Journalism and cycling

Eamonnator · 18-02-2019 8:37pm

"a cycling audit" before you get on your bike. WTF.
Why make a big deal about it?
Just get on the f***ing bike and ride it

at1withmyself · 18-02-2019 8:43pm

Eamonnator wrote: »

"a cycling audit" before you get on your bike. WTF.
Why make a big deal about it?
Just get on the f***ing bike and ride it

It's the same for cars, I don't see the issue?

Eamonnator · 18-02-2019 8:49pm

at1withmyself wrote: »

It's the same for cars, I don't see the issue?

It just makes a big deal out of cycling. It makes it look difficult and out of the ordinary and not normal.

at1withmyself · 18-02-2019 8:52pm

Eamonnator wrote: »

It just makes a big deal out of cycling. It makes it look difficult and out of the ordinary.

Each to their own I guess but I didn't take that from it. Having worked in a bike shop for 5 years you wouldn't believe the death traps some people cycle on...

Fighting Tao · 18-02-2019 8:54pm

at1withmyself wrote: »

Each to their own I guess but I didn't take that from it. Having worked in a bike shop for 5 years you wouldn't believe the death traps some people cycle on...

I wonder how many die because of these death traps.

I’d be far more concerned about the death traps with 4 wheels that are on the road.

TallGlass · 18-02-2019 8:54pm

Not a highvis in sight!! :pac:

TallGlass · 18-02-2019 8:59pm

Solid white line there and people overtaking like idiots. Rushing towards a red ****ing light, drives me mental as a cyclist and easily as angry when your on the opposite side of the road having some loon on your side of the road.

at1withmyself · 18-02-2019 9:01pm

Fighting Tao wrote: »

I wonder how many die because of these death traps.

Not sure of the total number but a neighbor passed away from a bicycle malfunction so that's at least one.

I give up though, I thought it was good and if people are going to find fault with doing a safety check for 30 seconds then so be it....

Fighting Tao · 18-02-2019 9:06pm

at1withmyself wrote: »

Not sure of the total number but a neighbor passed away from a bicycle malfunction so that's at least one.

I give up though, I thought it was good and if people are going to find fault with doing a safety check for 30 seconds then so be it....

Ah. The old if it saves one life. Let’s ban everything to save one life.

People who look after their bikes will continues to do so. On the flip side, people who don’t are very unlikely to start because some RSA person said to do it.

at1withmyself · 18-02-2019 9:22pm

Who said anything about banning? Talk about taking something positive out of context.

Fighting Tao wrote: »

Ah. The old if it saves one life. Let’s ban everything to save one life.

People who look after their bikes will continues to do so. On the flip side, people who don’t are very unlikely to start because some RSA person said to do it.

Fighting Tao · 18-02-2019 9:25pm

at1withmyself wrote: »

Who said anything about banning? Talk about taking something positive out of context.

People are supposed to check their motor vehicle before driving it. How many do?

I reckon that a higher percentage of people look after their bikes than people that check their cars.

It was a pointless comment by the RSA that will change nothing.

AndrewJRenko · 18-02-2019 9:28pm

at1withmyself wrote: »

Not sure of the total number but a neighbor passed away from a bicycle malfunction so that's at least one.

Did this come out at a Coroner's Inquest or what? Roughly where/when, I'd love to get more details.

mr spuckler · 18-02-2019 9:50pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

mr.spruckler- fair play for seeing this to court. I was witness to a similar incident 18 months back where a taxi knocked off a cyclist at that narrow stretch of the south quays just after Parliament St. The cyclist wasn't reporting it (she was in shock tbh) so I did. It ended up with the taxi driver getting a talking to but in fairness to him before that happened he reported himself for causing the accident so at least he was aware he messed up by trying to over take a cyclist on a very narrow part of the quays.

Anyway was wondering if the court accepted your video as evidence in the case? Did the defence try to question the authenticity of the video or make any attempt for it not to be submitted as evidence? It would be interesting to know how the courts treated video evidence because AGS seem to be very dismissive of people with it when reporting dangerous driving.

that question was asked here before and the simple answer is it was never shown to the court as she pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. the Garda accepted it without issue and his superintendent decided to prosecute based on the video. I also provided both the above clip and the full unedited original from the camera and a written statement describing the incident, which correlated with the video.
so I don't think there'd have been an issue but who knows?

AndrewJRenko · 18-02-2019 10:04pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

they seem to be reasonably explicit about what they mean:

Yeah, I know, I was just being a little sarky to point out that they don't really mean 'no free riders' at all.

bingobars wrote: »

Sorry now as FB is hardly journalism but it is to lots of people I guess. A blood boiler here

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2297543520276441&id=100000624465130&ref=content_filter

The cyclist looks like he met an oversized vehicle in a narrow section of road, who got there first? Is that a weight limit sign to the left of the truck? Anyway professional drivers stirring up hate for whatever agenda is brutal behavior.

What would the trucker have done if he had come up against a car? Or even a motorbike?

