Journalism and cycling

Annie get your Run

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-39356514 :(

mr spuckler

Annie get your Run wrote: »

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-39356514 :(

I remember reading about that story before, absolutely horrendous. I can't even begin to imagine the impact on that poor woman to witness her daughter being killed and all while heavily pregnant.

buffalo

The IT editorial this morning... sigh. Cycling fatalities again subtly linked to traffic offences by cyclists.

The most common – and dangerous – offence for which fixed-charge fines were issued involved running red lights. This blatant behaviour accounted for almost half of all cyclist fines issued by gardaí. Inadequate lighting, front and rear, and riding in pedestrianised areas made up the bulk of the remainder.

...

Safety is, however, an overriding consideration and changes of attitude will be required to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries.

The same can be said of motorists who drink and drive. We all have responsibilities in this shared and dangerous space.

So now running a red light on a bike is like drinking and driving in a motor vehicle.


https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/the-irish-times-view-on-cycling-safety-a-dangerous-road-1.3589030

amcalester

buffalo wrote: »

The IT editorial this morning... sigh. Cycling fatalities again subtly linked to traffic offences by cyclists.



So now running a red light on a bike is like drinking and driving in a motor vehicle.


https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/the-irish-times-view-on-cycling-safety-a-dangerous-road-1.3589030

I like how it equates a decrease in the number of FPN's being issued with an improvement in cyclist behavior rather than a drop off in enforcement.

If AGS wanted the number of detections of any Road Traffic offence to climb they could easily do it, the rise in 2017 of cyclist related FPNs was because of a change in focus by AGS (at the expense of other offences not being enforced).

Annie get your Run

buffalo wrote: »

The IT editorial this morning... sigh. Cycling fatalities again subtly linked to traffic offences by cyclists.



So now running a red light on a bike is like drinking and driving in a motor vehicle.


https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/the-irish-times-view-on-cycling-safety-a-dangerous-road-1.3589030

Interlinked responsibilities???!!!! What f***ing planet are they living on! Articles like that only serve to get more cyclists killed or injured :mad:.

magicbastarder

Usual boilerplate nonsense about safety. However, I an intrigued by the comment that no details are available yet as to whether motor vehicles were involved in the fatalities this year. Would be very tempted to do a line by line quote to them in a letter of all their articles reporting those fatalities.

tomasrojo

The Irish Times has been riddled with false equivalency about cycling for quite some time.

(I'm pretty sure that, despite the IT claim, of the the FPN offences, going through a closed level crossing is orders of magnitude more dangerous than breaking a red light, averaging out.)

mr spuckler

magicbastarder wrote: »

Usual boilerplate nonsense about safety. However, I an intrigued by the comment that no details are available yet as to whether motor vehicles were involved in the fatalities this year. Would be very tempted to do a line by line quote to them in a letter of all their articles reporting those fatalities.

absolutely - the first thing I picked up on. what incredibly lazy journalism.

the whole piece is so poorly written too, regardless of your view on the content (which is terrible). smacks of the intern getting a run at an editorial.

edit to say - how can you say both of the below in the same piece without noting the obvious contradiction? the inference of the first is very clearly that cyclist's attitudes need to change, not attitudes of road users in general. so you don't know what caused them but attitudes of cyclists need to change to prevent more deaths!

Changes of attitude will be required to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries

No details are yet available concerning the circumstances of the fatalities or whether motor vehicles were involved.

tomasrojo

The assumption in the piece is rather flawed too. If you look at fatalities alone, the overall picture is that cycling isn't all that dangerous, and that it isn't far more dangerous than a few years ago, and better than ten years ago, if you factor in the much larger number of people cycling now. This year might complete what looks like an upward trend towards the end, but it doesn't look like it is so far:

(HT irishcycle.com)

Injuries might tell a different story, but we don't have good data for those, especially on the less serious side of things. And, of course, we have low levels of independent travel by children and the very elderly, which makes the figures look better than they might be otherwise, but that's been the case for years now.

tomasrojo

mr spuckler wrote: »

absolutely - the first thing I picked up on. what incredibly lazy journalism.

Every death in 2017 involved a motorised vehicle.

mr spuckler

a very sad read in the times today.

Crushed on a mountain road: the cyclists and the Isis militants

Rechuchote

magicbastarder wrote: »

Usual boilerplate nonsense about safety. However, I an intrigued by the comment that no details are available yet as to whether motor vehicles were involved in the fatalities this year. Would be very tempted to do a line by line quote to them in a letter of all their articles reporting those fatalities.

Do that!

buffalo

mr spuckler wrote: »

a very sad read in the times today.

Crushed on a mountain road: the cyclists and the Isis militants

Their blog has some amazing posts. Horrible that it ended like that.

http://www.simplycycling.org/

Annie get your Run

buffalo wrote: »

Their blog has some amazing posts. Horrible that it ended like that.

http://www.simplycycling.org/

What a tragic story, I couldn't bring myself to read the blog...

Grassey

Grassey wrote: »

http://www.thejournal.ie/cork-city-grand-experiment-3967967-Apr2018/



Shame to try canning it so quick, should have let it run over the summer months to assess properly.

