Journalism and Cycling 2: the difficult second album

It's car-brain but it's culture wars too.

Safe to say the best course of action is here: DO NOT CLICK THE LINK, followed by the old advice of "don't wrestle with a pig because you both get covered in excrement and the pig enjoys it". You can see him ALMOST making the obvious mental leap here before reverting back like the Simpsons meme "no it's the children who must be wrong"

If the local shop is a two-minute walk away, most of us would walk (at least if it weren’t raining) for smaller purchases. Between finding the car key, pulling out, driving there, possibly dealing with traffic and lights, and parking, the whole endeavour would probably take longer than walking. You could say that walking there has avoided a car journey, but has it really?

The truth is that, for many “purposeful journeys” made by those who own a car, taking the car is simply an unnecessary hassle (although one could argue with some force that the councils have done their best to make it so). To say then that a car journey is being avoided is questionable, and to say that cars are actively being taken off the road is a stretch at best.

To save people from clicking, the arguments presented are:

1. The above means that people aren't REALLY choosing not to use the car (no additional detail given)
2. Bike lanes are empty (presented as a standalone fact)
3. You can't move 3 children by bike (presented as a standalone fact)
4. If you need to maintain a professional workplace visual aesthetic, and aren't a 30-50 year old man with a shower in work, bike is inconvenient
5. Vast majority of people NEED to drive (no additional details provided)
6. CRAMMING roads with bike lanes (??) means more congestion
7. Drivers frustrated and inconvenienced (and also let's pretend we didn't mention this point - "when did you last beat your wife" etc)
8. Drivers being forced to sacrifice comfort for a tiny minority, and resulting congestion means higher emissions (presented as a standalone fact)
9. Something about the global impact of local people cycling (small country, big world, etc)

Finally I think the actual point of the article is presented at the end as:

the fetishisation of cycling should not take precedence over the vast majority of the population who rely on cars over bikes or similar vehicles. It is time that we – and more importantly, our government – acknowledge this.

I think my riposte would be "the fetishishisation of cycling as some kind of weird greeny lefty conspiracy should not take precedence over the need to get more people around our cities in the most efficient ways possible. It's time that we - and more importantly, the right wing "conspiracy" fringe - acknowledge this".

I'd love if we could create an education program that tasks people like this with the real-world mathematics of: the space occupied by individual cars, the scarcity of space in urban areas, and the necessity of getting people from one location to another. Would they just leave out one great big frustrated roar of "CAAAAAARS" and give up?

All that stuff works as long as a) the convicted driver is using the car that has the breathalyser fitted, and not another car and b) someone else hasn't blown into it for them and the only way you'll know if a) and b) have occurred is….active policing, and plenty of it

Back to Square One, lads.

Far better to have those b@stards fitted with an ankle monitor that interferes with the car engine immobiliser system - practically every car has a short range RF-based immobiliser now.

I've got to say, reading your posts always calms me down a bit 😂 It's like somebody else has gone to the trouble of writing what I want to, except without all the spittle and rage!

Agree on your first point - I just don't bother clicking the links anymore. There are never any new arguments. There is never any balance. The comments will never be a place where honest and civilised discussion is welcome. And by increasing traffic to the page you're just encouraging the publication of more articles of that nature.

Ah no, I wasn't having a go at you the posting the article, it's good to know what's being written out there (kind of what this thread is for I guess). As you say, its up to each individual to decide whether they want their day ruined or not 😂

We got some very nifty motorways, which are a godsend compared to the N roads before. Galway-Dublin in 2h, compared to ~3h+ pre M roads. Almost everything we consume moves via road.

Given the numbers of objections and hassle with bus connects, it does seem a missed opportunity not to go for more Luas lines instead of the bus lanes.

Back on topic… Imogen Cotter the guest on the latest Sigma Sport/ Matt Stephens podcast. Obviously available whereever you normally get your podcasts as well as below:

https://www.sigmasports.com/podcast

You would think if these things were put to fair referendums there would never be any cycling infra because the majority are opposed to it. The only reason some surveys come out in favour of pedestrianisation etc is because they tend to be brigaded by the likes of us and are not representative of the carbrain cycle detesting majority, in my opinion!

I think the difference between the NTA survey and the likes of the above, is that people are notionally pro-cycling and pro-pedestrianisation, but when it comes to concrete action that affects them directly as an individual, it's a different story.

Maybe this might help 😃

Is that Ciara Kelly and Shane wotzizface that used to be on the morning show? That "…hmm, I'm not convinced.." line is their regular schtick, followed up by "let us know what you think on [insert text line]". Its the radio equivalent of click bait, purely to drive traffic.

Citylink bus projected me Eyre Square to Bachelors Walk in 2h5m, a Saturday 0515-0720 in fairness. Even on a weekday hitting Dublin commute times, it is ~2h30m

Careful now…

I divorced my husband because of his cycling addiction

Popped up on my Microsoft Edge homepage 😁 I'll be honest, I stopped reading after "new research has found…"

That article gets resurrected every six months or so