Near Misses Volume 2 (So close you can feel it)

Tombo2001

Mercian Pro wrote: »

Heading home from the Park this morning via the Ashtown Gate and going to Ashtown/Rathborne, I entered the Halfway House roundabout knowing that there were a couple of cars heading in towards town on the Navan Road. Unlike umpteen other times I've done the same, one of the cars didn't stop or even slow and would certainly have hit me if I hadn't braked and swung sharply to the right. We ended up side by side and I gestured to him to pull in which he did. I got the classic SMIDSY excuse and replied with a detailed description of what would have happened had I not taken evasive action followed by questions about his eyesight, mental capacity and general fitness to drive.

I suppose if I had it on camera, I probably would have rung the Garda but I let it go in the hope that he will remember the incident and my diatribe and will be more alert in future. Afterwards, thinking about it, I should have insisted he wait until a Garda arrived as that would be a lot more memorable even if it didn't result in a prosecution.

Well thats it really - there was a lot of talk about the chap being punished by the guards, that he was a header bringing 40 or 50 cases to them.

But the reality is most of us could do the same if we had cameras. I was in the park yesterday and a woman overtook me into a blind bend, I could see the oncoming traffic but she couldnt until she was half way past. Dangerous driving, if recorded.

On a seperate note, its an awful pity that the Phoenix Park and the Canal Cycleway are so close to one another - but that with small children there is no safe way to get from one to another. Particularly the route you describe is a no-go with kids.

Mercian Pro

Tombo2001 wrote: »

On a seperate note, its an awful pity that the Phoenix Park and the Canal Cycleway are so close to one another - but that with small children there is no safe way to get from one to another. Particularly the route you describe is a no-go with kids.

Not only the Royal Canal Greenway but also the excellent Tolka Valley Park where I was heading. The good news is that Phase 4 of the Greenway is to include a cycling route linking the Tolka to the Canal to the Park. The Dart West project shows an underpass of the railway and the canal at Ashtown but I have seen no proposals for getting over or under the Navan Road. Even as a pedestrian it's a nightmare trying to cross anywhere near the roundabout.

VonLuck

Mercian Pro wrote: »

Not only the Royal Canal Greenway but also the excellent Tolka Valley Park where I was heading. The good news is that Phase 4 of the Greenway is to include a cycling route linking the Tolka to the Canal to the Park. The Dart West project shows an underpass of the railway and the canal at Ashtown but I have seen no proposals for getting over or under the Navan Road. Even as a pedestrian it's a nightmare trying to cross anywhere near the roundabout.

The BusConnects route along the Navan Road is going to upgrade the Ashtown roundabout. Not sure what to make of it. Doesn't look like there's any signalised crossings. And I don't know what they're doing with the lower right of the roundabout. Looks like they've swapped over the position of the cycle lane for no logical reason.

Mercian Pro

VonLuck wrote: »

The BusConnects route along the Navan Road is going to upgrade the Ashtown roundabout. Not sure what to make of it. Doesn't look like there's any signalised crossings. And I don't know what they're doing with the lower right of the roundabout. Looks like they've swapped over the position of the cycle lane for no logical reason.

Had a look at that and it's hard to know how it will work. The text says "It is proposed to modify the Navan Road roundabout at Ashtown Road to a signal controlled roundabout – keeping the existing trees on the central island. At this junction, it is proposed to terminate the two-way cycle way (west of the junction) and to transition to a segregated cycle track on each side of the carriageway (east of the junction)."
Looks like it totally ignores any requirement to provide for cycle lanes on the roads to the Park or Ashtown. Hopefully the NTA and DCC will have pointed that out to them at some stage.

Hurrache

Mercian Pro wrote: »

the excellent Tolka Valley Park where I was heading.

What is it like, and where can it take you from? I'm always wary of it due to its location and the anti social ****s who have a tendency to ruin things for everyone. I've ran through it's most westerly location at Mulhuddart and along as much as I could to the M50, but never the other side of it.

