Journalism and Cycling 2: the difficult second album

Seth Brundle · 10-11-2020 02:20PM

If only there was a solution to this :rolleyes:...

'Recipe for disaster': Child struck by motorcycle weeks after bollards installed on busy road
“This raises the issue of the newly-placed bollards in the area,” he said. “They were put up to protect cyclists on the lanes. Cars were parking on the cycle lanes, even if it’s illegally, to drop off their kids.

“What seems to be happening since the bollards were put in place is that cars are now stopping in traffic on the road and children are vacating the vehicles onto the main road which is dangerous and has resulted in an accident this morning.

“Councillors in the area were not notified about the erection of the bollards, and a number of constituents have highlighted that it is a recipe for disaster and unfortunately they have been proven correct," local councillor Colm Kelleher added.

https://www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-news/recipe-disaster-child-struck-motorcycle-19254084

Seth Brundle · 10-11-2020 02:37PM

While the FG TD is correct in his understanding of the previous Transport Minister, he seems to think that electric bikes are currently illegal...
Fine Gael TD brands Shane Ross ‘a waste of time’

The Fine Gael TD is set to propose a new bill in the next couple of weeks to legalise the widespread use of e-scooters and e-bikes by bringing them in line with laws that apply to pedal bikes.

The private member’s Personal Light Electric Vehicle Bill, part of the Road Traffic Act, seeks to amend road traffic legislation to permit e-scooters and e-bikes as bicycles so that they would be exempt from insurance. Therefore, they could be used on public roads and cycle lanes.

At present, e-scooters and e-bikes are currently not regulated in Ireland. There is no specific law covering them.

They are considered to be mechanically-propelled vehicles, which means that if they are used in public places users must hold a licence and insurance.

I also note a twitter thread on this in which Mr Farrell doesn't seem to like being corrected...
https://twitter.com/AlanFarrell/status/1326128070294638599

breezy1985 · 10-11-2020 03:00PM

Seth Brundle wrote: »

No reason why not.

Very insightful.
Just to clear it up I am not against the idea it's just impossible in the few schools I have experience in and am curious to know what the rules and logistics are

TheChizler · 10-11-2020 03:23PM

Seth Brundle wrote: »

If only there was a solution to this :rolleyes:...

https://www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-news/recipe-disaster-child-struck-motorcycle-19254084

That same councillor ranting to the news sites and radio about this scheme who was "not notified about the erection of the bollards" was very happy to take the credit for them when they were installed last week.

https://www.facebook.com/Cllr.Colm.kelleher/posts/845126942923005

buffalo · 10-11-2020 03:42PM

breezy1985 wrote: »

Very insightful.
Just to clear it up I am not against the idea it's just impossible in the few schools I have experience in and am curious to know what the rules and logistics are

Here's some coverage: https://irishcycle.com/2020/03/04/school-streets-to-be-expanded-in-dublin-after-success/

breezy1985 · 10-11-2020 03:56PM

buffalo wrote: »

Here's some coverage: https://irishcycle.com/2020/03/04/school-streets-to-be-expanded-in-dublin-after-success/

Interesting I never thought of it from an air pollution point of view. Park and stride I assume is just getting dropped at the edge of the exclusion zone and walking from there

Grassey · 10-11-2020 04:56PM

Seth Brundle wrote: »

If only there was a solution to this :rolleyes:...

"cars are now stopping in traffic"
]

Whereas previously they were not, shure it was only cyclists, and they could wait and/or go around... :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Seth Brundle · 10-11-2020 11:11PM

https://twitter.com/SafeCyclingEire/status/1326268385353723906

Dannyboy70s · 11-11-2020 10:19PM

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Didn't take them long! These pricks are there nearly every morning

only see that my tweet is up here now, long time boards stalker first-time poster

Seth Brundle · 12-11-2020 12:38PM

Would the gardai ever consider such an investigative approach? I doubt it

https://twitter.com/roadcc/status/1326831931309350915

Seth Brundle · 13-11-2020 12:24PM

https://twitter.com/rosspjboyd/status/1326981211709911040

Large bottle small glass · 13-11-2020 01:50PM

History, GAA and cycling.

https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/podcasts/series/30243

Seth Brundle · 15-11-2020 12:29PM

I guess that they must have little else to police...

https://twitter.com/sticky_bottle/status/1327327790417530880?s=19

CramCycle · 15-11-2020 12:45PM

Seth Brundle wrote: »

I guess that they must have little else to police...

https://twitter.com/sticky_bottle/status/1327327790417530880?s=19

One can only assume this is in conjunction with a crackdown on speeding, mobile phone use, red light running (by any vehicle user), parking on footpaths, driving on footpaths, parking on double yellows, using loading bays for non commercial vehicles and so on?

Wildly Boaring · 15-11-2020 01:29PM

The amount of bikes on paths at the minute is a bit annoying.
Even announcing that they'll keep an eye on it might remind people the rules exist.

There's an element of people at it who simply won't give to buggies or toddlers and generally fall into the selfishness about the roads.

Seth Brundle · 15-11-2020 01:46PM

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

The amount of bikes on paths at the minute is a bit annoying.

I've only seen kids doing it and to be honest unless there is something done about driving habits in Ireland then I think the kids are better off there

Eamonnator · 15-11-2020 02:04PM

CramCycle wrote: »

One can only assume this is in conjunction with a crackdown on speeding, mobile phone use, red light running (by any vehicle user), parking on footpaths, driving on footpaths, parking on double yellows, using loading bays for non commercial vehicles and so on?