Muahahaha · 18-02-2019 10:17pm

mr spuckler wrote: »

so I don't think there'd have been an issue but who knows?

I think its the 'who knows' bit seems to be part of the problem. In your case the Gardai were willing to prosecute on the basis of video evidence. In others they seem to say there is nothing they can do when presented with same. There doesn't seem to be any legal guidelines on the use of dashcams, helmet cams and their use in court for prosecutions as yet. There was a time years back when CCTV wasn't allowed to be used in courts but thats all changed now. Dash & helmet cams seem to be in that legal space right now that CCTV once was.

It's oft said that the Gardai can't be on every street corner. But when you think about the thousands of people using dash & helmet cams they have the potential to be a very powerful policing tool. They can literally increase the ability of AGS to detect road traffic offences several thousand fold. Its a no brainer to use them imo.

Muahahaha · 18-02-2019 10:26pm

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

What would the trucker have done if he had come up against a car? Or even a motorbike?

I think it would be common courtesy for whichever is the smallest vehicle to reverse back down the lane to where ever theres a farm gate to pull into. Its not hard to do a three point turn with a motorbike even on a narrow lane, I've done it a few times on an uncles lane when faced with a milk truck.

Its hard to tell the full story from that video, the sign in behind might be a truck restriction sign to stop them using the lane as a rat run and this trucker got rumbled. Or it might not be a truck restriction sign and the cyclist just decided to get all high and mighty instead of just walking his bike along the ditch past the truck and getting on with life.

Corca Baiscinn · 18-02-2019 10:49pm

Fighting Tao wrote: »

Ah. The old if it saves one life. Let’s ban everything to save one life.

People who look after their bikes will continues to do so. On the flip side, people who don’t are very unlikely to start because some RSA person said to do it.

Look I dont do it all the time but not doing it one day led to my unfastened pannier strap catching in my spokes and the wheel seizing up so that I had to abandon my trip, lock up bike and walk home. (It was a Sun so no LBS open) The quick bike check is a standard part of Bikeability (UK) and Cycle Right (Irl) training. Can't remember it all but things like squeeze brakes, check chain. Also, Barbara Connolly is not an RSA employee afaik unless she joined recently. She used to work for Cycling Ireland who have responsibility for Cycle Right.

Your point re people who look after their bikes will continue to do so is pointless as it goes without saying that regular riders will have enough wit to try to avoid chain coming off, gears seizing up,brakes failing and their trip being messed up but this family were not experienced riders so a reminder was fair enough.

Agree there's more than enough to criticise the RSA for re their attitude to cycling but we should pick our battles

Corca Baiscinn · 18-02-2019 10:52pm

Eamonnator wrote: »

It just makes a big deal out of cycling. It makes it look difficult and out of the ordinary and not normal.

Possibly the word "audit" creates that impression, whereas if she had said "Look will ya check that your brakes are working and your trouser leg isn't going to catch in your chain" it might have been less of a big deal.

magicbastarder · 18-02-2019 10:55pm

exactly; plus, i think the word 'audit' was used more in planning a route? can't be certain without watching it again.

Fighting Tao · 18-02-2019 10:59pm

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

Look I dont do it all the time but not doing it one day led to my unfastened pannier strap catching in my spokes and the wheel seizing up so that I had to abandon my trip, lock up bike and walk home. (It was a Sun so no LBS open) The quick bike check is a standard part of Bikeability (UK) and Cycle Right (Irl) training. Can't remember it all but things like squeeze brakes, check chain. Also, Barbara Connolly is not an RSA employee afaik unless she joined recently. She used to work for Cycling Ireland who have responsibility for Cycle Right.

Your point re people who look after their bikes will continue to do so is pointless as it goes without saying that regular riders will have enough wit to try to avoid chain coming off, gears seizing up,brakes failing and their trip being messed up but this family were not experienced riders so a reminder was fair enough.

Agree there's more than enough to criticise the RSA for re their attitude to cycling but we should pick our battles

Sorry, I made a mistake with the representative. It was probably all the RSA branding that got into my head.

I am not picking a battle here. I pointed out that it was pointless as there is very likely near to zero people who watched it and will audit their bike before they go out on it.

Personally, I'd generally know within 100m from home if there was something obviously wrong with the bike. What would have been better is to highlight that the tools to fix an issue are carried while out on the road e.g. pump, spare tube/puncture repair kit, etc., rather than imply that it is a chore to get on a bike.

CramCycle · 18-02-2019 11:00pm

Haven't seen it yet but I'd pinch the tyres and squeeze the front brake but sin e. This is more than most people do for their cars. My partner has had three cars sieze for not checking oil (admittedly one time was when I borrowed the car). I wouldn't check something like that everytime but once every 3 months or so on my own car. Same with tyres, thank the NCT because the number of bald tyres still on the road, imagine if we didn't have the NCT considering the cutbacks on the Gardai. Even with things that don't need to be checked but should be obvious people are oblivious. Lights is the main one, how can you not notice that you are only on parking lights compared to dims, it is frightening how oblivious some people are. The Rsa are guilty of stirring the sterotype with cyclists, promoting Hi Vis and helmet use over Lights, to the point where people who are not arsed think they are legally compliant and visible with a sh1tty 2 euro Hi Vis.

