Journalism and cycling

Chuchote

Pinch Flat wrote: »

The Irish Times, as a paper supported heavily by the motor industry, has a vested interest in dangerising cycling. They're part of the problem, not the solution.

That's a bit conspiracish. Newspapers don't really work like that - they may buy ad features, but reporters and feature writers are unlikely to take an editorial stance based on income from an industry. And after all, the organisations quoted saying there are probably "thousands" of injuries are cycling organisations.

I love Sean nos

This man collided with a bus apparently. Not the description that I would have chosen for such as event.

https://twitter.com/Channel4News/status/879743104718393345

check_six

I love Sean nos wrote: »

This man collided with a bus apparently. Not the description that I would have chosen for such as event.

https://twitter.com/Channel4News/status/879743104718393345

"X-Men mutants battle versus Autobots unleashed on streets of Britain" might be a little closer to being accurate here.

Also, I will be recommending RSA switches their overtures for Hi-Vis to black leather waistcoats. Clearly the more indestructible of the two varieties of outerwear. Or was it the lack of Hi Vis everywhere that caused the bus to veer wildly out of control and smash up the street and the X-Man?

plodder

".. he then walks through the door of a pub relatively unharmed..."
I guess you'd need a drink after that..

It's interesting though, that the front of a bus makes a fairly clean impact, as opposed to a car that just cuts your legs from under you, and the fact the bus was turning, meant he was thrown clear of it. Incredible footage though.

Moflojo

I love Sean nos wrote: »

This man collided with a bus apparently. Not the description that I would have chosen for such as event.

The opening footage of the man walking across the road is a bit misleading in itself because the poor guy actually has both feet on the footpath at the time that he "collided with the bus". So he collided with a bus by being on a footpath, which was itself separated from the roadway by a relatively wide cycle path. Pedestrians really are going out of their way to collide with vehicles these days.

My point is that there are probably some who would interpret this video as that of a pedestrian struck by a bus "while crossing the road" when he had in fact already crossed the road and was struck by a bus while walking on the footpath.

Budawanny

The Irish times has steadily become more bike friendly in recent months to be honest.

ED E

Budawanny wrote: »

The Irish times has steadily become more bike friendly in recent months to be honest.

+1. Two or three really good pieces. They're wholly responsible for clearing the Phoenix park contraflow in my eyes (they shared a video, next day gards put down 50 cones and cleared it).

tomasrojo

Chuchote wrote: »

And after all, the organisations quoted saying there are probably "thousands" of injuries are cycling organisations.

Yeah, two of the RSA points in the article seem reasonable: the rise is mostly an artifact from changing how they compile the figures, and there has been a large rise in the number of cyclists anyway, so the rate may not have changed.

I feel a little uneasy ... I feel a disturbance in the fabric of the universe ...

tomasrojo

It would be good to get a better idea of how many injuries there are though. And stick with that metric for a good few years.

check_six

Man caught stealing bicycles from apartment complex jailed:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/criminal-court/man-caught-stealing-bicycles-from-apartment-complex-jailed-1.3143238

A custodial sentence! Wonders will never cease.

Chuchote

Budawanny wrote: »

The Irish times has steadily become more bike friendly in recent months to be honest.

New editor. It's also become far more newsy. Much better paper overall.

AndrewJRenko

A good start

https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2017/0704/887762-i-bike-dublin/

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/dublin-cyclists-stand-up-to-illegal-parking-1.3143444?mode=amp

Chuchote

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

A good start

https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2017/0704/887762-i-bike-dublin/

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/dublin-cyclists-stand-up-to-illegal-parking-1.3143444?mode=amp

The iBIKEDublin group is looking to make contact with other cycling groups, by the way.

Chuchote

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/greater-safety-measures-needed-for-cyclists-says-woman-left-paralysed-1.3143370

Greater safety measures needed for cyclists, says woman left paralysed
‘Drivers: check your mirrors and be conscious of other users on the roads’

Seán Dunne

A cyclist left paralysed from the chest down following a collision with a lorry has called for greater safety measures to protect cyclists.
A collision with a lorry in October 2013, when she was cycling on the Longford-Mullingar road, left Geraldine Lavelle paralysed from the chest down.

