Cyclist Donna Fox was killed by a truck at this junction in Dublin a couple of months ago, but now the Dublin City Council has improved it and hopefully made it safer.
Dublin City Council has moved to make safer the junction where cyclist Donna Fox was killed in September.
Donna, from Balbriggan in north Co Dublin, was cycling to work when she was fatally struck by a truck at the junction of Sheriff St and Guild St in the north inner city.
A very experienced cyclist who was well used to cycling in the city and trained and rode sportives, Donna lost her life at the junction where the turn left is treacherous.
The exact circumstances of Donna’s death will not known until her inquest is heard.
But steel barriers on the side of the road where she was fatally injured create a danger zone where cyclists or pedestrians could be crushed by vehicles taking the turn left too tight.
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Dublin City Council has now carried out works at the junction, erecting flexi-wands and putting down new road markings.
The flexi-wands separate cyclists from vehicles at, and on the approach to, the turn left. And the placement of the flexi-wands forces vehicles to take the left turn very wide.
However, while the works are an improvement and clearly demonstrate how more junctions could easily be made safer for cyclists, more could have been done.
For example, the new stop line for cyclists is in front of the stop line for cars at the traffic lights on the junction. But if the distance between the stop lines was greater, it would give cyclists even more time to cross the junction or complete the left turn ahead of the vehicles also pulling away from the lights.
And the steel barriers that pose a crush risk are still in the same place. But if the steel barriers were set a bit further back, cyclists would have somewhere to escape to in the event of a vehicle taking the turn left too tight.
If the kerb was lower, it would also help cyclists escape if a driver ignored or misjudged the flex-wands and took the bend really tight.
The barriers, by the looks of them, have been clipped by vehicles many times. But it was only after a fatality that the junction was improved for cyclists.
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However, the works – as the videos and photos below reveal – look to have improved things for cyclists. So let’s hope we see more of this at the dangerous pinch points around the city; indeed nationwide.
The new junction set-up in action
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Vehicles being forced wide by the spindles when they are turning left; with cyclists get more room on the vehicles' inside as a result.
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One interesting impact of the new set-up is that vehicles are not only forced to take the bend wide, but they are then out into the road once they straighten up when they clear the bend, giving cyclist more room all the way up the hill. Stickybottle observed the corner for about 15-20 minutes and all of the vehicles stayed out into the road after rounding the bend.
Cyclist and van separated by the flexi-wands. The turn to the left just ahead of cyclist and van is where the truck turning fatally hit Donna Fox.
The stop line for the cyclists to stop is ahead of the stop line for vehicles, though the distance could still be a bit bigger to give cyclists a real head start. If so, those on bikes would carry straight through the crossroads or would be around the corner ahead of the vehicles.
The new lay-out is an improvement. But if the steel barriers were set a bit further back, cyclists would have somewhere to escape if a vehicle took the corner too tight. And if the kerb was lower, it would help cyclists escaping in the event a driver ignored or misjudged the flex-wands and took the bend really tight.
The barriers, by the looks of them, have been clipped by vehicles many times. But it was only after a fatality that the junction was improved for cyclists. The taxi in this photo is turning left, so this shot gives a clear view of the space created for cyclists by the flexi-wands.
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