Report on cycling in Dublin on Newstalk this morning

HardyEustace

Did anyone hear the report on cycling in Dublin?

I missed the last bit of it but it was a transport representative (I can't remember from where) reacting to a suggestion of banning four axle HGV's from the city with a comment of "well, if a cyclist is going to cycle out in front of a ford transit van, they'll come off the worst of it too".... Luckily the presenter hopped on him fairly rapidly for that and he back tracked but it was pretty indicative of a lot of people's attitudes towards cyclists.

Shame it wasn't better advertised so that people could have contributed their own stories and shown support for better conditions. The people that could've contributed the most probably weren't listening to the radio at that stage.

niceonetom

HardyEustace wrote: »

to a suggestion of banning four axle HGV's from the city with a comment of "well, if a cyclist is going to cycle out in front of a ford transit van, they'll come off the worst of it too"....

well he's right. but it's not an argument against banning HGVs, it's an argument for banning transit vans as well. honestly white-van-man is among the scariest roads users out there.

RobAMerc

Lets be fair the guy who was pro cycling was being a bit of a loon..

Ban 4 axle truck from city ?
Citywide 50kph speed limit ?

Its fairly implausable that we'd get decent cycle lanes in the near future never mind asking a working city to stop dead just so cyclists can get about is a bit much.

macinalli

niceonetom wrote: »

honestly white-van-man is among the scariest roads users out there.

+1 with that. I know these guys are busy but the chances they take are just ridiculous, and downright dangerous for cyclists. I'd say that a lot of motorists would also agree with that.

Bicyclegadabout

RobAMerc wrote: »

Lets be fair the guy who was pro cycling was being a bit of a loon..

Ban 4 axle truck from city ?
Citywide 50kph speed limit ?

Its fairly implausable that we'd get decent cycle lanes in the near future never mind asking a working city to stop dead just so cyclists can get about is a bit much.

What’s wrong with that? You’re not going to move any faster than that anyway. And unless you have an extremely in depth knowledge of traffic light sequencing you’re average speed is almost always under 40 kph in the city.
Also, busy developed areas should be designed around the people who live and work in those area’s, rather than being designed around the roads they happen to be beside. Go look up “shared space” on Wikipedia.

Btw if you email Newstalk they’ll send you out a podcast of the discussion, which someone could then upload somewhere so we can all listen to it.

beans

It would have been interesting to hear comments being sent into the show from road users. The main point from both sides seemed to be "Take active responsibility for your own safety" for drivers and cyclists alike - good advice.

I don't think that guy was suggesting that cyclists are to blame for being run over - Claire Byrne is quick to jump on anything she might get kudos for, scoop wise.

spurscormac

macinalli wrote: »

+1 with that. I know these guys are busy but the chances they take are just ridiculous, and downright dangerous for cyclists. I'd say that a lot of motorists would also agree with that.

As both a motorist & recent cyclist, I have to agree.
Van Drivers are lunatics, they take more chances cos they are covered by company insurance, so don't really care about having a few bumps here or there & are likely to come off best against a car or cyclist.

You won't see them trying their luck with anything bigger though.

High&Low

beans wrote: »

Claire Byrne is quick to jump on anything she might get kudos for, scoop wise.

Claire Byrne commutes by bike, so I think she had an active interest in the discusion.

milod

Bicyclegadabout wrote: »

What’s wrong with that? You’re not going to move any faster than that anyway. And unless you have an extremely in depth knowledge of traffic light sequencing you’re average speed is almost always under 40 kph in the city.
Also, busy developed areas should be designed around the people who live and work in those area’s, rather than being designed around the roads they happen to be beside. Go look up “shared space” on Wikipedia.

QFT!

Cities are where people live and work - the needs of large scale transportation are not a high priority in the city centre or suburbs - People are the priority, whether on foot or on a bike.

Logistics is a very advanced practice these days - and you don't need 4 axles to make deliveries in the city - that's what vans and non-articulated trucks are for.

Also, the point about a van being as dangerous as a large truck is bullsh1t. Vans aren't articulated and don't have exposed undercarriage in which cyclists can get trapped. It's very hard to end up underneath a van, but damn easy to get crushed under a truck.

bobtjustice

The texters on this show after this discussion didn't exactly glorify themselves with pro cycling comments did they?
Sadly an insight into how narrow minded and truly depended most people are on their cars.:mad: Particularly with that horrific accident in Cabra last week. This town is a sham. !!!!

Stark

I missed the show. What were the comments?

bobtjustice

Mostly the usual crap about how cyclists think they own the road. Etc etc...
Quite shameless

Stark

Pot calling the kettle black

Dandelion6

I was listening and sent in a pro-cycling text, but curiously it didn't get read out :rolleyes:

Canis Lupus

I think both can happily exist on the roads. It just takes common sense from both sides. We give out about cars etc but I'll be damned if I see many cyclists, myself included, obeying many traffic laws on my daily commute.

