The Dublin Cycling Campaign is an independent, voluntary lobby group that has been working to improve the city for all cyclists for over a decade and a half.
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Mr. T. O’Sullivan,
Assistant
City Engineer: Traffic,
Dublin City Council,
Civic Offices,
Wood Quay,
Dublin 8.
29 February 2008
Re: Hazard for cyclists in QBC lane (inbound) at sweep left turn on Pembroke Road at junction with Northumberland/Lansdowne Rds., Dublin 4.
Dear Tim,
I am writing to you to express cyclists’ concerns about the high risk of an RTA that they are exposed to in the Pembroke Road QBC lane (inbound) at the junction with Lansdowne and Northumberland Roads, Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4.
This is a complex junction with five arms. The road safety issue for cyclists centres on the high-speed sweep-left turn off
Pembroke Road just before the junction proper. An inbound cyclist who is going straight ahead from
Pembroke Road along
Northumberland Road is very exposed to a RTA with a vehicle taking the sweep-left turn from the outer vehicle lane across the QBC lane to sweep left into
Pembroke Road (Upper). I attach an image to show you the junction (viewed from inbound direction).
The inbound cyclist will be located at the kerbside of the QBC lane. Traversing the sweep-left turn there is a marked non-mandatory cycle lane. However what is happening is that drivers in the outside vehicle lane who wish to turn left here are turning at high speed across the bus/cycle lane to enter
Pembroke Road (Upper) by cutting across cyclists at the last minute and not yielding to them while making this two-lane change at speed.
I wrote to Ciaran de Burca (QBN Office) some two years ago about this hazard but nothing has been done to ameliorate the hazard for cyclists. It is a real risk and I have come close to being knocked off my bike on three occasions in this sector since this QBC was inaugurated in April 2006. Unfortunately the City does not have CCTV surveillance of this junction – if it did you would have plenty of incidents to view!
I asked for the Road Safety Audit report for this sector but nothing has been forthcoming. There are other safety issues for cyclists at this complex junction – I can elaborate on these later.
Now I am a very experienced commuting cyclists who knows how to protect my safety by commanding the vehicle lane to make it clear to drivers that I am proceeding straight ahead and not sweeping left but the other morning a driver very nearly turned in on top of me while I was commanding the QBC lane. He braked at the last minute and aborted his sweep left turn!
I am not prepared to risk my life here any longer. I am calling on the City to recognise that there is a safety issue for cyclists at this location. Sweep left turns are highly hazardous for cyclists in interaction with vehicles. Irish drivers cannot be trusted to interact properly with riders at these turns.
Please could we have a road safety audit of this sector and junction? It would help to monitor cyclists/vehicle interactions using temporary CCTV for a week, or so.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Mike McKillen
(Chairman DCC)
c.c. Derek Peppard (Cycle Forum)
