Journalism and Cycling 2: the difficult second album

magicbastarder

The Secret Cyclist: dealing with intimidation on the road

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/people/arid-40343012.html

magicbastarder

Tips from the Netherlands on how to build a nation of cyclists

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-57944428

Weepsie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117656176#Comment_117656176

They mustnt have urban planners

Seth Brundle

RIP

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/cyclist-in-his-40s-dies-after-crash-in-co-cork-1.4629942?mode=amp

magicbastarder

ah ****. RIP.

Sounds like a terrible accident, RTE reporting no other traffic involved.

Wildly Boaring

Ciaran Cannon asking for more awareness

The comments are the usual shitfest.

If we all wore a **** hiviz and didn't use country roads, or city roads, or N roads and didn't use cycle lanes quickly because walkers want them....we'd be grand

TD calls for 'cultural shift' on Irish roads after suffering 'traumatic' injury while cycling  https://jrnl.ie/5506458

Chips Lovell

Mod Note

Troll banned. Responses deleted.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117666024#Comment_117666024

and there's been an unfortunate response from a disabilty rights campaigner who is on the transport committee in DCC. 'Hobble on' was part of the advice he offered Cannon.

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117668821#Comment_117668821

I thought this was quite interesting, given how very much opposed to kerbside bike parking he is (the campaigner, not Cannon):

https://twitter.com/brigidrahilly/status/1420013408133468175

Peregrine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117668821#Comment_117668821

Gary Kearney was always just a dickhead hiding behind the activist label. This is just a downright nasty thing to say to someone seriously injured by a dangerous driver. I'm going to email the chair of the Transport SPC and the Dublin City Council PPN about this. Even Christy can't stand over this. Even if he is not removed, they should at least know what kind of person he is and that it's not okay.

MojoMaker

That's pretty bad alright. Neil Francis was snipped for less.

magicbastarder

i did have a brief argument with someone on facebook who pulled out the ableist argument yer man kearney supposedly was wont to use.

the specific context was that the measures taken in the phoenix park last year to make it more cyclist friendly were anti-old people. i can't say it's an argument i've ever teased out much, because i quickly defriended that person when she got rude.

magicbastarder

Greenpeace criticises New Zealand Rugby deal with petrochemical company Ineos

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/greenpeace-criticises-new-zealand-rugby-deal-with-petrochemical-company-ineos

Seth Brundle

Two letters in today's Irish Times (https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/give-cyclists-space-1.4631881)...

The first might inspire the recent letter writer who was moaning about the lack of parking at the Forty Foot...

Sir, – May I congratulate Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council on its excellent (and almost continuous) cycle lane from Blackrock village to Sandycove. I cycled from the northside to swim at the Forty Foot on a recent sunny Tuesday morning; it was so enjoyable I repeated the journey the following two days!

It’s the little things.

– Yours, etc,

BRIAN SKELLY,

Drumcondra,

Dublin 9.

I really like this letter though.

Sir, – I ride a bike every day. It’s fun and convenient, it helps me stay healthy and it’s cheap. With my three-year-old in a seat on the back, we can go almost anywhere we need to on two wheels.

I am acutely aware that when some motorists see me riding my bike, they don’t see a woman going to work or doing the shopping or bringing her child to the park. I cease to be a human being with hopes and dreams and a family. I’m just another cyclist and I’m in the way.

Don’t I know the road is for cars? After all, I don’t even pay “road tax”, even though there’s no such thing, roads are funded through general taxation.

They might become aggressive and beep their horn when I don’t stay “out of the way” on the far left. They may not understand that at times I need to cycle in the centre of the lane to prevent dangerous overtaking, so I can proceed safely at a junction or roundabout, or to avoid colliding with the door of a parked car.

They might think the law should clamp down on cyclists by forcing us to have a number plate and insurance. As if that would be a prudent use of resources. As if law-breaking cyclists could ever cause even a tiny fraction of the devastation of law-breaking motorists.

