Journalism and cycling

check_six

Maybe someone could remember the percentage of people who commute under 4km to work every day. The average commute of everyone living in Dublin is 5.88km, and 62% drive, so quite a lot of people drive a short distance to work.

magicbastarder

isn't there some stat that half of all journeys in dublin, under a mile, are done in a car?

tomasrojo

All you could want to know about distances travelled:
http://irishcycle.com/myths/myths-distances/

Most journeys under 5km.
(Or, at least, an awful, awful lot of them.)

Piece on the Six One news there about minimum passing , the view of the hauliers and taxi drivers mentioned are totally unsurprising.

Corca Baiscinn

Deleted User wrote: »

Piece on the Six One news there about minimum passing , the view of the hauliers and taxi drivers mentioned are totally unsurprising.

Haulier guy mentioned would need a lot more traffic garda for it to work but it would work if drivers when overtaking gave people on bikes adequate room!

check_six

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

Haulier guy mentioned would need a otmore traffic garda for it to workbut it would work if drivers when overtaking gave people on bikes adequate room!

Yeah, why do people keep any kind of laws? There isn't a squad of Guards monitoring me 24 hours a day, so I'll just do whatever the hell I please... Or maybe I'll just keep my pact with society and follow the laws in place just off my own bat? Not difficult to imagine.

The not enough Guards to enforce mpd (or any new law) argument is entirely spurious.

Pinch Flat

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Piece on the Six One news there about minimum passing , the view of the hauliers and taxi drivers mentioned are totally unsurprising.

Taxi drivers have absolutely zero right to comment on cycling safety. Their behaviour in Dublin City is almost universally reckless and irresponsible when it comes to interacting with cyclists

Kaisr Sose

The sea change on MPD is that for the first time, a motorist will have to prove they passed the cyclist legally.

Even if resources were doubled, An GS cannot be everywhere. It’s about motorists copping on, driving with respect to the RTA and the rights of all road users to use our roads safely.

Chiparus

check_six wrote: »

Yeah, why do people keep any kind of laws? There isn't a squad of Guards monitoring me 24 hours a day, so I'll just do whatever the hell I please... Or maybe I'll just keep my pact with society and follow the laws in place just off my own bat? Not difficult to imagine.

The not enough Guards to enforce mpd (or any new law) argument is entirely spurious.

I think that the arguments against the MPD are so feeble now.

It would be like fighting against drink drive laws because there are not enough guards??:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Even the news talk clowns who were vociferous in their opposition to these laws seem to be agreeing with them.

Alf Veedersane

They had Richie Oakley and Joe Heron on Newstalk this morning discussing it.

Naturally, Joe Heron brought up bikes going through red lights and then not being in dedicated cycle lanes. Paul Williams picked up the baton until Richie Oakley put that to bed with "How about we have a discussion about making the roads safer for cyclists without saying 'what about?'". Then promptly explained why cyclists might be moving out.

amcalester

Chiparus wrote: »

I think that the arguments against the MPD are so feeble now.

It would be like fighting against drink drive laws because there are not enough guards??:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Even the news talk clowns who were vociferous in their opposition to these laws seem to be agreeing with them.

There was a piece on Newstalk Breakfast this morning about MPDL with Joe Herron of the Taxi Drivers Federation and Richie Oakley Editor of The Time Irtish Edition.

Oakley was very good, made a clear concise argument for MPDL.

Herron started talking about cyclists running red lights, making sudden turns with out signaling and generally being a bit of a nuisance on the roads, pretty sure the same arguments could be made about his members.

Oakley then said that it would be good to have a discussion on road and cyclist safety without saying what about.

Overall I would think that anyone who listened to it would be hard pressed to disagree with a MPDL.

They're also running a poll on their twitter here

Macy0161

I really don't get the "unenforceable" thing - if it's unenforceable, why are all the motorist lobby groups (AA, Hauliers, Taxi drivers etc), so against it? If it's unenforceable what are they running scared from?

magicbastarder

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

The sea change on MPD is that for the first time, a motorist will have to prove they passed the cyclist legally.

that would be weird. the burden of proof is proving guilt, not proving innocence. how would a motorist be expected to be able to prove the overtake was legal?

Kaisr Sose

magicbastarder wrote: »

that would be weird. the burden of proof is proving guilt, not proving innocence. how would a motorist be expected to be able to prove the overtake was legal?

At the moment, there is no distance stated, it merely states ‘reasonable’ . That’s pants. Drivers can, and do argue that they thought it was reasonable. That can’t happen where a minimum is stated.

