitled to their road space as any other user.

dfeo wrote: »

I'd love to see some posts on the Garda Twitter page about them pulling over cyclists.

Yep, they've had such posts from time to time, but I guess they focus their enforcement activity on the road users that cause the most harm.
It's not cyclists.

psinno wrote: »

I'd prefer not to have cyclists cycling at me when I cross the road with the little green man flashing. I'd also like not having cars doing so but that I recall only once has it happened. Usually they have either cleared the junction by that point or are stationary (relatively or completely). I don't think it is an unusual preference that requires detailed explanation.

'Only once'! Really? Have a quick look at the video above, and tell me that this stuff doesn't happen near you every day.

dunsie2013 wrote: »

3) Bike To Work Scheme :If you apply, you must do an on line course on good cycling practice, and pass to get the tax break.

4) Mandatory training for Dublin Bikes users. If you register you must do on line safety training, and refresh annually.

5) Mandatory wearing of high viz by motorbikes and cyclists, and possibly helmets

Would the online courses have any effect, given that most cyclists are drivers and have passed their driving test? We all see licensed, tested and insured drivers every day who frequently ignore traffic laws, so does testing really help?

And what's this fetish for hi-vis all about? If you can't see a cyclist or pedestrian in ordinary clothing, you really shouldn't be driving.

And what's this fetish for helmets all about? Far more people get head injuries in cars than on bikes, so if you really want to reduce head injuries, start with driving helmets first.

psinno wrote: »

Not really any point. Just have a bicycle reg plate and then they can issue automated fines for breaking red lights and going down one way streets the wrong way.

It might be better if they were to focus first on the 87% of red light jumpers who aren't cyclists - as picked up by the Luas cameras in Dublin:

http://kerrycyclingcampaign.org/but-all-drivers-break-the-lights/

Let's sort out the 87% of red light jumpers who are driving fast, heavy vehicles with registration plates that pose a serious threat to other road users as a priority, then we might worry about the 13% of light, flexible, slow bikes.

frozenfrozen

Deleted User wrote: »

Nearly all traffic lights are for traffic management. That's why we have them in cities and not in the country - where at junctions everybody, or nearly everybody, understands how to yield.

The vast majority of cyclists who break red lights are doing so because it is safe to do so and inconveniences nobody. Following a similar logic, I would be more than happy for "left on red" to be introduced for motorised traffic and for traffic lights in certain areas to be disabled at night and junctions revert to usual 'yield' rules. There would be work to do around road markings and education but it would make sense.

Cyclists who shoot through red lights without looking for traffic don't tend to last long. Cyclists who shoot through red lights into crossing pedestrian traffic are beneath contempt and appear to follow the all too common attitude amongst road users that is "I am bigger than you so get out of my way"

Don't really know why you're replying that to me or was it just the first part for me? In that case, yes I agree! I was saying I have no issue with cyclists breaking red lights that are there for traffic management / easing because bikes filter through. It's ridiculous watching even motorbikes stopping at some traffic lights in london, when they are there purely to keep an area clear, but a motorbike would be filtering through anyway.

Rakish Paddy

To answer the original question, YES! Sick to death of it!

Cyclist behaviour on the whole* in Dublin is abysmal, and it's not going to change until the following happen:

a) a major overhaul of the penalties - they need to be much harsher to act as a deterrent. I'd probably include a measure where any of the big offences (running red lights, cycling on footpaths, cycling the wrong way on a one-way street etc.) would mean your bike gets confiscated for a few weeks. I know that's not going to happen any time soon, but we can wish

b) widespread and consistent enforcement. People need to feel that there's a high likelihood of being caught.

* Of course there are plenty of good cyclists, and plenty of terrible drivers, but on the whole, there's a bigger problem with the overall standard of cycling.

jimgoose

Those who love cyclists and the law shouldn't watch either being made. :pac:

Macy0161

Max Headroom wrote: »

Not every car or biker runs red lights, but 99% of cyclists i've seen do....

How about motorbikes in bus lanes? 100% of them on my commute where there is a bus lane.

There's also been a massive increase in motorbikes filtering up mandatory cycle lanes in the last 18 months or so.

Chuchote

Or

c) Implementation of the National Transport Authority's cycleways plan for Dublin:





Even the UN's advice for 20% of transport spending to be on cycleways and walkways is ignored in Ireland http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/unnecessary-deaths-caused-by-low-spend-on-cycling-infrastructure-1.2837200