Journalism and cycling

zell12

IrishSun - This is the shocking moment a raging cyclist hurled a barrier across the road after workmen blocked the cycle lane in Belfast
He lobs one across the pavement into a fence causing the CCTV camera to wobble and chucks a second over his shoulder.
The barriers had been put in place to protect a manhole cover outside a used car dealership on a busy road.
"He really lost the rag. [When I saw the footage] I thought 'what's going on here', which was followed by a bit of a laugh and a giggle. It's one of the busiest thoroughfares into Belfast so there's plenty of cyclists going up and down. But I never see this kind of thing. I think the guy in question upon reflection may even have a giggle if he saw it."
He posted the footage online - and cheekily suggested the cyclist ditch his bike and buy a used car from his dealership to avoid the stress.
The video has since racked up more than 55,000 views by amused social media users.
One wrote: "I was hoping the drains would collapse."
While James Belfield said: "Please put them back every morning."

.

Seth Brundle

Whilst I wouldn't expect much from a gutter rag such as the Sun, he didn't throw the barriers across a road!

Duckjob

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Whilst I wouldn't expect much from a gutter rag such as the Sun, he didn't throw the barriers across a road!

.. or nearly hit the pedestrians

zell12

Bike stolen after huge brawl breaks out in Malahide

"I saw an aggressive young lad pull out the seat and bar of a bike and use it as a weapon to fight off another lad.
The fight ended with a thief cycling off with one of the lads' bikes."

Grassey

Poll: Should there be Copenhagen-style cycle lanes in every major Irish city?

Surprisingly 81% in favour.... and the comments aren't toxic!

magicbastarder

Dublinbikes scheme, 10 years on: ‘It has sort of reached a plateau’

“It might not work. It might be a disaster or it might be a stirring success,” was how Owen Keegan, then Dublin City Council’s director of traffic, regarded the idea of putting low-cost bikes on the streets of the capital in 2001. “It’s worth giving it a try,” he added.

It was another eight years before the council actually did it – the Dublinbikes scheme was launched in September 2009.

More than 66,000 longterm members and 27.3 million journeys later, the council says it has been “a remarkable success”.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/dublinbikes-scheme-10-years-on-it-has-sort-of-reached-a-plateau-1.4001266

tomasrojo

magicbastarder wrote: »

Dublinbikes scheme, 10 years on: ‘It has sort of reached a plateau’

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/dublinbikes-scheme-10-years-on-it-has-sort-of-reached-a-plateau-1.4001266

27 million journeys, good safety record, woven into the fabric of urban life, one of the most used such schemes in the world, and that's the headline they go with.

(The article is fine.)

SPDUB

magicbastarder wrote: »

Dublinbikes scheme, 10 years on: ‘It has sort of reached a plateau’

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/dublinbikes-scheme-10-years-on-it-has-sort-of-reached-a-plateau-1.4001266

extending it as far as Whitehall, Crumlin and Clonskeagh “subject to securing adequate levels of funding”.

A report from the council published last year said Dublinbikes membership levels “are no longer in a growth phase and may decline over time”.
Its reasoning was the opening of the Luas Cross City and the roll-out of new, private stationless bike-hire schemes, in the past year.

The lack of expansion to Crumlin has made it seem like a "yuppy" project .

It's very notable on maps how Crumlin is an enclave carved into the circular expansion of the scheme and the council's explanation of lack of growth doesn't apply to crumlin

Mickiemcfist

SPDUB wrote: »

The lack of expansion to Crumlin has made it seem like a "yuppy" project .

It's very notable on maps how Crumlin is an enclave carved into the circular expansion of the scheme and the council's explanation of lack of growth doesn't apply to crumlin

It hasn't been expanded anywhere south of the grand canal, for example Ranelagh & Rathmines don't have stations & imo would have better uptake than Crumlin.

AndrewJRenko

Stark wrote: »

God what a toxic person.



Takes a special kind of hatefulness to see a pleasant human interaction and spin it into something negative.

magicbastarder wrote: »

Dublinbikes scheme, 10 years on: ‘It has sort of reached a plateau’

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/dublinbikes-scheme-10-years-on-it-has-sort-of-reached-a-plateau-1.4001266

I'd suggest we halt all road developments until we can get relevant sponsorship:


- The Kia M50 car park
- The Renault M7 - slower than the train, but much more stressful
- The Hyundai N5 - you'll think Westport will never come


Any other catchy slogans?

magicbastarder

in contrast with the story about the dublin bikes scheme above:

Goodbye blue bikes: Melbourne's bike share scheme canned

The Greens have branded a state government decision to scrap the $2 million-a-year blue bike share program "lazy" and called on it to reverse the move.

The government announced on Friday the program was being canned, saying each bike is only being used on average once a day despite the scheme being introduced in 2010 to try to promote cycling in the inner city.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/goodbye-blue-bikes-melbourne-s-bike-share-scheme-canned-20190830-p52m9e.html

tomasrojo

magicbastarder wrote: »

in contrast with the story about the dublin bikes scheme above:

Goodbye blue bikes: Melbourne's bike share scheme canned

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/goodbye-blue-bikes-melbourne-s-bike-share-scheme-canned-20190830-p52m9e.html

As far as I know, the Greens there support the mandatory helmet law, which would be an unusual stance among European Green parties (which isn't to say that Green parties in Europe don't have members who think wearing helmets is a very good idea).

