Give Us A Brake

at

This morning.

On Gardiner Street Lower, Dublin 1.

Ronald Vallenduuk tweetz:

Thank you @dublinbusnews driver, you were most generous. Leaving a third of that narrow cycle lane is clearly more than enough for cyclists…. #FreeTheCycleLanes @IBIKEDublin

Meanwhile…

Yesterday: Veloh

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31 thoughts on “Give Us A Brake

  1. paul

    there are usually people parked in that cycle lane too, it’s like a slalom in the morning. Surprised people don’t just key them and move on.

  2. Dr.Fart MD

    while i am firmly in the camp of belief that everyone turns into a complete a-hole once aboard a bike, and literally none abide by the rules of the road.. bus drivers are straight-up dangerous feens. they’re always tearin around and breakin lights n’all like theyre in a toyota glanza. they drive like bad personal drivers. you’d never think they were driving on behalf of an organisation.

    1. Ciuncainteach

      Everyone turns into a complete a-hole once they use the road (as it currently operates anyway). Transport method is irrelevant. Traffic is ridiculous, and the stress of dealing with it has made dicks of us all.

  3. postmanpat

    The first picture isn’t a problem , just slow down and undertake the bus (which is stuck in traffic and will be a hundred yards behind you idling in traffic before you know it) with a bit of care you’d be clear of that practically stationary bus easily. Its hardly running the gauntlet is it? In situations like these I find overly sensitive cyclist coming to a complete stop huffing and tutting and taking out the camera phone for a stupid photo more disruptive to other cyclists. As a cyclist ,If I was behind that woman, (who is climbing onto her high horse by the body language,. ) id go between the bus and the car and be on my way . easy peasy. no need to go all Donald J Twitter every time something minor happens. There’s loads of room, get over it.

    1. pedeyw

      This is why i used to be inclined to ignore the cycle lane while cycling through town. I don’t cycle in Dublin city anymore, I had a few close calls and it just became too stressful.

      1. postmanpat

        Ah , get back on the saddle. You just lost your bottle a bit. I find town traffic too slow and congested to be any real danger.

        1. Dhaughton99

          So true. Get back on her. I find nothing more exciting than lashing through the clogged up city and especially enjoy Dolier st and college green. Gets the blood rushing. Be aggressive. No surrender.

          1. postmanpat

            Sometimes I pretend I’m doing the death star trench run. “your all clear kid….”

  4. Spud

    It’s a broken line, so it’s only an ‘advisory’ cycle lane and traffic can enter.
    Car’s are allowed 30mins to park in them, so it’s pretty impossible to enforce also.
    As there’s 2 lanes of traffic, the cycle lane is useless here anyway when buses and trucks come into the mix.

    1. postmanpat

      I threat the broken line cycle lane for what it is, a guideline cycle lane , better than nothing , I guess. but I also treat traffic lights as guidelines too so it all evens out. Give and take is the name of the game. young “sensitive ” cyclists need to realize this. Town cycling is okay if you have your wits about you. As for all you complaining motorists . what’s it to you if cyclists run lights or break rules? It has zero impact of other road users. Your all just jealous they are getting to where they are going faster than you, stuck in your metal box. get a bike fatso . EVERY car on the road goes over the speed limit and runs amber lights, so everyone is bending the rules when it suits them and guess what? its FINE most of the time. When you’ve only just been driving 10K over the speed limit for most of your journey and ran a couple of changing light junctions along the way. You cant then get all morally superior when you see a cyclist ignore a pedestrian crossing red light when there’s obviously no one around crossing. cars break the speed limit, cyclists run the odd cheeky light , its all good , no one gets hurt. its fine. It is the doleys (who aren’t anywhere to be seen during rush hour because they are in bed) who are the real criminals and deserve our hate. We have got to stop focusing on each other and instead all concentrate of the welfare spongers who haven’t been employed in ten years even though there’s nothing wrong with them.

      1. Spaghetti Hoop

        Wrong, postman. Cyclists running lights does have an impact on all road users, as all vehicles do.

        1. postmanpat

          I ran a pedestrian light on my bike first thing this morning , no one was around, who was impacted then?

          1. Spaghetti Hoop

            Everyone, if you adopt as habit. Thankfully, CCTV placed at three junctions as part of a pilot cyclist-watch initiative may promote better road behaviour in time.