CramCycle

The MPDL will make it easier to prosecute the reasonable distance law. As said above, what is reasonable is currently very subjective.

In the case of a close pass, "buzzing", or even a collision, the burden of proof will be reduced as even if the cyclist moved from their line, the motorist would have been to close in the first place.

I certainly won't be looking to prosecute every motorist who is within 1.5m of me, the same as most cyclists probably won't. This said, if someone intentionally skims me or attempts to shock me, for the first time in a long time, the gardai will have more to do than just say, they didn't hit you so that is that.

tomasrojo

CramCycle wrote: »

In the case of a close pass, "buzzing", or even a collision, the burden of proof will be reduced as even if the cyclist moved from their line, the motorist would have been to close in the first place.

Yeah, especially in the case of a collision, where, unless the cyclist lurched 1.5m to the right, you definitely have been caught out making an illegal pass.

Annie get your Run

Great segment on The One Show now about East Midlands Police catching drivers using mobile phones.

the world wonders

Driver ‘red-faced with rage’ drove into cyclist
Ennis district judge bans motorist for two years and imposes fine of €1,250
...
One of the cyclists, Rose Hally said that after Mr Conlon struck the bike of Geraldine Lynch he shouted “you are all over the f***ing road or get off the f***ing road”.
...

This is what the George Hook/Ryan Tubridy cyclist hate leads to.

buffalo

Interesting comparison with the case last week there:

He also convicted Mr Conlon of leaving the scene of an accident, saying “anyone who does that deserves very little sympathy”.

vs

She said it was at the “lower end” of the range of seriousness

Admittedly, it's hard to tell whether that statement includes fleeing the scene of an accident after you've knocked someone down.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/man-who-drove-off-after-hitting-cyclist-given-community-service-1.3377946

Annie get your Run

Seems to be the night for TV slots on dangerous driving. RTE have a 'How's My Driving' program on showing the affects of alcohal & drugs on your driving in a test environment. They also did a street poll asking the public what different things meant like single yellow line etc, lots of ehhhh, not sure answers!

Corca Baiscinn

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Seems to be the night for TV slots on dangerous driving. RTE have a 'How's My Driving' program on showing the affects of alcohal & drugs on your driving in a test environment. They also did a street poll asking the public what different things meant like single yellow line etc, lots of ehhhh, not sure answers!

And we re not done yet... tomorrow night is the P T Bikes v Cars! Rem they looked for camera footage of dangerous o/t s? (Think it was on near miss thread) Don't know what they'll have to go 'balance' the evil bikes

Corca Baiscinn

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

And we re not done yet... tomorrow night is the P T Bikes v Cars! Rem they looked for camera footage of dangerous o/t s? (Think it was on near miss thread) Don't know what they'll have to go 'balance' the evil bikes

I'm betting just eat twat vs taxi will feature.

mr spuckler

a story about a girl who suffered severe spinal injuries in a bicycle accident. it doesn't specify exactly what happened to her and I guess that's not the point of the piece anyway.

what it does show is what the stats tend not to capture - people who suffer life changing injuries that we rarely if ever hear about.

she sounds like a hugely positive and inspirational character.

Three-year catch-22 battle for a home after spinal injury

Tombo2001

the world wonders wrote: »

This is what the George Hook/Ryan Tubridy cyclist hate leads to.

Come on - please share the credit.

Otherwise Fintan O'Toole, Maura Derrane, Ian O'Doherty, Pat Kenny, Ivan Yates and Finian McGrath will be on your case.....

Corca Baiscinn

Tombo2001 wrote:

Otherwise Fintan O'Toole, Maura Derrane, Ian O'Doherty, Pat Kenny, Ivan Yates and Finian McGrath will be on your case.....

You forgot Paul Williams (2017) tho' Richie Oakley put him in his place the other day!

magicbastarder

has fintan o'toole shown much animus to cyclists except for that one article i saw where he claimed we're smug?

tomasrojo

magicbastarder wrote: »

has fintan o'toole shown much animus to cyclists except for that one article i saw where he claimed we're smug?

I've only seen one FO'T article on the subject, and it was notable more for its leaden predictableness than its bile. Award-winning journalist somewhat noted for sympathy for the underdog churns out bike-blame bingo.

magicbastarder

Probably the same article I saw. Stank of 'its your turn to write a balanced article about cycling', in the IT office.

tomasrojo

It was like seeing a modern professional stand-up do a ten-minute bit on his mother-in-law.

Muahahaha

Anyone see the Prime Time piece on cycling? Some of the footage taken by cyclists whilst being passed close was pretty scary stuff. Im glad they didnt bleep out the cursing of the cyclists either.