I have a dream...

rich.d.berry

After having a near miss, at the start of my commute this morning, with an aggressive driver who insisted forcefully, by running me off the road, and vocally that he had more right to occupy the section of roadway that I was in, despite there being stationary traffic mere metres ahead with nowhere for him to go. I spent the rest of my half hour journey considering what I would like to see happen to improve the lot of all road users and to reduce this sort of aggression. I realised that education is the biggest problem. Almost every negative interaction I experience with motorists is based on this mistaken idea that cyclists are not entitled to use all the roadway.

But it's not just motorists who are uneducated. There are cyclists who believe that they are entitled to run red lights and cycle on footpaths. They are unaware of their duty to maintain their bicycles and equip them with lights.

So, here is what I would like to see happen:

1. Short term:
   • I'd love to see more gardae out on bicycles in town and city centres more of the time, but especially at peak when they would have an advantage over vehicular traffic.
   • I would hope to see them educating other road users and handing out warnings, fixed penalty notices and summonses, where appropriate, to all road users but especially to cyclists. They will also be better placed to tackle the red light jumper scourge.
   • It would save money too because less garda cars and less fuel will be needed
2. Medium to long term:
   • Have more emphasis on driver training in school. Not just theoretical, but practical as well.
   • It should start with teaching primary school children pedestrian road craft and graduating to cycling road craft.
   • In secondary school they can take a cycling test which, once passed, will entitle them to do a moped training course. This could integrate well with transition year and be one of the courses offered where they have the potential to gain a driver's license.
   • If they are successful at attaining a moped license it should entitle them to an automatic learner's permit in order to obtain their car license, and perhaps the insurance companies can offer discounts as well.
   • One of the spin offs are that as the children are educated their parents will be educated too.

What would your dream be to improve our lot on the roads that will not break the (already broken) bank?

HivemindXX

I think there are two basic kinds of road users who are problems. These could be called the incompetent and the aggressive.

Incompetent motorists are those who actually don't see you when they pull out in front of you, who don't notice the lights have gone red until it's too late, who can't go around a left turning bend without mounting the footpath. Incompetent cyclists are those who can't follow a straight line when cars pass them, who don't check if it's safe before making maneuvers, who actually don't think they are required to stop for red lights and follow the normal rules of the road.

Education can help a lot with this. Some people seem to be incapable of concentrating enough to use the roads safely and ideally they shouldn't be driving at all.

The other category know what they should do and they are capable of doing it if they feel like it they just don't want to. The taxi that pulls in to pick up a fare right in front of you. The cyclist who breaks a red light and shoots through a gap in traffic. The motorist who floors it on amber and goes through a light that has been red for some time. The cyclist who crowds pedestrians on the footpath because it's quicker that way.

In some ways it's not as easy to deal with these people. They don't want to change. In other ways it's easier since unlike some of the incompetent they can change. Enforcement is a good way to change this behaviour. If there is fear of a punishment then the cost/benefit calculation changes and behaviour should improve. Changing the societal view of this sort of activity is longer term but probably more effective. I think this is already happening to an extent but there is a lot further to go.

There's a third group of course, the wanna-be Charles Bronsons. They are angry at the world and drunk on new car smell (or urban cyclist youtube videos) they focus their anger on other road users and decide they will 'teach them a lesson'. The driver who slows down next to you and forces you off the road even though there is plenty of room to pass is an example this. They aren't doing it because they don't realise what they are doing, they aren't doing it because it gets them where they want to go two seconds quicker, they are doing it because they have mental problems.

rich.d.berry

HivemindXX wrote: »

I think there are two basic kinds of road users who are problems. These could be called the incompetent and the aggressive.

Agreed, what I meant to communicate, and did so poorly, was that the negative interaction I was referring to was not vehicular but personal. I have had many negative vehicular interactions with incompetent road users, but never have they been aggressive in defending their actions. They have generally been apologetic.

The road user I was referring to, is the "I know my rights and I will aggressively enforce/defend them" road user. I have long ago given up any attempt to rationalise with them. Nothing I have said in the past has made an iota of difference to their opinion. However, I believe that a garda confrontation could change their mind, especially if there is a dangerous driving charge attached, hence my desire for gardae on bicycles to be more prolific. I witness more aggressive/dangerous driving towards other cyclists than is directed at me. I suspect that this will be true for bicycle gardae as well and that they would be best placed to re-educate these people who mistakenly defend their right to the road at cyclists expense. They would also be best placed to re-educate the errant cyclists so that our image will improve.

DePurpereWolf

I think more gardai on the road is good altogether, on bike and in car.
The amount of traffic violations I see daily is atrocious. It would be a good source of income for the gardai as well.
In Cork, I hardly see any police.

Hermy

The utter contempt for the rules of the road displayed by too many members of the Gardai is something else that needs to be addressed. As long as the people who's job it is to enforce the law choose to ignore it what hope for the rest of us?

reallyunique

Motorists believe they own the road because it seems like they do. They pay a fortune for their cars and the opportunity to use them and the roads are designed specifically for them and no one else. Pavements are for everyone else. A few sentences in a law book that no driver has ever seen will alter their perception. Enforcing the law, though making them more compliant, will not change the way they see themselves or their rights and is just as likely to make them feel more aggressive towards cyclists.

Changing the reality of driving and cycling would help more than enforcing current legislation. Cars are different to bikes. Any motorist who has crashed into a cyclist knows this and so does any cyclist who has hit a car. Accepting this in law is cheap and would allow for rules that would increase bike safety and allow motorists to see that bikes are accepted and, perhaps, acceptable in law.

Just for now, how about left-turn-on-red for bikes only? It's actually pretty safe for cars too but even more so for bikes. It works in other countries and would immediately reduce the number of RLJ'ers by simply removing an offense.
Make bike lanes like bus lanes, drive in them and get pulled over by the Gards. An easy upgrade from this would be that drivers must leave at least .6m between their car and the pavement, where possible.

Cycling will not get safer as long as we, cyclists, cling to the belief that we are cars and continue to press for our right to be treated as other motor vehicles. Change the law. It's cheap, financially lucrative to enforce and will, however slowly, change attitudes.

DePurpereWolf

... that every pothole is filled within the month.

mp31

DePurpereWolf wrote: »

... that every pothole is filled within the month.

...properly and not by shovelling some tarmac into the hole and driving the back wheel of the truck over it a few times to 'smooth' it out!