Journalism and Cycling 2: the difficult second album

Thelonious Monk

So the Sandymount shower are retweeting hysterics from the Daily Mail now

https://twitter.com/IrishCycle/status/1320067088468332545

Seth Brundle

Two tweets relating to the Fitzwilliam cycle lane...

https://twitter.com/MikeMcKillen/status/1320014107127517186?s=19


https://twitter.com/KevSheedy/status/1320003398700310529?s=19

zell12

Newstalk has a wife describing her husband's cycling accident, then ICU, life support, NRH, etc
https://twitter.com/clareslair/status/1319589575921160193?s=20

magicbastarder

'Cycling capital of death': Bogotá bikers battle violence on city's streets

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/25/bogota-cycling-capital-of-death-colombia-violence?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

AndrewJRenko

zell12 wrote: »

Newstalk has a wife describing her husband's cycling accident, then ICU, life support, NRH, etc
https://twitter.com/clareslair/status/1319589575921160193?s=20

Strange one - here's the link, the piece starts at 37m if you're interested.

https://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/alive-and-kicking-with-clare-mckenna/irelands-healing-waters

She says that he was cycling on the cycle lane on the quays in January (presumably north quays, pre- Covid developments) on his eBike, and seems to have fallen and hit his head on a concrete orca (small, concrete, half-moon shaped) causing very serious brain injury. He had a cycling helmet and a motorbike jacket at the time.

Eleven Benevolent Elephants

crisco10 wrote: »

haha, been working on this myself for the past while. I call it colouring....except I do it running..

I've completed every road in my 2km, and only have a small bit left on the 5km radius. But the problem now is I need to run 10km (5 there and back) just to colour even a metre of new road.

The cul de sacs are annoying alright, especially pushing a buggy. The attached gives an idea of what a finished area looks like. :-)

In other news, article in the IT today about the bollards around Fitzwilliam Square:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/dublin-residents-seek-removal-of-distasteful-cycle-bollards-1.4388601

my "favourite" quote:

Is the 5 km radius the way the crow flies?

I could theoretically be less than 100 m from home but I'd have to travel 20 ish km by road to get there, during this journey my maximum displacement from my house could be 10 km.

CramCycle

Eleven Benevolent Elephants wrote: »

Is the 5 km radius the way the crow flies?

I could theoretically be less than 100 m from home but I'd have to travel 20 ish km by road to get there, during this journey my maximum displacement from my house could be 10 km.

My understanding is yes, and so is the limit of how you get to where you are going. So if there is a road across the field from you 1km away but the only way to travel there by road takes you outside of the 5km radius, then its a no go by road, but you are free (provided its not trespassing) to cross the field and head directly to it.

Eleven Benevolent Elephants

CramCycle wrote: »

My understanding is yes, and so is the limit of how you get to where you are going. So if there is a road across the field from you 1km away but the only way to travel there by road takes you outside of the 5km radius, then its a no go by road, but you are free (provided its not trespassing) to cross the field and head directly to it.

That's what I was confused about.

I live in NCD, you could nearly have a conversation with someone in an adjacent town at low tide but spend up to 30 minutes driving there?

Eleven Benevolent Elephants

I haven't cycled in a while. Been meaning to dust off the old rothar. I'd love to see the Greenway on the railway tracks come to fruition.

Thelonious Monk

magicbastarder wrote: »

'Cycling capital of death': Bogotá bikers battle violence on city's streets

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/25/bogota-cycling-capital-of-death-colombia-violence?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Yikes. I have a nephew in Bogota, I might give cycling a miss if I ever visit!

bazermc

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

So the Sandymount shower are retweeting hysterics from the Daily Mail now

https://twitter.com/IrishCycle/status/1320067088468332545

Is the fact that they (STCCommunityGroup) have a picture on their twitter page which shows two cyclists on the footpad intentional?

Seth Brundle

...and yet another anti-cycling letter in todays Irish Times...

Electric bicycles and the law

Sir, – I take it from your recent article (“Bicycle-sharing scheme in ¤300,000 crowdfunding move”, Business, October 22nd) that Dublin will soon be overrun by electric bicycles moving along our cycle lanes at speeds which only the most athletic of us could previously have managed.

