Journalism and Cycling 2: the difficult second album

Thelonious Monk

This is wonderful to see, especially in the West of Ireland. Wouldn't it be great if there was a nationwide push to get kids cycling to school? The health of the nation would improve as would traffic.

https://mobile.twitter.com/ennisns/status/1317149807501336576

Duckjob

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

This is wonderful to see, especially in the West of Ireland. Wouldn't it be great if there was a nationwide push to get kids cycling to school? The health of the nation would improve as would traffic.

https://mobile.twitter.com/ennisns/status/1317149807501336576

Badly needed.

I'm also firmly of the belief that a nationwide network of safe cycle paths connecting rural towns and villages would do wonders to breath new economic life into those areas.

magicbastarder

Deleted User wrote: »

Didn't see much of a cycle lane in the video?

the cycle lane is on the inside of the parked cars:

https://www.google.com/maps/@-43.5363658,172.6383246,3a,75y,123.63h,86.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sz-DGWcX2OeLfvr2h1wmugg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

breezy1985

zell12 wrote: »

Truck driver charged after ramming cyclist in central Christchurch NZ

He is being charged with dangerous driving but surely that comes under some sort of assault. That was a clear attempt to cause serious injury

check_six

breezy1985 wrote: »

He is being charged with dangerous driving but surely that comes under some sort of assault. That was a clear attempt to cause serious injury

Yeah. He's signalled his intention to do harm. He's taken a few runs at it, and finally he's made his assault. He wasn't driving too fast or recklessly beyond his limitations, he took a cold look at the situation and decided that an assault with intent to do damage was his chosen course of action. Seems clear cut to me.

However, we all know that you can do whatever you like to someone if you're driving a motor vehicle and have a good chance of getting away with it. If this fellow even approaches getting a ban I would be amazed. He'll plead that he needs to drive for work and that'll be the end of it.

My opinion is that if someone needs to drive for work (or drives professionally for a living) and they carry out an attack like the one in the video then they should get as long a ban as is permitted under the law. They spend much longer on the road and are therefore a much higher risk of reoffending and should be held to a higher standard.

You're going to lose your job? Probably should have thought about that before committing an assault on a vulnerable person.

breezy1985

Again it comes back to how behaviour on roads is acceptable in a weird way that would be vilified anywhere else.

Put that incident in a pub setting. A guy follows another much smaller guy around the bar shouting and winding up his first in full view of everyone for 2mins before finally knocking the other guy out

tomasrojo

Based on various claims made by people who've been there, I'm under the impression that Australia has a much worse attitude to people on bikes than we do, and New Zealand isn't much better.

Not that we don't have ample room for improvement here.

breezy1985

tomasrojo wrote: »

Based on various claims made by people who've been there, I'm under the impression that Australia has a much worse attitude to people on bikes than we do, and New Zealand isn't much better.

Not that we don't have ample room for improvement here.

I've heard there's a big macho petrolhead culture over there. Probably got to do with the size of the place and reliance on car outside the cities

AndrewJRenko

check_six wrote: »

Yeah. He's signalled his intention to do harm. He's taken a few runs at it, and finally he's made his assault. He wasn't driving too fast or recklessly beyond his limitations, he took a cold look at the situation and decided that an assault with intent to do damage was his chosen course of action. Seems clear cut to me.

However, we all know that you can do whatever you like to someone if you're driving a motor vehicle and have a good chance of getting away with it. If this fellow even approaches getting a ban I would be amazed. He'll plead that he needs to drive for work and that'll be the end of it.

My opinion is that if someone needs to drive for work (or drives professionally for a living) and they carry out an attack like the one in the video then they should get as long a ban as is permitted under the law. They spend much longer on the road and are therefore a much higher risk of reoffending and should be held to a higher standard.

You're going to lose your job? Probably should have thought about that before committing an assault on a vulnerable person.

And if the cyclist didn't have a rear-facing camera (and most don't), it would all be put down to a 'terrible accident' and nobody's fault.

Thelonious Monk

tomasrojo wrote: »

Based on various claims made by people who've been there, I'm under the impression that Australia has a much worse attitude to people on bikes than we do, and New Zealand isn't much better.

Not that we don't have ample room for improvement here.

Yeah so many massive utes and modified jap cars etc down there, it’s boy racer paradise, especially where I lived in NZ. Really noisy rotary engines etc. But yes there’s even more hatred towards cyclists down there than here from my experience. I remember one job I had I used to cycle about 10k a day to with no helmet and I always had concerned motorists shouting at me, or work colleagues who drove past me expressing their concern in the office! It’s bizarre.

Seaswimmer

First couple of sentences on Ryan Tubridy equating the cycle lanes (presumably in DLR) to messy traffic this morning. Throwaway comment but I am waiting for the texts and emails to flood in. But hopefully not.

Slightly separate. Cormac Devlin TD for DLR is hosting a Zoom meeting about the proposed new cycle lanes in DLR tonight. Details below. Not sure if I will attend as it usually gets too depressing..
http://www.cormacdevlin.ie

Grassey

Those pesky cyclists again... ����

Riot officers flooded into the Czech capital’s Old Town Square with horses and armoured vehicles after protesters among an estimated crowd of 2,000 hurled missiles, including beer bottles, cans and bicycles

breezy1985

beer bottles, cans and bicycles

That's the title for my autobiography sorted

Harrybelafonte

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Yeah so many massive utes and modified jap cars etc down there, it’s boy racer paradise, especially where I lived in NZ. Really noisy rotary engines etc. But yes there’s even more hatred towards cyclists down there than here from my experience. I remember one job I had I used to cycle about 10k a day to with no helmet and I always had concerned motorists shouting at me, or work colleagues who drove past me expressing their concern in the office! It’s bizarre.

