Ya the mode of transport doesn't make the man. Idiots in cars will still be idiots on foot, bike, whatever. Safety should be the priority though. Design and enforcement are needed to make it happen
What about children? As much as you can drill things into them they're always a couple of seconds away from doing something stupid
what about them? should they not be with their guardian/parent? they should be there to prevent something stupid, unless they themselves are challenged which goes into a more deeper discussion better done elsewhere than a traffic discussion, which is the ongoing problem with this thread, totally derailed.
but i'll bite, as i guess you fearing motorists and children are mixed. Motorists should be in control of their vehicle at all time and drive to the conditions of the road, to the extent that they can stop without causing a problem for anyone else. Also, speed limit is what it says - a limit and not a target. Failing this could be considered dangerous/careless driving.
To repeat, if we get enforcement of the currently rules/laws a lot of the problems will go away. Putting in new infra just patches the core problem as there will be another problem but core issue remains the same - enforcement with stiff penalties. Twitter warriors would be best used in this context.
So you're agreeing with the Salthill Safety crowd? Because one of their main things is lack of enforcement. Total agreement from me on that too.
But I think enforcement is usually ranked much lower than design in terms of how to improve safety. Both are badly needed in this city
Those cars are parked. The only place the Passat could be turning left into from there is the front door of Spar. Both drivers likely have indicators on from when the signalled to pull in to park illegally. 🙃
Lack of enforcement is absolutely a key thing here and across the board in general. However, this is Ireland. These problems need engineering controls in place so you are forced into conforming with the law. Lanes need to be narrowed and bollards in place to stop people breaking the law. Can go several steps further like adding a raised table and a toucan crossing to make that little bit safer. Don't need to think too much about enforcement then.
and everyone should be in a bubble football suit.
Thats the idea. I mean its really a choice between:
Either engineer the solution so safety is built in and its not possible to park illegally
or
Have a Garda standing there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year waiting to give out a ticket and then do that for every other location in the country where this is also an issue
Not possible to park illegally? I think you underestimate the creativity of your countrymen/women.
So wearing on coat on a cold/windy/rainy day puts you in an equivalent position to someone who is inside completely protected from the elements? I'm surprised you haven't contacted the government to tell them you have an instant solution to the housing crisis. No need to build more houses, just give everyone a good coat and they won't even notice that they're out of doors in bad weather.
And no justification at all for why people travelling on foot should have to make their journeys two minutes longer, as you are proposing, just to save a few seconds of delay for people travelling in cars? There's a certain cohort who just seem to see this as the natural order of things; free flow of drivers trumps the convenience of everyone else.
If you're a pedestrian in bad weather, then an extra minute or two at a lights-controlled crossing is only incremental to how wet / buffeted you get. And if pedestrian shelters were built at crossings, it would be a win all around: there are times when I'd welcome a minute or two protected a bit from the wind and rain.
Priorisiting the inconvenience of a few pedestrians with that of dozens of car-users (who can easily be a family of four) is false equivalence: cars more more people further and faster than pretty much any other mode, when you take account of entire journeys not just single points.
This is why we must embrace the "I am the car traffic" when a person in a car is "stuck" in whatever tailback there is in the City.
Its a form of a "Stockholm Syndrome" that one needs to adopt.
The problem with it and when prioritising it - its not a very efficient mode of moving most people. Even Galway City Council are coming round to this (very late in the game) with the opening and prioritizing of Cross Street to pedestrians.
That's both true and at the same time largely irrelevant. Cars move more people faster and further when you factor in all car miles but we're not talking here about cars having to maybe give way to pedestrians on motorways or N route dual carriageways, but rather about urban streets where drivers and pedestrians are expected to interact. In that subset of car journeys you'll still find the cars still move more people, although not necessarily more quickly, than other modes but there's a bit of chicken/egg scenario going on.
To what extent should pedestrians be inconvenienced to benefit motorists because there are more people travelling in cars (although the average occupancy in Ireland is 1.1 so the families of four travelling together are few and far between) and to what extent are there more people travelling in cars because pedestrians are inconvenienced? In Ireland the majority of journeys under 2km are completed in cars. In other parts of Europe that statistic is reversed. There are lots of factors contributing to the prevalence of car use for short urban journeys in Ireland but the inconvenience and unattractiveness of other methods, which arises specifically because car traffic is prioritised so much here, is definitely one of the more significant factors.
The Principal of Radharc na Mara Primary School calls for something to be done urgently about the dangerous speeds on roads in Ballybane, Castlepark & Glasan areas
The article and interview clip seem to be referring to everything in red below
Cant blame people for speeding through castlepark - if I had stones being thrown at my car I'd speed away too!
A school in Inverin has been calling for a controlled pedestrian crossing for 30 years......still waiting
This is the location
Cycling safety in Galway discussed on Newstalk (podcast) with several instances of near misses during school cycles highlighted
Ideal School to have as a Street School. Close during the period of pick up and drop off as it has parallel roads either side. Which one to pick?
I must be translating from Gaeilge to Bearla in me head. ha ha
School streets - >https://www.galwaycity.ie/schoolstreets
The one that doesn't have a bus route on it springs to mind.
Through I'm not sue that this neighbourhood has the level of car travel that you may think: if there were lots if cars, there wouldn't be so much speed
The Principal stated in the interview that taking the kids up to the library is one example of when it's unsafe
Good idea re bus- the school streets is just for the period of drop off and pick up.
..
That's not a good look for them at all at all.
Must be mortified
Lol at this line in the article
As one former mayor confided, “it couldn’t happen to a nicer group”
Maybe it's a sign that the current approach to annoy/nag/sermon everyone, might not be the right approach
well that's obvious that the approach is not right, hence the volume of submissions against the "temporary" cycle path for salthill. this thread may be dominated by the pro cycle lobby by linking all their twitter posts but the reality they don't have general public support. Which is perhaps reason for most councilors ignoring them.
snowflake/entitled generation in full swing.
But that's got nothing to do with school traffic on the streets on either side of the school: to bet to the library, they have to cross Ballybane Rd and either CastlePark or the side streets that go on to Castlepark.
Their safest route would be a crossing of the St James Rd, right onto Ballybane Rd and cross at the lights just past ATU entrance. A crossing at Glasán would be required but that's not a difficult one. Then it's footpath all the way to the library.
Yeah, it's the roads I highlighted that were mentioned in the article and in the interview as having drivers going too fast.
You get that the majority of the kids don't live next door to the school, right?
if they are going to fast, then put some enforcement of existing legislation.....
with complaints of everyone speeding, some hard hand enforcement where it won't be long people will gather 12 points then they will be on their bike. Win for the bike brigade with more joining their ranks.
Imagine if motorists had to press a button if they wanted to cross at a junction, oh the outrage it would cause. 😆
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