2018 cycling fatalities revised upwards to six

magicbastarder

Six people on bicycles have died on Irish roads, a revision upwards of two, the Garda press office has confirmed.

The two cases not reported as fatal cycling deaths until now are a collision on East Wall Road between a driver of a truck and a person cycling a bicycle, and a man who fell off his bicycle on the Sally Gap in Co Wicklow.

http://irishcycle.com/2018/04/28/cycling-deaths-on-irish-roads-so-far-in-2018-revised-upwards-to-six/

magicbastarder

minor point, but is someone who suffers a fatality while cycling/driving, which is not immediately connected to the actual mode of transport - such as a stroke/heart attack, included in such stats?

sy_flembeck

magicbastarder wrote: »

minor point, but is someone who suffers a fatality while cycling/driving, which is not immediately connected to the actual mode of transport - such as a stroke/heart attack, included in such stats?

I wonder is it the guards covering themselves as such. Heretofore I don't think they were including them but they've revised how they categorise them now. Whatever about the RTA it does seem odd to include the poor chap on the Sally Gap in those stats

magicbastarder

well, it does mention a fall at high speed; every bit as much reason to include that sort of event as there is to include a single vehicle car crash where a car collides with a tree or a wall.

sy_flembeck

magicbastarder wrote: »

well, it does mention a fall at high speed; every bit as much reason to include that sort of event as there is to include a single vehicle car crash where a car collides with a tree or a wall.

The article I read earlier said he had a heart attack and no more

Kaisr Sose

magicbastarder wrote: »

Six people on bicycles have died on Irish roads, a revision upwards of two, the Garda press office has confirmed.

The two cases not reported as fatal cycling deaths until now are a collision on East Wall Road between a driver of a truck and a person cycling a bicycle, and a man who fell off his bicycle on the Sally Gap in Co Wicklow.

http://irishcycle.com/2018/04/28/cycling-deaths-on-irish-roads-so-far-in-2018-revised-upwards-to-six/

Excluding the Sally Gap incident, all but one involved a commercial vehicle. Random co-incidence or indicative of a problem?

ED E

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

Excluding the Sally Gap incident, all but one involved a commercial vehicle. Random co-incidence or indicative of a problem?

The UK cops are catching truckers on phones, they get £200 and 6pts. Here its €80 and 3pts. No reason to believe HGV drivers here aren't doing the same.

We can't say that was the cause of any crashes, but phone use increases the chance of a collision by 23x......

Rechuchote

Was it a man or a woman who came off the bike at the Sally Gap on 8 April? The Gardaí just reported it as "an individual" and regard it as "a single vehicle crash - no one else involved", but is the gravel up there as deadly as it used to be?

Should there be a segregated bike lane on the East Wall Road? Big wide footpaths so the space could be spared. The 60-year-old man hit by a 40-foot truck there (possibly in the crash tweeted by DCC Traffic Management Centre on that date: “Collision East Wall Road southbound across from 3Arena blocking left lane”) would have been protected by a segregated path.

Is the place where this crash took place part of the section of the road where HGVs (heavy goods vehicles) are banned? I'm not familiar with the road.

magicbastarder

there are off-road cycle paths on east wall road, but not on the long stretch which runs southeast to northwest. they're on the stretch nearest the east link, and are in awful condition. full of debris and gravel, and badly designed and maintained.

in no way am i saying this is where the collision specifically occured, but it's southbound across from the point depot, and is a spot where cyclists are dumped back out in front of traffic (sometimes left turning HGVs) without much ceremony:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3482541,-6.2270261,3a,75y,148.92h,78.15t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sh1k1l7vRCzL_j70aAhToWQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

that stretch of road is on my commute. i don't use the cycle paths.

Rechuchote

Terrifying tweets by Citizen Wolf, who cycles with his dog in a cargo bike show how bad it is on that road and how execrable the cycle paths are:

https /twitter. com/CitizenW0lf/status/940378003468668932
https /twitter. com/CitizenW0lf/status/940379097997471744

I'm still on the newbie naughty step so you'll have to glue these together.

RacoonQueen

Rechuchote wrote: »

Terrifying tweets by Citizen Wolf, who cycles with his dog in a cargo bike show how bad it is on that road and how execrable the cycle paths are:

https /twitter. com/CitizenW0lf/status/940378003468668932
https /twitter. com/CitizenW0lf/status/940379097997471744

I'm still on the newbie naughty step so you'll have to glue these together.

