Little changes we can make to normalise cycling and encourage its uptake

Tenzor07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886262#Comment_119886262

It took a seismic shift for the Dutch to redesign their cities away from the motor vehicle, I can't see it ever happening here. Whenever I hear of a new cycle lane being proposed there's usually a group of "concerned" locals objecting to it.

The chances of anywhere in Ireland being redesigned to accomodate sustainable transport remotely like the Dutch have done would see a mass protest outside the Dail led by local T.D's and Councillors!

Apart from the fact that the Government takes in too much Tax from VAT on Sales and Fuel, Import and pollution(motor) tax... Toll road charges have just risen to their maximum level bringing in more revenue.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886233#Comment_119886233

Can we have a compulsory requirement for drivers to use motorways and stay off local roads too?

BTW, you don’t speak for the general population. There’s more to the general population than Newstalk listeners.

Unrealistic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886263#Comment_119886263

@mrcheez Note they don't seem to complain about pedestrians going through red lights 😂

Oh, they definitely do. I saw it in our local paper recently. Someone went to the trouble of writing in to complain about how frustrating it was to have to sit at red lights at a pedestrian crossing when there was no pedestrian in sight. They seemed completely oblivious to the fact that the reason this was happening was because pedestrians were getting frustrated standing looking at a red light when there were no cars in sight and had decided to cross already.

They seemed to think it would be better if pedestrians took their chances and crossed without bothering to press the crossing button so that drivers would not be delayed. No thought given to why, when one person is standing at a crossing and ready to cross, and another person is still 400m away, the lights are set up to allow the second person to cross that junction first, just because they are in a car.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886208#Comment_119886208

That’s what they said about Amsterdam in the early 70s. Then they changed things.

Now they have the happiest and healthiest teenagers in the world.

Tenzor07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886320#Comment_119886320

I'll put money on nothing been done here that remotely resembles what happened there in the '70's

Alias G

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119885576#Comment_119885576

Nobody is forcing you to cycle anywhere. That is the type of hyperbole that shows up the anti cycling infrastructure agenda for the ignorant misinformed drivel that it is. People will always have access to their cars and freedom to move about towns, cities, countryside as they always have done. The car has great utility. No one disputes that.

However, the overwhelming evidence from municipalities that have adequately provided for integrated and comprehensive cycling networks is that more people will opt to complete their journeys by bicycle on a more frequent basis as long as they can feel safe when doing so and can access direct and joined up routes. It's about giving people the choice. The knock on effects ultimately benefit both cyclists and motorists when less journeys are completed by car.

Cycling is not for you. That's fine. You are welcome to sit in your car. But you have no right to hinder progress for the rest of the country simply because your idea of transport is still stuck in the 70s.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119885712#Comment_119885712

Perhaps I did misunderstand. I got the impression that you were being just a little sarcastic, given your reference to the Minister for Injustice. Maybe you’d like to clarify?

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886345#Comment_119886345

Oh fair enough. I was just joking around in general.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886262#Comment_119886262

Please stop banging on about Amsterdam,it has millions of people. living in an area the size of Munster so of course with a population density like that you will have services within a short cycle of your home.

You also have a very good public transport service,here we have Darts/ Luas that are packed like sardines and buses that dont turn up.

We also have a perception that public transport isnt safe so even if people could cycle to a Dart or Luas, first of all there is a concern about their safety and then you have a very high likelihood that your bike will be stolen.

Its just easier and more convenient to get from A to B in the car and thats why the cycle lanes especially in the suburbs are empty most of the day.

These empty cycle lanes are having a negative impact in residential areas, they are leading to long tailbacks throughout the day and thus more emissions, a car journey that used to take fifteen minutes can now take over thirty so cars are idling outside houses all day.People are also resorting to rat running through housing estates and small narrow roads to avoid the tailback, this is making these roads unsafe for cycling so more people just stop.

Does anyone anywhere engage in any joined up thinking.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119885602#Comment_119885602

No, they're not .

But like someone else commented, I wander in, in the hopes that maybe one day I might find an actual balanced discussion going on,

Not just one about how "four wheels bad" and "two wheels good" and basically dreaming up ways to make travel by car as difficult as possible for those who do not wish to cycle, or have no interest in cycling or for whom cycling is impractical.

The whole talk of "shared road space" in these threads is a contradiction, when the cycle lobby are demanding segregated lanes (with no consideration for the impact on the lives of those whose homes are alongside these cycle lanes) - and yet, even then it seems, that still isn't enough. They still want to reserve the right to "use the road if I want to" because someone else may be cycling in the lovely super dooper purpose built cycle lane too slowly for them.

From my perspective, it seems cyclists would rather see the city destroyed with lanes they themselves claim are useless and those horrible plastic bollards, than actually "share the road".

Talk about wanting to have your cake, and eat it as well.

