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January 2002: Two more roundabouts and cycle paths
threatened for Quirke Rd.
November 2001: GCC contacts Garda Commissioner
over red lane markings on Western Distributor Road
2nd October 2001: Ministers Contacted on Road
Safety
September 2001: Car Free Day a "Damp Squib" in
Galway
August 2001: Cyclist hostile steps installed
at Dyke Road/Quincentennial Bridge.
July 2001: Submission to City manager on Bike
Parking.
April 2001: Submission to Irish Medical Organisation
on Compulsory Cycle Helmets.
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January 2002: Two more roundabouts
and cycle paths threatened for Quirke Rd
The GCC has reacted with anger and derision
to Galway City Council's recently announced scheme for the Seamus
Quirke road, which proposes two more roundabouts and footpath-style
"cycle lanes" for this location, a road layout which is already
causing a safety nightmare for cyclists at other locations in the
city. The council is due to consider the matter again on Monday
11/2/02 and a short protest is planned outside city hall between
6:00pm and 6:30pm when the council meeting starts. On 28/1/02
Galway City Council recieved a presentation on the scheme by their
"consultant" Mr. Frank Harewood. This presentation contained
claims that are considered dubious, in particular the assertion
that there are "pedestrian facilities" on the arms of uncontrolled
roundabouts. According to the presentation given by Mr. Harewood
to the City council on Monday the 28th, cyclists who wish to make
turning or crossing manoeuvres will apparently have to dismount
and become "pedestrians". Cyclists are apparently expected
to use the "pedestrian facilities" provided at the two new roundabouts.
These are to be the same as the existing "pedestrian facilities"
which, according to Mr. Harewood, are already present at the other
roundabouts in the city.
The Galway Cycling Campaign has reacted
with derision to the suggestion that the scheme will accommodate
the needs of cyclists. The proposed scheme incorporates so-called
"cycle lanes" of a design that that was described as "self defeating"
in an official report over 25 years ago and results in a massive
increases in the rate and severity of most common types of car/bicycle
collision. Since its formation the Galway cycling campaign
has been seeking the removal or modification of similar devices
elsewhere in the city. These are then to be used in conjunction
with roundabouts of design on which cyclists have an injury accident
rate that is 14-16 times that of motorists and whose safety was
first queried in an official report over 22 years ago.
The Irish authorities have known since
the 1980's that cycle lanes and roundabouts do not mix. Analysis
of accidents carried out at that time showed that cycle lanes were
likely to maximise the risk of collision between cars and bicycles.
At December's AGM of the Galway Community Forum three motions
were adopted rejecting the use of uncontrolled roundabouts in the
city precisely because of serious concerns regarding safety for
cyclists and pedestrians, as well as incompatibility with bus priority
systems and incompatibility with modern traffic management systems.
Yet again it seems public safety, sustainable transport and
proper traffic management is being sacrificed in order to pander
to every perceived need of those travelling in single occupant cars.
Additional note: Harewood and Associates
have previously prepared another report on behalf of Galway City
Council in which it is stated that there are "pedestrian facilities"
on all the arms of all the roundabouts in Galway City. At
a previous presentation on this matter on 6/11/01, Mr. Harewood
used the examples of wheelchair users and people with pushchairs/baby
buggies as being people who are facilitated at these locations,
he further expressed the view that roundabout splitter islands are
"great aids" to pedestrians.
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November 2001: GCC contacts
Garda Commissioner over red lane markings on Western Distributor
Road
. The Galway Cycling Campaign has contacted
the Garda Commissioner to request the removal, on grounds of traffic
hazard, of red "lane-like" road markings that have recently appeared
on the Western Distributor road in Galway. This action was taken
after it was suggested that the markings may be intended as some
form of cycle lane marking. The recently built Western distributor
road is already the subject of an ongoing complaint to the EU commission
by the GCC. The road has been built with 6 multilane roundabouts
of a design that has been shown to be extremely hazardous for cyclists.
Marking cycle lanes on such a route, without first removing or modifiying
the roundabouts, would be viewed as grossly irresponsible and would
raise serious questions as to the competence and fitness to practice
of those involved.
The red road markings have been measured
at just 1.2m wide putting them well outside the recommended minimum
of 2m for such devices. It has been shown that on cycle lanes
less than 2m wide many cyclists will be receiving less clearance
from overtaking motorists than if there were no markings, a lane
width of 1.2m represents a safety hazard on its own right.
