What would you do to make cycling safer if you had the power?

RBBBBSS

Lets say there’s a new position of minister of cycling and you are elected to the position, what would you implement?

The increase in cyclists’ deaths is egregious and unacceptable. Something needs to be done.

I would:

Allow helmet cam footage to be expediently uploaded to a portal.

Guaranteed penalties for unsafe overtaking.

All new roads being built, bar in small cul-de-sac style estates must have a cycle lane.

Immediate towing for cars parked in them. I don’t know how you’d implement this if the car has people in it.

Hire undercover Gardaí to cycle around to secretly catch rogue motorists.

No planning permission for new supermarkets, etc unless adequate guarded parking is provided.

Introduce Dutch style liability.

Daroxtar

Automatically assume liability on behalf of the motorist in all collisions with pedestrians and cyclists.

Treat phone usage like drink driving. 3 month instant driving ban, €500-1000 fine.

Re sit tests for licences every 10 years and also after any driving offence.

Remove Martin Nolan from the bench

dahat

RSA to teach road safety in depth from 5th class onwards in the schools. This can be done in conjunction with many other organisations.

Limit cars depending on license & driving experience. The only current limiter is insurance policy cost.

We as cyclists also need to be responsible on the road in areas where we are at risk.

Macy0161

I think we do need to humanise the reporting - "collision involving a motorist and a cyclist" would be a start. I'd prefer the more cumbersome "collision between someone driving a car and someone on a bicycle". A car is an inanimate object, and a cyclist is a person. Most outlets just copy and paste from the garda press release, so it is 100% in the control of the State how we do that.

After that, it's enforcement that is the issue. I think we have enough laws.

Online Portal for camera footage - dashcam/ bikecam/ plain old phone; including parking offences. This must be actioned though, not enough to upload and then no penalities is people driving in the wrong.

Widespread use of ANPR - speeding; tax and insurance; yellow boxes; red lights; bus lanes.

There should be a cycling module in the theory test - why people on bikes shouldn't cycle in the gutter; why they may take primary position; why they cycle 2 a breast (and why that is actually better for overtaking).

Disband the RSA - they add nothing.

I'd love presumed liability, but when this has been discussed before this was problematic in a common law jurisdiction I think? However, should be clear guidance to that affect to judiciary, and mitigation cannot include helmets/ hi viz/ road conditions (should be slowing down if you can't see).

De Bhál

no taxis in bus lanes

Ljmscooter

......

fat bloke

Enforcement, enforcement, enforcement. It's the only thing that changes mindsets and keeps them changed. Close passes, dangerous driving, use of mobile phone while driving, parking on cycle lanes - these are already offences. They're just not enforced. I had to learn it myself. I had a bunch of points on my licence 15 years ago and I changed my behaviour on the road and and haven't had a single point since. So it does work.

When I think of places that are great for cycling - Majorca, Calpe, Spain generally you could say - it's not really infrastructure so much as driver attitudes. They have the same narrow hard shoulders and windy country roads as we have but driver behaviour is completely, shockingly, almost hilariously different. In Calpe I was nearly embarrassed to have cars following me on a windy road - hanging back several hundred metres, not overtaking, even when I thought "Ah Jaysus, you're alright buddy, work away there, pass me out and be on your way!" And when they finally did overtake they were wahey over the other side of the road, almost exaggeratedly so, to give me space.

I would also aggressively promote cycling to school and throw money at the councils to build pleasant, safe, segregated cycle infrastructure around schools. This generation may be lost but the next can and should be encouraged and facilitated and, let's face it, pressganged, to an extent at least, into seeing beyond the car.

Padre_Pio

A: Actually enforce road safety laws. If a law isn't enforced it may as well not exist. This applies to cyclists as well, there are no saints on Irish roads.

B: bring back fixed speed cameras and put them in accident black spots.

C: have a country wide review of cycling infrastructure and mandate that cycling lanes are designed correctly and are bicycles part of the flow of traffic, not on footpaths. Make sure that cycle lanes are cleaned and maintained correctly, same as footpaths.

D: Teach cycling safety and road safety in schools. It's not acceptable that someone can hop on a bike and be expected to correctly negotiate traffic.

E: properly legislation for escooters and the like, and have them on cycle lanes.

F: introduce a new class of escooter, capable of 50kph max which requires a flat rate tax/insurance fee and license plate, helmet, theory test and minimum age of 16. Remove the need for teenagers to own cars just to get a bit of freedom.

G: pipe dream stuff, but make publicly owned public transport free. Just like Luxembourg. Hop on, hop off whenever you want. No tickets, no turnstiles, and build capacity to match demand.

Tax cyclists and use the funds to create a cycle network separate to the roads network, if car usage declines repurpose some existing roads as pedestrian and cycle only routes.

Create a registration/fine system for bikes to allow for the identification and punishment of reckless cyclists (failing to stop at red traffic lights, cycling on footpaths, failing to indicate before crossing lanes, failure to wear safety equipment, no lights, overloaded bike, bike not roadworthy, parking causing obstruction, speeding, cycle rage etc..

License system for cyclists to include training and testing before they are allowed to operate a bike in a public space to ensure they are competent.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121071690#Comment_121071690

Tax cyclists and use the funds to create a cycle network separate to the roads network, if car usage declines repurpose some existing roads as pedestrian and cycle only routes.

If we were to tax cyclists to pay for their infrastructure, then surely motor tax should be increased in parallel to account for the motoring related costs incurred by the state?

Create a registration/fine system for bikes to allow for the identification and punishment of reckless cyclists (failing to stop at red traffic lights, cycling on footpaths, failing to indicate before crossing lanes, failure to wear safety equipment, no lights, overloaded bike, bike not roadworthy, parking causing obstruction, speeding, cycle rage etc..

How big would the reg plate be for this idea? Would a two year old on a trike require registration and

As for "failure to wear safety equipment", none is mandatory so are you going to bring in new laws on this

License system for cyclists to include training and testing before they are allowed to operate a bike in a public space to ensure they are competent.

Would a two year old on a trike be required to be licenced and undergo testing? What about kids cycling to school?

To be honest, the reason these rules don't exist is because they're daft because they're unworkable and are simply ideas designed to punish someone for choosing to use a bike.

magicbastarder

Folks, I'm closing this thread. It was started by what seems to have been a now banned serial re-reg who fakes interest in road safety, who has started these threads before. I'll discuss with the other mods whether it's worth opening again.