I can appreciate motorists getting annoyed by cyclists when they never know what direction cyclists will come from next nor where they intend to go to. We cycle on and off pavements, cross red lights, go early/late through ped crossings, weave like mad through different lanes of traffic and I even see some cyclists going happily against the flow of traffic onthe wrong side of the road or the wrong way down one way streets.

We're not the most important road user just one of the most vulnerable but if we're all honest about it and behaved we'd get on grand with the cars.

Chips Lovell

Canis Lupus wrote: »

...and I even see some cyclists going happily against the flow of traffic onthe wrong side of the road or the wrong way down one way streets...

This seems to have become endemic recently.

bobtjustice

Canis Lupus wrote: »

I even see some cyclists going happily against the flow of traffic onthe wrong side of the road or the wrong way down one way streets.

Thats just plain insanity....really! Or just pure stupidity.!

Andy-Pandy

bobtjustice wrote: »

Thats just plain insanity....really! Or just pure stupidity.!

Or just faster

bobtjustice

Maybe its just me then, I'd rather get there in one piece and be late than be spread across some dudes windscreen. :rolleyes:

Canis Lupus

It's pissing rain today and what did I see?

A middle aged lady cycling through traffic with a big umbrella up. What's worse was she wasn't even looking where she was going because as you can imagine you need to keep the umbrella down to stop it from catching the air.

It's mostly not cars that make cycling dangerous. It's the cyclists.

penexpers

Canis Lupus wrote: »

It's pissing rain today and what did I see?

A middle aged lady cycling through traffic with a big umbrella up. What's worse was she wasn't even looking where she was going because as you can imagine you need to keep the umbrella down to stop it from catching the air.

It's mostly not cars that make cycling dangerous. It's the cyclists.

Words escape me.

seamus

Canis Lupus wrote: »

A middle aged lady cycling through traffic with a big umbrella up. What's worse was she wasn't even looking where she was going because as you can imagine you need to keep the umbrella down to stop it from catching the air.

Every time it rains in Dublin I see at least one person doing this. Absolute madness.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=774066

Andy-Pandy

seamus wrote: »

Every time it rains in Dublin I see at least one person doing this. Absolute madness.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=774066

Classic, thanks for posting that.

Morgan

Canis Lupus wrote: »

It's mostly not cars that make cycling dangerous. It's the cyclists.

You're absolutely right - if everyone stopped cycling the number of bike accidents would plummet.

seamus

Morgan wrote: »

You're absolutely right - if everyone stopped cycling the number of bike accidents would plummet.

He's right to an extent though. It's a bit of a vicious circle - people cycle badly, so car drivers resent/ignore them, so people cycle badly, etc etc.

Whenever any discussion comes up about cyclists, it always ends up polarising into, "Cyclists are victimised" -v- "All cyclists are law breakers". Never once do you hear from either side about education and punishment for cyclists and other road users who infringe on cyclists' road space.

I'm convinced that if more and more cyclists rode with respect for the law and other road users, then that respect would come back to them. Yet there's no attempt made by the authorities to educate and promote safe cycling (aside from handing out free high-vis jackets).

Victor

RobAMerc wrote: »

Ban 4 axle truck from city ?

The 5-axle ban will be extended to 4-axle vehicles, probably sometime during 2009. 4- and 5-axle vehciles will still be able to deliver using the licence system or after hours.

Citywide 50kph speed limit ?

This is existing - only about 10-20km of roads in the city have higher limits. If its a 30kph speed limit that was being talked about, this would be an extension of the existing city centre area, possibly out to the inner orbital route, but would add lots of residential streets.

oobydooby

Is there a 30kph limit in town? I heard there was, but I've never seen any signs.

Two obvious good points about (an enforced!) 30kph limit in residential areas:

1. Motorists will be calmer. They can't go fast. Just relax and accept it.
2. Motorists will choose orbital routes rather than rat-runs. Will also try and avoid unnecessary journeys.

Let's hope the planners accomodate motorists with 'green wave' orbital routes and alternative modes of transport within the city - an extensive free(?) 24/7 every 2 minutes LUAS along each radius from city centre to the canal would be a start. And of course free bikes like Paris all around the city AFTER an effort is made to give motorists alternatives.

Maybe a sky Luas on stilts which would give cyclists a bit of cover on the traffic-free road underneath when raining and give the commuters a nice view of the city.

conor rowan

" ...and I even see some cyclists going happily against the flow of traffic onthe wrong side of the road or the wrong way down one way streets..."

lads come cycle in chinese cities its mental fun, everyone does this!:D
gonna have some serious bad habits when i get home:(

Victor

oobydooby wrote: »

Is there a 30kph limit in town? I heard there was, but I've never seen any signs.

Essentially from St. Stephen's Green to Parnell Square and from Church Street to Gardiner Street, except for the quays.