The presence of prominent drainage grates on the road means that
in places the effective lane width is actually less than the design
width of a bicycle plus rider. The standard safe cycling advice
in such situations is to ignore the cycle lane and ride along the
outside edge markings. In order to ensure cyclists safety the GCC
has asked the Garda commissioner to exercise his powers under the
roads act and seek the removal of the road markings on grounds of
traffic hazard.
The GCC also reminded the commissioner
of the ongoing legal problems that have been identified with the
current cycle track regulations. Specifically that the regulations
are in direct conflict with the primary duties of care found in
the primary legislation. As of August 1998 the Galway Cycling Campaign
took the view that the current regulations preclude the construction
or use of cycle tracks in this jurisdiction. The matter is not known
to have been tested in the courts and the situation is regarded
as being unresolved. Another GCC complaint to the Garda commissioner
in 1999 brought the revelation that Galway Corporation had been
using road markings with no legal status on the Eastern distributor
road in the City.
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2nd October 2001: Ministers
Contacted on Road Safety
The Government ministers and opposition
TD's with responsibility for Health, Tourism and Enterprise and
Trade have all been contacted by the Galway Cycling Campaign this
week. Serious concerns were raised about the progress and
effects of the current Government strategy on road safety, the primary
aim of which is to reduce fatalities by 20% over the 1997 figures.
In the year 2000 deaths were down by 57 or 12% on the 1997 figures.
However the drop in road deaths is due entirely to a drop
of 58 in the number of cyclists and pedestrians killed, deaths to
car occupants actually increased by 41 or 19% over the same period.
It is highly unlikely that it is becoming
safer to walk or cycle on the Irish roads network. According
to the NRA in uncongested conditions the average free speed of cars
in on main roads in urban 30 mph zones is 45 mph. In an impact
at this speed an unprotected human being has less than a one in
ten (1/10) chance of survival. It is reported that on main/national
roads in 30 mph zones 94% to 99% of cars are speeding. In residential
areas 68% of drivers are speeding. The most likely mechanism
for the effect seen is a drop in the number of people walking or
cycling and recent ESRI figures showing a drop in cycle commuters
in the Dublin area support this view. This suggests that the
relevant authorities have reduced the Irish Road Death figures through
the simple expedient of letting the Irish roads network get so dangerous
that people are too afraid to walk or cycle or let their children
walk or cycle.
The GCC has had longstanding concerns
on various aspects of Irish policies including road and junction
designs, speed management practices, speed limits and compulsory
seatbelt wearing by car occupants. The current pattern of
road deaths is viewed as an additional threat which gives the NRA,
the Gardai, the National Safety Council and Dept. of Environment
a clear self-interest in keeping the Irish roads network as dangerous
as possible for cyclists and pedestrians. This will help discourage
walking and cycling and ensure a "successful" outcome with positive
coverage in the national media. A necessary corollary of such a
policy is that a high background level of crashes, particularly
material damage crashes, will accompany it. This creates a
direct conflict with other Govt. Departments like Health and Tourism
that are trying to promote walking and cycling. A high background
level of car crashes also implies high insurance claims and hence
conflicts with the current efforts of the Department of Enterprise
Trade and Employment to reduce the burden of motor insurance premiums.
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September 2001: Car Free Day
a "Damp Squib" in Galway
According to the Irish Times, European Car Free Day was a "damp
squib" in Galway, with most motorists unaware that it was happening
and with traffic wardens handing out the same amount of parking
tickets as on any other Saturday.
The Galway Cycling Campaign declined
formal involvement with Galway Corporation's activities for the
event. The GCC was uncomfortable with being involved with
the scheme at a time when there is an absence of concrete measures
to improve the safety of cyclists in the city. The GCC was
particularly concerned about the safety of novice or inexperienced
cyclists using the roads on car free day. Galway Corporation
had been approached with a set of proposals for car free day.
- Proposal for a city-wide speed limit of 20 mph on car free day.
- Two way cycling on one way streets within the vehicle restricted
zone.
- Measures (signage and road markings) to warn of motorists of
cycle traffic at roundabouts.
- Provision of "Sheffield Stand" bike parking in city
centre
However, the corporation declined to
pursue these measures. It is accepted that the current Minister
for Local Government has declined to allow the routine application
of 20 mph limits in urban areas, but if 20 mph limits can be applied
temporarily for road resurfacing schemes, than it is unclear why
they couldn't have been applied temporarily for car free day. The
Galway Community Forum has adopted the use of 20 mph speed limits
as a key transport policy while the use of 20 mph zones is central
to EU policy on promoting cycling. When this point was made
at a meeting on the issue the response of one city official was
the "the corporation is not a mouthpiece for the EU".
