Journalism and cycling

Seth Brundle

https://twitter.com/grescoe/status/1233125229884583936

Thelonious Monk

JMcL wrote: »

Incredible. I read the comments and the only mention of "red lights" was one lad commenting that nobody had mentioned them. A first for a Journal article - though the knuckle dragging illiterati will probably chip in later soon as the sun warms their stones up enough for them to crawl out from under them

I noticed this myself, I don't understand it. Maybe they're pre moderating the comments on that article or something.

Seth Brundle

From MensLine Australia (Australian Government Department of Social Services)...
Cycling – the exercise for positive mental health

While virtually all exercise is beneficial for general, ‘whole body’ health, there are some forms of exercise that are especially great for positive mental health.

We often write about the benefits of exercise for physical and emotional health. Several studies have found that the combination of exercise and exposure to the outdoors is a bit of a magic combination for emotional and mental health – it’s now considered to a key therapeutic component of any strategy to combat depression, anxiety, and stress. Cycling comes up again and again as particularly useful for positive mental health – it’s easily accessible to most of us and the rhythmic, aerobic and low impact nature of cycling, much like other motor skills, has known brain boosting benefits.

Best of all, it’s easy and convenient, especially for city dwellers. It can be easily incorporated into your daily routine by using a bike for your daily commute to work or a quick dash to the nearby shops. Avoid traffic, get a fresh perspective of your city and often save time!

Thelonious Monk

7 people died on the roads this weekend, motorists and pedestrians. The M1 at Whitehall looked like a war zone this morning with 2 written off taxis and overturned cars, I don't think anyone died though thankfully. It's funny how you get one or two "RIP God Bless oh the poor families xx" comments when these tragedies happen but people just accept them as normal.
Any article about cyclists gets 100s of comments in a matter of minutes about how dangerous we all are.

https://www.thejournal.ie/motorists-urged-to-take-care-on-roads-5029572-Mar2020/

This article isn't picking up many comments so far, already one bloke just saying it's ok to talk with a phone to your ear while driving. How f*cking stupid are human beings...

radia

From that Journal.ie article:
Garda superintendent Eddie Golden this afternoon appealed for the public to “do the right thing and to have a positive contribution to road safety”.

“It comes back to personal responsibility and making sure that whether you’re a pedestrian, cyclist or motorcylist… that you’re doing the necessary and making yourself safe on the roads,” Golden said speaking to members of the press this afternoon.

I'd love to know what the journal.ie left out in the quotation, signified by the "..." and what Superintendent Golden actually said, because it seems to me there's an important category of road user that he may have overlooked in his exhortation to good behaviour and taking responsibility.

Seth Brundle

radia wrote: »

I'd love to know what the journal.ie left out in the quotation, signified by the "..." and what Superintendent Golden actually said, because it seems to me there's an important category of road user that he may have overlooked in his exhortation to good behaviour and taking responsibility.

He says it in the video "or whatever you might be, a vulnerable road user or other"...
https://twitter.com/GardaTraffic/status/1234467635972182017

Seth Brundle

Bloody hell...

https://twitter.com/News_Letter/status/1234465800934825984

aah now FFS :rolleyes:

He said in a police interview the defendant said there were nine cyclists riding three abreast on the road and she had pulled out to pass them and then she had to pull back in.

The lawyer said photographs taken of the incident did not support her account of the event.

...the defendant needed her licence to get about and pleaded with the court not to impose a disqualification

AndrewJRenko

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

7 people died on the roads this weekend, motorists and pedestrians. The M1 at Whitehall looked like a war zone this morning with 2 written off taxis and overturned cars, I don't think anyone died though thankfully. It's funny how you get one or two "RIP God Bless oh the poor families xx" comments when these tragedies happen but people just accept them as normal.
Any article about cyclists gets 100s of comments in a matter of minutes about how dangerous we all are.

https://www.thejournal.ie/motorists-urged-to-take-care-on-roads-5029572-Mar2020/

This article isn't picking up many comments so far, already one bloke just saying it's ok to talk with a phone to your ear while driving. How f*cking stupid are human beings...

