Politician demands safer "cycling culture"
Irish Transport Minister demands safer"cycling culture" that respects pedestrians and the lawCyclists in Ireland reported being left"disappointed" by Green Party leader and Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan's comments about bicycle riders apparently putting pedestrians in danger and lacking respect for the law.
, and came at a meeting about the Dodder Greenway, an active travel route in Dublin, during which the minister suggested"conflict" could be reduced with the installation of more cycling and walking paths. However, he also agreed with a local who said people were put in danger by cyclists"who don't care about pedestrians", saying they were"right" and that it is"very much incumbent on the cycling community to create a culture and an attitude" that respects pedestrians and the law, and is"enforced". One prominent Irish cycling social media profile, Righttobikeit — who shares video footage of near misses and dangerous driving experienced while cycling in Ireland — said they were left"disappointed" by the Transport Minister's comments and added that he had been guilty of"entertaining the old 'irresponsible cyclist' trope."for entertaining the old “irresponsible cyclist” trope. At a time when cyclists have been calling for more TDs to be outspoken in support I would have expected him to point to lack of any evidence it’s an actual problemAnd, much like in the United Kingdom where comments and questions from MPs about dangerous cycling are regularly met with, a spokesperson for Mr Ryan's Department of Transport pointed out that cyclists who break rules are subject to fixed-penalty notices. "Cycling without appropriate lighting, breaking traffic lights, cycling into a pedestrianised area and cycling without reasonable consideration of others are all fixed-charge notice offences," they said. "Many of these offences – including travelling without due consideration of others – will be expanded to cover e-scooters upon the signing of the relevant regulations in the coming months. "The enforcement of road traffic legislation falls under the responsibility of An Garda Síochána, while the deployment of garda resources is a matter for the Garda Commissioner and for the Department of Justice."we shared some reaction to An Garda Síochána's social media account saying that its "two new electric bikes" would be "put to use by Gardaí on patrol" to ensure that"cyclists continue to work with us by practising good road safety, and taking personal responsibility for their own safety and that of other road users". The cyclist-heavy approach to road safety was criticised by some, campaigner CyclingMikey replying calling the post"foolish" and claiming:"Around 95 per cent of KSI collisions between cyclists and drivers are solely the fault of the drivers. If you want safety, it's driver behaviour that you need to alter." The Department for Justice added:"Road safety is a shared responsibility, and it is one which this Government takes very seriously. The enforcement of cycling regulations is a matter for An Garda Síochána. "Road traffic legislation is enforced as part of the day-to-day duties of members of An Garda Síochána and, to assist with this, the Government is committed to providing the funding needed to continue to ramp up Garda recruitment. This is an increase of over 20 per cent since 2020. Garda recruitment continues apace with funding for 800-1,000 new garda recruits. Over 700 recruits entered Templemore in 2023 – the biggest intake since 2018. "Growing the strength to 15,000 and beyond will allow for more high-visibility policing in our towns and cities."for cycling while drunk, after police found him riding his bike in an"extremely unsteady" manner along the hard shoulder of a dual carriageway after a night out. Irish cyclists have long since been calling for action to make the roads safer for vulnerable road users, the bereaved partner of a rising racing star, killed in a collision last year, warning that the roads had become Last week, following the death of John Walsh — the second UCD Cycling Club member to be killed in a collision in less than a year, after"the more people we get on bikes, the safer the roads will become" , but admitted"going out on the bike every day, you do have near misses constantly in cycling, and that is scary"., with around a fifth of those surveyed claiming that people on bikes represent the greatest threat on the country's roads, just behind young male motorists and e-scooter users.We’ve noticed you’re using an ad blocker. If you like road.cc, but you don’t like ads, please consider subscribing to the site to support us directly. As a subscriber you can read road.cc ad-free, from as little as £1.99. If you don’t want to subscribe, please turn your ad blocker off. The revenue from adverts helps to fund our site. If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.Not just me that finds that phrase odd then. But I've seen it before on another set of comments from Ireland so perhaps it's a colloquialism.Complete false equivalence between"A poll conducted in February 2023 indicated that cyclists are perceived to be among Ireland's most dangerous road users, with around a fifth of those surveyed claiming that people on bikes represent the greatest threat on the country's roads" and actual facts from official statistics. If anything the poll demonstrates the evidence value of 'eye witnesses' to be biased and unreliable as is well know to the road traffic police in most countries. For example calibrated speed measuring equipment gets very different results than 'eye witness' accounts.maybe the green party is some sort of nationalist party over there, and not an equivalent of our green party.I came here to say the same thing. I don't recognise his comments as being remotely like the policies of the UK Greens.They seem to be a classical green party. But the policies of these have changed a lot lately in order to become 'electable' .Wouldn't be surprised if facilitating cycling was one of their less popular policies. Not because Greens object but simply because a) it's not currently something most people outside of NL and some parts of Scandinavia are calling for and b) there are certainly lots of people who will oppose specific changes involved in this.Because people don't think about the fifty litre tank of flammable fluid that they are sitting right on top of while driving their two...Rail replacement bus hits the railway bridge in Albrighton on the first day the service was put in place. ...Hi all, my appeal against an overly lenient sentence failed. I have had a meeting with senior procurator fiscal's who have explained that it was..."requires only 195 watts to maintain a constant speed of 45km/h . This is according to measurements made at the GST wind tunnel in Germany...Should I not trust my almost 20 year old carbon MTB? Is it likely to go the same way as its predecessor's aluminium frame and crack?Fully agree with the point about there being something seriously wrong with enforcement of driving offences where the punishment no longer fits the... It's our Bike of the Year but should you buy the Vitus Venon EVO-RS Force AXS All-Road bike at 30% discount? A blend of time trial, MTB and Moto GP bike - the Ryuger Eidolon BR-RTS e-bike can even carry your lunch Ourselves Alone : Sinn Féin councillor claims “crazy” cycle lanes are making roads more dangerous – and are designed for a “privileged” minority Brazen bike thieves foiled in dramatic pursuit after nicking Bromptons from front of store and threatening to knife chasing shop manager “I’ve seen children hit by a bus and they’ve bounced up and asked for a milkshake”: Active travel campaigners blast councillor’s “reckless, flippant” road safety comments during 20mph debate Near Miss of the Day 894: Police take action after confused motorist drives onto bike lane and narrowly misses cyclists and pedestrians in city centre square
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