First video doesn't look too bad, second one showing behind. Jaysus.
In fairness to the HGV driver, those systems are brutal where they take the cyclist from an on path cycle lane to a road, drivers should probably be warned that cyclists will be merging onto the road there (given that cyclists are often expected to dismount in some situations though it wouldn't surprise me if they expected the cyclists to yield there rather than just continuing on straight). Another example of poor infrastructure for cycling.
We really need to review cycling infrastructure in areas where there is a large HGV presence. That being said, with all the technology available nowadays I can never understand how these vehicles still have 'blind spots' - they should be fitted with sensors/cameras as standard that can warn the driver when something is alongside them.

Rechuchote

In essence, though, only segregated infrastructure protects cyclists. Look at the effect in London, where a tiny group - five volunteers - succeeded in getting businesses behind the cycleways and now children, pensioners, mothers, disabled, all kinds of unexpected people have become daily cyclists along with the commuters, changing the city:

http /www .streetfilms.org/london-cycling-works-how-savvy-campaigning-got-180-employers-to-support-bike-lanes/

ted1

sy_flembeck wrote: »

magicbastarder wrote: »

well, it does mention a fall at high speed; every bit as much reason to include that sort of event as there is to include a single vehicle car crash where a car collides with a tree or a wall.

The article I read earlier said he had a heart attack and no more

If he wasn’t on a bike trying to get over the sally gap, do you think that he’d have had a heart attack.

Rechuchote

Can someone link to the piece on the cyclist on the Sally Gap, please?

And most people don't have heart attacks from going on a spin, even on the Sally Gap…

https://myheart.net/articles/predict-heart-attack/

Research has clearly demonstrated that far from being random, there is a pattern to peaks of incidence of cardiac events. Heart attacks, especially ST Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarctions, are most likely to happen in the winter months, on a Monday, and just after waking in the morning. Even worse would be a winter Monday morning in the setting of a natural disaster acting as a trigger. Statistically speaking, everyone at risk of heart disease should be a little on guard in such a scenario.

magicbastarder

i don't think there was a piece specific to the fatality at the sally gap.

Rechuchote

magicbastarder wrote: »

i don't think there was a piece specific to the fatality at the sally gap.

And where does the idea come from that the cyclist fell off the bike due to a heart attack? Or even that the cyclist was male? All I can find is this: "Sunday 8/04/18 - Sally Gap, Roundwood, Co. Wicklow – Cyclist fell off bike while travelling at high speed no other vehicle involved died 5 days later in hospital".

Kaisr Sose

The Sally Gap cyclist was reported as male on the first post. I don’t know if he had a heart attack. It is said he died from his injuries. People may assume he had a heart attack and fell, but it would be quite easy to come off on those roads, such is the state of them (bumps, pot holes and gravel) , and if going fast it’s going to be bad. RIP to the poor chap.

magicbastarder

it's not necessarily just gravel on those roads too. a chap i know vaguely still has visible facial scars from an incident over ten years ago where a couple of sheep bolted out into the road in front of him.

Rechuchote

It seems odd that no one here - and 'here' must cover most of Ireland's cycling clubs plus many outliers - knows anything about this event on a Sunday early in April, the day the Syrian gas attack story broke.

Kaisr Sose

magicbastarder wrote: »

it's not necessarily just gravel on those roads too. a chap i know vaguely still has visible facial scars from an incident over ten years ago where a couple of sheep bolted out into the road in front of him.

That’s true. If you see sheep ahead you have to slow down as you just can’t know how many there are or what they will do. I would never descend off Cunard for that reason.

Rechuchote wrote: »

It seems odd that no one here - and 'here' must cover most of Ireland's cycling clubs plus many outliers - knows anything about this event on a Sunday early in April, the day the Syrian gas attack story broke.

Good point. Although I was up there today myself today and am not a member of any club. Must be lots like me...?

Eamonnator

Rechuchote wrote: »

It seems odd that no one here - and 'here' must cover most of Ireland's cycling clubs plus many outliers - knows anything about this event on a Sunday early in April, the day the Syrian gas attack story broke.

I think that death on the Sally Gap was last year.
I can't search, at the moment, for a link.

magicbastarder

according to the irishcycle.com link, it was on the 8th april 2018 - the death occurred five days later, but i don't know whether the date of the 8th refers to the accident or date of death.

Glass Prison 1214

I was recently speaking to a guy who knew the Sally Gap cyclist. He had been out training for a charity cycle. There was no mention of a heart attack, only that he crashed alone at high-speed without a helmet. I assumed from that that he passed away from his head injuries. It doesn't mean he didn't have a heart attack before crashing though.

Rechuchote

The Sally Gap cyclist fell off his bicycle while travelling at high speed on 8 April 2018 and died five days later in hospital, according to Garda records.