“I was a keen cyclist, I cycled 25-30km Monday to Friday before work and I was only getting into it when the accident occurred. I had done one 60km race and one 100km race before the accident.”

mcgratheoin

Don't mean to be comparing apples with oranges, but following the recent tragic farm death I was amazed to hear that there have been 15 deaths on farms in 2017 so far. There's a very different discourse around two activities that probably have broadly similar ksi rates.

tomasrojo

mcgratheoin wrote: »

Don't mean to be comparing apples with oranges, but following the recent tragic farm death I was amazed to hear that there have been 15 deaths on farms in 2017 so far. There's a very different discourse around two activities that probably have broadly similar ksi rates.

There is one similarity: a recent report on high rates of injury and death among farm workers highlighted measures that are not being taken by workers, and in among them was ... not wearing hiviz.

tomasrojo

Farming being a dangerous line of work does make the news every now and then:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/farming-and-building-most-dangerous-jobs-in-the-state-1.1881545
From three years ago.

Social work, construction and fishing among the more hazardous lines of work too, it says. Doesn't mention being a Garda, which is a stereotypical "dangerous job" in popular discourse.

mr spuckler

on that Luas story I like the progression in the article...

“We may have to have some streets that aren’t cycling streets, that aren’t cycle-friendly streets and cyclists may be directed onto other routes where there can be the segregated cycle route.”

i look forward to those segregated routes of which he speaks.

but then he continues...

He added that while motorists have a responsibility to look out for cyclists, cyclists themselves should not just “whizz through red lights” as he said many of them do.

in the article there's no connection between the 2, he just jumps straight into that comment!

ED E

The article mentions a different name lower down to the parties introduced? Typo?

tomasrojo

I'm not seeing any "compromise" in what's described in the article. It's pretty much describing a restriction in where cyclists can go. That's not a compromise.

I love Sean nos

tomasrojo wrote: »

Doesn't mention being a Garda, which is a stereotypical "dangerous job" in popular discourse.

The danger level drops right off if you show up to the scene of the alleged crime over an hour after the call was received. Or so I've heard.

tomasrojo

Well, I don't doubt it's a more dangerous job than average, but since I first saw that article it's struck me that people take the danger inherent in a Garda's job as a rationale not to criticise and to chide those who are critical, whereas social workers, who seem to have at least an equivalently dangerous job, seem to be fair game.

I love Sean nos

tomasrojo wrote: »

Well, I don't doubt it's a more dangerous job than average, but since I first saw that article it's struck me that people take the danger inherent in a Garda's job as a rationale not to criticise and to chide those who are critical, whereas social workers, who seem to have at least an equivalently dangerous job, seem to be fair game.

Had cause to be looking up personal accident insurance and was surprised to see that RSA won't insure actors. Members of the armed services, dancers, etc. I understand, but actors?

check_six

I love Sean nos wrote: »

Had cause to be looking up personal accident insurance and was surprised to see that RSA won't insure actors. Members of the armed services, dancers, etc. I understand, but actors?

"So, for this role you will need to be able to ride a horse, swordfight, and swing from the mast of a ship in full sail. You can do those things, like you stated in your CV, yes?"

"Gulp....!"

Chuchote

I love Sean nos wrote: »

Had cause to be looking up personal accident insurance and was surprised to see that RSA won't insure actors. Members of the armed services, dancers, etc. I understand, but actors?

Oul' fella was an actor and came back from one shoot minus both eyebrows and a lot of hair; a scene had involved his being blown up. The British Army trained technical crew did the explosion three times, each time doing it wrong. He was nervous of gas ovens for quite a while after that.

tomasrojo

Chuchote wrote: »

Oul' fella was an actor and came back from one shoot minus both eyebrows and a lot of hair; a scene had involved his being blown up. The British Army trained technical crew did the explosion three times, each time doing it wrong. He was nervous of gas ovens for quite a while after that.

William Shatner has had terrible tinnitus for decades because of an effect that exploded at the wrong time.

Apparently professional musicians used to have trouble getting competitively priced motor insurance. So one told me anyway.

