Dismount - Car Park

Lambay island

This is more of a general query/question on something that bugged me yesterday. I recently got a new job and I work now in a building where several companies are based and share an underground carpark. There are stands to lock your bike although they are the poxy ones but that's beside the point.
As far as I'm aware, there have been two recent incidents in the car park where 1 a pedestrian was hit by a car and 2 a cyclist was hit by a car. For me, the issues within this car park are plain to see, There are no yield or stop signs marked anywhere on any of the blind "junctions" so to speak. There is no pedestrian walkway at all and a significant number of people drive cars at far to fast a pace for a shared area.
Anyway, the latest brain child of whoever is in charge of the building (as its obviously cyclists fault), is to ask all cyclists to dismount on entering the carpark. First by the presence of a sign but now there is an individual actually standing there insisting on it.
Personally, I feel this puts me at more of a risk dismounting and walking a bike through this shared area where drivers tend to travel too fast. At least when you are on your bike your getting through the area quicker and have a chance of getting away from potential danger quicker. I suppose my question, as owners of the car park are they in their right to ask you to this? As a custodian of my own life am I in the right to ignore this message?

jamesd

Id dismount and leave my front and rear flashing lights on while walking the bike to its place, Id walk on the inside on the bike and the lights should draw attention to you.

Macy0161

The block I work has this, albeit no really enforced. In our case, it's more to do with the smooth concrete getting very slippy when wet, as I'm not aware of any incidents with cars, but have seen a couple of fallers off bikes. Haven't seen anyone comply, and ironically, they have signs saying no pedestrians beside the dismount signs on the ramp!

If it was me, I'd just comply when the individual is there and ignore it when they aren't. They'll get bored of enforcing it quicker than you will from cycling! But accept you're doing so at your own risk.

iwillhtfu

Macy0161 wrote: »

In our case, it's more to do with the smooth concrete getting very slippy when wet, as I'm not aware of any incidents with cars, but have seen a couple of fallers off bikes.

This time of year the above is more than likely the reason to be honest. I would have no problem following their guide lines but I would be bringing to their attention the speeding and lack of appropriate signs in the carpark not to mention the lack of a designated walkway.

Lambay island

iwillhtfu wrote: »

This time of year the above is more than likely the reason to be honest. I would have no problem following their guide lines but I would be bringing to their attention the speeding and lack of appropriate signs in the carpark not to mention the lack of a designated walkway.

I agree and that to me is what needs to be raised, if it hasn't been already. The reason I mentioned I'm new to the job, is that I'm kind of conscious of rocking the boat too much too early I suppose.

iwillhtfu

Lambay island wrote: »

I agree and that to me is what needs to be raised, if it hasn't been already. The reason I mentioned I'm new to the job, is that I'm kind of conscious of rocking the boat too much too early I suppose.

It could well be the same reason nothing has ever been done about it. Usually in these multi share buildings the person at the desk will represent the building management or at least point you in the right direction. I doubt any comments you make will be fed back to your company.

tomasrojo

I think the most common pedestrian/car or bike/car collision in car parks is from people reversing out. I certainly worry the most when I'm put in a scenario of walking in close proximity behind perpendicularly parked cars.

The best way, I find, is to take the lane, and be ready to brake in the event of a car emerging from a parking place, either from your left or your right.

So walking your bike is a worse option that cycling it. These advisories are based on nothing more than "cycling is more dangerous than walking". Which is debatable generally, and, if you take the lane on the bike, probably not true in this instance.

tomasrojo

I did have a temporary job where a man berated me for cycling instead of walking on several occasions, so to minimise drawing negative attention to myself, I just parked somewhere else.

magicbastarder

i think our car park has signs saying cyclists should dismount. i'll do so when the signs appear motorists should get out of their cars and push them.

Mr. Grieves

I always thought these signs were a way to remove liability from the company if there's an incident and the party is shown not to have complied with the rules. I wonder would that actually be the case if it ended up in court?

Anyway, they're very annoying and often illogical. The business park I work in has a 'ramp ahead, cyclists dismount' sign on the road before a speed bump. I'd like to see what would happen if cyclists actually dismounted and started walking on the road.

tomasrojo

The Luas has Dismount signs at College Green now. No indication of what you're meant to do once you've dismounted. Walk your bike along the tracks with buses zooming past you? Wheel it on the footpath through the throngs of pedestrians?

Hungrycol

Sounds like my place of work too where there's a jobs-worth security guard that hides behind a wall at the bottom of the ramp and jumps out at you telling you to dismount. No amount of "I'll fall walking in cleats" explanation matters, he's The Enforcer of the rules :rolleyes: and if I have a problem with the rules to take it up with the building manager.

I now walk very very slowly and carefully much to the inconvenience of cars.

eoghan84

if youve MTB click in shoes you could dismount cyclocross style and run with the bike just for a bit of a challenge!

Place I used to work in had an underground car park , ramp down and those horrible painted surfaces inside. The first time it rained after i started there I hit a painted bit, bike went from under me and I was left skidding along on my arse legs in front of me weeeeeeeeeeeeee. I walked from then on

jimmycrackcorm

jamesd wrote:

Id dismount and leave my front and rear flashing lights on while walking the bike to its place, Id walk on the inside on the bike and the lights should draw attention to you.

Car drivers should get out of their cars, put their hazards on and push their cars.

magicbastarder

checked this morning - the 'cyclists dismount' sign is just as you approach the automatic barrier, so i'm going to assume it's a 'don't cycle under the barrier' warning - which i suppose is fair enough.

check_six

Used to work in a place with a ramp and a man in a hut at the top of the ramp. Dread warning signs directed at cyclists were strewn around the mouth of the "cave". The man in the hut would jump out and shout at cyclists about dismounting. In another time he could have been gainfully employed as a bridge's troll.

The trick was to get to the ramp before the hut troll had a chance to intervene. This was hampered by a cobble section just before the ramp, but every day was another chance to perfect the technique of picking the right line to clear the cobbles and descend the ramp before yer man could even shake his fist. Simpler times!

what_traffic

OP Can proper bike parking be provided at surface level?