A vast majority of cycle tracks — the legal name for most bicycle infrastructure in Ireland, from painted cycle lanes to fully segregated cycle paths — are not compulsory to use, the Department of Transport confirmed last week.
IrishCycle.com asked the Department of Transport to confirm the status after a member of the public told this website that a Garda Sergeant claimed the law had been changed last year and compulsory use of cycle tracks has been widened.
The Department of Transport confirmed that the law had been changed, but this change was related only to the different devices that can use cycle tracks. It did not include widening compulsory use of cycle tracks beyond the current limited areas where it applies.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said: “We can confirm there has been no expansion of compulsory use of cycle tracks beyond those in pedestrian areas or contra-flow lanes.”
The compulsory use of cycle tracks in Ireland is still restricted to cycle tracks that are in pedestrian areas, such as pedestrian streets or squares, and on contra-flow cycle tracks, which allow people to cycle in the opposite direction of general traffic.
The law was only changed last year to allow L1e-A and electric scooter devices to use cycle tracks, and so the law was also changed to make it a requirement for such users to use cycle tracks in pedestrianised areas such as squares or when going the contra-flow direction using contra-flow cycle tracks.
In this regard, the spokesperson for the Department said: “Where a cycle track is provided in a pedestrianised area, all pedal cyclists, L1e-A and electric scooter devices must use them. Where there is a contra-flow cycle track, a user must only proceed in the contra-flow direction. Where a cycle track is provided with flow traffic, a user may use them in the direction of traffic.”
L1e-A devices are higher powered electric bikes which are viewed as bicycles in other countries but are viewed as mopeds or light motorcycles under Irish law. These are allowed to use cycle paths as the motors cut out helping at 25km/h. There are two types of L1e-B bikes, and neither of these are allowed to use cycle tracks because of their higher speeds.
There has been a long saga about the issue of compulsory use of cycle tracks. It started in the late 1990s when cycle tracks were made compulsory to use when cycling, but this sparked off years of campaigners and some politicians highlighting that the rule was impractical.
The issues raised included that cycle tracks are often poorly designed or maintained, including that the lanes end abruptly, don’t allow for certain turns, include sections mixed with people walking and are less suitable for some bicycles such as racing bicycles and larger groups of cyclists.
After years of the issue being mentioned in the Dail and elsewhere, finally, as transport minister in 2012, Leo Varadkar, removed the requirement to use any type of cycle track. But an apparent issue seemed to be discovered in 2015 and only became public in 2016. This was finally resolved after a review process by another legal change by then-Minister Shane Ross in 2018.
The member of the public who contacted IrishCycle.com did not want to be identified as he did not want this story to impact future cases where he may want to report poor driving to Gardaí.
He said that he was told about the incorrectly claimed law widening after he reported an incident of Dangerous Overtaking of a Cyclist in March. After he had made the report, he said he was then invited to speak to a Garda Sergeant who told him that he had committed an offence by not using a cycle track.
IrishCycle.com checked the dashed-lined ‘cycle lane’ in question, and it does not have a regulatory sign to make it a legally defined cycle track. So, even if there was a requirement to use cycle tracks, it would not apply in this case.
The member of the public said that the Sergeant said that he accepted that he may be unaware of the law changing in 2024, but he referred to an internal An Garda Síochána document on this legal change.
When IrishCycle.com put the above situation to the Garda Press Office, including asking about the apparent existence of an internal Garda document indicating that compulsory use of cycle tracks was expanded last year. A Garda spokesperson said: “We’ve received no reports at this office. An Garda Síochána does not comment on remarks attributed to third parties.”
The Department spokesperson added: “The Department is considering the relevant regulations, with a view to ensuring that there is no ambiguity in relation to this issue.”
This is an apparent reference to the known public misreading of the legislation covering cycle tracks. The regulations, S.I. No. 222/2024 – Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) (Amendment) Regulations 2024, state:
4 (a) A pedal cycle, L1e-A e-moped or an electric scooter shall be driven on a cycle track that is on—
(i) a road,
(ii) a portion of a road, or
(iii) an area, at the entrance to which traffic sign number RUS 021 (pedestrianised street or area) is provided.
(b) A pedal cycle, L1e-A e-moped or an electric scooter shall be driven on a cycle track at the entrance to which traffic sign number RUS 059 (contra-flow cycle track) is provided and pedal cycles, L1e-A e-mopeds and electric scooters shall only be driven in the direction indicated by the contra-flow cycle track.”,
A known public misreading of these is that the clauses of section 4(a) are three separate things and mention of “RUS 021 (pedestrianised street or area)” only applies to the third cause. It’s unclear at this point if this misreading has been made at any official level within the Gardaí.
When the compulsory use of cycle tracks was previously revoked in 2012, and an apparent issue was found in 2015, the Department of Transport refused to release records from Gardai and DPP supporting the claim that the mandatory use of cycle lanes was never revoked. A difference this time is that the Department of Transport is being clear that there has been no expansion of the limited requirement to use cycle tracks.
When the legislation was changed in 2018, the explanatory note stated: “These Regulations amend the Road Traffic and Parking Regulations to clarify that only the use of contra-flow cycle tracks and any cycle track in a pedestrianised area are mandatory.”
A notice in Iris Oifigiuil — the state’s legal notices newspaper — on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 also stated: “These Regulations amend the Road Traffic and Parking Regulations to clarify that only the use of contra-flow cycle tracks and any cycle track in a pedestrianized area are mandatory.”
There have been no changes since besides including L1e-A e-mopeds and electric scooters as legal users of cycle tracks last year.
The cycle tracks around here stone chips and broken glass scattered all over the surface. Since getting a couple off flats I stopped using them. Just to clarify I use a race bike.
Please can someone help me, my cycling lane is a death trap ,yet the garda told me I had to use it,can someone tell yes / no as I don’t understand all the jargon on this issue also I have found quite a lot of lorry drivers on the tallaght to blessington are using the big air horns when trying to get past me and I can’t pull in any closer to the ditches, is it illegal to scare people like that I could easily have fallen under one of the lorries, thanks Anthony
I don’t think there’s any road statutes explicitly stating that you can’t use your horn to intimidate road users out of your way… although there should be. The rules of the road just says this:
“Only use a horn to: warn other road users of on-coming danger; or make them aware of your presence for safety reasons when reasonably necessary.
Remember, the horn does not give you the right of way.
Do not use a horn in a built-up area between 11.30 at night and 7 in the morning unless there is a traffic emergency.”
Which cycle lane did that Garda tell you was mandatory to use? The article says above:
> A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said: “We can confirm there has been no expansion of compulsory use of cycle tracks beyond those in pedestrian areas or contra-flow lanes.”
So if it wasn’t a pedestrian area (e.g. a public square with no vehicle access) or a contra-flow lane (not many of them about), that Garda was woefully misinformed.
Garda member confusion about cycle tracks and their mandatory use shows just how convoluted is our traffic law buried as it is over Acts and a slew of regulations (SIs).
We in The Irish Cycling Campaign probably have a more wide ranging understanding of traffic law as it applies to bike users than many gardai!
The mandatory use regulation, at our urging, was repealed by then Minister of Transport Dr. Leo Varadkar.
We have offered to run a workshop on bike use regulations as part of the Templemore College syllabus, but no takers so far!