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

07Lapierre

VonLuck wrote: »

Where did I criticise someone not choosing to use a cycle lane?

Apologies...im confusing you with someone else. carry on..

smacl

VonLuck wrote: »

All I was trying to say is that it is generally safer to use dedicated lanes, even if shared, but you may have to compromise on speed as a result.

This might be true if said lanes were well designed but very often they're not. So for example here where if you're taking the last exit the cycle lane leaves you on the inside of left turning traffic, or here where the cycle lane abrubtly stops forcing you to rejoin a busy road with a single lane in the direction you're travelling, or here where they've painted in cycle lanes where there isn't actually any space for them. Don't get me wrong, I think there's some solid cycling infrastructure out there too but there is some that is downright dangerous.

That second one on Nutgrove Ave. passes a couple of bus shelters too if memory serves and by another one coming the other direction after the Bottletower.

OT didn't there used to be a petrol station on the right in that link you posted, haven't lived there in 10 years or so.

Duckjob

Another problem with some cycle paths is lack of safe accessibility. By that I mean in some cases getting on to the path while operating within the typical traffic environment could itself be a risky maneuvre.

I tried to point out this concept over on C&T in a thread where certain posters were complaining about people on bikes not using the 100m stretch of cycle path up to the royal canal at North Strand Marino.

I was explaining that if i'm doing 35-40kph in the bus lane towards the canal, with a 14 tonne double decker bus behind me in the bus lane, hot on my heels ( a common enough real world scenario) , the last thing I can do safely is slow my speed in the bus lane down to the 15-20kph which would be necessary to make the somewhat tight turn into the cycle path, over a kerb (where if I get the angle wrong and end up hitting the floor on the bus lane I'm dead), to enter a fairly confined space where people are walking. Therefore, in such instances its simply safer to continue on the bus lane at the speed I'm going up to the lights.

Needless to say my explanations fell on deaf ears with certain posters who, despite having no experience of cycling that stretch themselves, still felt qualified to reject the experiences of someone who cycles it regularly, and make their pronouncements that use of the bike lane is safer.

AndrewJRenko

VonLuck wrote: »

They totally have the right, but that won't stop drivers being pissed off as a result. You might think "so what", but an angry driver is more likely to perform risky manoeuvres like in the video. I'd prefer to be alive instead of right.

An angry driver will always find another excuse for being angry.

Duckjob wrote: »

Another problem with some cycle paths is lack of safe accessibility. By that I mean in some cases getting on to the path while operating within the typical traffic environment could itself be a risky maneuvre.

I tried to point out this concept over on C&T in a thread where certain posters were complaining about people on bikes not using the 100m stretch of cycle path up to the royal canal at North Strand Marino.

I was explaining that if i'm doing 35-40kph in the bus lane towards the canal, with a 14 tonne double decker bus behind me in the bus lane, hot on my heels ( a common enough real world scenario) , the last thing I can do safely is slow my speed in the bus lane down to the 15-20kph which would be necessary to make the somewhat tight turn into the cycle path, over a kerb (where if I get the angle wrong and end up hitting the floor on the bus lane I'm dead), to enter a fairly confined space where people are walking. Therefore, in such instances its simply safer to continue on the bus lane at the speed I'm going up to the lights.

Needless to say my explanations fell on deaf ears with certain posters who, despite having no experience of cycling that stretch themselves, still felt qualified to reject the experiences of someone who cycles it regularly, and make their pronouncements that use of the bike lane is safer.

I think I posted multiple tweets, maybe five tweets from different people showing vehicles blocking the ****ty cycle lane, but that wasn't a good reason for not using the lane either.

07Lapierre

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

An angry driver will always find another excuse for being angry.



I think I posted multiple tweets, maybe five tweets from different people showing vehicles blocking the ****ty cycle lane, but that wasn't a good reason for not using the lane either.

Is this the "perfectly adequate" (or was it the "more than adequate") bike lane at North Strand?
Given the current weather conditions, that same cycle path will be lethal this week!

CramCycle

Not sure if anyone here has been on the N11 near UCD over the past few months. Just to vent my annoyance at the lazy ass builders doing the works on the cyclepath, bus stop and footpath. They have the temporary hoardings up for a footpath and cyclepath for awhile now but f*ck me, the turn at the end of the bike path is so tight you have to either cut your speed to less than walking pace or bunny hop like Peter Sagan and go up on the grass. It would have been so easy to just extend it by 5 m and have a more gradual merge. Also the tarmacadam they ****ed there as a ramp, has no one pride in their work anymore. Also continuously just parking int he hoarded off area for sh1ts and giggles. Interestingly, no hassle from anyone for taking the lane for 100m. I often find myself at close enough to traffic speed but in general people have been really decent, to the point where the majority of cyclists on that route going onto the N11 main traffic lane, from those on a casual jaunt at 5kmph to the UCD racing team tipping 60kmph. It's almost as if they have realised that even a cyclist at walking pace, isn't really any delay overall in the grand scheme of things.

