Journalism and cycling

Pinch Flat

http://www.independent.ie/videos/irish-news/video-citycycling-near-misses-the-reality-of-cycling-along-dublins-streets-31396435.html#play

The Indo is really intent on whipping up the anti-cycling frenzy. I wonder how these guys will feel when we have a deliberate crash into a cyclist or group of cyclists by some deranged motorist?

Weepsie

They don't have a problem with the left turning car from the third lane over though it seems?

That's a very very selective video and needs to be rightfully condemned. I urge noone to click on it as thats that want.

Think the ad is longer than the video

magicbastarder

that's an old one, btw. two years old.

rodneyTrotter.

Pinch Flat wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/videos/irish-news/video-citycycling-near-misses-the-reality-of-cycling-along-dublins-streets-31396435.html#play

The Indo is really intent on whipping up the anti-cycling frenzy. I wonder how these guys will feel when we have a deliberate crash into a cyclist or group of cyclists by some deranged motorist?

I had nearly that experience last weekend when a taximan swerved at me to give me a 'fright' not far from Malahide . He had shouted abuse first so I knew it was no accident . Needless to say I was doing nothing wrong bar cycle my bike in Lycra gear training . The road from the malahide road to Swords . The hate and the abuse on our roads towards cyclists is at an all time high . It's really sad to see so much venom
Unfortunately I didn't have a camera to record it but I will soon

Rokta

rodneyTrotter. wrote: »

It's really sad to see so much venom
Unfortunately I didn't have a camera to record it but I will soon

Seems to go with the standard kit now, lights, helmet, bike computer and yeah of course a camera... sad but true.

buffalo

buffalo wrote: »

The Times is doing a 'Road to Recovery' series this week, featuring accounts of people who have had accidents on the bike it seems.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/my-arm-got-caught-and-torn-off-cyclist-coping-after-accident-1.3194652

‘My arm got caught and torn off’ – cyclist coping after accident

‘I still have my helmet at home from the day of my accident. It’s split right down the middle’

Chuchote

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/insights-from-the-people-who-treat-the-most-extreme-cycling-injuries-1.3193630

A specialist at the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) has warned cyclists: “This is not cowboy territory, red light means red light.”
Dr Mark Delargy is medical director of the brain injuries programme at the hospital in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin, where about 10-15 patients end up each year following serious cycling incidents.
More than 100 cyclists are injured in crashes each year, according to the Road Safety Authority, some of them so seriously they end up in the NRH.
“Certainly within the cyclist accidents that we see, the majority of the cyclists end up with brain injury. A smaller number end up with spinal injury and even in some cases, tragically, amputation,” says Dr Delargy.

https://twitter.com/OisinOhAlmhain/status/900229757975056385


Worth a letter to the Times asking what his knowledge was of the cause of the crashes that had injured his patients…

tomasrojo

I really don't see the point of this series, except to say cycling is really dangerous. Which it isn't. Why don't they run a series about people who've been injured walking to work? In relative terms, it's a very low injury rate, like cycling, but there are dozens of people who acquire horrific injuries walking around.

RayCun

It's impossible to please some people.

Cyclist gets injured or killed? It should be big news, so the councils and the gardai and everyone else takes cyclists' safety seriously!

Cyclist gets injured or killed? Yeah, but put it in perspective, cycling is a healthy activity, how many people die from not cycling - let's not talk about it so we don't scare people away!


Doctor says

However frustrated motorists may feel about cyclists, the bottom line is that there is no comparison in terms of the protection that the car user has. The cyclists are hands-down more vulnerable in terms of the injuries which they can sustain.

other doctor says

Cyclists are victims of other road users’ negligence oftentimes

other doctor says

primarily I would like motorists to think that the cyclist is a person who is giving me as a motorist more time on the road because I have parked my car at home and I am now taking up less space on the road by cycling

I would also like to speak to the county councils and say, for my part, I’ve changed from a racing bike to a cyclo-cross bike. I have changed to this bike because the roads are so bad.

I would also like the cyclist to think: this is not cowboy territory, red light means red light. Cycling on pavements is wrong.

OMG, what is with the victim-blaming!?!?!?

tomasrojo

RayCun wrote: »

It's impossible to please some people.

Cyclist gets injured or killed? It should be big news, so the councils and the gardai and everyone else takes cyclists' safety seriously!

Cyclist gets injured or killed? Yeah, but put it in perspective, cycling is a healthy activity, how many people die from not cycling - let's not talk about it so we don't scare people away!

Let's see whether you can find one post where I ever lamented the media not making a big enough deal out of cyclist injuries.

Idleater

tomasrojo wrote: »

Why don't they run a series about people who've been injured walking to work?.

There's only ever been one - the man slipping on ice behind the RTE camera in "the year of the snow".

tomasrojo

When the red, swollen sun swallows the withered Earth, people will still be watching that poor man fall on his arse.

Jawgap

RayCun wrote: »

It's impossible to please some people.

Cyclist gets injured or killed? It should be big news, so the councils and the gardai and everyone else takes cyclists' safety seriously!

Cyclist gets injured or killed? Yeah, but put it in perspective, cycling is a healthy activity, how many people die from not cycling - let's not talk about it so we don't scare people away!


Doctor says


other doctor says


other doctor says






OMG, what is with the victim-blaming!?!?!?

Reportage on road users injured or killed should be high profile news, but this series isn't about an incident - it's about the aftermath of incidents, and if its not a factual account of events then the reporter should be honest enough to either offer some analysis or, preferably, gather commentary from people qualified to offer such analysis.

