Journalism and cycling

Seth Brundle

Deleted User wrote: »

I wouldn't hold my breath for a pay out from her, CAB just seized her assets.

Presumably she was insured?

Seth Brundle

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Cost of 2.7km Dublin cycle path jumps to €20m due to redesign
Fairview to Amiens Street route originally expected to cost €7m
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/cost-of-2-7km-dublin-cycle-path-jumps-to-20m-due-to-redesign-1.3807307

mr spuckler wrote: »

yep new water main, flood defence works, complete rebuild of the roadway & new footpaths both sides as well as the cycle lane!

and even when you read the story you can see that the entire scope of the planned works has changed from the original - so its not a cost escalation as such either.

This is currently being discussed on Newstalk with Ivan Yates chatting to Frank McDonald.
No mention of any change of scope, just the usual commentary about public sector overruns and a thousand references to the childrens hospital

Mickiemcfist

Seth Brundle wrote: »

This is currently being discussed on Newstalk with Ivan Yates chatting to Frank McDonald.
No mention of any change of scope, just the usual commentary about public sector overruns and a thousand references to the childrens hospital

To be fair, 20m is a ridiculous figure, it's not like there's CPO's going on. The main story for me as a cyclist is still public sector overruns, how damaging will this be to other cycling infrastructure projects.

CramCycle

Mickiemcfist wrote: »

To be fair, 20m is a ridiculous figure, it's not like there's CPO's going on. The main story for me as a cyclist is still public sector overruns, how damaging will this be to other cycling infrastructure projects.

But the 20million isn't for the cycling path, it is for a load of other stuff they want done in the area at the same time. I think its good that the work is all bundled together, it is bad that it is labelled as the cycle path work asa load of people take it up as, we shouldn't build cycle paths, shure that one cost 20M for 3km, so 6.7M/km.

Mickiemcfist

CramCycle wrote: »

But the 20million isn't for the cycling path, it is for a load of other stuff they want done in the area at the same time. I think its good that the work is all bundled together, it is bad that it is labelled as the cycle path work asa load of people take it up as, we shouldn't build cycle paths, shure that one cost 20M for 3km, so 6.7M/km.

Ahhh mea culpa. Thought that was for just the cycle path element of the work.

check_six

Mickiemcfist wrote: »

Ahhh mea culpa. Thought that was for just the cycle path element of the work.

That's how the casual observer will see it, which is a big problem.

Moflojo

CramCycle wrote: »

But the 20million isn't for the cycling path, it is for a load of other stuff they want done in the area at the same time. I think its good that the work is all bundled together, it is bad that it is labelled as the cycle path work asa load of people take it up as, we shouldn't build cycle paths, shure that one cost 20M for 3km, so 6.7M/km.

There's a new "esplanade" (a wide, shared walking & cycling path) being built just inside Fairview Park all the way through Fairview. This will run parallel to, but separated from, the city-bound cycleway.

There's a new "Greenway" path being built along the banks of the Tolka, also inside Fairview Park, that will link Alfie Byrne Road to Annesley Bridge.

Compared to the original design for the cycleway, there are now kerb-separated cycle tracks on each side of the road, physically segregated cycle tracks at the major junctions, and bus stop bypasses/islands at every bus stop along the route (I think). That's 5km (each side of the road) of kerb-separated and raised cycle tracks, junctions, and bus stops that were originally priced as being lines of paint.

There will be significant public realm enhancements all along the route, not just in Fairview, and I don't know how much of that was included in the original budget.

I believe there are some utilities being upgraded along the route too - not sure if they were budgeted for originally.

There's a new café being developed in Fairview Park too, but I'm not sure if that's part of this scheme at all or if it's being funded separately.

All in all, this scheme will be turning the route into a top class urban transport corridor, with a revamped public park thrown in for good measure.

