bicycle legal requirements?

after a couple of years in the attic i have decided to get my old bicycle back on the road
what i want to know is what are the current legal requirements to use a bicycle on the road ?

You must follow the rules of the road same as other road users.
Some info here:
http://www.rsa.ie/en/RSA/Pedestrians-and-Cyclists/Cycling-safety/

Legal requirements & other advice:

http://www.rsa.ie/Documents/Campaigns/Wrecked/Downloads/Cycle safety booklet.pdf

I hope your bell is in good working order!

Boards have a good thread on Irish cycling legislation. Be wary of mistaking RSA advice for law, they recently published guidance on cycling safety that included illegal reflectors.

Thanks Leo, great link.
I'll feel more capable of being pedantic when cycling home this evening.

Purple said:

Thanks Leo, great link.
I'll feel more capable of being pedantic when cycling home this evening.

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Oh it's a super thread, I've memorised a few of the SI numbers so I too can get my pedantry buzz. All I'm missing is the camera to record it all and stick up on YouTube for all the world to see how clever I am. I'd have to heavily edit the footage though

Leo said:

All I'm missing is the camera to record it all and stick up on YouTube for all the world to see how clever I am. I'd have to heavily edit the footage though

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And we had a guy here who did that. It's hard to know who is more annoying; the stupid drivers or the cyclists who think anyone else cares.

I'll second the bell - I cycle regularly (commuting cyclist) and had two run-ins with bikes recently.

A guy overtook me with too little space on the Grand Canal cycle track (next to traffic) and our handlebars and pedals got entangled and very nearly took both of us under a truck. Would have been avoided if he'd dinged a bell (if he'd had one) and I would have kept closer to the kerb. Very scary incident.

The other incident was when I was overtaking a guy and pulling back in. Little did I know that he'd speeded up (didn't like being overtaken by middle aged woman?) and I nearly came in on top of him. If he'd had a bell, he could have alerted me.

Gordanus said:

The other incident was when I was overtaking a guy and pulling back in. Little did I know that he'd speeded up (didn't like being overtaken by middle aged woman?) and I nearly came in on top of him. If he'd had a bell, he could have alerted me.

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That was you?!

Plenty freshers around UCC on bikes this morning. Give them a few weeks and they'll be diving on footpaths when they see me. Feckers, they don't even pay tax.

Firefly said:

Feckers, they don't even pay tax.

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I don't know about, there's lots of tax on beer, cigarettes and acne cream.