"A spokesperson for the Road Safety Authority (RSA) told TheJournal.ie that it is “difficult to say” what caused the high number of road deaths over the weekend."

Could it be anything to do with the behaviour of the drivers involved, by any chance?

Stark

Or hi-vis for cars needed.

work

Liffey Route gets go ahead:
https://www.thejournal.ie/liffey-cycle-route-vote-dublin-city-council-5029469-Mar2020/
I'm delighted, hope it's implemented quickly and made permanent ASAP. I think it will be a big shock with the increase in cyclists, at least I hope as it would give weight to further projects..

eeeee

work wrote: »

Liffey Route gets go ahead:
https://www.thejournal.ie/liffey-cycle-route-vote-dublin-city-council-5029469-Mar2020/
I'm delighted, hope it's implemented quickly and made permanent ASAP. I think it will be a big shock with the increase in cyclists, at least I hope as it would give weight to further projects..

Good news.
I still don't understand why they can't prioritise it and make it continuous along the whole length of the quays. Or am I misunderstanding it?

magicbastarder

it seems to be getting a mixed response. it's a trial cycle route with many flaws, if i am to believe some of the commentary.

axer

I'm concerned that it will actually make things much worse for those who need to turn on to other roads e.g. Victoria Quay heading to the Phoenix park. There is very little detail at to how these junctions will work and going by past experience this will not be implemented in such a way as to give cyclists priority or speed up their journey. Cyclists will be shoved to one side and have to also contend with cars turning across the cycling lanes (remember a cycling lane gives no priority rights to cyclists) but because the cyclists are now effectively stuck in the cycling lane it will be impossible to use defensive cycling to take the traffic lane to protect themselves.

Some stretches will be made safer (like Victoria Quay) but over all it will not be worth it when taking into account the loss of being take control to protect yourself - cyclists will be at the mercy of motorists even more so that they are now.

work

axer wrote: »

I'm concerned that it will actually make things much worse for those who need to turn on to other roads e.g. Victoria Quay heading to the Phoenix park. There is very little detail at to how these junctions will work and going by past experience this will not be implemented in such a way as to give cyclists priority or speed up their journey. Cyclists will be shoved to one side and have to also contend with cars turning across the cycling lanes (remember a cycling lane gives no priority rights to cyclists) but because the cyclists are now effectively stuck in the cycling lane it will be impossible to use defensive cycling to take the traffic lane to protect themselves.

Some stretches will be made safer (like Victoria Quay) but over all it will not be worth it when taking into account the loss of being take control to protect yourself - cyclists will be at the mercy of motorists even more so that they are now.

Will it be a compulsory lane? Sadly changes in Ireland are slow s....l....o...w. Certainly you may be correct about poor design but the appetite is there in the public to get it right, things are changing. As it is provisional we can hope issues can be ironed out in time, I know optimistic given a poor history of design in Ireland but it gives an opportunity to push idealised design.

buffalo

work wrote: »

Will it be a compulsory lane? Sadly changes in Ireland are slow s....l....o...w. Certainly you may be correct about poor design but the appetite is there in the public to get it right, things are changing. As it is provisional we can hope issues can be ironed out in time, I know optimistic given a poor history of design in Ireland but it gives an opportunity to push idealised design.

There's no such thing as a compulsory cycle track in Ireland, except for contraflow tracks, and tracks in pedestrian areas.

magicbastarder

possibly a conflation of 'mandatory' with compulsory, and tbf mandatory is a misleading official term.

Pinch Flat

I think it has to be welcomed. Let a see how it works at Victoria quay- by far the most dangerous stretch for anyone commuting this way towards the phoenix park. I'd like to see the stretch along park gate street improved as well, as motorists love gunning it there towards chapelizod

axer

work wrote: »

Will it be a compulsory lane? Sadly changes in Ireland are slow s....l....o...w. Certainly you may be correct about poor design but the appetite is there in the public to get it right, things are changing. As it is provisional we can hope issues can be ironed out in time, I know optimistic given a poor history of design in Ireland but it gives an opportunity to push idealised design.