Mercian Pro

I'd forgotten that there is another section out near Mulhuddart. Hopefully they will link up at some stage. The section I and a number of other Boardsies use runs from the Ashtown/River Road junction, across or under the Rathoath Road to the Finglas Road at Tolka Bridge. There can be a bit of broken glass about on Monday mornings but it's usually cleaned up fairly quickly. The main problem is pedestrians and dog-walkers using the clearly marked bike lanes to stay distant from other pedestrians. There is a further section on the opposite (east) side of Finglas Road called Violet Hill Park that eventually finishes at Addison Hall apartments and the Old Finglas Road near the Holy Faith school.

VonLuck

Hurrache wrote: »

What is it like, and where can it take you from? I'm always wary of it due to its location and the anti social ****s who have a tendency to ruin things for everyone. I've ran through it's most westerly location at Mulhuddart and along as much as I could to the M50, but never the other side of it.

It's not as bad as people think. It's nice along the river and tends to have a good volume of people on fair weather days. I'd avoid the higher section along Tolka Valley Road though, mostly because there's not much to look at!

I will admit the park does have a few problems. Litter and vandalism being the main ones, particularly the throwing of life buoys into the river. Haven't encountered much anti-social behaviour personally beyond encountering kids riding a mini-scrambler on the footpath.

Tombo2001

Mercian Pro wrote: »

Not only the Royal Canal Greenway but also the excellent Tolka Valley Park where I was heading. The good news is that Phase 4 of the Greenway is to include a cycling route linking the Tolka to the Canal to the Park. The Dart West project shows an underpass of the railway and the canal at Ashtown but I have seen no proposals for getting over or under the Navan Road. Even as a pedestrian it's a nightmare trying to cross anywhere near the roundabout.

Funny enough, I just said the other day to a Local Councillor that they should do more to publicise family friendly cycle paths.

I live 2k from Tolka Valley park - I've been cycling pretty much every day for the past decade or more - and yet only discovered this cycle route by accident earlier this week, when I decided to have a gander around Ashtown instead of the normal route to the 12th lock. Delighted to find it, but fuming that I'd never known about it before.

Not to be too controversial about it, but if this cycle path was in Dun Laoghaire, it would be very well known.

On a related point - for any locals - given that the cycling advocacy groups are so heavily southside oriented, maybe its time for a seperate group just for northside.

Mercian Pro

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Funny enough, I just said the other day to a Local Councillor that they should do more to publicise family friendly cycle paths.

I live 2k from Tolka Valley park - I've been cycling pretty much every day for the past decade or more - and yet only discovered this cycle route by accident earlier this week, when I decided to have a gander around Ashtown instead of the normal route to the 12th lock. Delighted to find it, but fuming that I'd never known about it before.

Not to be too controversial about it, but if this cycle path was in Dun Laoghaire, it would be very well known.

On a related point - for any locals - given that the cycling advocacy groups are so heavily southside oriented, maybe its time for a seperate group just for northside.

The lack of signage and publicity is bizarre. I have raised it and the use of kissing gates with DCC but never got a satisfactory reply. The Finglas Road entrance is particularly obscure and people often go into the more obvious small park on the south bank of the river when looking for the TVP. Even Google Maps doesn't show the section west of the Rathoath Road as a park!


I think if more northsiders got actively involved in the Dublin Cycling Campaign, there might be more focus on northside issues. There is a Fingal Cycling Campaign group that is affiliated to the Dublin group but I don't think a split is the way to go.

Weepsie

VonLuck wrote: »

It's not as bad as people think. It's nice along the river and tends to have a good volume of people on fair weather days. I'd avoid the higher section along Tolka Valley Road though, mostly because there's not much to look at!

.

Up there it is a bit miserable, but look towards wicklow on a nice day and you get a decent view.

Gas seeing a lot of grown men climbing over the fences to play pitch and putt lately.


I started using it as an alternative to the river road, which I would love but for the impatient drivers. I lived in Ashington and it would get me to Glasnevin in 15 mins instead of going via Cabra or Phibsboro

Tombo2001

Thats funny, I was doubting myself cycling past it wondering if the golf courses had opened up again. Counted 14 people on the pitch and putt. (Lovely evening for it!!).