On the issue of the signs at roundabouts there was initial
endorsement but we were subsequently told that the signs illustrated
in the National Cycle Facilities manual could not be found in the
"official" road signs book. Long time observers
will be aware that the Corporation has a history of using other
"cycle lane" road markings that have no legal status.
The proposal for two-way cycling on city centre streets drew
no response. It is now 22 years since the publication of an
offically sponsored study on cycling in the city that recomended
the provision of contraflow cycling on these streets. On
the issue of "sheffield stand" bike parking there was
some movement and we have been informed that in future these are
to be installed in the city. However, on car free day itself
"temporary" wheel gripper racks were provided in Eyre
Square. It is now three years since the campaign reccomended
the removal of the permanent wheel gripper rack at the same location.
The Galway Cycling Campaign had an information
display in the city library for Galway environmental week and on
car free day members gave out leaflets and information to the public
in the central zone. In the afternoon there was a well attended
"critical mass" bike ride of 50-60 cyclists organised
by Freinds of the Earth and the NUI, Galway ecology society.
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August
2001: Cyclist hostile steps installed at Dyke Road/Quincentennial
Bridge.
The Galway Cycling Campaign have contacted
the City manager Mr. John Tierney to raise the issue of the safety
of cyclists at new concrete steps on the Dyke road. The steps
were recently installed in place of the existing informal "cycle
ramp" structure leading onto the Quincentennial Bridge. These
have been used for many years by both students and staff from the
University, as a means of transferring their bicycles between the
two roads. The GCC has pointed out to the City manager that
there are standard design guidelines for such structures. These
guidelines specify that such steps should have wheeling ramps or
channels for bicycle users and set out the maximum gradients to
be used. The new structure does not include any wheeling channels
and queries have arisen as to the gradient of the new steps.
Following our raising of the issue the GCC was contacted by a local
bicycle user who had previously made his own independent representations
for a formal cycle ramp structure. The GCC has now been told
that the University authorities had also previously made representations
on this matter apparently without response. It seems that
corporation has spent public funds building a structure that may
well be more difficult and hazardous to use, than something that
was originally done for free by students using a few concrete blocks.
This is of course not the first time on which Galway Corporation
has apparently ignored standard design guidance. This latest
example of Galway Corporation's attitude does not anything to shake
the impression that there is outright hostility within city hall
towards the safety and access needs of bicycle users, and particularly
towards children and students.
Text
of Letter to City Manager.
News items may not always appear in
chronological order - we're not perfect
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July
2001: Submission to City manager on Bike Parking.
July saw a GCC submission on bike parking
made to the city manager Mr. John Tierney. This was made after
the issue of bike parking was raised in the "city managers report"
on a proposed redevelopment of the Westside Shopping Centre.
The submission included examples of best practices in short-term
parking designs and advice on suitable locations. Previous GCC submissions
on bike parking have so far been ignored by the Corporation. It
is hoped that this development may signal a shift away from the
hostile attitude towards bicycle users that characterised Galway
Corporation under the previous city manager. Heretofore "suitable"
cycle parking consisted of either wheel gripper racks in obscure,
unsupervised locations within multi-storey car parks or combined
"refuse bin/bicycle" storage areas at the rear of new developments.
Time will tell. Text
of Submission.
News items may not always appear in
chronological order - we're not perfect
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April
2001: Submission to Irish Medical Organisation on Compulsory Cycle
Helmets.
In April the Irish Medical Organisation
AGM included a motion calling for legislation for mandatory protective
headgear for cyclists. The GCC sent an open letter to IMO calling
for withdrawal/rejection of helmets motion. The European
Cyclists Federation has taken strong line against helmet legislation
and was contacted, as were many ECF member groups. Submissions
of support and additional material were received from cyclists in
Canada, the US, the UK and Australia. These included submissions
from advisors to the the British Medical Association, which had
previously rejected compulsory helmet wearing. Nationally and internationally
an e mail campaign was initiated calling for rejection of helmet
laws and endorsement of other motions calling for a bull bar ban
and lower speed limits. No response was forthcoming from the
IMO, the IMO also declined to put up a spokesman to discuss the
issue on national radio. The IMO delegates rejected a counter-motion
calling for a committee to look into the helmets matter and adopted
the helmets motion, our understanding is that the various submissions
made by internationally recognised experts, the national, and international
cycling community were not brought to the attention of the delegates.
Open
letter to IMO.
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