I don't think the appetite is there to get it right. Going by nearly anything that has been implemented with regards on-street cycling lanes in Dublin I have zero faith that this will be done properly. As the lanes will have orcas or something like that to protect them it can be difficult to leave them without slowing down a good bit all while checking the traffic lane to the right is clear to move to.

Then you have the murder strips where a cycle lane goes straight on and the traffic lane for turning left cuts across the cycling lane. I'd normally move out a little to make it clear to behind me that I am going straight on. That looks like it wont be possible anymore (or will be more difficult) with the orcas or whatever will be used as a separator in the way. Another issue is with other left turning lanes such as turning on to Swifts Row for Jervis Street. I would never use the cycle lane there as it is asking to get side swiped so I'd pull out to take the lane fully. If it is more difficult to get off the cycle lane coming up to such areas then it means a longer distance not using the cycle lane.

Then you have the motorists who will get aggressive at cyclists not using that expensive cycling lane. If it was done properly with proper widths and proper protected junctions then it would work but not how it currently is designed.

Chips Lovell

Easiest and cheapest solution would be to just ban cars from the quays and make it bus/bike only

Pinch Flat

Chips Lovell wrote: »

Easiest and cheapest solution would be to just ban cars from the quays and make it bus/bike only

Ah yeah, but people need their cars to go shopping. The city would die according to some people (well, car park operators anyway).

Idleater

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Ah yeah, but people need their cars to go shopping. The city would die according to some people (well, car park operators anyway).

I suggested (offhand) in a conversation recently that there should be waaaay more one way streets. Everyone needn't drive both ways on "every" street.

Pinch Flat

Idleater wrote: »

I suggested (offhand) in a conversation recently that there should be waaaay more one way streets. Everyone needn't drive both ways on "every" street.

I live near blanchardstown shopping centre and it's a regular traffic disaster zone. Could never understand why they just didn't lay it out as a massive one way street, with two lanes going in the same direction. Would make so much more sense with relatively little expenditure

Thelonious Monk

Pinch Flat wrote: »

I live near blanchardstown shopping centre and it's a regular traffic disaster zone

I just don't know how people cope in traffic like that. I had to go to Airside on a Saturday a few weeks ago to pick up a piece of furniture, so borrowed a car and went at like 9am for when the store opened, when there wasn't that much traffic around. Give it a couple of hours and all these retail parks around the motorways are traffic hell on Saturday afternoon. I don't know how people just go along with it and sit there in that carnage. I can't think of much worse ways to spend your afternoon. It feels like some kind of dystopian hell for me.

Seth Brundle

I need to learn from this story from Hull...

Police appeal after cyclist injured in Endike Lane road rage attack

Seth Brundle

New initiative from Dublin City Council to check air and noise quality

https://twitter.com/DubCityCouncil/status/1234764086258348034

AndrewJRenko

From the UK, but FFS;

https://twitter.com/CrippledCyclist/status/1234605190742974474

Seth Brundle

https://twitter.com/WexBug/status/1234933653534380040?s=19

Seth Brundle

Waterford Whispers News: Drivers React To Liffey Cycle Route With Usual Universal Support For Cyclists

Seth Brundle

Dublin Inquirer - Misuse of Bus Lanes by Drivers of Cars Could Badly Hamper Proposed BusConnects Network

On Crumlin Road, the 122 bus is trying to make its way to the city centre.

Three cars sit between the bus and the traffic lights and two cars sandwich the bus from behind in the bus lane.

It’s 5:30pm on Friday, which means that out of the six vehicles on this stretch of road in this lane, the bus should be the only one in it.
...

Seth Brundle

This article in Tralee Today appears to link a series of break-ins with a cyclist whereas in fact the only link is that the gardai are investigating both:
Gardaí Investigate Hit And Run, Break-Ins And Theft Incidents In Tralee Area