One very awkward part is getting across the dual carriageway to the little green stretch thats at the back of violet hill - I wonder if they put a path under the bridge would people use it.

Another thing they could do if it didnt cause too much scandal is bring a cycle path along the side of Glasnevin Cemetery coming out at the diggers.....

buffalo

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Not to be too controversial about it, but if this cycle path was in Dun Laoghaire, it would be very well known.

Yeah, but if it was in Sandymount it'd be the subject of a court order! :pac:

Tombo2001

buffalo wrote: »

Yeah, but if it was in Sandymount it'd be the subject of a court order! :pac:

No Irish Times directors living in Finglas afaik......hence the absence from the letters page.

Seth Brundle

Coincidentally, Dunsink Observatory tweeted this earlier...

https://twitter.com/RaesideRose/status/1367478016889266178

VonLuck

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Coincidentally, Dunsink Observatory tweeted this earlier...

https://twitter.com/RaesideRose/status/1367478016889266178

Not to be flippant, but that woman who replied has pretty much doxed herself. There might be 2 or 3 houses within 700m of the observatory!

Seth Brundle

VonLuck wrote: »

Not to be flippant, but that woman who replied has pretty much doxed herself. There might be 2 or 3 houses within 700m of the observatory!

I had to include either her response or the one the observatory was responding to in order to embed the tweet. I chose hers simply because it was below the one I wanted to show.

magicbastarder

i've met a chap a few times who grew up in the observatory itself. he's an ex-colleague of a friend of mine.

Tombo2001

VonLuck wrote: »

Not to be flippant, but that woman who replied has pretty much doxed herself. There might be 2 or 3 houses within 700m of the observatory!

Would have assumed she lived in Ashtown from what she said.

Hurrache

Anyone ever use Dunsink Lane before it was closed a a through road? That was always an experience, and the blatant fly tipping was outrageous, you'd probably more often than not come across people just emptying stuff from their cars and vans.

micar

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Coincidentally, Dunsink Observatory tweeted this earlier...

https://twitter.com/RaesideRose/status/1367478016889266178

And name after the famous Irish mathematician, William Rowan Hamilton, inventor of quaternions

silverharp

https://twitter.com/clazbae/status/1368175481460305926

MojoMaker

That is pi$$ poor alright. Would it have killed them to go up 20-30m more if they absolutely *had* to park there?

Breezer

They were driving the wrong way down a one way street beside the Grand Canal cycle track in Portobello earlier. Here.

No blue lights, sirens, or anything else. They were going slowly, but if someone had swung in it could have been messy.

5uspect

A stupid, impatient overtake today while I was mid sentence complaining about a motorist tailgating a cyclist going the other way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g00IMGbM4ME

360 version:
https://youtu.be/g00IMGbM4ME

Was great to see so many cyclists out today, almost outnumbering motorists.

CramCycle

5uspect wrote: »

Was great to see so many cyclists out today, almost outnumbering motorists.

Noticed the last week, while the numbers of cars on the road have ramped up, the number of cyclists are equally jumping in number on the road.

work

CramCycle wrote: »

Noticed the last week, while the numbers of cars on the road have ramped up, the number of cyclists are equally jumping in number on the road.

I hope this happens as its the biggest sell to planners to keep lanes recently put up and to expand.

stoneill

This is a near miss the other way, I don't have video but there was a cyclist on the M4, on the actual motorway this morning who nearly got creamed about 4 times coming up to junction 6. What short-cut could possibly be worth putting your life at risk?

buffalo

stoneill wrote: »

This is a near miss the other way, I don't have video but there was a cyclist on the M4, on the actual motorway this morning who nearly got creamed about 4 times coming up to junction 6. What short-cut could possibly be worth putting your life at risk?

Well it's very hard to answer that without knowing which direction he was coming from.

07Lapierre

buffalo wrote: »

Well it's very hard to answer that without knowing which direction he was coming from.

?? A cyclist on a motorway? Not good in any direction no?

Seth Brundle

I used to drive the M50 (J7-J14) and back every day for years.
I would have reported a number of cyclists and pedestrians (and drivers) on the road to garda Trafficwatch.