CramCycle · 18-02-2019 11:47pm

Just watched it there now, all fairly harmless which is good. The family seemed grand, highlighted the issues without scaring anyone off, Tiernans crowd came off reasonable. I liked the point about % cyclists who are motorists vs the other way around. The RSA lad was not well versed, but then he was only on for a few seconds, I thought himself and the CI spokesperson came off the worst in regards coming across well. She, while correct, was to practised and not natural, made it seem like a job to cycle. He hasn't been on a bike in a city, ever and hasn't a notion of what he is on about, legal or otherwise. The bike messenger is probably the only one who will get a doing on social media as they edit him overtaking a bus turning as he talks about cyclists fitting into spaces that aren't there, and Simon talking about Pedestrians sandwiched with a clip of him cycling through a crowd of pedestrians.

CramCycle · 19-02-2019 8:35am

magicbastarder wrote: »

exactly; plus, i think the word 'audit' was used more in planning a route? can't be certain without watching it again.

You are correct, she brings the family on a spin of their regular routes to spot any issues. That's the only time audit is mentioned and I wouldn't have noticed it bar it was mentioned here, perfectly normal way to use the word.

magicbastarder · 19-02-2019 9:16am

CramCycle wrote: »

Simon talking about Pedestrians sandwiched with a clip of him cycling through a crowd of pedestrians.

if this is the same one i'm thinking of, there's one where he cycles through a bunch of pedestrians, but he's facing a green light (could be at the bottom of kildare street, where it meets nassau street?) - the all too subtle message there was that the pedestrians just crossed in front of him because there were no cars coming.
that said, it was a fairly wide angle lens on the camera and the traffic light was not exactly prominent in the shot.

CramCycle · 19-02-2019 10:26am

magicbastarder wrote: »

if this is the same one i'm thinking of, there's one where he cycles through a bunch of pedestrians, but he's facing a green light (could be at the bottom of kildare street, where it meets nassau street?) - the all too subtle message there was that the pedestrians just crossed in front of him because there were no cars coming.
that said, it was a fairly wide angle lens on the camera and the traffic light was not exactly prominent in the shot.

That was kind of my point though, the show doesn't show him break the law but anyone anti cyclists will not see that, just that he was barging through pedestrians. Happens to me all the time, I used to shout red man or similar, to wake them up but now I just crawl through because the fact is most of them don't notice or care. I see cars doing it all the time as well just driving through with the hand on the horn. Funny that somehow most people watching the car would check the lights, and say "bloody walkign idiots", whereas if the cyclists does it in a far less intimidating way, it is reckells, dangerous, rude etc.

You seen it, I seen it but I guarantee you, anyone with a preconceived view of messengers in Dublin won't and I think the editors know that.

Thinkingaboutit · 19-02-2019 11:23am

CramCycle wrote: »

That was kind of my point though, the show doesn't show him break the law but anyone anti cyclists will not see that, just that he was barging through pedestrians. Happens to me all the time, I used to shout red man or similar, to wake them up but now I just crawl through because the fact is most of them don't notice or care. I see cars doing it all the time as well just driving through with the hand on the horn. Funny that somehow most people watching the car would check the lights, and say "bloody walkign idiots", whereas if the cyclists does it in a far less intimidating way, it is reckells, dangerous, rude etc.

You seen it, I seen it but I guarantee you, anyone with a preconceived view of messengers in Dublin won't and I think the editors know that.

Yes, I just have to pick through people who walk out automatically if all they see a bike, or they don't look, and think it a grievous violation. Getting abreast of multi-lanes of car traffic is about safety, so I can't wait for the pedestrian light laggards. That said taxis and the like don't have some right aggressively blow horns at someone crossing when the light changes. My right of way lasts until I complete crossing. I made sure that the last taxi driver who did that know that I'd a severe problem with that. Can't abide anyone who tries to menace, threaten.

magicbastarder · 19-02-2019 11:29am

an interesting perspective from the RSA (the original tweet being responded to was lamenting that drivers' point of view was not represented in the program last night):

https://twitter.com/RSAIreland/status/1097606970146725890

mr spuckler · 19-02-2019 11:33am

yep, the tone of their engagement on Twitter last night shows a massive change from just a couple of months ago. long may it last.

Hurrache · 19-02-2019 11:41am

They're even responding similarly on Facebook. Let's hope it is a new direction and not PR that ends once the TV series runs its course.

Borderfox · 19-02-2019 12:51pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

an interesting perspective from the RSA (the original tweet being responded to was lamenting that drivers' point of view was not represented in the program last night):

https://twitter.com/RSAIreland/status/1097606970146725890

The "advanced driver" Bob was like a dog with a bone last night, shocking attitude from a supposedly better trained motorist

Journalism and cycling

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