Journalism and cycling

tomasrojo

magicbastarder wrote: »

clearly he would have been kilt outright had it not been for the helmet.

Let me just check the table ... yes, you're right.

            Ok                   Death           Serious Injury

Helmet      Helmet prevented    (S)he did all    Dead without helmet 
            all injury          (s)he could                             

No Helmet   Incredibly lucky,   What do you      Helmet would have 
            irresponsible       expect?          meant no injury

mr spuckler

Similarly...

"As far as the female who passed away unfortunately, yesterday, I believe she was riding off the bike lane, you know," Officer Negron said. "It's sad, but it's sad that she was off the bike lane, you know? Maybe if she had been on the bike lane, maybe she'd still be alive."

https://gothamist.com/2019/06/25/cops_ticketing_cyclists_nyc.php

mistermaster

blackwhite wrote: »

To be fair to “whoever” was driving the car at the time - the article doesn’t state the time of the incident - so it could have well been outside of the 7-7 hours for that bay

Also, the article says it happened close to a loading bay, not in a loading bay. The car could have been half on/half off the footpath outside that Costa Coffee or dental clinic, for example.

As regards the helmet thing, what I actually took from it was that the helmet helped prevent him from suffering head injuries along with the shoulder and hand injuries. Or in other words, it could have been a lot worse for him if he hadn't been wearing a helmet. Then again, I'm on the "always wear a helmet" side of that issue. I know many others are not. Each to their own.

magicbastarder

there are two types of dooring, we need extra fancy words to distinguish them; one is where the door is opened into the cyclist - i.e. the cyclist is struck on the side by the opening door and potentially knocked out into the traffic.
the second is where the door is opened in front of the cyclist, who doesn't have time to stop, and cycles into the door.

Pinch Flat

Peoples reactions are funny when they nearly door a cyclist. Usually hostile / defensive in my experience. It's like "what are you doing there" and you point out "it's a bike lane FFS!".

Duckjob

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Peoples reactions are funny when they nearly door a cyclist. Usually hostile / defensive in my experience. It's like "what are you doing there" and you point out "it's a bike lane FFS!".

Most probably they're the same fools that beep when driving behind you and you're riding clear of the door zone past parked cars.

Thelonious Monk

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Peoples reactions are funny when they nearly door a cyclist. Usually hostile / defensive in my experience. It's like "what are you doing there" and you point out "it's a bike lane FFS!".

I got nailed by a door on St Stephen's Green a couple of years ago and cut my leg and jeans open. He was apologetic and I was in shock and basically told him to go away as I was pissed off.
Looking back what are you supposed to do in these situations? I mean I was hurt and a good pair of jeans wrecked, are there legal procedures for these kind of minor incidents? I suppose when you hear about coffee spilling and Maria Bailey cases in the courts this was a fair bit worse.

tomasrojo

tomasrojo wrote: »

I'm not sure what the consequences of the protest (largely successful in the short term, by the look of it) will be. I assume in future they'll factor in that there might be protesters. This might mean:
1. reconsider the Docklands or temporarily leasing private coach parking
2. make sure the Gardaí are prepared to arrest people

Think Dublin City Council are making it clear that there'll be no more coach parking on the cycle track on Alfie Byrne Road:
https://twitter.com/colisherlock/status/1145956300779638784

07Lapierre

tomasrojo wrote: »

Think Dublin City Council are making it clear that there'll be no more coach parking on the cycle track on Alfie Byrne Road:

They need chains linking one post to the next. The gap between each pole looks wide enough for a bus to drive onto the bike track?

Qrt

Lumen wrote: »

This is being proposed near where I live, by the council. Narrowing junctions slows traffic and reduces the TED for peds. They're also planning to put Sheffield stands in the reclaimed space.

I like this plan because it benefits all road users and peds. It's not cycling infrastructure, it's just good spatial planning.

The plan is opposed by various idiot NIMBYs.

Where abouts is this? Genuinely curious!

tomasrojo

07Lapierre wrote: »

They need chains linking one post to the next. The gap between each pole looks wide enough for a bus to drive onto the bike track?

Yeah, maybe. Probably requires a hard left followed by a hard right, potentially scraping up the side of the bus on a bollard? I don't know.

tomasrojo

Yeah, based on the photo in this, I think they are too far apart.

https://irishcycle.com/2019/07/02/bollards-aimed-to-stop-croke-park-coach-parking-on-popular-s2s-cycle-path/

One of the comments says they're flexible too. So probably not as encouraging as at first glance.

CramCycle

Possibly but for a 52 seater with no room to take a wide turn, it would be tight. I imagine it might be for ambulances to be able to access in an emergency.

ED E

tomasrojo wrote: »

Yeah, based on the photo in this, I think they are too far apart.

https://irishcycle.com/2019/07/02/bollards-aimed-to-stop-croke-park-coach-parking-on-popular-s2s-cycle-path/

The distance doesnt matter, they drive over them. Until DCC get DSPS some HGV towing trucks and start towing them away the coach companies won't stop. Nor the taxis, nor the couriers.

tomasrojo

Yeah, if they're actually flexible, they might well drive over them.

tomasrojo

Nice touch. Late mention in Irish Cycle story:

I Bike Dublin said this afternoon that they planned to protest again this Friday, but they will now hold a picnic to thank Dublin City Council:

mr spuckler

07Lapierre wrote: »

They need chains linking one post to the next. The gap between each pole looks wide enough for a bus to drive onto the bike track?

the ones further up on the other side seem to be much closer together, that's the main location of concern regarding coach parking.

on the side that was done yesterday morning, of course there was a car up on the path at the bottle bank during rush hour yesterday evening :mad:

Seth Brundle

Over in Saumur (France) at the moment and they are having the Velo Vintage, a historic or retro cycling event over three days.
Not sure how many people are expected yet but I reckon hundreds, if not thousands.
Posters in pretty much every shop in the town. Big festival in town planned also. It's a massive tourism and business opportunity.

