[article] Cycling group slams National Safety Council

vinnyfitz

Saving Victor the trouble:

Cycling group slams National Safety Council
March 8, 2004
(13:27) The National Safety Council has been criticised by a cycling lobby group for its alleged failure to tackle road deaths.

The Dublin Cycling Campaign claims that road deaths are on the rise because of a lack of law enforcement.

It says that statistics show a motorist can only expect a ticket every 28 years and to be breathalised every 140 years.

The campaign says the motoring lobby is over-represented on the NSC board, and that it should be dismissed and reformed with representation from pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users.

llink

cyclopath2001

Brace yourselves for the usual rants about lurid lycra-wearing blind-drunk cyclists with no lights breaking the lights and riding down the wrong way one way streets on defective bicycles while not paying any tax or insurance.....

gurramok

Its neither party that are the main cause, its the sh1tty roads where a cycle lane is just a painted line on a 'superhighway full of trucks and cars' with no protection whatsoever.
The sooner a 'Ducth-style' cycle lanes occur the better.

mike65

Originally posted by cyclopath2001
Brace yourselves for the usual rants about lurid lycra-wearing blind-drunk cyclists with no lights breaking the lights and riding down the wrong way one way streets on defective bicycles while not paying any tax or insurance.....

Damn you beat me to it, they'll all moralist finger-wagging proto-facists y'know!

Mike.

cyclopath2001

>>The sooner a 'Dutch-style' cycle lanes occur the better.

It's not 'Dutch-Style' cycle lanes that we need, but Dutch safety attitudes & consideration for others all round.

gurramok

So you are content with the high risk strategy of collision with vehicles rather than having a barrier between the cycle lane and the road ? (What i meant by dutch-style)

Assuming you are a cyclist ...surely the above is an important safety feature than depending on motorists goodwill driving (we know there are bad ones of these kind)?

Law enforcement will not help the road death situation as it has very little bite.

cyclopath2001

They don't have barriers all over Holland.

The risk of collision with cars would be much reduced if sensible speed limits (rather than the current lethal ones) were applied & if all drivers were required to undergo professional instruction and sit a driving test before being allowed to put the safety of others at risk.

And yes, I am a cyclist, I have received professional driving instruction & I did pass my driving test on the first attempt. It was quite easy.

Victor

Originally posted by gurramok
So you are content with the high risk strategy of collision with vehicles rather than having a barrier between the cycle lane and the road ? (What i meant by dutch-style)

Barriers will tend to merely displace accidents from straights to junctions (where a lot of accidents happen anyway) as motorists will "forget" that they have to interact with cyclists.