Journalism and cycling

Chuchote

And another: Sisk says cyclists must adapt to Luas routes:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/cyclists-must-adapt-to-luas-routes-says-contractor-1.3144334

Cyclists must adapt to Luas routes, says contractor
Sisk claims no satisfactory way of protecting cyclists from injury linked to rail grooves
Dan Griffin

(photo of person on bike with "Cyclist Caution!" notice)
Warning sign at Luas track at College Green: In January, a cyclist whose wheel got caught close to the Spire said, “My head took all the impact and if I wasn’t wearing a helmet my head would have been split open like a melon.” Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill


Following complaints after a number of crashes, the firm laying the Luas Cross City line argued infilling rail grooves was an unsatisfactory way of dealing with cycling hazards and that cyclists needed to adapt to new road layouts.
Derek O’Mahony, a senior traffic engineer from Transport Infrastructure Ireland, wrote to Sisk project manager Dave Toole on several occasions over the past two years seeking the infilling of rail grooves following a number of bicycle crashes.
However, Mr Toole argued there was no way to satisfactorily fill a rail groove with macadam and ensure it remained safe.
In correspondence released under the Freedom of Information Act, he said Sisk did not want “to take responsibility for makeshift solutions that we can’t stand over”.
Filling tracks during the construction process was “simply kicking the can down the road and storing up a bigger problem”, he warned.
Ultimately, Mr Toole said, cyclists may have to be prohibited from using certain routes. In September 2016, Mr O’Mahony wrote to the Sisk project manager saying track grooves between Westmoreland Street and O’Connell Street needed to be filled after a cyclist came off their bike when their wheel got stuck on O’Connell Bridge.
“This is a messy one,” Mr Toole replied.
(etc)

ED E

Article talks about filling em with macadam but surely the dutch rubber system is the way to proceed?

CramCycle

ED E wrote: »

Article talks about filling em with macadam but surely the dutch rubber system is the way to proceed?

God forbid they would follow established best practice.

Chuchote

ED E wrote: »

Article talks about filling em with macadam but surely the dutch rubber system is the way to proceed?

Maybe someone could write a letter to Irish Times asking why they're not using this? (Not to mention why aren't they putting in protected cycle lanes along Luas lines.)

tomasrojo

Chuchote wrote: »

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.

Yeah, I think that's why professional musicians had trouble with insurance as well. Presumption that they were, if nothing else, boozers. Not restricted to musicians who cultivate a dissolute image. Ths musician who told me about his trouble with motor insurance taught "classical" music (for want of a better term). Benjamin Britten died prematurely because of a heart condition that could have been treated better, but the better treatment involved giving up drinking, and his doctors assumed he wouldn't do that. Never even asked him whether he would.

tomasrojo

The Luas Cross City business is just preposterous. Again, credit to IrishCycle.com for predicting this at least a year ago.

ThisRegard

Dave Toole is certainly a tool with that attitude. Whatever happened to a bit of ingenuity and practical solutions in engineering projects these days? Maybe he's not suited for the roll he's in.

check_six

tomasrojo wrote: »

The Luas Cross City business is just preposterous. Again, credit to IrishCycle.com for predicting this at least a year ago.

In fairness, there is no way the planners and engineers could have predicted that a form of transport that has been popular on the streets of Dublin for the guts of 150 years that is more popular now than it has been in the last 35 years would continue to be used into the very near future.

No way of predicting that at all.

Maybe when they are designing the routes for the transport of the future (hoverbuses, Martian Transport Tripods,or giant mutant centipedes) they will learn from the mistakes of the past (ie. now) and there will be some consideration made for bikes.

ED E

CramCycle wrote: »

God forbid they would follow established best practice.

Upon further reading it was considered technically infeasible due to rapid wear and tear.

Chuchote

ED E wrote: »

Upon further reading it was considered technically infeasible due to rapid wear and tear.

Is it normally used in the Netherlands?

tomasrojo

What is the importance of flanges and the like in Amsterdam, versus the importance of routing cycle facilities (making sure they cross tracks at right angles)? Anybody who's lived there?

tomasrojo

Apart from the usual practice of only considering cycling at the eleventh hour (and probably taking something away from pedestrians while they try to fix their lack of fore-planning), part of what's so head-bangingly annoying about this is that more journeys are made by bike into the city centre than by Luas. At least, that's my recollection.

If rubber flanges cost more, tough luck. If that's what's required to keep a very large number of commuters travelling in an "exemplar" mode, then do it.

monument

tomasrojo wrote: »

The Luas Cross City business is just preposterous. Again, credit to IrishCycle.com for predicting this at least a year ago.

Originally in 2012 and I was told by a reader that the project team were made aware of it: http://irishcycle.com/2012/08/07/what-does-luas-broombridge-mean-for-cyclists/

Weepsie

ED E wrote: »

Article talks about filling em with macadam but surely the dutch rubber system is the way to proceed?

Childish, but this made me laugh a little

ED E

NTA-DCC letter
https://www.dublincity.ie/councilmeetings/documents/s2238/2%20Letter%20NTA%2022.03.2016%20re%20rubber%20infills%20Luas%20tracks.pdf

monument

FYI the draft report can be found via here: http://irishcycle.com/2017/07/06/cycling-and-luas-cross-city-report-to-be-finalised-next-month/

Weepsie

tomasrojo wrote: »

The Luas Cross City business is just preposterous. Again, credit to IrishCycle.com for predicting this at least a year ago.