We in Dublin recently held a European cycling conference and there was sweet fa anywhere public about it.

https://www.anjou-velo-vintage.com/en/2-uncategorised/64-2018-registration-will-open-soon

Idleater

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Over in Saumur (France) at the moment and they are having the Velo Vintage, a historic or retro cycling event over three days.


https://www.anjou-velo-vintage.com/en/2-uncategorised/64-2018-registration-will-open-soon

Added to holiday planning list.

Duckjob

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Over in Saumur (France) at the moment and they are having the Velo Vintage, a historic or retro cycling event over three days.
Not sure how many people are expected yet but I reckon hundreds, if not thousands.
Posters in pretty much every shop in the town. Big festival in town planned also. It's a massive tourism and business opportunity.

We in Dublin recently held a European cycling conference and there was sweet fa anywhere public about it.

https://www.anjou-velo-vintage.com/en/2-uncategorised/64-2018-registration-will-open-soon

Nope, here they'd prefer to spend their time enthusing about tech coming in your next new car like they did on NT a while ago this morning.

Definitely no climate emergency or need to change people's thinking about the car there in the leafy NT studios.

brocbrocach

Had to chuckle when I saw this quote in a piece in the Guardian on the channel 5 programme Cyclists: Scourge of the Roads?.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2019/jul/08/channel-5s-nonsense-will-make-me-and-other-cyclists-less-safe
Brought our very own official 'expert' and his busy bees to mind:

The language of prejudice and hatred tends to have one thing in common – it seeks to creates “outgroups”, those who are seen as another, not part of the mainstream. At its more sinister ends, it also uses language which views the outgroup as somehow less than human.

Amazingly, the programme does both. The narration refers to “swarms” of cyclists, while one interviewee, a London taxi driver, likens them to “a plague of locusts coming down the road”.

Weepsie

That "documentary" is on tomorrow at 9.15 on Channel5 by the by

AndrewJRenko

brocbrocach wrote: »

Had to chuckle when I saw this quote in a piece in the Guardian on the channel 5 programme Cyclists: Scourge of the Roads?.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2019/jul/08/channel-5s-nonsense-will-make-me-and-other-cyclists-less-safe
Brought our very own official 'expert' and his busy bees to mind:

The language of prejudice and hatred tends to have one thing in common – it seeks to creates “outgroups”, those who are seen as another, not part of the mainstream. At its more sinister ends, it also uses language which views the outgroup as somehow less than human.

Amazingly, the programme does both. The narration refers to “swarms” of cyclists, while one interviewee, a London taxi driver, likens them to “a plague of locusts coming down the road”.

At least the UK version is just the production of a tabloid TV channel. The Irish version was a production of the statutory body responsible for road safety, funded by the Government.

Seth Brundle

Another letter in today's Irish Times...
Will cyclists get the message?

Sir, – A couple of days ago my husband and I were driving home along the coast road towards Westport when we saw a cyclist in front of us. We hung back until the road was clear to overtake him.

We gave him a wide berth and as we passed, noticed he was on his phone, one hand on the handlebars the other clutching his phone, eyes down looking at his phone whilst he messaged. We could not quite believe it.

Just wondered, whose fault would it have been if by some unlucky chance the cyclist had wobbled more than he already was and we had clipped him? Luckily there were no pedestrians attempting to cross the road as they would not have had a chance.

Come on cyclists, take some responsibility for your actions. I am weary with the blame always being laid at the motorists’ door for bad behaviour on the roads.

In my opinion this cyclist’s behaviour was sheer stupidity and could well have endangered his life as well as other road users. – Yours, etc,

RITA MOORE,

Westport,

Co Mayo.

Not justifying whatever the cyclist was doing but I wonder how many cars she passed wheee the driver was breaking the law

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/will-cyclists-get-the-message-1.3947986

Weepsie

I am weary with the blame always being laid at the motorists’ door for bad behaviour on the roads.

This is the most tiresome bit if you ask me. You could easily flip to cyclists that and it would ring more true.

tomasrojo

Deaths are often attributed to cars, because duh. Motorists, not so much.

tampopo

Seth Brundle wrote: »

We in Dublin recently held a European cycling conference and there was sweet fa anywhere public about it.

It was for diehards with €700 to burn.

Duckjob

New EPA report out showing dangerous levels of Nitrogen dioxide in Dublin city streets due to heavy presence of motorized traffic and linking it directly to increased respiratory problems such as asthma, emphysema, lung cancer etc.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2019/0708/1060952-nitrogen-oxide/

How much of this before politicians and planners start paying some real attention to cycling ? Will they even? Or will it just be "better get those electric car incentives rolled out lads!"

Link to the EPA report

CramCycle

Duckjob wrote: »

New EPA report out showing dangerous levels of Nitrogen dioxide in Dublin city streets due to heavy presence of motorized traffic and linking it directly to increased respiratory problems such as asthma, emphysema, lung cancer etc.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2019/0708/1060952-nitrogen-oxide/

How much of this before politicians and planners start paying some real attention to cycling ? Will they even? Or will it just be "better get those electric car incentives rolled out lads!"

Link to the EPA report

recent Council and Government meetings:

JMcL

CramCycle wrote: »

recent Council and Government meetings:

The f**k budget has been slashed this year to pay for the childrens hospital, broadband, and whatever company out there owned by our favourite litigious Maltese telecom exec, friend of the blueshirts, that needs a few quid thrown at it for some contract or other