Safer cycling, we can make a difference /MPDL thread

Corca Baiscinn

Hi all, don't know if this thread, started by Media Man, is still live. It goes back to last Feb/March when the original Private Member's MPDL Bill introduced by Ciaran Cannon and Regina Doherty was being widely discussed. That Bill didn't progress and can't do now. The Backbenchers have become Ministers and therefore can't progress Private Members Bills. However, they and Phil Skelton of Stayinalive @ 1.5 have welcomed the pre-Christmas announcement by FF Transport spokesman Robert Troy that he will bring forward the same legislation by way of an amendment to the Road Safety Bill (Drink Driving) Bill currently before the Dáil. This is being discussed in the newer Safer Cycling thread started by ballyharpat

People are busy lobbying their TD's seeking support for a MPDL and I Bike Dublin have set up a tracking sheet to monitor support but according to a story on Friday's IT Shane Ross has expressed himself as being "Skeptical" because of doubts re practicality of enforcement. I haven't read back all 22 pages of this thread but I seem to recall that some of you who posted here live in SR's Constituencyso it would be great if you got after him again. He might change his mind if he thought that the many cyclists in his constituency are in favour of a MPDL

Corca Baiscinn

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

If you want to make sure you hit all TD's and Senator's you write a generic email without their name in it and send it to all of them at once. It's surprising how many of them will reply and engage in a conversation if you're cordial and polite.

For senators you can send them to "senators@oir.ie", I can't think of the corresponding mail for TD's but it's something equally as simple.

Or since they will be mainy interested in people who could potentially vote for them, just use "Who is my TD?" to get the ocntact details for your own and ask for a Yes or No to "Will you be supporting this Amendment to the Road Traffic Bill?"

expectationlost

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

Or since they will be mainy interested in people who could potentially vote for them, just use "Who is my TD?" to get the ocntact details for your own and ask for a Yes or No to "Will you be supporting this Bill?"

which bill?

Subcomandante Marcos

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

Or since they will be mainy interested in people who could potentially vote for them, just use "Who is my TD?" to get the ocntact details for your own and ask for a Yes or No to "Will you be supporting this Bill?"

To be honest, carpet bombing is more effective, you get your own TD's and every other member of both houses.

Corca Baiscinn

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

To be honest, carpet bombing is more effective, you get your own TD's and every other member of both houses.

But I think what you need is a commitment from the TD's who want you to re-elect them but the main thing is to make your expectations known,

Corca Baiscinn

@Mods, would there be any benefit in merging the earier MPDL thread started in Feb by Media Man with this one? They are both about same topic, earlier one discussing Ciaran Cannon's Private Members Bill which Robert Troy is adopting. The Safer Cycling title of this thread may not be entirely clear as to what aspect of Safer Cycling is being discussed

onmebike

expectationlost wrote: »

which bill?

Robert Troy's proposal...

https://twitter.com/RobertTroyTD/status/942700493905768448

Arcade_Tryer

Saying the Minimum Passing Law is unenforceable is largely correct, but for entirely the wrong reasons.

Of course it will be incredibly difficult to enforce; most laws are. But one would hope that the most blatant of cases observed by Gardaí would be dealt with. And most importantly, the symbolism of such a law being introduced would hopefully go some way towards changing the attitudes and behaviours of motorists in this country towards cycling.

expectationlost

onmebike wrote: »

Robert Troy's proposal...

https://twitter.com/RobertTroyTD/status/942700493905768448

thats an amendment to a bill not a bill

How is it going to work to support Robert Troy's amendment to a bill that Robert Troy doesn't support?

Moflojo

The Minimum Passing Distance Law is coming before an Oireachtas Committee on February 7th. Cycling campaigners are making a coordinated effort to ask all cyclists to contact their local TDs immediately and ask them to support this law.

The proposed law will legislate for a 1.5 metre overtaking distance when passing a cyclist on roads with a speed limit >50kph, and 1 metre where the speed limit is <50kph.

You can find more information on how to contact your TD and a sample letter of what to send them on Dublin Cycling Campaign's website here: http://www.dublincycling.com/cycling/minimum-passing-distance-law-urgent

I Bike Dublin is also running a Google Doc tracking which TDs and Senators have pledged support for the law: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSfR6joM1DOpg67eHBtn2kx7p3QiloguEelMwg4_nQ6Tm1h7ReL6ATv35TrFK_Gfl4KEv_HS_amSN9g/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true

adrian522

Emailed the TD's in my area. Interesting that the only party voting against the law en masse is Sinn Fein. I won't forget that at election time

Moflojo

adrian522 wrote: »

Emailed the TD's in my area. Interesting that the only party voting against the law en masse is Sinn Fein. I won't forget that at election time

I don't know if that's entirely true. All party members have sent the same response when questioned about MPDL and it appears to be a non-committal holding position.

Corca Baiscinn

Moflojo wrote: »

I don't know if that's entirely true. All party members have sent the same response when questioned about MPDL and it appears to be a non-committal holding position.

True but they mention takng advice re enforcability from the Garda while only today someone is tweeting re Greater Manchester police #opconsiderate where members of the public can upload video of various infractions and they act on it quite quickly. Phil Skelton has also posted the graph from Queensland re reductions in fatalities after MPDL introduced v increase in Irl. There's more SF could find if they looked

expectationlost

Moflojo wrote: »

The Minimum Passing Distance Law is coming before an Oireachtas Committee on February 7th. Cycling campaigners are making a coordinated effort to ask all cyclists to contact their local TDs immediately and ask them to support this law.

