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Journalism and cycling

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    #1382
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,351 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    amanda brunker has opinions? people actually pay her for them?


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    #1383
    Lemming
    Registered Users Posts: 14,148 ✭✭✭✭Lemming


    She does a great job of blowing a dog whistle no less than an impressive three sentences in ... I also find it both amusing and worrying that she equates paying €15 for a helmet to 'being safe', or that once that's been done, her job is done and her kids are safe and nothing more needs done or said.


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    #1384
    cjt156
    Registered Users Posts: 2,062 ✭✭✭cjt156


    Amanda Brunker must have a copy-editor's favourite pet held at gunpoint. How that vacuous has-been gets any media attention otherwise is utterly beyond me.


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    #1385
    TheChizler
    Registered Users Posts: 9,405 ✭✭✭TheChizler


    Chuchote wrote: »
    Amanda Brunker #headdesk #needahelmetfortheheaddesk

    http://www.independent.ie/life/city-cycling/amanda-brunker-ive-narrowly-avoided-killing-three-cyclists-already-this-week-when-will-they-wise-up-35120681.html


    414821.png

    I had to click into that to make sure it wasn't a joke headline. Honestly it would be more suited to The Onion.


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    #1386
    RobFowl
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 11,667 Mod ✭✭✭✭RobFowl


    She nearly killed 3 cyclists and its them that has to wise up!


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    #1387
    tomasrojo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,743 ✭✭✭✭tomasrojo


    Chuchote wrote: »
    Lead letter in The Irish Times today is from Dr Brian Reddy of the School of Medicine in Trinity College, Dublin:

    http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/hi-vis-cyclists-and-the-garda-s-blind-spot-1.3049254


    Very good indeed to see some push-back from someone prominent in the medical establishment.

    And that's pretty big push-back too.


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    #1388
    tomasrojo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,743 ✭✭✭✭tomasrojo


    Didn't she write pretty much this article already last year?


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    #1389
    TheChizler
    Registered Users Posts: 9,405 ✭✭✭TheChizler


    tomasrojo wrote: »
    Didn't she write pretty much this article already last year?
    Good spot that article is from October 2016.

    Unfortunate phrasing in the first paragraph actually: "I've killed nearly three cyclists" has a very different implication to the (hopefully!) intended "I've nearly killed three cyclists".


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    #1390
    Chuchote
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,368 ✭✭✭Chuchote


    TheChizler wrote: »
    Good spot that article is from October 2016.

    Unfortunate phrasing in the first paragraph actually: "I've killed nearly three cyclists" has a very different implication to the (hopefully!) intended "I've nearly killed three cyclists".

    Oh, odd! It showed up on the Indo website's front page.


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    #1391
    Pinch Flat
    Registered Users Posts: 7,761 ✭✭✭Pinch Flat


    Ah the rarefied atmosphere tat is the drivers side of an SUV. Sounds like Amanda needs to take the test again - living close to UCD, she should be more aware of the prevalence of bikes. Not everyone has a mammy or daddy that can afford to buy them a car love.


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    #1392
    Feckofff
    Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭Feckofff


    Pinch Flat wrote: »
    Ah the rarefied atmosphere tat is the drivers side of an SUV. Sounds like Amanda needs to take the test again - living close to UCD, she should be more aware of the prevalence of bikes. Not everyone has a mammy or daddy that can afford to buy them a car love.

    I would guess she was told to write these articles. And she will continue to as long as we give this nonsense the oxygen.
    It is no surprise that both the indo and newstalk are in the same media stable.
    They is a common narrative and it must be working.

    Here's something that's actually worth your time and attention :)
    https://player.vimeo.com/video/212846367


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    #1393
    RobertFoster
    Registered Users Posts: 9,125 ✭✭✭RobertFoster


    TheChizler wrote: »
    Good spot that article is from October 2016.

    Unfortunate phrasing in the first paragraph actually: "I've killed nearly three cyclists" has a very different implication to the (hopefully!) intended "I've nearly killed three cyclists".
    I wasn't going to click into the article, but that line is hilarious. 2 targets down, the third bastard got away!

    I wonder if three cyclists admitted to nearly killing Amanda Brunker would they get as many column inches?


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    #1394
    Chuchote
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,368 ✭✭✭Chuchote


    Pinch Flat wrote: »
    Ah the rarefied atmosphere tat is the drivers side of an SUV. Sounds like Amanda needs to take the test again - living close to UCD, she should be more aware of the prevalence of bikes. Not everyone has a mammy or daddy that can afford to buy them a car love.

