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Dangerous Designs
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Report reveals that DoELG and DTO distributed dangerous design guidance
to Irish Local Authorities.
Shane Foran, Safety Officer Galway Cycling Campaign
9/5/02
An independent report has revealed that the Department of the Environment
and Local Government (DoELG) and Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) has
been distributing dangerous and inappropriate road design guidance to
Irish Local Authorities. The report, on Irish cycle facilities design
guidance, was compiled by the Galway Cycling Campaign and has revealed
that the DoELG and DTO had endorsed the use of cycle track designs associated
with up to 12 fold (x12) increases in the rate of collisions between cars
and bicycles. It is now over 25 years since a previous An Foras Forbartha
report found that the use of roadside cycle tracks was inherently self
defeating because of "the very real risk of collisions in the merging
phase" at intersections. At a European conference in 1991 the use
of roadside cycleways was described as being equivalent to "Russian
roulette".
The DTO/DoELG document was adapted from previous Dutch design guidance
and is based on the unique Dutch legal system in which cyclists must yield
to motorists unless there are special road markings. Under Dutch law motorists
are also held to be automatically liable in collisions with cyclists regardless
of the circumstances of the accident. The Netherlands has set a target
of 20mph speed limits on 75% of urban roads and there are estimated to
be 1,500 speed camera installations in the Netherlands. The Netherlands
also has 6,500 residential zones in which a speed limit of "walking
speed" applies. However, the Irish Ministers for the Environment
and Local Government failed to introduce similar legislation or measures
in support of the Irish document.
Comparison of a draft of the document with the final version further
showed that some of the Dutch cycle track designs were changed by removing
protective road markings that were intended to reduce the safety risks
to those cyclists who choose to use them. In addition, several key designs
have were changed so as to remove priority from the cyclists using the
cycle tracks and give it to motorised traffic. Cycle track users who could
have proceeded normally if they had stayed on the road were expected to
stop and yield to turning and crossing motor traffic at every side road.
"Many cyclists have long suspected that most Irish "cycle facilities"
were neither intended to enhance safety nor to promote and encourage cycling.
Instead, it is suspected that they actually represent a crude attempt
to manage and control bicycle traffic for the benefit of motorists. This
view is reinforced by the nature of design guidance being issued by the
DoELG and DTO." said Shane Foran the Safety Officer for the Galway
Cycle Campaign who wrote the report.
The report was funded in part by a grant from the Environmental Partnership
Fund and copies have now been distributed to all Irish Local Authorities
and University Libraries.
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