It's not cheap, and I've no idea if it's good value for money, but there's a fair bit of bang for the buck.

zell12

Galway's school cycle bus is growing. Every kid should cycle to school
https://twitter.com/cosaingalway/status/1101418734495940610

Cetyl Palmitate

zell12 wrote: »

Galway's school cycle bus is growing. Every kid should cycle to school
https://twitter.com/cosaingalway/status/1101418734495940610

I passed the Limerick version this morning. Great to see a full green light cycle taken by bikes!

zell12

Catherine Connolly TD joined in the Galway school bus cycle this morning
Impressive

https://twitter.com/cosaingalway/status/1101469935614726144

ED E

Here for lack of somewhere better.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/man-found-not-guilty-of-dangerous-driving-causing-death-of-cyclist-in-kerry-908096.html

TBH Im fuming but not surprised.

what_traffic

zell12 wrote: »

Catherine Connolly TD joined in the Galway school bus cycle this morning
Impressive

When Catherine was Cllr in Galway City would always see her out and about on the bike in the City Centre

Thargor

ED E wrote: »

Here for lack of somewhere better.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/man-found-not-guilty-of-dangerous-driving-causing-death-of-cyclist-in-kerry-908096.html

TBH Im fuming but not surprised.

An off-duty garda travelling two cars behind Mr O’Mahony's vehicle told of seeing the deceased thrown 19 or 20 ft into the air.

Holy sh1t...

Not journalism, per se, but saw this on Reddit:

https://mobile.twitter.com/rohal_/status/1101398339587883008

The guy who posted it also said this:

I sent this to every member of the city council.

Here is the Actual response from Councillor Christy Burke:

"This is a Garda matter I can’t do anything about something that has happened .I must point out Day in day out some cyclist ride the wrong way

ED E

ED E wrote: »

Here for lack of somewhere better.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/man-found-not-guilty-of-dangerous-driving-causing-death-of-cyclist-in-kerry-908096.html

TBH Im fuming but not surprised.

Don't even know where to start on that one. Blood boiling :mad:

JMcL

Ebike sales last year in the Netherlands apparently approached 40% of total bike sales (total sales >1m, ebikes around 409k) according to the Guardian

JMcL

ED E wrote: »

Here for lack of somewhere better.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/man-found-not-guilty-of-dangerous-driving-causing-death-of-cyclist-in-kerry-908096.html

TBH Im fuming but not surprised.

Wow. Not even careless driving - whatever happened to "drive to the conditions" and all that. If you can't even get a conviction when a guard is an eyewitness, what hope :-(

Eamonnator

JMcL wrote: »

Wow. Not even careless driving - whatever happened to "drive to the conditions" and all that. If you can't even get a conviction when a guard is an eyewitness, what hope :-(

I wonder how the Garda was able to see the cyclist with the glaring sun!

ED E

I'd love to see the forensic collision investigators report, not that itll ever see the light of day.

AndrewJRenko

JMcL wrote: »

Wow. Not even careless driving - whatever happened to "drive to the conditions" and all that. If you can't even get a conviction when a guard is an eyewitness, what hope :-(

What happened to 'drive in a manner that allows you to stop within the distance they can see to be clear'?

Pinch Flat

Given the car centric mindset of most people, you’d wonder how a jury could deliberate impartially.

magicbastarder

well, they all think 'there but for the grace of god go i', but placing themselves in the driver's shoes, not the victim's.

Corca Baiscinn

ED E wrote: »

I'd love to see the forensic collision investigators report, not that itll ever see the light of day.

What is the story with those? Are they not public or read into the record of the court? If the man on the bike was thrown 20 feet into the air, what does that say about speed of the vehicle?

I've had the experience as I'm sure many of us have of encountering low winter sun while driving and apart from sunglasses( which you mightn't be wearing if it was otherwise dull) the thing to do is to slow to a crawl, so then would the cyclist be thrown 20 feet?

Given no conviction for driver I shudder to think of the likely verdict at the inquest and the further upset for the family.

ED E

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

What is the story with those? Are they not public or read into the record of the court? If the man on the bike was thrown 20 feet into the air, what does that say about speed of the vehicle?

I've had the experience as I'm sure many of us have of encountering low winter sun while driving and apart from sunglasses( which you mightn't be wearing if it was otherwise dull) the thing to do is to slow to a crawl, so then would the cyclist be thrown 20 feet?