This would be bad enough, but that almost all such bicycles are illegally on the road is worse.

Electric bicycles are not exempt from the requirements imposed on other mechanically propelled vehicles by the Road Traffic Act. The Act defines a pedal cycle as being propelled “solely by the physical exertions of a person or persons seated thereon”, and defines a mechanically propelled vehicle as including “a bicycle or tricycle with an attachment for propelling it by mechanical power, whether or not the attachment is being used”.

There is, unlike in the UK, no exemption for electrically assisted pedal cycles, low powered or otherwise.

Like other mechanically propelled vehicles, electric bicycles require third-party insurance and vehicle registration, and their drivers need a valid driving licence.

Requirements which, I fear, few electric bicycles, if any, meet. – Yours, etc,

MICHAEL J WALSH, BL
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/electric-bicycles-and-the-law-1.4390754

Did Mr. Walsh get his degree in law from eBay given that electric bikes are not propelled by the electric motor (Article 1 (h) of EU Directive 2002/24/EC)?

tomasrojo

He seems to be unaware that the European Commission had the same dilemma as the UK -- clarifying the laws around electric-assist bikes -- and they both went for the same solution, which was classifying pedelecs as a special bicycle, rather than a light motorcycle.

I suppose Ireland maybe didn't put the EC Directive directly into traffic law (not that I can see anyway, but I'm no expert), but it's in finance law, under the Bike-to-Work scheme, and the Minister for Transport was asked about it in 2019 and said the EC Directive applied to pedelecs and not e-scooters.

Seth Brundle

But rather that putting pen to paper and contacting thr editor of a national newspaper, you'd think someone proud of their B.L. would have double checked the legality of what he is moaning about.

tomasrojo

There's the definition of pedal cycle in an Act from 2008:

‘ pedal cycle ’ means—

(i) a bicycle or tricycle which is intended or adapted for propulsion solely by the physical exertions of a person or persons seated thereon, or

(ii) a pedelec,

but does not include a moped or a scooter;

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2008/act/25/section/7/enacted/en/html


The European Directive, according to Wikipedia, says:

In the European Union a pedelec does not need registration, insurance, or license plate, if it adheres to these rules:

Motor power up to 250 W (continuous)
Motor is active only when the pedals are turned
Highest speed of 25 km/h (15.5 mph) with motor assistance

I'm not a law-talking guy and our letter-writing friend is, but "I fear" he hasn't actually looked into this very far.

breezy1985

tomasrojo wrote: »

There's the definition of pedal cycle in an Act from 2008:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2008/act/25/section/7/enacted/en/html


The European Directive, according to Wikipedia, says:


I'm not a law-talking guy and our letter-writing friend is, but "I fear" he hasn't actually looked into this very far.

In fairness or writer friends usually specialises in bird law

magicbastarder

Concerns over cost halt €20m north Dublin city cycle path

The development of a €20 million cycle path from Fairview to Connolly Station in Dublin has been halted amid funding and design disputes between Dublin City Council, the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Irish Water.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/concerns-over-cost-halt-20m-north-dublin-city-cycle-path-1.4391550?mode=amp

mr spuckler

magicbastarder wrote: »

Concerns over cost halt €20m north Dublin city cycle path

The development of a €20 million cycle path from Fairview to Connolly Station in Dublin has been halted amid funding and design disputes between Dublin City Council, the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Irish Water.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/concerns-over-cost-halt-20m-north-dublin-city-cycle-path-1.4391550?mode=amp

Instead the council will have to remove proposed temporary cycle lanes, with cyclists “required to use the bus lanes during the construction works,”. This will require a revised traffic management plan, it said.

In addition, a section of the scheme in Fairview Park needs to be narrowed to protect mature trees.

It's amazing how rarely these changes work in favour of cyclists.

Thelonious Monk

It's sad to say I'm not surprised. It was a total mess in the 90s when I was going to school in Fairview and it's just as bad or worse now. How hard is it to build a couple of KM of bike lane, for God's sake.

magicbastarder

good god. story is from the US.