I think the minority of motorists who dehumanise cyclists do so because deep down they are afraid they might hurt or kill us. It’s a valid concern.

Cars and bicycles are fundamentally different in terms of size and speed; they just don’t mix well. It’s no wonder we’re in conflict, on the roads and on social media.

Asking motorists and cyclists to share the road is a bit like asking a mouse and an elephant to be housemates. In reality, we would all benefit from the same thing – infrastructure that safely segregates bikes from cars. Then we wouldn’t all need to be so scared of squishing and being squished.

– Yours, etc,

CLARE HARTWIEG,

Gorey,

Co Wexford.

hesker

I’m a bit tired of all these calls for improved infrastructure as if it’s the final solution. It’s not the answer for those of us who spend 95% plus of their cycling time on country roads with no hard shoulder.

Funny enough I drive on the same roads and never have any problems overtaking safely or waiting behind cyclists on approach to a bend or the brow of a hill.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117673287#Comment_117673287

I think improved infrastructure in cities is definitely a large part of the consideration, particularly as it enables more people to feel comfortable cycling.

But I agree, the core issue is not infrastructure, it is that physical barriers are needed to stop criminal behaviour from motorists.

Seth Brundle

In the UK...

https://news.sky.com/story/cyclist-ermir-loka-who-jumped-red-light-and-killed-peter-mccombie-in-east-london-jailed-for-two-years-12366923

Seth Brundle

Good article on RTE website...

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2021/0722/1236623-cycling-dublin/

Fighting Tao

In Dundalk courts:

https://www.dundalkdemocrat.ie/news/news/653115/dundalk-man-fined-for-cycling-without-reasonable-consideration.html

Wildly Boaring

Strange one isn't it.

To me, no idea why it ended at the guards.

Both seem completely wrong.

One is cycling on paths and crossing straight over junctions. The other was deemed to need 2 points by gaurds.

Did the 2 of them decide to march up to the Garda station and report eachother??

Is this a message from the local gaurds?

Wildly Boaring

New UK priorities

BBC News - Walking and biking prioritised in new Highway Code

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58021450

Seth Brundle

I know there's a thread for the Sandymount Cycle Route but figured I'd post this article here...

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/sandymount-cycle-path-ruling-to-spur-vast-number-of-cases-1.4636421

Wildly Boaring

Mannix "man of the people" Flynn, really doesn't like cyclists does he. Far happier in the high court surrounded by wealthy Southside set

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117695082#Comment_117695082

Ah that's an awful slur on poor Manics, very unfair.

In his Irish Times video, he rejects the idea that the wealth of Sandymount has anything to do it, adding that cycling infrastructure will be fought in many working class areas: Blackrock, Clontarf, Donnybrook

H/T to Petrichor

https://twitter.com/Sinabhfuil/status/1421118751462805510?s=20

Wildly Boaring

The problem with this shite is that those in public service love the line of least resistance.

So if it becomes a hassle to build projects like these they just won't bother.

The likes of barrow Greenway that was stopped just died a death as there is no PS appitite to fight such objections.

If Mannix and his buddies start objecting to every bollard and threatening the high court well DCC will just stop trying

tomasrojo

It's interesting that after his veiled threat to go to court to take out the last 1.5 years of infrastructure, Mannix is suddenly a lot more talked about on Twitter, not just bike Twitter, and not at all in a good way; more "What is wrong with Mannix Flynn" way.

magicbastarder

yeah, i'm seeing similar. plus a couple of comments from non-cycling friends along the lines of 'who does he think he is, threatening infrastructure that's not only not in his ward, but not even in his local authority?'

cletus

https://road.cc/content/blog/its-not-all-about-racing-285363

Just an article I thought was interesting

magicbastarder

methinks he doth protesteth too much.

it's like complaining that too much of the football media is focussed on professional football (with the obvious caveat that far more cycling media is spent talking about amateur cycling)