    The sad moment when you realise you're no longer the daring young student; now you're the oul' wan giving out about de yoof of today :D


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    #1395
    Pinch Flat
    Registered Users Posts: 7,761 ✭✭✭Pinch Flat


    http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/motorists-warned-to-expect-delays-as-obstructions-cause-headache-for-commuters-35631438.html

    Again another story that cyclists need not concern themselves with - nothing to worry about "traffic pouring into the city"

    Have the say a very pleasant and stress free cycle from Dublin 15 to Merrion Square this morning. The only thing I find on these traffic free mornings is speeding - huge problem going through Castleknock and the Phoenix Park.


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    #1396
    HivemindXX
    Registered Users Posts: 1,208 ✭✭✭HivemindXX


    I found a link to this over in the Infrastructure forum and I think it is somewhat tangentially related to cycling.

    This is about the Dublin Tunnel (apparently there is no 'Port' in the name which is something I learned).

    http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/how-dublin-s-port-tunnel-transformed-the-city-1.3050895

    Here's some choice quotes:-
    Meanwhile, the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) complained that the tunnel's height would would be too low for many lorries and that plans to exclude trucks from the city centre would strangle Dublin.
    Looking back today, as it celebrates it 10th year, Bertie Ahern is, frankly, scathing of the critics: "All the great and the good were opposed to it in the early years. I went to all the meetings myself down in Marino and Fairview. There were scaremongers who used it as a thing to be against. It was all to be a disaster and it was a con job. The paths would never be put back again. Fairview Park with all the lovely tulips and daffodils would never be seen again.
    Criticising the plan, the IRHA said it would lead to "the strangulation of commercial life of the city", forcing lorries which arrive at the port at 7am to wait up to 12 hours before entering the city centre.

    Any of that sound familiar? Of course all those objectors have melted away now. No doubt some of the exact same people are being listened to seriously when they complain that the city will be strangled and that children will live in terror if a bicycle path is built.


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    #1397
    Chuchote
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,368 ✭✭✭Chuchote


    Two letters in Irish Times today, one considered and thoughtful, the other a cliche-ridden "brigade" rant full of dog-whistle language:

    http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/cyclists-and-sharing-the-roads-1.3052995

    From Dermot O'Rourke of Lucan:
    Helmets and hi-vis jackets may give the appearance of increased safety for cyclists. However, research indicates that motorists are less likely to collide with a person walking and cycling if more people walk or cycle. You might expect an increase in collisions with an increase in foot and bike traffic but the reverse appears to occur. There is more to safe cycling than just helmets and yellow jackets; there is also the behaviour of drivers.

    and from Mark Dunne of Rialto:
    Once again The Irish Times shows itself to be the preferred medium for the carping of the cycling lobby (April 14th).
    As a pedestrian I would like to ask your letter-writers what they recommend I should wear to protect myself from members of their fraternity riding on footpaths, running red lights, cycling on the wrong side of the road and various other unlawful activities? These activities have reached epidemic proportions in Dublin.
    Like your letter-writers, I am all for law enforcement, but I see no evidence of it when it comes to halting the dangerous behaviour of some cyclists. The cycling lobby’s normally querulous voices are quiet on this matter.
    The Millennium Bridge and Sean O’Casey Bridge are both supposedly pedestrian thoroughfares and both prominently display signs forbidding cycling , but to no avail, it seems.
    Even the once tranquil environs of St Stephen’s Green are no longer immune to this scourge.


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    #1398
    buffalo
    Registered Users Posts: 8,050 ✭✭✭buffalo


    As a pedestrian I would like to ask your letter-writers what they recommend I should wear to protect myself from members of their fraternity?

    There's really only one response... helmet and hi-viz!


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    #1399
    Pinch Flat
    Registered Users Posts: 7,761 ✭✭✭Pinch Flat


    I think Mark Dunne from Rialto should stay at home under a bubble wrapped quilt. Sounds like the simplest of things stresses him out.


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    #1400
    rubadub
    Registered Users Posts: 32,373 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    buffalo wrote: »
    There's really only one response... helmet and hi-viz!
    exactly, sure you'd be fecking mad to leave the house without them. Maybe he is worried about looking cool.


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    #1401
    Doctor Bob
    Registered Users Posts: 1,141 ✭✭✭Doctor Bob


    http://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/2675/londons-cycling-revolutionary-the-vast-majority-of-road-space-is-given-to-the-least

    Interesting interview with Andrew Gilligan, former Cycling Commissioner for London. Quite a few parallels with Dublin and maybe elsewhere.