Wildly Boaring

Not a near miss but an angry man

Cycle paths both sides of road white this morning so I cycled up the road (the inhumanity)

Got lifted out of it by angry little chubby fella

bazermc

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Not a near miss but an angry man

Cycle paths both sides of road white this morning so I cycled up the road (the inhumanity)

Got lifted out of it by angry little chubby fella

I was hoping for a photo of said angry little chubby fella.

Seaswimmer

CramCycle wrote: »

Not sure if anyone here has been on the N11 near UCD over the past few months. Just to vent my annoyance at the lazy ass builders doing the works on the cyclepath, bus stop and footpath. They have the temporary hoardings up for a footpath and cyclepath for awhile now but f*ck me, the turn at the end of the bike path is so tight you have to either cut your speed to less than walking pace or bunny hop like Peter Sagan and go up on the grass. It would have been so easy to just extend it by 5 m and have a more gradual merge. Also the tarmacadam they ****ed there as a ramp, has no one pride in their work anymore. Also continuously just parking int he hoarded off area for sh1ts and giggles. Interestingly, no hassle from anyone for taking the lane for 100m. I often find myself at close enough to traffic speed but in general people have been really decent, to the point where the majority of cyclists on that route going onto the N11 main traffic lane, from those on a casual jaunt at 5kmph to the UCD racing team tipping 60kmph. It's almost as if they have realised that even a cyclist at walking pace, isn't really any delay overall in the grand scheme of things.

Is it DLR or DCC area?
I find DLR are usually pretty good about responding to these types of issues.
They have a new reporting form which allows you submit pictures and pin point map locations with your submission.(which I haven't used yet)

https://cllrsportal.powerappsportals.com/report-it-frm/

AndrewJRenko

Seaswimmer wrote: »

Is it DLR or DCC area?
I find DLR are usually pretty good about responding to these types of issues.
They have a new reporting form which allows you submit pictures and pin point map locations with your submission.(which I haven't used yet)

https://cllrsportal.powerappsportals.com/report-it-frm/

DLR area - Belfield bridge is the border line

Seth Brundle

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Not a near miss but an angry man

Cycle paths both sides of road white this morning so I cycled up the road (the inhumanity)

Got lifted out of it by angry little chubby fella

There can be a fair bit of agression outside Intel (where your pic was taken).
The road is now has a different route & layout to the above image. They've introduced a new crossroads and any traffic behind you coming from the roundabout (where your image was taken) must get to the red lights of that junction before you.
The cycle paths are shared footpaths had you taken it, then at the point where you are forced to rejoin the road (just further on) may well have a car parked in it (usually waiting for someone to leave the Intel construction site).
It is common to see cars waiting in both the bus stop areas and also on the footpath/cyclepath.
I actually emailed Intel about it last week and received a response soon afterwards about how they had notified the gardai and would be working with the gardai to help prevent it going forwards.
As for the chubby git, they're just angry at being a chubby git!

Skrynesaver

VonLuck wrote: »

All I was trying to say is that it is generally safer to use dedicated lanes, even if shared, but you may have to compromise on speed as a result.

I've been hospitalised off a bike twice, on both occasions I was on Irish dedicated cycling infrastructure.

Once a car turned through a traffic lane and a cycle lane without checking for cyclists and once when the lane was not treated and I lost it on black ice.

I no longer use Irish cycling infrastructure as it is, to generalise, a series of under maintained, poorly designed obstacle courses.

VonLuck

Skrynesaver wrote: »

I've been hospitalised off a bike twice, on both occasions I was on Irish dedicated cycling infrastructure.

Once a car turned through a traffic lane and a cycle lane without checking for cyclists and once when the lane was not treated and I lost it on black ice.

I no longer use Irish cycling infrastructure as it is, to generalise, a series of under maintained, poorly designed obstacle courses.

Do you mean that the driver hopped the kerb into the cycle lane? There's not much that can be done about that unfortunately beyond punishing the driver. I don't know if I'd blame the cycling infrastructure, but look, I don't know the details so I can't comment.

hans aus dtschl

VonLuck wrote: »

Do you mean that the driver hopped the kerb into the cycle lane? There's not much that can be done about that unfortunately beyond punishing the driver. I don't know if I'd blame the cycling infrastructure, but look, I don't know the details so I can't comment.

Oh for physical separation!

No, they mean that a driver somehow managed to drive over the super-protective-cycle-lane-paint and hit them.

The vast majority of Irish cycle infrastructure is an exercise in giving the illusion of safety. In most cases taking the lane is far safer.

magicbastarder

still remains my favourite* cycle path:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.2753161,-6.1902165,3a,75y,237.86h,81.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spw6lbAXTuTO9f7qQttDd-Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

*not my favourite

breezy1985

magicbastarder wrote: »

still remains my favourite* cycle path:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.2753161,-6.1902165,3a,75y,237.86h,81.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spw6lbAXTuTO9f7qQttDd-Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

*not my favourite

All its missing is yield signs at every driveway

Stark

Funny thing is the people saying that's perfectly fine are the same people moaning about cyclists on the footpad.