          2. postmanpat

            The habit of running every empty junction that effects no one, effects everyone? Ok, that literally makes no sense.

        2. George

          There was no “cyclist watch initiative” as you well know but quite a few drivers were fined for breaking red lights.

        3. George

          This is correct. Cyclists running red lights reduces collisions with motorists and increases safety. It is called the Idaho stop and has been very successful in Idaho and is being introduced elsewhere now. Oregon introduced it this week.

          1. Spaghetti Hoop

            Oh please. You’re basing your argument for light-running by comparing collisions between a small medieval city of 1.3 million to a US State of 1.7 million spread out at 31 people per square km? Anyone here protesting immunity from the law for cyclists so flippantly are excusing their own dangerous behaviour out of the selfish wish for ‘rules for motorists, rules for pedestrians and none for cyclists’. Deluded. Some cyclists, with no driving license have probably learned nothing about road rules since their Green Cross Code in primary school. And it shows.

          2. postmanpat

            Ah you cry baby! The usual unfit motorist augment. “If I have to stop and wait , then you have to wait too”. It’s sheer spite, pure and simple, from hypocrite motorists who break half a dozen laws in every car trip. In a 50Km speed road are you saying you never go 52? 57? slip through a light that’s changing red because the driver in front was bottoming about with her makeup and you didn’t want to get caught for another light sequence wait? As a pedestrian, do you always wait for the green man? keep grasping at straws spaghetti hoop.

          3. Spaghetti Hoop

            And here you go again.
            We should be promoting safety and diligence on the roads, not excusing bad habits.

          4. Gerry

            Oh please? You are using the classic trope “but it wouldn’t work here” when faced with facts.

            There are plenty of cars in Idaho. Portland has a population the size of Ireland and have introduced this rule. Colarado have also adopted it and Denver is similar in size to Dublin. A similar law is in place In Paris and in Brussels you are allowed break a light if turning right.

  5. Alex

    Where is it Ronald Vallenduuk would like the bus to go?
    There are 2 lanes of traffic. The cars to the right of the bus occupy one lane and the bus is occupying the near lane. The cycle lane is not an independent third lane. If the bus is in front of the cyclist the cyclist has to wait. It’s called traffic and cyclists should learn to cycle in traffic or dismount and wheel your bike along the path and mount the cycle lane when it’s safe to do so again.
    Just because you’re on a bike does not give you the right to flaunt the rules of the road.
    I say that as someone that cycles almost every day. On the days I do have to drive I regularly see cyclist angrily remonstrating with motorists simply because they can’t do as they please.
    The infrastructure is terrible but cyclists need to cop on to themselves.

    1. jerry

      “There are 2 lanes of traffic. The cars to the right of the bus occupy one lane and the bus is occupying the near lane. The cycle lane is not an independent third lane. ”

      exactly, cycling whingers

    2. Spaghetti Hoop

      So true. If there is no room to undertake, wait in line. There was a particular unofficial pro-cycling message years ago stating that you could wind in and out of the traffic to beat it, cut through lights, up one-way streets and pavements etc. Those antics have proven so dangerous to pedestrians (most vulnerable users) now as congestion has intensified and lanes narrowed. Rules need to be reiterated by the RSA for all road-users, not just always motorists and truckers.

    3. Mike

      “Where is it Ronald Vallenduuk would like the bus to go?”

      Into a dedicated bus lane, segregated from the cycle lane, with the private cars left outside the city core, in the manner of better planned cities, I’d wager.

  6. Spaghetti Hoop

    Cyclists are single person vehicles – buses carry 85 passengers. The bus here is breaking no rules, and I would always (when I drive) give way to them and let them pull out because there are up to 85 passengers needing to get somewhere probably faster than I. There are many lanes now squeezed into narrow city streets designed for less lanes. Hence the dotted line. I add that I commute on foot to work, making 20 street crossings a day, and experience dangerous cycling at least twice a day. So complaining about not waiting in line because a bus is in your way doesn’t wash.

  7. Pee Pee

    This cyclists blaming bus drivers, bus drivers blaming taxis, taxis blaming cyclists is silly. The infrastructure is to blame. Also, get cars out off the city.

  8. Catherine costelloe

    For jazus sake, keep your wits about you on bikes. I sat next to a beautiful ,young Brazilian lady, paralysed (forever) after lorry , blindside clipped her at ats in Dublin. Safety first and extra care at junctions/Ats’s.

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