The proposed law will legislate for a 1.5 metre overtaking distance when passing a cyclist on roads with a speed limit >50kph, and 1 metre where the speed limit is <50kph.

You can find more information on how to contact your TD and a sample letter of what to send them on Dublin Cycling Campaign's website here: http://www.dublincycling.com/cycling/minimum-passing-distance-law-urgent

I Bike Dublin is also running a Google Doc tracking which TDs and Senators have pledged support for the law: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSfR6joM1DOpg67eHBtn2kx7p3QiloguEelMwg4_nQ6Tm1h7ReL6ATv35TrFK_Gfl4KEv_HS_amSN9g/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true

still no mention of the original intents of the bill.

Breezer

It doesn't help when you have the Gardaí actively encouraging cyclists to ride in the gutter. I was coming up Lower Bridge St in Dublin towards Christchurch today in the left lane (steep hill for those who don't know it, two lanes for going straight and 1 for turning right, no cycle lane). On a Dublin bike, so not doing huge speed, but there was a queue of traffic 100 m ahead of me at the lights at Christchurch, which I ended up filtering through, so I wasn't holding anyone up. I was also almost at the top of the hill and clearly making an effort to move at as fast a pace as I could. I took up primary position to discourage a pointless close pass

Traffic Corps Garda on a motorbike pulls up beside me and motions me over to the gutter.

I told him no and he drove on (and I promptly caught up with him in the queue 10 seconds later)! Not good enough though.

Macy0161

Well my (Wicklow) responses have been support from my FF TD's (I feel a bit dirty), stock answer from the FG TD's (pretty much word for word about enforcement/ RSA research - currently preparing my reply), and SF bs-ing about the FF motion and Dáil procedures without answering the question.

I did notice Ross has posters up around Clonskeagh flagging a "road safety meeting" on the 19th in Kilmacud if that suited anyone.

Corca Baiscinn

Macy0161 wrote: »

Well my (Wicklow) responses have been support from my FF TD's (I feel a bit dirty), stock answer from the FG TD's (pretty much word for word about enforcement/ RSA research - currently preparing my reply), and SF bs-ing about the FF motion and Dáil procedures without answering the question.

I did notice Ross has posters up around Clonskeagh flagging a "road safety meeting" on the 19th in Kilmacud if that suited anyone.

That breakdown of responses is par for the course around the country afaik. Interesting question is 1 Soc Dem on Transport Committee (Catherine Murphy), 1 solidarity (Mick Barry) 1 Independent FF appointee Senator (P Ó Céidigh) as well as FF, FG and SF & don't think all of those have declared their position either.

Committee was due to meet next week but has been pushed back to 28th so hopefully by then S R/FG and SF will have their answers re enforcability

robyntmorton

Enforcement can work!

https://twitter.com/MetCycleCops/status/959410628543868928

sy_flembeck

Macy0161 wrote: »

Well my (Wicklow) responses have been support from my FF TD's (I feel a bit dirty), stock answer from the FG TD's (pretty much word for word about enforcement/ RSA research - currently preparing my reply), and SF bs-ing about the FF motion and Dáil procedures without answering the question.

I did notice Ross has posters up around Clonskeagh flagging a "road safety meeting" on the 19th in Kilmacud if that suited anyone.

Same constituency, one reply. And it sounds like the same one you got. That said, I only emailed 4 of the 5 sitting TDs as I refuse to request assistance from the other one no matter how serious an issue it is.

beauf

Teen who left cyclist with hairline fracture after Dublin hit-and-run avoids jail http://jrnl.ie/3831533

What enforcement

Averagevegan

Moflojo wrote: »

I don't know if that's entirely true. All party members have sent the same response when questioned about MPDL and it appears to be a non-committal holding position.

I emailed my local SF TD asking if the party had any polices to do with cycle safety etc...... I got a PFO... so I think we know where SF stand on cycling.

magicbastarder

https://twitter.com/IndepAlliance/status/968820344000864256

ted1

magicbastarder wrote: »

https://twitter.com/IndepAlliance/status/968820344000864256

Warning. Do not look at TheJournal.ie comments

Arcade_Tryer

ted1 wrote: »

Warning. Do not look at TheJournal.ie comments

Warning. Majority of people are idiots.

MediaMan

A year on, I had lost hope that this would ever happen:

Minimum passing distance of cyclists to become law says Minister Ross

Ireland’s transport minister Shane Ross has said that he will bring forward legislation to have a minimum passing distance of motorists overtaking cyclists defined in law.

Here's hoping that it will indeed become law and it will make a difference to the safety of those who cycle bikes on the road. There's an awful lot more to do, but if this is backed by a strong campaign, I think it will actually have an effect. There's so much more to do with infrastructure, junctions, other behaviours, etc. but at least it's a step!

nilhg

A great result anda great achievement by those who worked so hard to get it on the statute book.

gmacww

It's not just cyclists who are part of this struggle folks:

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2018/03/01/dublin-skiers-call-for-own-traffic-lane/

Macy0161

nilhg wrote: »

A great result anda great achievement by those who worked so hard to get it on the statute book.

It's progress, but not on that yet. Given the gardai Twitter feed, how arsed are they going to be about getting the equipment to measure, which was the caveat Ross threw into the mix?

Johnnio13

the vitriol that is on the Irish Times facebook article about this is just unreal.

Thud

Post this in here too:
https://www.independent.ie/life/motoring/car-news/anything-can-happen-when-youre-riding-a-bike-new-tv-ad-response-to-50pc-increase-in-cyclist-deaths-36676482.html