Minivan’s passenger leans out and slaps bicyclist; both end up dead
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/10/26/minivans-passenger-leans-out-and-slaps-bicyclist-both-end-up-dead/

breezy1985

magicbastarder wrote: »

good god. story is from the US.

Minivan’s passenger leans out and slaps bicyclist; both end up dead
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/10/26/minivans-passenger-leans-out-and-slaps-bicyclist-both-end-up-dead/

Imagine one of your family dying over a stupid c*** like that

magicbastarder

Objections To New Cycle Track Going Up Side Of The Spire
A PROPOSED cycle lane which goes up one side of Dublin city’s Spire and down the other has so far received over 1,000 written objections from locals, WWN has learned.
The sudden appearance of the cycle lane has caused outrage, with objectors claiming the lane will ruin the look of the giant monument, which is located right at the heart of the city.
https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2020/10/27/objections-to-new-cycle-track-going-up-side-of-the-spire/

magicbastarder

magicbastarder wrote: »

Objections To New Cycle Track Going Up Side Of The Spire
A PROPOSED cycle lane which goes up one side of Dublin city’s Spire and down the other has so far received over 1,000 written objections from locals, WWN has learned.
The sudden appearance of the cycle lane has caused outrage, with objectors claiming the lane will ruin the look of the giant monument, which is located right at the heart of the city.
https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2020/10/27/objections-to-new-cycle-track-going-up-side-of-the-spire/

Are you going to hold my coat or will I hold yours while we go for the KOM

AndrewJRenko

breezy1985 wrote: »

Imagine one of your family dying over a stupid c*** like that

Imagine one of your family dying over a stupid c*** like that and finding that the first comment is from a stupid c*** like this?

The article doesn't say whether the bicyclist was wearing a helmet. A good helmet, properly fitted and worn, should prevent a fatal injury when being knocked off a bike. There can still be severe body injury, but that should not kill you. The area looks flat, but she still could have been riding fast, so maybe her neck broke?

breezy1985

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Are you going to hold my coat or will I hold yours while we go for the KOM

Would barely be a cat.2 the way the Vuelta seem to grade them

tomasrojo

Another law-talking guy wrote back about the legality of pedelecs:
https://twitter.com/ccferrie/status/1321731637089062912

CramCycle

tomasrojo wrote: »

Another law-talking guy wrote back about the legality of pedelecs:
https://twitter.com/ccferrie/status/1321731637089062912

I love the bit at the end, just in case you think putting BL at the end of your name gives it weight, my address is the Law Library.

Seth Brundle

However, the IT also has this letter which ticks many of the bingo boxes...

Cycle ways, trees and pedestrians

Sir, – Olivia Kelly reports that mature trees are being taken into account by the designers of the planned Fairview cycleway (“Irish Water, Dublin City Council and NTA fail to agree on Clontarf to city scheme”, Home News, October 27th). But what about the interest of mature pedestrians such as myself?

The pedestrian path, for example, along the embankment between Sutton Cross and the James Larkin Road has been narrowed to widen the existing cycleway. I find the path is now too narrow to walk on safely in gusty or strong winds. The narrower pathway also results in walkers sometimes being cheek by jowl with speeding e-bikes, scooters and mini pelotons of Lycra-clad cyclists. Some of the latter overtake slower cyclists by aggressively intruding into the path of pedestrians.

The Green Party and trendy City Hall officials seem to regard pedestrians, people pushing buggies and those with mobility issues as lower in the pecking order than cyclists, trees and even seagulls. – Yours, etc,

KARL MARTIN,
Bayside, Dublin 13.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/cycle-ways-trees-and-pedestrians-1.4393554

tomasrojo

Seth Brundle wrote: »

However, the IT also has this letter which ticks many of the bingo boxes...

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/cycle-ways-trees-and-pedestrians-1.4393554

Notable by its absence in the list of things which councillors regard as higher in the pecking order than pedestrians is the most important one: people in cars. They're almost always the reason pedestrians and cyclists get crammed into a shared space, or why trees have to be sacrificed.

Eamonnator

CramCycle wrote: »

I love the bit at the end, just in case you think putting BL at the end of your name gives it weight, my address is the Law Library.

I would have been even more impressed,if he had referred to Driving Licence, rather than Driver's Licence.