Journalism and cycling

ford2600

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Looks like a fair point about warnings for novice cyclists - maybe the hire shops should have a role here

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/tourist-who-died-cycling-in-kerry-would-likely-never-have-attempted-route-if-there-were-better-warning-signs-daughters-say-37179002.html

It's a very sad story, but I'm not sure what in reality a bike hire company could do.

The vast majority of newbies hiring bikes aren't going up Gap of Dunloe; more like a spin around Mucross. Do you warn them all or canvass them as to their route before doing so?

To get to descent they would have ascended a similar road with a hairpin on southern side. If that doesn't put you on notice of the possibility of sharp turn on descent I'm not sure a oral/verbal warning from hire company would.

The land either side of road at top is unenclosed with decent sightlines considering the curvature of bends.

Signs might of helped but you'll need a lot more than one for this bend if applying same criteria for installation.

The article is not right calling it busy with traffic. There are signs both ends strongly discouraging vehicular access; in my 10 visits or so private cars are rare; with the odd exception.

The jaunting car drivers are ignorant cnuts ime and could do with some policing/regulation.

People, myself included, take part in activities on holidays which we are not fully equipped for. Most of the time things go just fine. I'm not sure there is a reasonable control to guarantee all such accidents don't occur

AndrewJRenko

ford2600 wrote: »

It's a very sad story, but I'm not sure what in reality a bike hire company could do.

How about they give out an A5 map with every rental with colour coding to show the danger areas? Maybe with a photo of the lady who died and a message from her family?

magicbastarder

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Maybe with a photo of the lady who died and a message from her family?

then they can close up their business at the end of the day after scaring off all their customers.

AndrewJRenko

magicbastarder wrote: »

then they can close up their business at the end of the day after scaring off all their customers.

Unlikely - do 'black spot' warning signs on roads scare off all the car rental customers?

Idleater

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Maybe with a photo of the lady who died and a message from her family?

???
I've never got a map from a tourist office with that kind of message. What counts as a warning?

Who is responsible for determining what is a danger?

Warning: cycle path besides river, beware of swan attacks....

ford2600

That map in A5 won't scale to anything meaningful. Maybe you can?

I've ridden those roads a lot; I don't know where I'd be happy not marking map for a newbie cyclist

mloc123

Humans are pretty good at evaluating risk themselves... I don't think we need specific warnings about all possible dangers.

Most people will look at a steep narrow road and know that they should adjust their speed accordingly.

AndrewJRenko

Idleater wrote: »

???
I've never got a map from a tourist office with that kind of message. What counts as a warning?

Who is responsible for determining what is a danger?

Warning: cycle path besides river, beware of swan attacks....

Have swans killed many cyclists in recent years?

Felexicon

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Have swans killed many cyclists in recent years?

Can we try to avoid another thread descending in to childish point scoring lads. It really is becoming unbearable at this stage

magicbastarder

magicbastarder wrote: »

i think i just heard mention of a cycling safety piece coming up on drivetime on radio 1 soon.

https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/rteradiowebpage.html#!rii=b9%5F10913234%5F83%5F02%2D08%2D2018%5F
2:13 in.

part 2:
https://slack-files.com/T5ZJ9QU7J-FC3UNRHGE-6835b71cf1

magicbastarder

nice to note that what seems to be a reasonable part 1, based on one comment by a cyclist about the behaviour or taxi drivers, they then go and talk to several taxi drivers about what they think of cyclists. because that's good journalism. balance.

magicbastarder

it's not about cycling, but i'm making it about cycling.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/shane-ross-defends-novel-plan-for-1-000-granny-grant-1.3585557

if minister (and i use the term loosely) ross was as interested in his own f***ing brief as much as he is in these stupid side issues, he'd be a great minister. the above plan would probably cost many multiples of various items he *should* be looking after.

tomasrojo

The Granny Grant has numerous problems (self-assessed? Yes, we'd like the full thousand euro, please), but what bothers me particularly is that parents whose parents are deceased, not living nearby, or are unwilling to help end up effectively subsidising extended families that already enjoy a distinct advantage.

Of course, Ross represents a constituency with a very high number of retirees, and a very high number of families with two parents working.

Rechuchote

a) The relatives of the cyclist who died are correct. Road signs with a graphic of a bike and something like "Slow: dangerous bends" should be on those roads in Kerry. The hairpin bends are absolutely deadly, not only for people cycling at speed but because drivers take them at speed.

b) 'Granny grants' of €20 a week are simply insulting. If the State wants to pay grandparents for childminding, it should do it at the same rate as other childminders.

magicbastarder

Rechuchote wrote: »

b) 'Granny grants' of €20 a week are simply insulting. If the State wants to pay grandparents for childminding, it should do it at the same rate as other childminders.

no-one knows how much this would cost. an irish times article i was reading suggested 'a vague estimate' of €70m. think of everything ross could achieve within his own brief with that much money.

