'I don’t give a s**t,' says motorist in video of cyclist challenging them about parking in Limerick cycle lane

Mr Hogan, from Raheen, said four cars were parked on the cycle lane outside Colbert railway station as he cycled home from work.

He said the first motorist he met parked on the cycle lane told him she was “sorry”, but that a second motorist was “quite rude”.

“We have to stop somewhere. Blame the f*****g corporation, leave me alone,” a female voice is heard in the recording, after Mr Hogan is heard explaining he has had to cycle around the car and into traffic.

Mr Hogan confirmed he is then heard informing the motorist he “could get killed” cycling around her car, and the motorist tells him, “I don’t give a s**t, leave me alone”.

When contacted for comment, Mr Hogan explained: “There was a car parked right in the cycle lane which meant I had to come out into the main stream of traffic, which is always a bit risky, particularly when there is lots of buses coming into that area.

“The (first) lady was, at least, polite, the second driver was not so much, and told me to leave her alone.”

So I said, ‘do you realise that I could get killed out here?’ and she said ‘I don’t give a s***’, that was one of her comments, and her passenger was telling me that it wasn't a cycle lane - It’s clear it’s a bicycle lane.

“Unfortunately I’m not particularly surprised with that attitude, because it’s indicative of at least a small minority of drivers out there, that see cyclists as a nuisance. My reaction at the time was to try and keep my cool. That’s unfortunately a far too common opinion that drivers have.”

“It’s not unusual to have people plonking the horn at you, basically to say get out of the way; I’ve had taxi drivers shout abuse out the window and tell me to get out of the road. It’s not unusual unfortunately. It’s a common attitude.”

He said, “a simple” solution would be to have cycle lanes and car lanes physically segregated from one another. He provided photographs which show how “flexible wands” that were erected outside Raheen Church have helped achieve this.

He said, in his opinion, there was no deterrent to motorists parking in most cycle lanes.

“That spot in front of Colbert Station is probably the best example in Limerick of the failure of a number of things.

"People who park there feel no fear they’re going to get a ticket. If there was a traffic warden or a garda standing there prepared to give them a ticket on the spot, it might change.”

“My video is just a snapshot of a wider problem, in terms of indiscriminate parking; parking on footpaths; parking in bus stops; parking on double yellow lines. That type of parking and driver behaviour also puts pedestrians at risk. You’re sort of running the gauntlet.”

A number of cycle lanes have recently been implemented in the Treaty city.

Last October, a Limerick City and County Council transport committee approved a motion to allocate an estimated €7.7m, 10% of Limerick’s road transport and safety budget, to cycling infrastructure which is estimated at over €77m.

However, this has yet to be decided on by the joint local authority.