Galway Cycling Campaign News

The Galway Cycling Campaign has made an 81-page submission on the draft city plan which focuses on Cycle Parking, Integrated Transport and Road Design. Cycle parking is the initial focus of Cycle Campaign recommendations as it is pointless encouraging more cycling if there is no appropriate cycle parking is available. Detailed design and installation guidelines setting out best practice for cycle parking have been provided. On integrated transport, the submission advocates shared bus/cycle lanes as one of the most popular and effective means of providing for cyclists on urban roads. The design guidelines for shared bus/cycle lanes are set out and it is emphasised that cyclists should benefit from measures to provide bus priority at junctions and from appropriate measures to improve pedestrian access to bus services.

On road design, the submission raises the idea a road designs should match the mix of traffic and that roads should be designed to have self-explanatory speed limit/design speed. The means of achieving this effect are detailed. There is a large section on junction design as this is where most car/bicycle collisions occur. Particular concerns are raised regarding the use of free-flow arrangements at junctions as these are hazardous for cyclists, and increase the hostility of the roads network for cyclists. The breakdown of car/cyclist collisions at junctions is discussed and the design factors that have a bearing are detailed. Remedial measures are suggested particularly with regard to the City's roundabouts as a key obstacle obstructing cyclist access. Key issues are dealt with such as how to assist cyclists making right turns, and the problem of car parking obstructing key junctions. The issues surrounding cyclists at signalised junctions are raised and various means for encouraging/facilitating cyclists at signalised junctions are discussed in detail.

Finally, the submission calls for careful attention to be paid to the design and maintenance of the roadway edges and calls for all city roads to include light coloured concrete footpaths and plastered walls painted with a light colour. This is so as to reflect more light at night and provide a contrasting background against which pedestrians and cyclists might be more clearly seen. Copies of the Cycling Campaign Submission are to be lodged with the city library so as to make it available to the general public.

21/5/03 City Council Rejects Cyclist Safety Measures During Broadband Work

Galway City Council officials have rejected calls for remedial works to improve the safety of the Quincentenial bridge "cycle lanes" during the ongoing broadband works. Since this road was first constructed, cyclists have sought an explanation from Galway City Council as to how they might be reasonably expected to make safe and lawful use of these devices. In 1987 following the opening of the bridge, and prior to the marking of the cycle lane logos, it was actually admitted by the corporation engineers that they had no idea how to direct cyclists on or off these paths safely. To the knowledge of local cyclists, no explanation has ever been received on the matter. Since 1998 the Galway Cycling Campaign has sought the removal of these "cycle lanes" grounds of traffic hazard.

Galway's Cycle Paths

In 1999, with no action or response forthcoming from the city council, an appeal was lodged with the Garda Commissioner to end their designation as "cycle lanes". This eventually brought the revelation that the "cycle lane" markings used by the city council have no legal status. It is viewed as no co-incidence that there have been serious safety problems with these paths from day one and that the markings on them have no legal status. The paths on the Quincentennial bridge are to be dug up as part of the broad band works and the Cycling Campaign had made a submission asking that the paths be removed as part of these works. This request was rejected by the City officials.

The issue was again raised at the last City Council Transport Policy Committee meeting on the 14th of April. With the request being made that something at least be done with the paths at the junctions such as the Headford Rd Roundabout and the Newcastle traffic lights, where cyclists currently have to make 90 degree turns in the middle of the traffic stream before "bouncing" their bikes onto the paths. However, this was again rejected by the city officials.

May 2003 Signs project gets further funding

The Galway Cycling Campaign has apparently been successful in obtaining a LA21 grant to continue a cycle promotion initiative that was carried out for car free day 2002. For car free day 2002, signs were put up on signposts at various points around the city showing indicative cycling times to prominent destinations. The times used on the signs were all obtained by physically cycling the routes in low gear and with a minimum of effort. Hence, the times obtained can be taken as overestimates that should be readily matched or bettered by any reasonably fit adult on a decent bicycle. The locations favoured for the signs were places where large queues of stationary motor vehicles form during rush hour. For Car Free day 2002, EU50 was spent on photocopying the signs, mounting them on cardboard, covering them with clear contact and mounting them on the signposts. This initiative got a very good response from the public and continues to attract positive comment. It is proposed to repeat this project using signs made of more durable materials such as corriboard and eventually, aluminium. This is a project for which we will need volunteers to cycle more routes and help with putting up the signs.

15/05/03 Cycle Parking at Ceannt Station

An architect who works for Iarnrod Eireann has been in touch regarding the provision of cycle parking at the train station. He is to conduct a site survey of Ceannt station and make recomendations. Happily he contacted the cycle campaign to get our input before he came down. The suggestions was made for parking to be put in "out of the weather" on the train platform in the first instance. Initial feedback suggests that the new cycle parking will be outside the station but will have a roof/weather protection..

9/05/03 7up Withdraw Poster after GCC Lodges Complaint

7up have withdrawn a controversial poster advertisement following a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) by cyclists' representatives. The 7up poster appeared to endorse footpath cycling with a cartoon of a cyclist and a six-word caption; "Avoid road rage. Use the footpath".