ED E

magicbastarder wrote: »

still remains my favourite* cycle path:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.2753161,-6.1902165,3a,75y,237.86h,81.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spw6lbAXTuTO9f7qQttDd-Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

*not my favourite

Mine:
https://goo.gl/maps/1ontSWk5YdJAH2bX6

Stark

ED E wrote: »

Mine:
https://goo.gl/maps/1ontSWk5YdJAH2bX6

The guy on the phoenix park thread who keeps saying that cyclists and pedestrians using the Park should just use the dirt trails to avoid the traffic would see nothing wrong with that :pac:

CramCycle

VonLuck wrote: »

Do you mean that the driver hopped the kerb into the cycle lane? There's not much that can be done about that unfortunately beyond punishing the driver. I don't know if I'd blame the cycling infrastructure, but look, I don't know the details so I can't comment.

They often don't need to hop the kerb, often the infrastructure is on the road and they don't notice you or think that the few cm given is fine when it is not. You also have a lot of times where cyclist reaches a junction before the car but the car turns through the cyclist. This happens because of lack of attention but also because the infrastructure puts the cyclist to the side and out of mind. When they get there, they simply don't register it, coupled with wide sweeping curves at the junction which encourage faster lines through the turn. There is a reason that those of us with enough confidence and experience often choose the main road rather than the infrastructure because while it appears more dangerous, it actually isn't. I'd sooner another road user disliked me, noticed me and gave me space, rather than never noticed until its too late.

From personal experience, while some incidences have been my fault, and I hold my hands up. The ones that weren't while driver fault, were added to or actively encouraged by poor infrastructure. Encouraging speeding, poor passing or simply removing me from their frame of reference until it was too late.

magicbastarder

breezy1985 wrote: »

All its missing is yield signs at every driveway

i was blown at many times for not being on the cycle path; i'd often have been doing 40 along that stretch too. combining it and the one in the opposite direction, you've pretty much got the full house of bad cycle path design. poles in the middle of the cycle path, having to yield to traffic from side roads, rollercoaster from the cycle path being dipped for private driveways, etc. etc.

MojoMaker

ED E wrote: »

Mine:
https://goo.gl/maps/1ontSWk5YdJAH2bX6

Is that an old photo? I think that stretch has moved on a good bit in recent years. One of the few cycle tracks I enjoy using to its full potential!

hesker

https://goo.gl/maps/zk6D6EW4TrDzAxES8

Only one of my favourites. Sheer genius of forethought

CramCycle

hesker wrote: »

https://goo.gl/maps/zk6D6EW4TrDzAxES8

Only one of my favourites. Sheer genius of forethought

The pavement blocked by the wall, which admittedly was there before the pavement but I mean, really, it is concreted on top and hardly of any historical significance that justifies it putting pedestrians in danger.

radia

I like this one: https://goo.gl/maps/uVB5MVnBPN9XbXsq7

Not content with having cyclists bouncing up and down on a rollercoaster created by driveways, they felt the need to build a special little mini-hill into the cycle track for no apparent reason at all. The road beside it is flat.

hesker

CramCycle wrote: »

The pavement blocked by the wall, which admittedly was there before the pavement but I mean, really, it is concreted on top and hardly of any historical significance that justifies it putting pedestrians in danger.

No, I mean the cycle lane that goes around the signpost on the inside putting you in a blind spot for drivers and then immediately throws you onto the road into their path.

I always go on the outside taking the lane.

CramCycle

hesker wrote: »

No, I mean the cycle lane that goes around the signpost on the inside putting you in a blind spot for drivers and then immediately throws you onto the road into their path.

I always go on the outside taking the lane.

Don't worry, I got what you were highlighting, but the whole thing, not just the bike lane is a clusterf*ck. How do these people get jobs. Reminds me of the lecturer in UCD, who said the easiest way to find out who scraped through his classes and barely qualified was not to look through the class lists but go onto the council website and get a list of the engineers/architects employed directly by them.

Skrynesaver

VonLuck wrote: »

Do you mean that the driver hopped the kerb into the cycle lane? There's not much that can be done about that unfortunately beyond punishing the driver. I don't know if I'd blame the cycling infrastructure, but look, I don't know the details so I can't comment.

No kerb, truck pulled ahead of me and he turned right behind it and through me, avoided breaking my skull by breaking my wrist.

radia

radia wrote: »

I like this one: https://goo.gl/maps/uVB5MVnBPN9XbXsq7

Not content with having cyclists bouncing up and down on a rollercoaster created by driveways, they felt the need to build a special little mini-hill into the cycle track for no apparent reason at all. The road beside it is flat.

That Leopardstown Road was a dreadful effort. I remember my uncle (not cyclist) giving out about how it had been built for cyclists and they weren't using it. I tried to explain but it was a waste of time. I recall a cycling aquaintance saying they should have just given the money to Concern or similar charities. He was right.