Cyclists and rules of the road

R

rustbucket

Registered User
Messages
819
Yesterday, I was walking alongside a busy road. As I came to a major crossroads, I noticed a cyclist blatantly breaking a red light and cruising through the junction at least 5-10 seconds.

To my surprise a Garda car was at the top of the queue going across the junction the other way. I thought to myself...here we go, that cyclist is going to cop an earful.......but wait for it........NOTHING!
 
Perhaps they were watching the pedestrians crossing the road without waiting for the green light?

Perhaps they were on their way to the scene of an accident where a car had crashed the lights knocking down a pedestrian or, maybe even a cyclist?
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Perhaps they were watching the pedestrians crossing the road without waiting for the green light?
Click to expand...

Normally they would be but no pedestrians crossing the road this time

[/QUOTE] Perhaps they were on their way to the scene of an accident where a car had crashed the lights knocking down a pedestrian or, maybe even a cyclist? [/QUOTE] they weren't in that much of a hurry....
 
Not another thread where motorists point out that cyclists break the rules of the road by cycling through red lights (I'd say 90% do when it's safe-ish to do so) followed by cyclists pointing out that motorists kill cyclists, not the other way around.
Both things are true but they are unrelated in the context of this discussion, then again these discussions are full of heat and very little light.
 
rustbucket said:
Yesterday, I was walking alongside a busy road. As I came to a major crossroads, I noticed a cyclist blatantly breaking a red light and cruising through the junction at least 5-10 seconds.

To my surprise a Garda car was at the top of the queue going across the junction the other way. I thought to myself...here we go, that cyclist is going to cop an earful.......but wait for it........NOTHING!
Click to expand...

In summary theres a lack of enforcement by the Garda.

All road users are guilty of breaking the rules. Yes cyclists do it a lot. Will you be pointing out other rule breaking by other road users. Ambler gamblers, on the phone, speeding etc.

The question really is why do cyclists, bother so you much that you single them out?
 
Probably because they are in the flow of traffic and if they get into an accident it could be *squash* and the cyclist will probably come out the worst.

So, in effect, the OP is expressing his desire to keep the cyclist safe.

Well done rustbucket for caring!
 
rustbucket said:
Yesterday, I was walking alongside a busy road. As I came to a major crossroads, I noticed a cyclist blatantly breaking a red light and cruising through the junction at least 5-10 seconds.

To my surprise a Garda car was at the top of the queue going across the junction the other way. I thought to myself...here we go, that cyclist is going to cop an earful.......but wait for it........NOTHING!
Click to expand...

  • Cyclists probably break the lights more than they actually stop.
  • Motorists take the orange light to mean put the foot down rather than slow down.
  • The Gardai couldn't be bother filling out the paperwork for someone breaking the lights.
 
I was driving through Christchurch earlier this week. Seen a cyclist cycle down a footpath and crossed on-coming traffic dangerously. There was a Garda walking down the path and stopped him and had words. I dont know if he got fined for it, but glad to see the Garda did not turn a blind eye.
 
AlbacoreA said:
In summary theres a lack of enforcement by the Garda.

All road users are guilty of breaking the rules. Yes cyclists do it a lot. Will you be pointing out other rule breaking by other road users. Ambler gamblers, on the phone, speeding etc.

The question really is why do cyclists, bother so you much that you single them out?
Click to expand...


Not all road users are guilty of breaking the rules. Some cyclists do it, some dont, some pedestrians do it, some dont, some motorists do it, some dont.

Cyclists dont bother me at all. I dont single them out. I was merely making an observation. I was not a road user at the time. I was a pedestrian on the footpath, I wasnt crossing the road, I was approaching a junction.

My observation was based around the fact that he broke the red light directly in front of a Garda car and i was expecting him to get a major telling off but they didnt do anything. That is all It would have been the same observation if it had been a motorist, although I am sure the Guards would have intervened then

My comment is not based around who breaks lights more or who gets a rougher deal on the road or motorists v cyclists. it is based around the fact that
A. All road users are bound by the rules of the road and
B. My genuine surprise at the Guards to ignore it
 
I find it unlikely that you've not seen Garda turn a blind eye to people breaking the rules on the road. For me its the norm around the city. The Garda pulling someone over that would quite rare in comparison.

Find any busy junction and its constant rule braking.
 
SBarrett said:
  • ...
  • Motorists take the orange light to mean put the foot down rather than slow down.
  • ...
Click to expand...
Ah yes. An amber traffic light is an instruction to STOP, if it is safe to do so. RTFM aka ROTR.

Similarly, an amber light at light-controlled pedestrian crossing is not an instruction to move off, this latter for the Tescos van-driver in Thurles today.
 
Please tell cyclists to make sure to have a back light.
Please tell cyclists that it is unlikely they will be hit from traffic from other side of road with or without front light, yet much more likely to be hit from behind ,particularly in non -urban areas.

Please back lights and front lights + dark nights coming.
 
Never heard of them Pat.

Whenever I see abbreviations, I assume they are text speak and don't even bother trying to figure out what they mean. :)
 
Gerry Canning said:
Please tell cyclists to make sure to have a back light.
Please tell cyclists that it is unlikely they will be hit from traffic from other side of road with or without front light, yet much more likely to be hit from behind ,particularly in non -urban areas.

Please back lights and front lights + dark nights coming.
Click to expand...

I agree it's madness not to have lights on a bike after dusk, especially now as they are so cheap. But the stats don't back up your assertion. The most common scenario for bike-car 'interaction' is cars turning right turning into the path of a bike/ hitting them head-on. As for fatalities, most are caused by left-turning vehicles not being aware of bikes beside them.

A good bright flashing front light might help both scenarios above.
 
Why is it that everytime there is a post about cyclists ignoring traffic lights there is the usual plethora of posts citing the wrongdoing of motorists as if that in some way decreases the seriousness of the violation, and to some, so it would appear, even negating it.

Why not start a new thread and lambaste the motorist in there own thread.

I have driven( having passed my advanced drivers course) for over thirty years approximately 100K a day in and around Dublin and I have to say that it is the EXCEPTION rather than the rule to see a cyclist obey a red light. This is across the board, from the old "boneshaker" being ridden by a kid to the "top of the range" bicycles, lighted back and front, being ridden by helmeted people wearing the best of gear.
I see it day in, day out and the only time they stop* is when they are in danger of being hit by traffic proceeding with the green signal.

* very slowly advancing (while wobbling side to side) past the stop line and once there is a gap in crossing traffic, continue through the junction regardless.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top