Jesus, how many RX7s and RX8s were you around?

Idleater

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Jesus, how many RX7s and RX8s were you around?

Niche NSU 80 club too?

Now _that_ would be an interesting sleeper.

Seth Brundle

The Irish Times have found yet another bitter anti-cycling reader :rolleyes:

Pandemic restrictions and response
Sir, – Riddle me this. As I left Enniskerry this Sunday morning where I live, right on the border between Wicklow and Dublin, to drive to Carrickmines, a journey of all of 10 minutes, I was stopped by gardaí asking if my journey was necessary. I said no, as I wasn’t shopping for food, and compliantly turned back, as hordes of cyclists passed me on their way into Enniskerry.

I questioned the guard about this, and he told me he and his colleague had spent the morning asking large groups of cyclists outside the local coffee shop to return home, and some had become quite defensive, apparently.

I have passed large groups of cyclists as I walk the roads around Enniskerry as they grunt and breathe heavily beside each other, and sometimes coughing.

I work in a school where we wear masks all day, as do the students. When someone in the school tests positive for Covid, we are not considered close contacts as we are all wearing masks.

Yet the sweat and vapour coming from cyclists in large groups does not appear to be considered a threat to the health of those they are with, and those whom they pass on the narrow roads around Enniskerry.

If I had gone to TK Maxx, as I planned that morning, I would have been wearing a mask and keeping my social distance.

Maybe I should have been going to Halfords to buy myself a bike and a nice bit of sweaty lycra. – Yours, etc,

JACKIE CRONIN,
Enniskerry,
Co Wicklow.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/pandemic-restrictions-and-response-1.4385373

magicbastarder

to be fair, if (s)he's complaining about people violating the county lockdown being asked to return home and them getting huffy about it, i have no issue with that.

Seth Brundle

magicbastarder wrote: »

to be fair, if (s)he's complaining about people violating the county lockdown being asked to return home and them getting huffy about it, i have no issue with that.

I think his/her terminology leaves a lot to be desired:
"...hordes of cyclists...some had become quite defensive...as they grunt and breathe heavily beside each other, and sometimes coughing...the sweat and vapour coming from cyclists in large groups does not appear to be considered a threat to the health of those they are with, and those whom they pass on the narrow roads..."
And (s)he had to get the sweaty lycra jab in at the end. :rolleyes:

If the reason (s)he is complaining about cyclists crossing the county boundary, don't forget why (s)he was out on the road in the first place.

mr spuckler

The language is a dead giveaway of her biases alright, the basic point about the cyclists needing to be subject to the same rules is absolutely fine.

Seth Brundle

mr spuckler wrote: »

The language is a dead giveaway of her biases alright, the basic point about the cyclists needing to be subject to the same rules is absolutely fine.

I don't disagree with the rules.
It's the usual IT anti-cyclist crap that I don't like.

mr spuckler

Seth Brundle wrote: »

I don't disagree with the rules.
It's the usual IT anti-cyclist crap that I don't like.

Yes that's what I took from your post above and I fully agree.

Duckjob

So, to summarise:

1) she queried the guard specifically about cyclists violating the lockdown (while trying to violate it herself)
2) the guards answer included the observation that some of the people (which were cyclists., because she made a point of asking about cyclists) he asked to go back got huffy.

I wonder does she believe if she had asked about other motorists would she have heard about some of them getting huffy too? Or maybe, just a little more likely is that it suits her bias to believe being a huffy arsehole is the specific preserve of "cyclists"

breezy1985

Were to blame for covid now. Does she also feel then that joggers should be banned.

Why anyway is she asking the gardai about any other road user. "What about them" is for 5 year olds ffs

Stark

breezy1985 wrote: »

Were to blame for covid now. Does she also feel then that joggers should be banned.

You must have missed all the rants about joggers from back in March

Duckjob

Has PK been on about cyclists and their "plume" again recently ?

CramCycle

Stark wrote: »

You must have missed all the rants about joggers from back in March

Those were the days, when people hated one group of road users more than us. I remember it fondly.

tomasrojo

Very minor point, but her "journey of all of 10 minutes" is 7km and, more importantly, crosses a county boundary, so it's not at all surprising she was told to go back. I'm not sure of the restrictions for groups of people taking exercise, but it's possible some of them weren't breaking the rules, and she definitely was.

breezy1985

tomasrojo wrote: »

Very minor point, but her "journey of all of 10 minutes" is 7km and, more importantly, crosses a county boundary, so it's not at all surprising she was told to go back. I'm not sure of the restrictions for groups of people taking exercise, but it's possible some of them weren't breaking the rules, and she definitely was.

And she knew it too and would have happily broken the rules if there was no checkpoint but yet feels she has the moral authority to call out others.

Her only real point here is that she got caught red handed and others didn't

micar

"Maybe I should have been going to Halfords to buy........a nice bit of sweaty lycra."

Dirt bird

Next stop is other people's dirty knickers

Type 17

Relevant around here too (eg: Sandymount strand bike lane):

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2020/oct/22/despite-a-loud-opposing-minority-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-are-increasingly-popular