Rechuchote

magicbastarder wrote: »

no-one knows how much this would cost. an irish times article i was reading suggested 'a vague estimate' of €70m. think of everything ross could achieve within his own brief with that much money.

That's ten times the amount spent on total national cycling infrastructure last year.

AndrewJRenko

magicbastarder wrote: »

https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/rteradiowebpage.html#!rii=b9%5F10913234%5F83%5F02%2D08%2D2018%5F
2:13 in.

part 2:
https://slack-files.com/T5ZJ9QU7J-FC3UNRHGE-6835b71cf1

Is the first link, the RTE one wrong? It seems to bring me to RTE Radio 1 live.

magicbastarder

it brings me to the RTE radio 1 player, seems to bring me to the right show.

Arcade_Tryer

Rechuchote wrote: »

b) 'Granny grants' of €20 a week are simply insulting. If the State wants to pay grandparents for childminding, it should do it at the same rate as other childminders.

c) The State should not be paying Grandparents for childminding.

Thargor

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

c) The State should not be paying Grandparents for childminding.

Literally taxing the parents who dont have grandparents to support them and giving it to those that do.

Arcade_Tryer

Thargor wrote: »

Literally taxing the parents who dont have grandparents to support them and giving it to those that do.

Also a transfer from the poor to the wealthy; wealthier people will have a longer life expectancy on average. Such a policy could only have been proposed by a person completely separated from the society they live in.

tomasrojo

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

Also a transfer from the wealthy to the poor; wealthier people will have a longer life expectancy on average. Such a policy could only have been proposed by a person completely separated from the society they live in.

That's just it. Ross is as locally focused a politician as the Healy-Raes. His constituency is full of people (parents and grandparents) who would benefit from this, sucking in money from less wealthy constituencies.

AndrewJRenko

tomasrojo wrote: »

That's just it. Ross is as locally focused a politician as the Healy-Raes. His constituency is full of people (parents and grandparents) who would benefit from this, sucking in money from less wealthy constituencies.

The attraction goes way behind his own constituency. Older people vote early and vote often, in heavier numbers than their younger counterparts. There was almost zero impact on older people of the years of 'austerity'. Remember the 'grey revolution' when they tried to means-test medical cards.


This is a simple vote grabbing measure, nothing more.

magicbastarder

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

Also a transfer from the wealthy to the poor

did you mean a transfer from the poor to the wealthy?

Arcade_Tryer

magicbastarder wrote: »

did you mean a transfer from the poor to the wealthy?

Yes; obviously found it hard to put such stupidity into words, whereas Ross manages to put it into a policy proposal.

tomasrojo

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

The attraction goes way behind his own constituency. Older people vote early and vote often, in heavier numbers than their younger counterparts. There was almost zero impact on older people of the years of 'austerity'. Remember the 'grey revolution' when they tried to means-test medical cards.


This is a simple vote grabbing measure, nothing more.

Sure, I can see other TDs getting behind it, if they think there are votes in it. And maybe a vote for another Independent might benefit Ross, in that it might allow him to keep his Independent Alliance grouping together, but he only benefits directly from votes in his own constituency, which this proposal is tailor-made for.

magicbastarder

tomasrojo wrote: »

His constituency is full of people (parents and grandparents) who would benefit from this

my mother (not in his constituency) was spitting fire over this, and if anyone was going to qualify for this 'grant', it's her.

she pointed out that my niece and nephew are staying with them tonight. and under the '10 hour a week rule', her and my dad would qualify, even though the kids are going to be asleep for most, nearly all, of that 10 hours.

homer911

Remind me what the title of this thread is again please?

P_1

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/council-to-erect-warning-signs-for-cyclists-at-gap-of-dunloe-after-fatality-1.3587298

Interesting. I wonder if they may contact their colleagues in Clare Co Co who ran a similar scheme in conjunction with Strava.

Rechuchote

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

c) The State should not be paying Grandparents for childminding.

Or if the State is going to pay grandparents, it should pay them at least the minimum wage.

P_1 wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/council-to-erect-warning-signs-for-cyclists-at-gap-of-dunloe-after-fatality-1.3587298

Kerry County Council is to erect warning signs for cyclists at the Gap of Dunloe following the death last summer of an American woman on the narrow pass.

Interesting. I wonder if they may contact their colleagues in Clare Co Co who ran a similar scheme in conjunction with Strava.

About time. That road is deadly for inexperienced cyclists.