Bicycle deaths double

beauf

True. Sit on the M50 at the speed limit and you'll probably hold up traffic in the slow lane.

CramCycle

beauf wrote: »

True. Sit on the M50 at the speed limit and you'll probably hold up traffic in the slow driving lane.

No one drives in that lane, it's quite relaxing just to follow the rules and drive in the driving lane at the speed limit, generally faster and safer than with of the two overtaking lanes

magicbastarder

generally speaking (and i don't drive on the M50 at rush hour), but the driving lane seems to hold steady at about 90km/h.

Tenzor07

No excuses for not having lights, all lights these days are very portable, easily removable from the bicycle, and charge via USB while you are in the office etc.. And if you're involved in an incident with a motor vehicle you'll be on very shaky ground with the Gards if they become involved due to not having lights...

BostonB

CramCycle wrote: »

No one drives in that lane, it's quite relaxing just to follow the rules and drive in the driving lane at the speed limit, generally faster and safer than with of the two overtaking lanes

The point was exceeding the speed limit is common place.

CramCycle

BostonB wrote: »

The point was exceeding the speed limit is common place.

My point was that not only is it common place but a complete lack of knowledge on how the lane systems on a motorway operate is self evident in Ireland i.e. sweet damn all drivers know what they are meant to be at, and if they do then sweet damn all of them care.

Macy0161

CramCycle wrote: »

My point was that not only is it common place but a complete lack of knowledge on how the lane systems on a motorway operate is self evident in Ireland i.e. sweet damn all drivers know what they are meant to be at, and if they do then sweet damn all of them care.

But they've all gone through compulsory training!?! Well, all of them not on a learner permit. Or the ones that got given their licence to clear backlogs. But apart from them...

Regarding lights - one of the reasons I have two front and back is as back up in case of a failure. I wouldn't mind a blitz on all road users with no or defective lights (although in the case of missing bulbs I'd prefer it to be a present with x days rather than immediate fine).

expectationlost

quite a negative report on cycling on the new UTV Ireland news programme there http://player.utv.ie/programme/ireland-live at 18 minutes

Qualitymark

expectationlost wrote: »

quite a negative report on cycling on the new UTV Ireland news programme there http://player.utv.ie/programme/ireland-live at 18 minutes

We really need a system of off-street parking, which proves a nice little earner for Tokyo people who inherited city centre sites after Allied firebombing destroyed the city and killed its inhabitants.

Site taxes were high, so a lot of residents built tall, thin multi-storey robotic car parks. You drive your car in, get out and go away. The machine reads your parking card's RFID and moves it up into a free space. When you come back, you flash the card again and it deducts a fee and brings your car back down.

If we had this we could stop all the crazy use of roadsides to park cars and instead have a cross-city network of separated bicycle paths and a working public transport system.

magicbastarder

how much would people be willing to pay per day for such a service?
say you worked in the city centre - €2 a day would probably reach (within a year) the replacement cost for a lot of bikes, so it might prove harder to charge more than this - which may not be a great ROI for whomever built the bike park.

Cakewheels

expectationlost wrote: »

quite a negative report on cycling on the new UTV Ireland news programme there http://player.utv.ie/programme/ireland-live at 18 minutes

I thought this report was terrible. I'm wondering if a complaint to the broadcasting commission might even be in order. I can't watch it again as for some reason it won't play for me now, so there might be some mistakes in this, feel free to correct anything I've missed.

The focus was almost entirely on cyclist behaviour and much less on motorist behaviour. I also don't think it mentioned anything at all about the benefits of cycling. I know that the positives weren't the point, but focusing entirely on danger without any positives makes it seem like cyclists are just freaks who get a kick out of doing a dangerous thing for no reason (think paragliding or something).

It starts off with something like

"are cyclists taking their lives in hand or just plain reckless?"

"helmet, high-vis jacket and lights are vital for safety" - fair enough on lights but the issues with the other two are more complex as we know so throwaway statements aren't adequate (not wanting to get into debates on that in this thread)

"Cyclists are warned never to assume you have been seen by drivers"
No warning to drivers to look for them??? I understand there is particular scenarios such as not going up the inside of a truck, where the cyclist has to take all the responsibility for being seen, but they don't have the time to get into that detail, and in general what are we supposed to do when it is just that drivers aren't looking?

"Biggest problem with Dublin cycling is probably the cyclists themselves" (a quote from a cyclist, but how many other quotes did they not use, just because this one is better for TV?)

A guard talking about all the bad things cyclist do - "they crash red lights, they cycle on the footpath" etc (again no mention by the guard of what motorists do to endanger cyclists, or any acknowledgement that he is generalising and the vast majority of cyclists behave well)

"Cyclists are warned they can be prosecuted for bad behaviour"

To balance all of the above out, they have one quote from a cyclist about the dangerous driving he has encountered, and one excellent quote from cyclist.ie about the need to manage the traffic better, and how junctions identified as problematic three years ago have not had any treatment. However I think as well as this point is made, it is still lost in the overall presentation style and editing of the clip.