Corca Baiscinn

ED E wrote: »

The article mentions a different name lower down to the parties introduced? Typo?

I noticed that too and it leaves us not knowing who made the statement. So it's hard to know who to ask which alternative routes they have in mind and in what way will they be "cycle-friendly"? Apart from not having Luas tracks obviously! Oh! and at what point the segregated cycle tracks mentioned will materialise? It's less than 6 months until Luas BXD is up and running!

Do I enquire of DOTASS, NTA, TII, Mary Coughlan or Dublin Airport, all mentioned in the article!

I love Sean nos

check_six wrote: »

"So, for this role you will need to be able to ride a horse, swordfight, and swing from the mast of a ship in full sail. You can do those things, like you stated in your CV, yes?"

"Gulp....!"

Surely there are more stage actors than screen actors though.

Apologies in advance for calling you... :pac:

Chuchote

I love Sean nos wrote: »

Surely there are more stage actors than screen actors though.

Apologies in advance for calling you... :pac:

Scarcely! There's not a lot of work in theatre. The work is in TV and films, plus a little jam from voiceovers and ads.

But a lot of insurance loadings also come from the supposed lifestyle of professions; I don't know how it is now, but in the days when they supposedly lived on Guinness and whiskey with an occasional dessert of chips, journalists couldn't get life or car insurance without a heavy loading.

Chuchote

On the "swathes of Dublin will become inaccessible to cyclists because of Luas" story, two letters.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/luas-and-putting-parts-of-the-capital-out-of-bounds-for-cyclists-1.3144468

The first is from Darragh M Higgins of Rathgar:

As a result of the new Luas Cross City service, “busy areas of Dublin city such as Henry Street may become virtually inaccessible to cyclists” (Dan Griffin, “New Luas route will put busy areas of city out of bounds to cyclists, says report”, July 3rd).
The article in question is based on a National Transport Authority draft report dated March 10th. Why wasn’t this issue addressed many years earlier during the planning phase of Luas Cross City? Why did the Luas Cross City project not include a plan for the existence of bicycles in Dublin? The entire city centre of Dublin has been subject to substantial works as a result of Luas Cross City, so when carrying out the works, why were off-road bicycle lanes not included as standard in the replacement of pavements?
It seems that during the planning phase of Luas Cross City one of two things occurred – either cycling in Dublin was not discussed as part of this planning phase, or cycling in Dublin was discussed and subsequently ignored. Either one of these scenarios is appalling and perplexing. For example, O’Connell Street, an incredibly wide street, was reconfigured as a result of Luas Cross City and yet not one inch of the pavements has been given over to safe bicycle lanes.
On a more general note, many will argue that there are lots of bicycle lanes in Dublin. Having lived in cities that have actual bicycle lanes I would like to point out that most of the so-called bicycle lanes in Dublin are not actually bicycle lanes at all, but rather they are merely the left-hand side of the road. Often times these bicycle lanes inexplicably terminate in the middle of the road, they stop at every bus stop (instead of going around the back of the bus stop), and most bafflingly of all, they sometimes take up half a car lane, as if a car and a bicycle can share the same physical space at the same time. The mind boggles.
If Dublin City Council really believes that these lanes are actually for cyclists then why does it not extend pavements and incorporate the bicycle lanes into the pavements where there is space? This would be better for everyone.
My final suggestion in relation to the nonsensical approach to cycling in Dublin is this: every time works are to be carried out in Dublin, the surrounding area should be assessed to see if, as a cost-saving measure, the works that are already taking place could include some work on off-road bicycle lanes. If this were done, bit by bit, Dublin would develop a bicycle lane network and the outrageous and scandalous outcomes of the poor planning of Luas Cross City could be avoided. Maybe this involves too much foresight and forethought however.
I am a driver and a cyclist.

The second is from Karl Martin of Bayside:

It is incorrect to claim that parts of Dublin’s road network will become no-go areas for cyclists as a result of the danger posed to bicycles by intertwined tram tracks at some Luas junctions.
Cyclists will just use the footpaths in such areas.
We pedestrians can then use the gutter. We know our place.