Journalism and cycling

AndrewJRenko

average_runner wrote: »

Our governments are short term voting thinkers.

Possibly because our voters are short term voting thinkers, happier to vote for populist waffle than to look at actual evidence

average_runner

Duckjob wrote: »

Better infrastructure for who though? If you mean for people to cycle run and walk then I agree with you 100%. If you make more space for cars, then more cars with appear to fill that space.

The dutch model of liveable cities didn't just involve making things better for people on bikes, it simultaneously involved making things worse for people in cars. People need stick as well as carrot to encourage them out of the cars. Trouble is, anything like that is not going to be popular with the Ivan Yates crowd, and politicians know this well, and so the car-centric society continues.

If we get a good luas and bus infrastructure, there might be less cars on the road which in turn can lead to better infrastructure for cyclists in town as roads can be designed for cyclists.

average_runner

Thinkingaboutit wrote: »

PR-STV voting makes penalising a section of voters with lobby groups unwise, particularly given the last year or so of minority govt, so the current mess has a long time to run.

We are a republic since 1949, the mess started then!

magicbastarder

07Lapierre wrote: »

The man killed at night was crossing the road near Christchurch Cathedral.

Dublin cyclist killed in freak “split second” accident, inquest rules

A cyclist killed in Dublin last year lost his balance when dismounting from his bike and was hit by a passing taxi, an inquest has heard.

The taxi man driving the car was carrying three doctors as passengers at the time. However, while they tried to save Paul Hannon he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Details of Mr Hannon’s death emerged at his inquest before Dublin Coroner’s Court today.

http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/cyclist-killed-dublin-freak-accident

LeinsterDub

average_runner wrote: »

We are a republic since 1949, the mess started then!

We've had PR since the foundation of the state. Nothing changed in 49 bar clarifying we were a republic and out of the commonwealth

Grassey

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/cyclist-killed-in-latenight-city-taxi-crash-may-have-stopped-to-fix-his-bike-chain-inquest-hears-37485805.html

P_1

Grassey wrote: »

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/cyclist-killed-in-latenight-city-taxi-crash-may-have-stopped-to-fix-his-bike-chain-inquest-hears-37485805.html

Unfortunately I suspect the poor gentleman got the cuff of his trousers caught in the chain in this case.

Very easy to happen on a singlespeed and has happened to me on a few occasions. The bike just stops and you just go down similarly to how you go down when you can't unclip when clipped in.

Tragic for both his family and for the driver who hit him, reading the report I don't think theres anything they could have done here

P_1

Grassey wrote: »

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/cyclist-killed-in-latenight-city-taxi-crash-may-have-stopped-to-fix-his-bike-chain-inquest-hears-37485805.html

Unfortunately I suspect the poor gentleman got the cuff of his trousers caught in the chain in this case.

Very easy to happen on a singlespeed and has happened to me on a few occasions. The bike just stops and you just go down similarly to how you go down when you can't unclip when clipped in.

Tragic for both his family and for the driver who hit him, reading the report I don't think theres anything they could have done here

mr spuckler

P_1 wrote: »

Tragic for both his family and for the driver who hit him, reading the report I don't think theres anything they could have done here

it's interesting though that the Gardaí did prepare a file for the DPP, suggests there was sufficient room for concern.

P_1

mr spuckler wrote: »

it's interesting though that the Gardaí did prepare a file for the DPP, suggests there was sufficient room for concern.

True but my understanding (source a friend who is a gard) that this is common practice when investigating such matters

Eamonnator

mr spuckler wrote: »

it's interesting though that the Gardaí did prepare a file for the DPP, suggests there was sufficient room for concern.

But any concern, that the Gardai had, was eased, when the D.P.P. decided not to prosecute.

What Username Guidelines

Grassey wrote: »

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/cyclist-killed-in-latenight-city-taxi-crash-may-have-stopped-to-fix-his-bike-chain-inquest-hears-37485805.html

Such a terrible story, very sobering to think how a simple fall can lead to this. Such a waste. May he rest in peace.

Duckjob

average_runner wrote: »

If we get a good luas and bus infrastructure, there might be less cars on the road which in turn can lead to better infrastructure for cyclists in town as roads can be designed for cyclists.

I agree completely. I would love to see all of the city center roadspace given over to trams, buses , cycle paths and paths.