They're part of the book of evidence and also the NTA are meant to send somebody for each fatal crash on non LA roads for a safety assessment.

IANAL but my understanding is the TRIAL is open to the public but the court records and book of evidence you need some standing to request. I may be wrong there.

Lumen

Difficult to judge from a newspaper article but it seems like the wrong charge was brought.

But it reads like the road was straight enough that the cyclist would have been clearly visible well in advance, and so sudden glare doesn't explain the crash.

AndrewJRenko

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Given the car centric mindset of most people, you’d wonder how a jury could deliberate impartially.

You're not the first to raise this issue;


http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.com/2016/04/it-is-time-to-rethink-defendants-right.html


And this isn't the first Irish case of a 'blinded' driver killing a cyclist getting off scott free:


https://irishcycle.com/2016/06/29/woman-blinded-by-sun-before-knocking-man-off-bicycle-found-not-guilty-of-careless-driving/

Large bottle small glass

Lumen wrote: »

Difficult to judge from a newspaper article but it seems like the wrong charge was brought.

But it reads like the road was straight enough that the cyclist would have been clearly visible well in advance, and so sudden glare doesn't explain the crash.

Hard to be certain, but road looks like it runs at about 185 degrees and then turns to about 220 degrees as it climbs to crest.

Sun would have been at 169 degrees and about 19 degrees above horizon at 11.15. So not exactly head on and in fact driver would have been turning away from it as he reached crest.

The expertise to establish all the above would have been possible 10 centuries ago(probably via an old man gone blind from sextant use and old charts) but now it's 30 seconds on Google.

Blinded by the sun will always get traction despite the certainty one can have to the contrary.

I've driven over 1m km over the last 20 years and have never got caught suddenly by glare.

Beyond reasonable doubt with a majority of jurors(and probably all drivers) is a high bar.

There was an identical case involving a pedestrian in Leinster somewhere a few years ago; but I never followed up on it,

CramCycle

Poster on here had camera footage on here that went all the way to court and IIRC the sun in my eyes thing was accepted as mitigating, even though the video clearly shows they were facing the wrong way for that to be possible.

mr spuckler

yep that was me. absolutely amazing how the RTC equivalent of the dog ate my homework is accepted as a genuine excuse for sh1t driving.

speaking of sh1t driving, how instructive is it that Kildare CoCo felt compelled to issue the following advice...

“We all know how treacherous driving conditions can be as a result of snow. Drivers should concentrate on the road ahead and managing their vehicle safely instead of recording videos as they drive,” said Road Safety Office Declan Keogh.

Doing the latter is illegal and it takes away the driver’s ability to control and manage the vehicle safely. It may also result in a collision which could end up far worse than the driver expected.

from here

of the 89 comments you can guess at how many are expressing outrage at the video recording drivers...

Duffryman

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

You're not the first to raise this issue;


http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.com/2016/04/it-is-time-to-rethink-defendants-right.html

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That's a very interesting piece.

The equivalent here would be to have causing death by dangerous driving cases dealt with by just a judge in the District Court, instead of by a jury in the Circuit Court. Might seem like a good idea to anybody who was unhappy with the jury verdict in that case last week.

However, the problem is that the maximum jail term a District Court can impose is one year (or two years, if found guilty on two or more charges that can carry consecutive sentences). And dangerous driving causing death carries a penalty of up to ten years.

This means that to allow those cases into the District Court, the law would have to be changed so that the maximum sentence for the offence would be just one year. Which would in turn only lead to another whole raft of unhappiness and protests about justice not being done if the culprit only gets a maximum of a year (and rightly so. One year is not enough if somebody is genuinely guilty of dangerous driving causing the death of another).

He makes a good point about jury trials, though. He points out how a jury can only determine guilt or innocence - it has no role in influencing or suggesting sentencing.

Maybe if a jury member is a little on the fence, they're more inclined now to say 'not guilty', in case the judge throws the book at the defendant, when the jury member doesn't think it's really warranted? They might be more inclined to vote 'guilty' if the jury could recommend that the punishment is at the lower end of the scale?