Journalism and cycling

magicbastarder

Heart doctor to George HW Bush dies in bicycle shooting

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/22/heart-doctor-to-george-hw-bush-dies-in-bicycle-shooting?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

JMcL

Pinch Flat wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/dangerous-driving-in-donegal-it-is-a-long-standing-culture-1.3569240?mode=amp

What hope does someone on a bike have among this madness?

It's endemic. I grew up in Inishowen in the 80s and underage driving was rife even then. A blind eye was largely turned, as if you wanted to go out, hitching a ride with a mate on wheels was your only option. Key differences are that cars back then were a lot less powerful than what's on the go today. A lot less of them too.

As the article says, everybody knows somebody that died. My cousin lost her 19 year old son 3 years ago, all his mates turned up to the funeral in what was essentially a uniform, did a guard of honour, and revved their engines leaving, after a fairly no holds barred sermon on the culture from the priest, who's had to turn up to a number of these frint page horror shows over the years. Not a word had been taken on board, and it was frankly stomach churning.

Parents have to be held responsible in the cases of the illegal cars, and it can't be that hard to track down who sold the things. If they've been condemned, there's a paper trail. Throw the book at the last name on it. It is however complicated by the proximity of the border, as they'll skip back and forward across it to avoid Guards/PSNI

An example of the culture of aggressive driving towards cyclists, I was out for a spin over the Illies (between Buncrana and Quigley's Point -a stunning mountain road) a couple of years ago. I was heading down from the top, probably doing 40+ when I heard the revving behind me. Got round a bend and pulled over. Tool in the tin box executed a punishment pass (very narrow road bear in mind) with much beeping and gesticulating. Grand, I let it go and continued on my way. Guts of half an hour later, I'm on the main Derry to Moville road. My friend, comes past in the opposite direction, with more beeping and gesticulation.

It's a culture that needs sorting out, and unfortunately softly softly approaches won't cut it

magicbastarder

You've heard the Rte doc on one documentary about the culture of driving in donegal? Probably nothing new in it for you though. I remember staying with relatives in Carn in the 80s and being struck by the revving engines and squealing of tyres you'd hear late at night, in the town itself.

Rechuchote

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Off his week and listening to the radio while I potter around.

Piece in 98fm about learners driving on the road without a licence.... Jesus wept.

Elephant in the room - get a bike - not discussed yet

The only thing that will end this is when comedians start mocking these fools, and that mockery becomes central to the culture.

And getting bikes so the power is in their legs, not the engines.

Stray dog keeps a fallen cyclist company while he waits for an ambulance.

https://news.sky.com/video/man-hurt-in-bike-crash-kept-warm-by-stray-dog-11445190

Piece on Fitzwilliam cycle route, might want a mug of tea it's a long one.

http://irishcycle.com/2018/07/22/cycle-route-to-be-dublins-first-with-parking-protection-and-junction-segregation/

P_1

http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/video-cyclist-crash-car-dublin/

Threw this up in the AH thread (Odin help me).

Same question I asked there. Is it:

A - The cyclist's fault for not doing a lifesaver prior to shifting right
B - The driver's fault for driving too close to the cycle lane
C - Shiity infrastructure for putting both in this position
D - A combination of all 3

Nasty looking spill that could've ended up a lot worse

Pinch Flat

I’d be taking the lane in that scenario

Arcade_Tryer

It's a classic case of a driver giving a cyclist less space than it would a car on the road. That driver is leaving no room for error on the part of either the cyclist or the driver; recipe for disaster. And completely the fault of the driver.

It's like when a cyclist keeps left in the lane but has the audacity to swerve right to avoid a pot hole or glass and ends up nearly being killed by a driver choosing to operate on the margins of the life of said cyclist.

accensi0n

I think it was also a stupid overtake by the cyclist, I see it everyday on my cycle to/from work, cyclists moving out of the cycle lane to overtake another cyclist without checking at all whether there might be a bus or articulated lorry just behind them.

P_1

Pinch Flat wrote: »

I’d be taking the lane in that scenario

Oh as would I but I'd be bloody sure to look over my shoulders first.

Arcade_Tryer

accensi0n wrote: »

I think it was also a stupid overtake by the cyclist, I see it everyday on my cycle to/from work, cyclists moving out of the cycle lane to overtake another cyclist without checking at all whether there might be a bus or articulated lorry just behind them.

It should not constitute a stupid overtake. The car is simply too close, and shows no signs of taking any evasive action either. Reckless, irresponsible and dangerous driving.

accensi0n

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

The car is simply too close, and shows no signs of taking any evasive action either. Reckless, irresponsible and dangerous driving.

Agree. But I'm also of the opinion that the cyclist should be more aware and do some checks to make sure he doesn't have an incident.

check_six

Why on earth did the car not take some evasive action, like y'know braking or something? It wasn't a high speed manoeuvre. The driver had to be looking directly at the cyclist as they were trying to overtake them, right? They couldn't just be following the car in front and not paying any attention to their surroundings, right?

The cyclist needed to do some kind of shoulder check (Always do a shoulder check!), but the driver should be alive to the possibilities when they are so close to vulnerable people.

Cookie_Monster

did the driver even stop? Doesn't look like it.

Muahahaha

accensi0n wrote: »

I think it was also a stupid overtake by the cyclist, I see it everyday on my cycle to/from work, cyclists moving out of the cycle lane to overtake another cyclist without checking at all whether there might be a bus or articulated lorry just behind them.

Tend to agree, the entire incident would have been avoided by the cyclist doing a lifesaver. I see the same every day myself, unfortunately it seems a large number of cyclists dont know to look over their shoulder before moving out into the lane. The motorist seems to be asleep too but cyclists should be treating every motorist as if they are asleep and he put himself in unnecessary danger when a lifesaver would have made him cancel the overtake move.

