Making cycling safer

[He3]

Much more needs to be done to make cycling safer, especially in urban areas. A notoriously dangerous part of Dublin city centre is in the news again today for all the wrong reasons:

A cyclist died today as a result of injuries sustained in a crash involving a taxi in Dublin city centre.

The incident occurred at the junction of Westmoreland Street and O’Connell Street shortly before midnight yesterday.

The cyclist (21) was taken to St James’s Hospital where he died as a result of his injuries this morning.

He was one of three males riding bicycles along Westmoreland Street at the time and gardaí are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the collision or who may have seen these cyclists beforehand to come forward.

Gardaí at Pearse Street are investigating the incident and can be contacted on (01) 6669000. Alternatively anyone with information can call the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or contact any Garda station.

Link

Government policy at national and at local level is to ramp up bike use. That is commendable but success depends on people being confident that the road space they occupy is as safe as it can be.

Recently in Cork, a multi million redesign of Patrick Street has arguably made the street more hazardous for cyclists by narrowing the carriageway. The idea was to make the overall street more pedestrian friendly with lovely wide walking areas but the effect was not thought through fully and the cyclists were perhaps forgotten. Meanwhile at Sheares Street near the Courthouse one of the few stretches of cycle lane in the city centre is routinely parked full along its length by motorists.

Let's try harder.

[Super Snooper]

If cyclists didn't behave as if they owned the road they would be a lot safer.

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

If cyclists didn't behave as if they owned the road they would be a lot safer.

How so?

I think you will find that the RSA recommend cyclists to make their presence known on the road ways.

Any given day a cyclist in Dublin would likely see hundreds of motorists braking the law, and endangering themselves and others. Yet motorists find a higher and higher horse from which to preach year on year.

[Super Snooper]

How so?

I think you will find that the RSA recommend cyclists to make their presence known on the road ways.

Any given day a cyclist in Dublin would likely see hundreds of motorists braking the law, and endangering themselves and others. Yet motorists find a higher and higher horse from which to preach year on year.

The difference is you'll see some motorists abiding by the law.

[bob3344]

I think you will find that the RSA recommend cyclists to make their presence known on the road ways.

Any given day a cyclist in Dublin would likely see hundreds of motorists braking the law, and endangering themselves and others. Yet motorists find a higher and higher horse from which to preach year on year.

Awful lot of cyclists in dublin act like complete lunatics.

No respect for motorists or pedestrians.

Maybe motorists break the law, but they're not likely to die from a minor collision - cyclists are.

[Expose the lot of them]

The difference is you'll see some motorists abiding by the law.

+1

cycling will only become safer when cyclists obey the rules of the road and learn that a lid and a hi-vis vest and sticking an arm out does not give them the right to plough across lanes of traffic.

[eyeSpy]

great, another thread where people make lazy sweeping statements about different road users.

[seanad voter]

I'm surprised that there are not more fatalities. Whenever I visit Dublin I'm amazed at the chances some cyclists take, literally risking their lives (and sometimes the lives of others too).

And a cyclist who stops at a red traffic light is about as rare as a taxi with indicators.

[james5001]

great, another thread where people make lazy sweeping statements about different road users.

+1

[He3]

great, another thread where people make lazy sweeping statements about different road users.

Yes. There is a thread for that approach somewhere else.

We could do with a thread that allows us to figure out what we can do to make cycling safer, whether as a motorist, a cyclist, a planner, an administrator, a law enforcer, or any combination of those.

Solely pointing to failings on the part of 'other people' will not solve this.