Qualitymark

magicbastarder wrote: »

how much would people be willing to pay per day for such a service?
say you worked in the city centre - €2 a day would probably reach (within a year) the replacement cost for a lot of bikes, so it might prove harder to charge more than this - which may not be a great ROI for whomever built the bike park.

I was talking about *car* parks. Get the cars off the streets and into high-rise car parks dotted around the city, and use all that extra street space for traffic (including separated bike lanes like in Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, etc).

BostonB

loughgill wrote: »

I thought this report was terrible. I'm wondering if a complaint to the broadcasting commission might even be in order. ....

I didn't bother watching it. In my opinion much of media in Ireland seem to be intent on not doing research into a topic but regurgitating biased populist myths as a means of appealing to the widest audience (non cyclists). So its a marketing gimmick more than it is journalism.

BostonB

Qualitymark wrote: »

I was talking about *car* parks. Get the cars off the streets and into high-rise car parks dotted around the city, and use all that extra street space for traffic (including separated bike lanes like in Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, etc).

The opposite I think would happen. I'd guess that providing more parking would encourage car use. Whereas discouraging car use, would take the cars off the roads, and parking would not be needed.

At the moment they do this half heartedly by constricting traffic which causes congestion. Which is no good to anyone.

cdaly_

BostonB wrote: »

At the moment they do this half heartedly by constricting traffic which causes congestion. Which is no good to anyone.

Much better would be to remove the tolls on various motorways and introduce city congestion charges anywhere a bypass and public transport exists.

expectationlost

another report on recovering from serious cycling injuries tonight http://player.utv.ie/programme/ireland-live at 18 minutes

and a death

briefest mention of health benefits

please do cycle safely says Alison.

BostonB

The time bar doesn't appear in Chrome for me but it does in IE. If you can be bothered.

Tenzor07

With idiots like this behind a wheel, what hope do other road users have out there? :mad:

Qualitymark

Tenzor07 wrote: »

With idiots like this behind a wheel, what hope do other road users have out there? :mad:

According to an AH thread on this, the man was making a rather dumb joke; he hadn't actually hit a cyclist.

Koobcam

Qualitymark wrote: »

According to an AH thread on this, the man was making a rather dumb joke; he hadn't actually hit a cyclist.

Yes, but his Twitter username is 'Ray Pew'-maybe deserved sacking just for that?

Impetus

In most mainland European countries cycle lanes are either marked off portions of the side walk (ie footpath in GB English) which can be used by cyclists. In Ireland the idiot local government agencies have forced cyclists on the road, to compete with vehicular traffic - much of which is carelessly guided. Similarly, idiot Irish pedestrians doze across bike lanes, clueless of the consequences of their negligence.

Cork city is a prime example. The city has spent over EUR 100 million on traffic signal controls (ie SCOOT software and hardware), and reduced the street vehicle capacity in the medieval centre by 50% + as a result of making road space for bicycles - even in locations where the side-walk is wide enough to accommodate bikes and walkers. This has the effect of motorist anger at the stupidity of the scenario in front of them and perhaps diverting their brain from other road users as they compete to get through a 5 second squirt of green lights. Gross incompetence - especially given that the state has paid a vast sum of money for computers to calculate green and red times, cycles, greenwaves, etc. These measures seem to be over-ridden by idiot traffic 'managers' who should be hung out in the desert sunshine to dry!

I have no vested interest in this. I don't live in Ireland and don't use a bike. But when I visit Ireland the accident risk, traffic delays and dead-brain-ness of the traffic control systems and the placement of bike lanes looks oh so stupid.

If Ireland was a federal country, with real local democracy the people who mis-design the road space would be out of a job. Ideally without social protection payments - as they are acting in a grossly negligent manner. No different to a doctor who gives an incorrect script to a patient. In France, under civil law, a doctor who messes up a patient can face 10 years in prison + a €€€€€€€€€€ fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6gy-ojmdh8

WARNING: THIS VIDEO SHOWS VIENNA CONVENTION (IE STANDARD EUROPEAN / GLOBAL - SIGNAGE, USED ASIDE FROM THE US AND ITS COUSINS ALL OVER THE PLANET FOR ROAD SIGNAGE AND MARKINGS). IRELAND IS THE ONLY COUNTRY IN EUROPE TO MAKE SUCH SIGNAGE AND MARKINGS ILLEGAL. ONE WONDERS WHY?

Beasty

We have a thread on this year's stats already running. This thread relates to 2014 figures

Closed