It does look as though there isn't a single prospering cycle share scheme in a mandatory helmet law jurisdiction. I'm not sure how Mobi is doing in Vancouver though, as I think it's quite a new scheme.

(Think I've got the name of the Vancouver scheme correct on my second edit!)

buffalo

Now this is what a paper with a vendetta against cyclists looks like:

https://nypost.com/2019/08/31/nyc-bicyclists-are-killing-pedestrians-and-the-city-wont-stop-it/

NYC bicyclists are killing pedestrians and the city won’t stop it

My favourite part of the article is the comparison of regular bikes with e-bikes, with the implication that the mayor is targetting the wrong group. :pac::pac:

The one cyclist group he has attacked is electric-bike riders, who are primarily food-delivery workers. He has blasted them for going the wrong way on streets and riding on sidewalks and has launched a crackdown against them.

But just nine of the 270 reported pedestrian injuries from bikers last year were caused by e-bikes, according to a report on the transportation-news site Streetsblog.

magicbastarder

270 reported injuries a year? not bad for such a large city, that's less than one a day.
if the jan to end of april trend in all road fatalities is extrapolated out over a year, they'll be looking at nearly 200 for deaths.

buffalo

magicbastarder wrote: »

270 reported injuries a year? not bad for such a large city, that's less than one a day.
if the jan to end of april trend in all road fatalities is extrapolated out over a year, they'll be looking at nearly 200 for deaths.

More typical annual stats:

https://twitter.com/Bob_Gunderson/status/1168259319189491712

Tombo2001

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

I'd suggest we halt all road developments until we can get relevant sponsorship:


- The Kia M50 car park
- The Renault M7 - slower than the train, but much more stressful
- The Hyundai N5 - you'll think Westport will never come


Any other catchy slogans?

The White Van bus lane......

Slogan 'my hazards are on'.

Seth Brundle

Missus Doubtfire wrote: »

Don't forget about the two "Yield" signs painted on the cycle track outside Bolands Car Sales!

I complained to the council about them and was told the following...

Yield symbol markings were included for safety purposes by the Design Consultant, to bring the attention of cyclists to the entrances. South Dublin County Council are looking into having these 2 number yield symbols removed along the cycle track.

http://www.fixyourstreet.ie/reports/view/128802?s=e&full=1

magicbastarder

y'what?
"There is an Advance Stacking Location (ASL) located on the southbound approach to the junction. Cyclists travelling straight ahead are required to stop on the on-road cycle track and to then enter the ASL when clear to do so. They can then travel straight ahead under a ‘straight ahead’ green light."

you have to stop on the cycle path, and wait until the traffic is clear, then hop off the path into the ASL?

Seth Brundle

Yup. This is said junction...


off road cycle path merges with road just before the pink surface.
It also means that cyclists travelling from Nangor Rd onto Adamstown Rd (cycling towards camera) must cycle on the road in the wrong direction or cross the road. :rolleyes:

AndrewJRenko

magicbastarder wrote: »

y'what?
"There is an Advance Stacking Location (ASL)

I never knew that was the proper name for them! I thought it was 'Advance Stop Line". Every day's a school day, as they say.

magicbastarder

i've never heard of 'advanced stacking location' and the internet agrees that 'advanced stop line' is the standard term:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_stop_line

a google for 'advanced stacking location' returns two hits, interestingly both irish:
https://www.nationaltransport.ie/downloads/national_cycle_manual_110728.pdf
https://www.engineersireland.ie/getmedia/b01017f6-4721-4317-8e4c-34ac988a69ef/5-Oliver-Dalton.aspx

however the latter also refers to advanced stop lines alongside advanced stacking locations.

tomasrojo

Both wrong. The 'S' is for "Shoaling".

tomasrojo

tomasrojo wrote: »

Both wrong. The 'S' is for "Shoaling".

I just realised that I have started putting single quotes around single characters, and double quotes around words. Not coincidentally, I have had to write some C at work.

magicbastarder

tomasrojo wrote: »

Not coincidentally, I have had to write some 'C' at work.

FYP.

magicbastarder

also, i believe that's how gerry ryan referred to it too.

CramCycle

magicbastarder wrote: »

also, i believe that's how gerry ryan referred to it too.

:eek:

cjt156

CramCycle wrote: »

:eek:

Too soon?

CramCycle

cjt156 wrote: »

Too soon?

Gerry would have made the comment the next morning , so no. At least you didn't mention Mrs Ryan's knickers.

magicbastarder

what's going on in the irish times? are the subeditors revolting? what a bizarre headline to use for the article.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/new-liffey-street-plaza-eliminating-traffic-kills-businesses-1.4009019#.XXI-B1WpOOQ.twitter

Tombo2001

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/new-liffey-street-plaza-eliminating-traffic-kills-businesses-1.4009019

The Irish Times does a vox pop on the pedestrianisation of Liffey Street area.

No surprises for which side they lean towards with the headline.

Why of course - eliminating the 50 people an hour that drive down Liffey Street will 'kill businesses'.

By this logic of course, we should allow cars back down Grafton Street and Henry Street - maybe just cut out the footpaths instead.

Couldnt make it up.