    I thought this was particularly noteworthy:
    There are 1.3m people coming into Central London each morning, but only 59,000 come by car, making up less than 5%.

    In Dublin, almost 65,000 people come into the city by car, from a total of just over 200,000 trips.

    See Table 2.2 in this report: https://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Canal_Cordon_Report_2016.pdf


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    #1402
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,351 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    have we had this yet? irish london times, about the AGSI proposal:

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/don-t-let-garda-force-wheels-off-the-cycling-revolution-3mlns2hbt


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    #1403
    mr spuckler
    Registered Users Posts: 3,107 ✭✭✭mr spuckler


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    have we had this yet? irish london times, about the AGSI proposal:

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/don-t-let-garda-force-wheels-off-the-cycling-revolution-3mlns2hbt

    paywall :(


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    #1404
    Fian
    Registered Users Posts: 2,187 ✭✭✭Fian


    Pinch Flat wrote: »
    I think Mark Dunne from Rialto should stay at home under a bubble wrapped quilt. Sounds like the simplest of things stresses him out.

    Dear Sir,

    On the 19th of April Mark Dunne asked "the cycling fraternity" what he should wear to protect himself from rogue cyclists. Could I reciprocate by asking him, in his capacity as a member of "the pedestrian fraternity", how I should protect myself from the murders, rapes and assaults that are in almost all cases perpetrated by pedestrians? Perhaps I could also take the opportunity to ask members of "the motorist fraternity" to account for the horrific injuries and deaths caused by car accidents and in particular drunk drivers?

    Or perhaps not, it would be absurd for me to seek to hold pedestrians or motorists collectively responsible for the actions of some other pedestrians or motorists. Why does this absurdity so often seem to be overlooked in the case of cyclists?


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    #1405
    tomasrojo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,743 ✭✭✭✭tomasrojo


    Road use, in Dublin at least, is completely mispriced. People are allowed to hog a very scarce resource: road capacity at peak times.
    Doctor Bob wrote: »
    In Dublin, almost 65,000 people come into the city by car, from a total of just over 200,000 trips.


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    #1406
    tomasrojo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,743 ✭✭✭✭tomasrojo


    Quite funny bit in Gilligan interview:
    Cyc: How did you feel about the more creative solutions to cycle lanes, such as the plan to build skyways for bicycles?

    AG: Ugh, ludicrous. It was the bane of my life, I mean most weeks we kept getting approached by these people with absurd schemes.

    Then the most ludicrous of all is their schemes for elevated bikeways above railways lines. Then there was this other one for proposed bike lanes in disused underground tunnels.


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    #1407
    tomasrojo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,743 ✭✭✭✭tomasrojo


    The bit about clickbait is great too. I think I can't quote any more, under fair-use rules, or whatever. What a good interview.


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    #1408
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    How true this is:

    "But I don’t buy this argument that all cyclists should have insurance and wear helmets and high-vis and then everybody would love them. That’s not true at all.

    People decide they don’t want cycling then they look for reasons to oppose it. Then sometimes they just make up reasons."


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    #1409
    HivemindXX
    Registered Users Posts: 1,208 ✭✭✭HivemindXX


    Deleted User wrote: »
    How true this is:

    "But I don’t buy this argument that all cyclists should have insurance and wear helmets and high-vis and then everybody would love them. That’s not true at all.

    People decide they don’t want cycling then they look for reasons to oppose it. Then sometimes they just make up reasons."

    There is a thing called Motivate Reasoning that seems to cover this. I came across this because it occurred to me to wonder why someone who I know isn't ridiculously stupid still believes and trots out ridiculously stupid arguments when it comes to propping up his view that cyclists are bad and should be gotten rid of.

    You see people say things like "cyclists are the most dangerous thing on the road" and when you look for their minder to let them know they have wandered off it turns out that they are capable of intelligence they just choose to be as stupid as they need to be to believe what they want to believe. I still prefer my own term for the phenomenon - "purposeful stupidity". I guess the other term is more PC. :)


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    #1410
    Doctor Bob
    Registered Users Posts: 1,141 ✭✭✭Doctor Bob


    tomasrojo wrote: »
    The bit about clickbait is great too. I think I can't quote any more, under fair-use rules, or whatever. What a good interview.

    I think the key is that he's the former Cycling Commissioner. A lot of the interview reads like a big "Ahhhhhhhhh. That's better. I've wanted to get that off my chest for a loooong time." And the article is all the more insightful for it.


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    #1411
    Chuchote
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,368 ✭✭✭Chuchote


    What or where is this Gilligan interview?


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