The whole LUAS thing has been preposterous. From the get go there should have been something like a circular city line with constantly running trams, and along that line there should have been various interchanges/stations/stops where one could quickly get onto another LUAS which would server the greater Dublin area. Each line could have been expanded upon and again had interchanges added to serve more areas over time.

Instead what we got was 2 lines which serve only a bit of the city, albeit successfully. It should have been something planned for the entire city from the outset.

tomasrojo

monument wrote: »

Originally in 2012 and I was told by a reader that the project team were made aware of it: http://irishcycle.com/2012/08/07/what-does-luas-broombridge-mean-for-cyclists/

Amazing.

Maybe a crowd-sourced legal fund and few test cases in court (there have been plenty of injuries that were allowed to happen through indifference to both best practices and the safety of others) will focus their minds for future projects.

tomasrojo

Weepsie wrote: »

Instead what we got was 2 lines which serve only a bit of the city, albeit successfully. It should have been something planned for the entire city from the outset.

That's true, but as far as I recall, on the more narrow issue of joining the two lines, the pressure against it from businesses was enormous. The disruption (which we can see was not fictional) wasn't deemed worth the end result. So the lines were left separate.

rubadub

Letter in the times.

Sir, – As a pedestrian, I am interested in the debate concerning cyclists who do not feel safe while cycling on the road. Following a few recent near-misses with cyclists and skateboarders on local footpaths, I now feel anything but safe while out walking. Maybe a solution would be “pedestrian only ” lanes on footpaths? Or should pedestrians consider wearing crash helmets? – Yours, etc,

Cyclists are not legally allowed on footpaths. One big problem is that what many call "cycle lanes" are not exclusive to cyclists. This came up in some recent thread about wheelchair users. They spoke as though pedestrians were not allowed in "cycle lanes" and someone asked if there was a law preventing them.

So while they are joking about calling them "pedestrian only" it could be good if we did have actual cycling lanes called "cyclists only lanes" which pedestrians were legally not allowed on -and was enforced. I suggested that rather than having images of bikes painted it should be images of people with a line or X through them. I use cycle lanes as much as I can but often end up on the road as they are really jogging, pedestrian, dog on illegally long leash, wandering goon looking at his phone -lanes.

And yes, pedestrians should certainly consider wearing helmets, they would be mad not too, especially while drinking, maybe these reckless daredevils are too concerned about not looking cool. And carry torches at night as per rules of the road advice which many think others should read but are ignorant about themselves. Also wear high viz clothing during the daytime, and reflective clothing at night (as per ROTR)

ED E

Path on my commute is offset from the road while the cycle track is directly onside. Most peds use the latter. Goes both ways.

mcgratheoin

rubadub wrote: »

I suggested that rather than having images of bikes painted it should be images of people with a line or X through them.

They have those on the cycle paths in the Phoenix Park for all the good it does.

buffalo

Took me a moment to work out who was the victim in this headline:

Mother-of-six jailed for trying to rob cyclist’s handbag

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/mother-of-six-jailed-for-trying-to-rob-cyclist-s-handbag-1.3149549

I love Sean nos

buffalo wrote: »

Took me a moment to work out who was the victim in this headline

A few more years inside and she may think hard before going for conviction 41.

He said O’Leary had a difficult background and was currently having a hard time in custody

AndrewJRenko

rubadub wrote: »

I suggested that rather than having images of bikes painted it should be images of people with a line or X through them.

How about images of people with a steel frame wrapped around their neck, dripping with blood and with several obviously broken bones?

CramCycle

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

How about images of people with a steel frame wrapped around their neck, dripping with blood and with several obviously broken bones?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJTBPdVpdMc

ED E

Supposedly Pat Kenny was surprisingly balanced and pro cycling this morning.

AndrewJRenko

ED E wrote: »

Supposedly Pat Kenny was surprisingly balanced and pro cycling this morning.

About 10 minutes from the end of the first hour, ICYMI

http://www.newstalk.com/listen_back/13240/37421/11th_July_2017_-_The_Pat_Kenny_Show_Part_1/

and continues here.
http://www.newstalk.com/listen_back/13240/37422/11th_July_2017_-_The_Pat_Kenny_Show_Part_2/

magicbastarder

spotted on the commuting and transport forum:

'The sky is the limit': Shane Ross targets Olympics in Ireland - and says it's a 'realistic prospect'
http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/the-sky-is-the-limit-shane-ross-targets-olympics-in-ireland-and-says-its-a-realistic-prospect-35922326.html

weird when so many cities are deciding it's really not worth the hassle.
hey, at least we'd get the indoor velodrome then...

CramCycle

magicbastarder wrote: »

spotted on the commuting and transport forum:

'The sky is the limit': Shane Ross targets Olympics in Ireland - and says it's a 'realistic prospect'
http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/the-sky-is-the-limit-shane-ross-targets-olympics-in-ireland-and-says-its-a-realistic-prospect-35922326.html

weird when so many cities are deciding it's really not worth the hassle.
hey, at least we'd get the indoor velodrome then...

Considering the cost of hosting it, unless they do what LA done and insist on previous infrastructure with a thought out plan on sustainable infrastructure for after the games, then I would say no.

I don't think we have the space for it regardless but lets not BS here, sounds like a nice headline, tagged on with Rugby WC application, which will be years away, at which point even if he was serious, he will have retired or not have been reelected.