Cyclists
forced to
ride their luck each day
(from the 'Irish Times', 31st Oct 2001)
The death of another cyclist on Dublin's streets calls into
question the Corporation's stewardship of the roads and its policy on
cycle lanes, writes Karlin Lillington
The horrific death of another cyclist at Dublin's O'Connell Bridge last
week is an indictment of a slipshod traffic management policy that continues
to prioritise vehicle traffic over cyclists and pedestrians.
Evidence that the German woman was crushed beneath the wheels
of a lorry at rush hour after hitting a pothole is particularly shocking.
Overall, the accident underlines the incompetence with which the city
has overseen a glut of sloppy infrastructure "improvements"
inflicted on the city.
The woman is at least the third to have met such a fate
in the same place; only months ago another woman, Olivia Potterton, was
run over at the same intersection. But such violent accidents come as
no surprise to those of us who regularly brave the city streets on bike
or foot.
We must make our way through a maze of pock-marked streets
that have sunk to a state of decrepitude unmatched by any other major
European city. Our city byways are hideous networks of dangerous holes,
lumps of tarmac, and metal plates. So bad are the streets, cyclists cannot
adequately focus on both the traffic and the unpredictable state of the
road before them. This situation has brought me terrifyingly close to
catastrophe too many times to count.
Because contracts for such work frees Dublin City Council
from liability, its officials shrug and say it is not their problem. Or
worse - I had one corporation representative laugh and wish me luck when
I asked how to go about seeking compensation for a cracked axle and broken
wheel rim received from a vicious pothole in O'Connell Street. Only with
luck was I able to keep from being pitched off into the street.
The hole was of such depth that I sprained my hand with
the force of the impact.
One has only to look at recent street "enhancements"
in Dublin to see that the corporation has no consistent policy on creating
even nominally safe bicycle lanes through the city. For example, millions
are being spent on revitalising O'Connell Street, with the oft-stated
goal of making it more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
But the corporation has just extended the pavement in front
of the GPO, reducing traffic into two lanes, with no provision for bicycle
traffic.
Cyclists are forced right alongside traffic on this heavily
travelled thoroughfare. And cyclists are not protected from turning motorists
- the cause of at least two deaths in the area this year.
The quays, from beginning to end a de facto speedway, are
nonetheless a necessary route for many cyclists due to one-way streets.
Yet pavements were extended alongside Sunlight Chambers at Parliament
Street, and at the Ha'penny Bridge, removing any space for bicycles.
Cyclists are thus deposited into traffic at exactly the
point where motorists on the quays often accelerate dangerously to make
the light. Why hasn't the corporation at least taken the basic step of
sequencing lights to pulse traffic through at a safe speed?
New bike lanes across the city have only brought marginal
improvements.
Rarely do lanes extend for more than a few streets, and
often run only for a few hundred yards before ending abruptly. In many
areas, such as Ranelagh, the lanes are filled with parked cars except
during rush hour.
In most cases, bike lanes are actually the bus and taxi
lanes too, leaving cyclists duelling for space and cycling alongside parked
vehicles.
Car doors are a major fear for bike-riders, since a door
opened into an oncoming cyclist, even one pedalling at the most leisurely
of speeds, sends the cyclist head-first over the handlebars and into traffic.
Other bike lanes, such as those on the Stillorgan dual carriageway,
or around Fairview Park, are more dangerous than opting for the shoulder
of the road.
They meander over kerbs and across people's driveways, pedestrians
walk on them, and steel signposts stuck into the cycle path mean a moment's
inattention could result in a fatal collision. And crucially, most major
thoroughfares lack any lanes at all: Dame Street, Westmoreland Street,
O'Connell Street, Dorset Street, Baggot Street, and 99 per cent of the
quays.
Cyclist deaths such as the one last week tend to galvanise
drivers, cyclists and pedestrians into bitter complaints about each other's
disregard for safety - witness Joe Duffy's Liveline callers all week long.
But the real problem is not that walkers often cross streets
before lights favour them, or that cyclists (legally) move up the inside
of vehicles at intersections, or that drivers turn without signalling
and cut off cyclists.
Poorly designed and neglected streets force all three groups
into frequent and unsafe contact. The city needs to rethink its traffic
policies and aggressively pursue contractors that leave our roads in a
state of disrepair.
Otherwise the accident and deaths statistics will continue
to mount.
Karlin Lillington writes about technology for The Irish
Times
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