In fairness to the man, when he took up his current position a couple of years ago, the nominal strength of the Roads Policing Units in his division was 4 Sergeants and 24 Gardai. The actual strength was 1 Sergeant and about 9 Gardai. Despite all that has happened in the meantime with drugs, gangs, covid etc. the strength of those units is now 2 Sergeants and about 20 Gardai.

breezy1985 · 15-11-2020 02:56PM

Seth Brundle wrote: »

I've only seen kids doing it and to be honest unless there is something done about driving habits in Ireland then I think the kids are better off there

There's a couple of adults do it round my way. It gets worse in the winter cause they don't want to go on the road cause they rarely have lights too.

I doubt the gardai will pull many over this unless they are flying round paths like complete Muppets or engaging in unsociable activities

magicbastarder · 15-11-2020 02:59PM

there's no provision in law for postmen and women to cycle on the footpath. so i expect if the garda are going to adopt a zero tolerance approach, they'd better clamp down on this too.

Wildly Boaring · 15-11-2020 03:41PM

Seth Brundle wrote: »

I've only seen kids doing it and to be honest unless there is something done about driving habits in Ireland then I think the kids are better off there

Ah there's a few out this way at it.
Particularly teenagers. Some adults.
I'd have no bother with a guard pulling one of them about it.

I've no bother with kids at it

AndrewJRenko · 15-11-2020 03:47PM

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

The amount of bikes on paths at the minute is a bit annoying.
Even announcing that they'll keep an eye on it might remind people the rules exist.

There's an element of people at it who simply won't give to buggies or toddlers and generally fall into the selfishness about the roads.

Maybe they should be announcing that they'll be keeping an eye out on speeding drivers so?

Wildly Boaring · 15-11-2020 03:51PM

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Maybe they should be announcing that they'll be keeping an eye out on speeding drivers so?

It's not an either or scenario

Wildly Boaring · 15-11-2020 03:55PM

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Maybe they should be announcing that they'll be keeping an eye out on speeding drivers so?

Are you ok with cycling on paths?
I'd never do it.

Not a fan of behaviour of some drivers.
But I cycle on the road or a cycle lane if it's good enough.

I'd be happy to see an announcement of clampdown on unsafe passes.

But I've nothing against the guards enforcing the law

cletus · 15-11-2020 04:01PM

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Maybe they should be announcing that they'll be keeping an eye out on speeding drivers so?

In fairness, the Gardai do announce at different times that they'll be focusing on speeding, drink driving etc. Nobody comes on when these initiatives are in place and asks why are they not targeting cyclists at the same time

Stark · 15-11-2020 07:24PM

cletus wrote: »

In fairness, the Gardai do announce at different times that they'll be focusing on speeding, drink driving etc. Nobody comes on when these initiatives are in place and asks why are they not targeting cyclists at the same time

You must be a Journal.ie comments section virgin.

AndrewJRenko · 15-11-2020 08:39PM

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

It's not an either or scenario

It actually is an either/or scenario. Any individual Garda can only do one thing at a time. So the choice is to allocate Garda to focus on the issues that is one of the top three causes of road deaths (speeding) or to allocate that Garda to be chasing cyclists on the pavement.

What's your priority?

cletus wrote: »

In fairness, the Gardai do announce at different times that they'll be focusing on speeding, drink driving etc. Nobody comes on when these initiatives are in place and asks why are they not targeting cyclists at the same time

Maybe that's because cyclists don't kill a few people each week on the roads.

Wildly Boaring · 15-11-2020 08:59PM

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

It actually is an either/or scenario. Any individual Garda can only do one thing at a time. So the choice is to allocate Garda to focus on the issues that is one of the top three causes of road deaths (speeding) or to allocate that Garda to be chasing cyclists on the pavement.

What's your priority?

Speeding
So they shouldn't chase drivers who do close passes, break red lights, overtake on bends, use their phones or drink drive?

Guards should enforce the law.
Not the laws you like.

It's like the boy getting done for no tax and no NCT coming into work and declaring "Why won't they catch the real criminals?" And all the dunderheads nodding. " Sure what harm were they doing"

cletus · 15-11-2020 09:31PM

Stark wrote: »

You must be a Journal.ie comments section virgin.

I absolutely avoid journal.ie like the plague. I would hope for more nuanced viewpoints and discussion on this forum

cletus · 15-11-2020 09:36PM

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

It actually is an either/or scenario. Any individual Garda can only do one thing at a time. So the choice is to allocate Garda to focus on the issues that is one of the top three causes of road deaths (speeding) or to allocate that Garda to be chasing cyclists on the pavement.

What's your priority?

Maybe that's because cyclists don't kill a few people each week on the roads.

I didn't see that the Gardai were being told to focus exclusively on this issue to the exclusion of everything else, but that they will pay more attention than they normally would.

If a Garda can, as you state, only do one thing at a time, then should they let drunk drivers who are driving slowly go because they are not speeding?

Or if someone is pootling along at 90 on the motorway because they're reading texts, should they not do anything about that?

There are myriad laws in the country that the Gardai are required to enforce. Taking umbrage because there is a suggestion that the law as it applies to cyclists might be focused on is, imo, a bit silly.

AndrewJRenko · 15-11-2020 11:48PM

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Speeding
So they shouldn't chase drivers who do close passes, break red lights, overtake on bends, use their phones or drink drive?

Guards should enforce the law.
Not the laws you like.

It's like the boy getting done for no tax and no NCT coming into work and declaring "Why won't they catch the real criminals?" And all the dunderheads nodding. " Sure what harm were they doing"

Risk based enforcement is used by regulatory authorities all over the world in all kinds of domains. They recognise that they can't be everywhere all the time, so they focus their activities where they will have most beneficial impact.

Chasing cyclists on the footpath while motorists are blatantly ignoring traffic laws and killing people with alarming regularity as a result is a missed opportunity.

Journalism and Cycling 2: the difficult second album

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