For buses, I would like to see electric buses replace the current smelly old double deckers, and the road lanes for those buses setup in such a way that it self calms traffic and enforces low speed, just wide enough for 1 bus, chicanes, raised cobble locked paving etc. Bus speeds should be enforced to be similar to Luas speeds in the city.

zell12

Don't forget to let Newstalk know about your commute and its dangers

Starting Monday 5th November, we are delving into the life of the commuter.
We want to know how can we improve the daily commute?
What does the future of commuting hold?
What is currently being done by key stakeholders to improve the situation?
Tune in to Ireland’s Commuter Hell all next week and tell us your travel story by emailing commuter@newstalk.com or tweeting at @NewstalkFM
https://www.newstalk.com/Irelands-Commuter-Hell

magicbastarder

not about cycling, but there's a report out about people walking in front of luas trams.
apparently fining pedestrians and cyclists for not wearing hi-vis is the way forward, according to a listener to newstalk, which came close to being endorsed by the presenter. because wearing hi-vis helps you concentrate on not walking out in front of a moving tram.

Chips Lovell

Meanwhile, in the Daily Mail:

Giggling yobs launch a rocket at cyclist from a moving car and appear to score a direct hit as the rider is engulfed in sparks in shocking footage

Lumen

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

Meanwhile, in the Daily Mail:

Giggling yobs launch a rocket at cyclist from a moving car and appear to score a direct hit as the rider is engulfed in sparks in shocking footage

According to that story the cyclist just carried on regardless.

Ray Bloody Purchase

He literally got a rocket up his hole.

tomasrojo

magicbastarder wrote: »

not about cycling, but there's a report out about people walking in front of luas trams.
apparently fining pedestrians and cyclists for not wearing hi-vis is the way forward, according to a listener to newstalk, which came close to being endorsed by the presenter. because wearing hi-vis helps you concentrate on not walking out in front of a moving tram.

Even the official framing of that story is off, because the change in emergency stops caused by pedestrians is quite small (203->223), so they seem to have been looking for any statistic that would let them launch a pre-prepared bit about "distracted pedestrians".

Also, there are more emergency stops caused by drivers IIRC, so why are pedestrians the story? There are more of them in the city centre, and they cause fewer emergency stops.

tomasrojo

Yeah, 266 emergency stops caused by motorists:
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/luas-reveals-emergency-brake-used-13536728

tomasrojo

And there's the most plausible explanation for the (small) increase, rather than phone use:

In 2018 so far, trams on both lines combined have travelled 3.5 million kilometres compared to 3.1 million kilometres in total last year.

TheChizler

tomasrojo wrote: »

And there's the most plausible explanation for the (small) increase, rather than phone use:

So proportionally the number of emergency stops has gone down!

Fighting Tao

TheChizler wrote: »

So proportionally the number of emergency stops has gone down!

That can't be sensationalised for the news and so they won't report it correctly.

Hurrache

Some probably know that Newstalk are doing a week of 'nightmare' commutes. This is one of them from the first day, completely insane, but not for the reasons the Newstalk reporters wants us to think. Read the comments from him for the details of the commute.
https://twitter.com/BarryWhyte85/status/1059506687760048128

check_six

Hurrache wrote: »

Some probably know that Newstalk are doing a week of 'nightmare' commutes. This is one of them from the first day, completely insane, but not for the reasons the Newstalk reporters wants us to think. Read the comments from him for the details of the commute.
https://twitter.com/BarryWhyte85/status/1059506687760048128

So this piece is about a lady in Galway who commutes 5km to work and spends an hour to do each leg of the journey. The responses on twitter ask some very obvious questions about the choice of mode of transport. The reporter seems shocked that anyone would even consider using a mode other than motor vehicle. I'd like to say that I am shocked by his reaction, but sadly, I am not!

Chips Lovell

You'd walk 5km in an hour.

check_six

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

You'd walk 5km in an hour.

You'd STROLL 5km in an hour!

buffalo

check_six wrote: »

So this piece is about a lady in Galway who commutes 5km to work and spends an hour to do each leg of the journey. The responses on twitter ask some very obvious questions about the choice of mode of transport. The reporter seems shocked that anyone would even consider using a mode other than motor vehicle. I'd like to say that I am shocked by his reaction, but sadly, I am not!

oh Barry Whyte is the reporter? I thought he was some dude.

"Needs the car for work, on occasions she has to travel." reads to me as "could cycle some of the time, not arsed varying my routine".

Hurrache

check_six wrote: »

The reporter seems shocked that anyone would even consider using a mode other than motor vehicle. I'd like to say that I am shocked by his reaction, but sadly, I am not!

His reaction was what made it for me. Initially tried to insinuate there were reasons she had to drive by asking a guy did he watch the video, a 4 second compressed series, then tried to make it sound longer than it was, 10km, er ok then, 5km each way. Bizarre.

I think he was just trying to hype things up, he has a career in the tabloids ahead.

tomasrojo

I remember when I used to have a nightmare commute to pre-school with my two kids. 5km each way, walking. Nightmare. It took a bit over half an hour. Each way. I can barely bring myself to speak of it.

EDIT: Actually it was 3km, now I think about it. We did used to walk 5km quite often as well though while getting about.