Heard on the radio earlier that this is starting back today after discussion with the shop owners who now are in support of it. Closed from 3 to 6:30pm

And as an added bonus as part of this, some cafe on Cary St will give a free pastry to any cyclists who present their helmet when buying a coffee...

magicbastarder

That could be read the wrong way.

Melodeon

Coffee stop comfort break?

For ultimate effect, you'd need to have a domestique buddy push you towards the counter as you present said helmet...

Grassey

magicbastarder wrote: »

That could be read the wrong way.

I originally assumed it was an amnesty stunt and that the scourge of high vis would be next to be taken off the streets... but your interpretation is likely more accurate

tomasrojo

Grassey wrote: »

Heard on the radio earlier that this is starting back today after discussion with the shop owners who now are in support of it. Closed from 3 to 6:30pm

And as an added bonus as part of this, some cafe on Cary St will give a free pastry to any cyclists who present their helmet when buying a coffee...

Maybe I'm bad-minded, but this is one of those "the RIGHT kind" of cyclists things?

Corca Baiscinn

tomasrojo wrote: »

Maybe I'm bad-minded, but this is one of those "the RIGHT kind" of cyclists things?

Trying to think what I could present instead assumig the bike parking not right outside. I have panniers but some people would have a back-pack. You might have the lights in your pocket to avoid theft or how about a water bottle? I suppose a scrunched up high-viz would fit in pocket too but would that be selling out?

buffalo

magicbastarder wrote: »

That could be read the wrong way.

I only got this post after 13 hours.

Grassey

Maybe the lack of uptake free pastries during the 3.5 hour window will be proof that the bus corridor doesn't work and therefore cars should be allowed back. Thereby increasing footfall or something. That's my cynical hat on!

tomasrojo

Grease tattoo on the gastrocnemius?

I think they need to accept several forms of ID.

Pinch Flat

Grassey wrote: »

Heard on the radio earlier that this is starting back today after discussion with the shop owners who now are in support of it. Closed from 3 to 6:30pm

And as an added bonus as part of this, some cafe on Cary St will give a free pastry to any cyclists who present their helmet when buying a coffee...

I was in cork last Friday at a meeting. Just off Patrick street. My meeting was delayed, so I missed my train. Being a bank holiday weekend, I was anxious to get back to Dublin. So aimed for the 4.30pm train.

For the next train, I got delayed again. Came out in a panic and went to the taxi rank. Traffic stationary either way. Guy couldn’t guarantee getting me the 1.5km to the station in 20 minutes by car. I was unfamiliar with cork, had been up since 4am so didn’t want to get lost and end up on an even later train. In the end I pegged it - not ideal with a business suit on, big bag and a baking hot day arriving in a lather of sweat. But made my train home.....barely....

Thinkingaboutit

buffalo wrote: »

The IT editorial this morning... sigh. Cycling fatalities again subtly linked to traffic offences by cyclists.



So now running a red light on a bike is like drinking and driving in a motor vehicle.


https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/the-irish-times-view-on-cycling-safety-a-dangerous-road-1.3589030

I cannot work out whether the writer of that editorial has difficulties with expressing thoughts logically, or is twisting and selecting evidence towards some mistaken idea strongly held. Probably both. IT editorials can be worst part of that paper, and there's strong competition throughout.

tomasrojo

Thinkingaboutit wrote: »

I cannot work out whether the writer of that editorial has difficulties with expressing thoughts logically, or is twisting and selecting evidence towards some mistaken idea strongly held. Probably both. IT editorials can be worst part of that paper, and there's strong competition throughout.

irishcycle.com wrote about it too:
http://irishcycle.com/2018/08/08/irish-times-view-on-cycling-safety-shows-the-newspaper-hasnt-a-clue/

When they write about cycling, they do come across like the Daily Telegraph writing about Irish people.

Rechuchote

Pinch Flat wrote: »

I was in cork last Friday at a meeting. Just off Patrick street. My meeting was delayed, so I missed my train. Being a bank holiday weekend, I was anxious to get back to Dublin. So aimed for the 4.30pm train.

For the next train, I got delayed again. Came out in a panic and went to the taxi rank. Traffic stationary either way. Guy couldn’t guarantee getting me the 1.5km to the station in 20 minutes by car. I was unfamiliar with cork, had been up since 4am so didn’t want to get lost and end up on an even later train. In the end I pegged it - not ideal with a business suit on, big bag and a baking hot day arriving in a lather of sweat. But made my train home.....barely....

For future ref, there's a nice cycle path from the bus station to the train station that squiggles through lanes and takes two minutes to cycle - short walk too.

Sal Butamol

Ulrich arrested after attacking prostitute

https://m.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/former-tour-de-france-champion-arrested-for-allegedly-attacking-prostitute-in-luxury-hotel-37203878.html

Lot more to the story there, really looks like he's been in self destruct mode for a while now.

magicbastarder

Council failing to meet demand for cycle infrastructure, documents show
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/council-failing-to-meet-demand-for-cycle-infrastructure-documents-show-1.3594056

not much meat to that. FOI request shows public is unhappy. there's no actual quantification of demand.