....and one point that is being completely missed is the question of reciprocity - one of themes in prevailing journalistic narrative, presumably condoned or encouraged by editors, is that cyclists (and other road users) must give respect to get respect - that's an utterly false and dangerous premise because a cyclist being a tw@t is likely only going to hurt themselves, a driver being a tw@t is likely not going to hurt themselves, but is likely to hurt others, therefore the onus is on drivers and the authorities who police them to moderate their behaviour independent of however cyclists or other road users behave.

The fact we've yet to grasp this shows how immature our driving culture is and how focused it is on the convenience of the motorist rather than the safety of the roads.

CramCycle

Pinch Flat wrote: »

OMG, what is with the victim-blaming!?!?!?

Its not victim blaming, it is dangerisation (in regards the NRH, who have form for this). The victim blaming is in relation to comments remarking on how motorist/cyclist collision are often reported inappropriately.

Chuchote

Odd thing about that Irish Times interview with the man whose arm was torn off - there's not a word about the badly-gravelled roads that endanger people.

magicbastarder

one question i'd ask would be - have they done the same sort of series of articles about the aftermath of car crashes?

Chips Lovell

magicbastarder wrote: »

one question i'd ask would be - have they done the same sort of series of articles about the aftermath of car crashes?

Or gardening

Pinch Flat

I always make sure I wear a hi-vis, helmet, am taxed and insured and carry a number plate when tending to my sweet peas. Worked for me so far anyway.

Jawgap

magicbastarder wrote: »

one question i'd ask would be - have they done the same sort of series of articles about the aftermath of car crashes?

....bet they don't do one on schools rugby

DeepBlue

magicbastarder wrote: »

one question i'd ask would be - have they done the same sort of series of articles about the aftermath of car crashes?

Yes.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/anatomy-of-a-car-crash-part-1-1.2025739

Pinch Flat

Compare the comments on this:

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...-36057524.html - innocent cyclist who's run over in Greece to this

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/pedestrian-remains-in-serious-condition-after-car-struck-people-in-dublin-36061676.html - speeding car over turns and takes out a lot of pedestrians.

No-one bats an eyelid. Yet the article on the cyclists stops short of suggesting he should be lynched for having the audacity to cycle on the roads. We have really turned into a patethic little country. Socially immature, aggressive, self-centered.

RayCun

Jawgap wrote: »

....bet they don't do one on schools rugby

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/research-finds-one-in-five-schoolboy-rugby-injuries-are-to-the-head-1.2544217

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/schools-rugby-video-raises-further-concerns-over-head-injuries-1.2109663

Moflojo

DeepBlue wrote: »

Yes.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/anatomy-of-a-car-crash-part-1-1.2025739

There's a contrasting approach in the car crash series though; it delves into the causes, the response from emergency service, the Garda investigation, and the subsequent prosecution. From what I recall, there were no suggestions in that series that the victim was somehow to blame for the collision, or that a behavioural change by "all drivers" could help avoid similar collisions in future.

Jawgap

RayCun wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/research-finds-one-in-five-schoolboy-rugby-injuries-are-to-the-head-1.2544217

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/schools-rugby-video-raises-further-concerns-over-head-injuries-1.2109663

So two articles about a year apart?

Not exactly the 'series of articles' alluded to, now, is it?

RayCun

Jawgap wrote: »

So two articles about a year apart?

Not exactly the 'series of articles' alluded to, now, is it?

Number of cyclists killed in Ireland this year = what are we up to now, 12? More?

Number of schools rugby players killed in Ireland this year = ?

And it's not like these are the only articles about cycling in the paper - there's pieces about the Ring of Kerry, picturesque cycling routes, lots about cycling infrastructure, for National Bike Week there was a big piece about how great cycling is...

ThisRegard

There's a view that head injuries from contact sports like rugby don't manifest themselves until later in life, resulting in early deaths, and there's no way to diagnose it until you cut the brain up.

RayCun

ThisRegard wrote: »

There's a view that head injuries from contact sports like rugby don't manifest themselves until later in life, resulting in early deaths, and there's no way to diagnose it until you cut the brain up.

yeah, although I think two concussions in a short space of time have a risk of immediate, serious effects.

But you're unlikely to see articles about long-term effects unless there is a new study to report on.

Jawgap

RayCun wrote: »

Number of cyclists killed in Ireland this year = what are we up to now, 12? More?

Number of schools rugby players killed in Ireland this year = ?

And it's not like these are the only articles about cycling in the paper - there's pieces about the Ring of Kerry, picturesque cycling routes, lots about cycling infrastructure, for National Bike Week there was a big piece about how great cycling is...

....and the number of people participating in cycling? The number of km covered? The number of journeys by bike?

And indeed there are puff travel pieces about cycling just as there are puff travel pieces about walking, running and motoring - but where are the corresponding series of articles like the IT is running this week?

....and as for the number of young rugby players killed this year - it's one (a SADS fatality).

Jawgap

RayCun wrote: »

yeah, although I think two concussions in a short space of time have a risk of immediate, serious effects.

But you're unlikely to see articles about long-term effects unless there is a new study to report on.

There's new material coming out all the time!!

I coach the sport and concussive injury and the management of it is practically under permanent discussion.

tomasrojo

Jawgap wrote: »

There's new material coming out all the time!!

I coach the sport and concussive injury and the management of it is practically under permanent discussion.

Yeah, I don't follow Rugby, and I keep coming across articles about Rugby and concussion. It's not being ignored.