Carry on.

spaceHopper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886056#Comment_119886056

It think you are nit picking but I'll take the bait. - No, you are given them the choice of how to travel, you still have to do it with in the rules of the road. If you want to cycle, the use the cycle lane not the car lane, it's no longer a shared space. If there is no cycle lane then it's shared space and it has to be wide enough for cars to pass bikes safely. If they make the road narrower to provide a cycle lane then cars can't pass bikes safely so bikes should have to use the bike lane.

I see it all the time, the weekend lycra road bike crew don't want to use them for some reason.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886326#Comment_119886326

Have you seen the Coastal Mobility Route, from Blackrock to Dalkey?

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886304#Comment_119886304

Do you accept that there is an issue with full grown adults not seeming to understand that red lights mean you stop regardless of whether you are a driver, a motorcyclist,a scooter user or a cyclist.

I accept there is an issue with practically every full grown adult motorist driving their 2 tonne death machine through red lights seconds after they have turned red.

I encounter this all the time when I'm driving around. I'm particularly shocked when I have gone through a green light and see it change to red, then say to myself "there's no way that guy behind me is going to get through" and voila not only does the car behind me go through the red light, the car/van behind *that one* also goes through the red... sometimes 4 seconds after it's red.

Does this discourage people from taking up car ownership?

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886376#Comment_119886376

What’s a “car lane”?

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886357#Comment_119886357

How are the lives of people living by segregated lanes destroyed?

Plastic bollards aren’t for cyclists. They’re for the drivers who won’t respect traffic markings.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886389#Comment_119886389

Stop attempting to ruin the thread with this pedantic nonsense.

Tenzor07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886384#Comment_119886384

It's a lovely little path for a family jaunt along the coast, and a nice footpath along Dún Laoghaire seafront..

Macy0161

Proper Infrastructure, even if it means CPO's/ loss of trees (funny how trees are suddenly important when it comes to PT/ Active Travel infrastructure, but not new motorways?)/ reduced car and parking spaces.

Enforcement of Road Traffic Laws. The plastic bollards were mentioned earlier - Sandford Road which was one of the pictures was awful to cycle before some segregation btw - but are only necessary because a substantial number of motorists don't comply with mandatory cycle lanes. Hopefully all road users will have a portal soon.

Change to reporting guidelines, to help change motorist behaviour. "A Car" doesn't collide with someone cycling or walking, without a motorist driving. The way we report RTA's dehumanises it from a motorist perspective. It's someone driving a car, colliding with someone riding a bicycle.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886400#Comment_119886400

It’s a safe cycle route to work and college for many people for some or all of their journey.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886395#Comment_119886395

Ok, let’s try a different tack.

There is no such thing as “a car lane”. Every lane is a cycle lane, except for motorways.

Isnt it funny though how people are happy to spend hours in traffic staring down the arse of the car in front, but lose their reason if they are behind a cyclist for ten seconds?

The ferry terminal in Dunlaoghaire should never have been closed and in my lifetime I hope to see it re opened.

Achieving this objective will be the end of the coastal mobility route.

How can the local authority get away with just deciding to close a major road like Seapoint Avenue, I had to apply for planning permission to allow me to park in my driveway and yet a local authority can overnight close a major road in one of the most built up areas on the country,do they not even have to consult anyone to do this.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886356#Comment_119886356

Can you give a specific example of a car journey that used to take fifteen minutes can now take over thirty so cars are idling outside houses all day?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886427#Comment_119886427

Apologies but Im not getting into a pointless back and forth with you.

It will achieve nothing except ruin others enjoyment of the thread.

Its an example of the brow beating entitled male behaviour I posted about earlier.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886429#Comment_119886429

Is Seapoint Avenue closed? There was vehicular and cycle traffic on it last weekend.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886443#Comment_119886443

By brow beating, I presume you mean pointing out the gaping holes in your positions?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886444#Comment_119886444

More of the pedantic nonsense,its closed one way to car traffic, isnt it.????

My only interest in it is to get the ferry terminal back open and hopefully the road re opened in both directions so car traffic can access the ferry.

This would do an awful lot more to help the environment than Manny and daddy cycling their cargo bikes to Dunlaoghaire when the sun is out.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886451#Comment_119886451

Whatever, Im bored already, hate to be rude but mindful of pointless back and forth with you ruining the thread for others.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886451#Comment_119886451

And you can have the last word, you will keep going until you do, more of the brow beating entitled behaviour.

Bye now....................................

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886410#Comment_119886410

i'm a treehugger, and it annoys me ever so slightly when people fight trees being chopped down in urban environments, citing concerns about GHGs.

trees are extremely important in an urban landscape, but their role in absorbing CO2 is negligible. IIRC the amount of CO2 a tree would absorb in a day is about the same as a modern ICE car would emit driving 1km.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886462#Comment_119886462

So when you said closed, you were exaggerating for effect. The road is open one way vehicles and two way cycle traffic. Alternative routes are easily available for anyone heading to or from DLR.