Lumen

Looks like the cyclist only moved a couple of inches off his line before being hit.

buffalo

Lumen wrote: »

Looks like the cyclist only moved a couple of inches off his line before being hit.

You're right. When I saw this before, I thought he moved out to overtake the other cyclist and therefore a few feet, but he only moves a little more than the width of the line of the yellow box.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

did the driver even stop? Doesn't look like it.

They stop a little further up.

magicbastarder

he moved out about a foot or so, i'd say.

Tenzor07

The guy on the bike was trying to get past the other cyclists... The woman/man in the car was racing against the other car on his/her right(and trying to get ahead before the parked cars/bus lane)..

However, the car driver was the one who clipped the cyclist and is therefore liable....

monument

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Piece on Fitzwilliam cycle route, might want a mug of tea it's a long one.

http://irishcycle.com/2018/07/22/cycle-route-to-be-dublins-first-with-parking-protection-and-junction-segregation/

A bit of a shorter article today:

“Strong opposition” to Dublin’s first cycle route with Dutch-like junctions http://irishcycle.com/2018/07/24/strong-opposition-to-dublins-first-cycle-route-with-dutch-like-junctions/

AndrewJRenko

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

did the driver even stop? Doesn't look like it.

From the reports at the time, the driver did stop and speak to the cyclist.

Lumen

magicbastarder wrote: »

he moved out about a foot or so, i'd say.

How wide are those lines?

Given that handlebar extent is about 20cm right of the wheel, it looks to me that even if the cyclist had held a perfect line, the passing distance would have been sqrt(f'all).

Duckjob

Lumen wrote: »

How wide are those lines?

Given that handlebar extent is about 20cm right of the wheel, it looks to me that even if the cyclist had held a perfect line, the passing distance would have been sqrt(f'all).

+1

In an ideal world that driver would have some serious questions to answer to police about why he/she thought it was ok to squeeze past an unprotected road user with 2 tonnes of metal (did they even slow down? - did they f*ck).

Typical selfish, dangerous dick manoeuver you see happening every day. Could easily have gone another way and we would be posting RIP to another cyclist :mad:

magicbastarder

looking at it from above, i'm guessing the motorist had a 'once i hold my line, i don't have to pay as much attention' approach to driving.
but any overtaking manouevre from the cyclist should have involved a shoulder check - especially when the cyclist should have realised they were pulling out of the cycle lane to do so.

the road there is quite tight for carrying a cycle lane plus two normal lanes of traffic anyway.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3322328,-6.2752037,49m/data=!3m1!1e3

Muahahaha

magicbastarder wrote: »

looking at it from above, i'm guessing the motorist had a 'once i hold my line, i don't have to pay as much attention' approach to driving.
but any overtaking manouevre from the cyclist should have involved a shoulder check - especially when the cyclist should have realised they were pulling out of the cycle lane to do so.

yeah no doubt the motorist has to shoulder blame here. Though I would imagine if it came up in court and the video was produced the judge would rule contributory negligence by the cyclist for not doing a shoulder check. I know he *only* moved about a foot or 15 inches out into the road but that was enough to get himself into trouble that was avoidable.

On a motorbike test if you make any change of position in your lane, either to the left or the right, without first shoulder checking your blindspot then you fail the test. As I once found out

Thargor

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Curious though how a cyclist could kill people on a tram. Sounds like a bit of wanton hyperbole to me.

amcalester

Front page of the Daily Mail today

CRACKDOWN ON ROGUE CYCLISTS

Surge in number of fines doled out to bike menaces

I think it's to be welcomed that cyclists are being fined for breaking the law, no issues with that at all but in typical daily mail fashion it's been sensationalized as much as possible.

The author even appears to quote the same source twice

A senior security source told the Mail there has been a "renewed focus" by the Garda Traffic Corp on catching dangerous cyclists since 2017

and again

A senior security source yesterday confirmed "the force is focused" on "clamping down on dangerous cyclists"

Notice that the senior source called it the Traffic Corp and not the Roads Policing Unit.

Quote from Charlie Flanagan is a bit more levelled though

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said that the Roads Policing Unit is being "beefed up" as part of the force's Modernisation and Renewal Programme 2016 - 2021 but added that he wanted to see a "culture change" in how offending motorists were treating cyclists in particular

"I have formally written to the gardaí and I am keen to ensure cities in particular are safer for cyclists" he told Times Ireland yesterday

magicbastarder

same story in the IT:
Over 2,000 on-the-spot fines for cyclists in three years
Breaking red light the most common offence, accounting for 1,546 fixed-charge notices
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/over-2-000-on-the-spot-fines-for-cyclists-in-three-years-1.3580196

just to compare to motorists:
"In 2014 there were 4,970 detections for cars breaking a red light"
http://www.thejournal.ie/red-lights-gardai-cars-2364065-Oct2015/

What Username Guidelines

magicbastarder wrote: »

same story in the IT:
Over 2,000 on-the-spot fines for cyclists in three years
Breaking red light the most common offence, accounting for 1,546 fixed-charge notices
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/over-2-000-on-the-spot-fines-for-cyclists-in-three-years-1.3580196

just to compare to motorists:
"In 2014 there were 4,970 detections for cars breaking a red light"
http://www.thejournal.ie/red-lights-gardai-cars-2364065-Oct2015/

“Tuesday evening’s road death brings to three the number of cyclists who have lost their lives on Irish roads so far this year”

Where did that happen? Couldn’t see an article on it.