However, the Galway Cycle Campaign felt obliged to confront the serious issue that the poster raised. In a submission to the ASA, it was pointed out that cycling on footpaths or footpath-type structures is not only illegal but can be an incredibly dangerous thing to do. The complaint pointed out that on a standard Irish bicycle, adult commuters can reach or exceed, speeds of 20mph. If they are on the footpath this makes fast moving cyclists a serious injury hazard to pedestrians, particularly the very young or the elderly. The complaint also raised the increased risks faced by cyclists pointing out that footpath cyclists are at significantly increased risk of falls and collisions with roadside objects. Canadian researchers having found four to nine-fold (x4 - x9) differences in the fall rates of footpath cyclists versus road cyclists. .

Finally the complaint pointed out to the ASA that cycling on footpath devices significantly increases the risk of collisions with cars at junctions (which already account for three-quarters of all car/bicycle collisions). In the complaint, the ASA was provided data from international studies showing that cycling on footpath-type structures or cycle-tracks can result in up to 10 or 12 fold increases in the risk of junction collisions. This effect has been reported from numerous countries where cycling on footpath or cycle-track structures has been tried including the US, the UK, Germany, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

Copy of complaint on web here

02/04/03 Cycling Campaign Holds AGM

The Galway Cycling Campaign held its AGM on Tuesday April 1st, at the Atlanta Hotel, Dominick Street, Galway. There was a review of the year's activities with a particular focus on the campaign's role in the defeat of the Seamus Quirke Rd. roundabout proposals. Some incredulity was expressed that the City Council's engineers had felt entitled to tell a Bord Pleanala hearing that they expected cyclists to dismount and walk at every junction on what they claim as a "cycle route".

A new committee was elected with some old faces stepping down after nearly five years of service. At the meeting there was a particular focus on a need to more actively promote cycling as a form of transport in the city. Frustration was voiced at the almost total absence of cycle parking facilities in the city and the difficulty this poses in persuading commuters to cycle. It is hoped that in Galway, the new Iarnród Éireann scheme to combine cycling with rail journeys will help redress this problem with at least one state agency now seeking to facilitate cyclists in the city. The priority for the new committee is to focus on obtaining funds (and volunteers) for an existing cycle promotion proposal and on making a submission to the new city development plan.

April 5th will be the fifth anniversary of the GCC's formation and, although the group's success in maintaining its active role was acknowledged, there was some discussion on ways of keeping people involved and generating enthusiasm. It is hoped to put a big effort into to the European Mobility week events in September when there will be an EU wide celebration of alternatives to private car use such as cycling, walking and public transport. These alternatives to private car use are to be promoted through a series of themed days culminating in European Car Free day on September 22nd.

GCC Committee 2003-2004

Shane Foran. Mairead Linneen. Mike McDonagh. Liam Codd

8/02/03 Irish Cycling Campaign meeting held in Portarlington

A meeting was held in Portarlington to explore the setting up of a National Campaign Group. There were delegates present from Limerick, Kilkenny, Cork, Galway, Waterford, the North of Ireland and Dublin. However, of the 25 delegates at the meeting fully 14 were from the Dublin Cycling Campaign. Some good work was definitely started with working groups started on issues such as Roundabouts, compulsory cycle lanes, enforcement, bikes and trains, PR, Rules of the Road (text) and National Safety Council representation.

However, there is concern within the Galway Cycling Campaign that several key issues including HGV traffic and cyclists, car centred housing estate designs, cyclist hostile "traffic calming" (especially pinch points and narrowings), either weren't raised at all or didn't get a full and frank discussion (along with other fundamental issues). Matters such as long distance recreational routes, the quality of brake cables, people's "sense of ownership" of "cycle routes", etc got discussed. while the resulting time constraints meant that things like HGV's, which are responsible for up to 50% of Irish cyclist fatalities didn't even get onto the agenda.

It has long been a recognised that there is need for a national body and the Galway Cycling Campaign has a clear view of what such a body should be doing. The main obstacle to the formation of such a group in the past was the question of whether it would be either possible, or worthwhile, for us to try to work with the current Dublin Cycling Campaign leadership who have strong "segregationist" policies. The current ICC body is structured as an "Ad Hoc" arrangement that will consider questions of agreed mutual interest and convergence.

GCC position document/proposal on Irish National Campaign Grouping

5/02/03 Cycle Campaign backs Tuam councillors over one-way street controversy.

The Galway Cycling Campaign has publicly backed concerns within Tuam town council over controversial plans for one-way traffic on the town's Dublin Road. One way streets are frequently used as part of traffic management systems that focus only on the facilitation of people in cars. Large one way systems are known to be hostile for cyclists to use, because of increased traffic speeds and also increased inconvenience and trip length.

According to the current EU commission policy statement on cycling the use of one-way streets should be "reduced to the strictly necessary". There are also serious concerns regarding pedestrian safety and particularly that of children. Two separate Canadian studies have identified one-way streets as being associated with increased risk of child pedestrian accidents. In the most recent of these studies it was found that the child pedestrian injury rate was 2.5 times higher one-way streets compared to two-way streets. The use of one way systems is now being reviewed in many developed countries. Prominent US and UK city authorities such as Sacramento and London are converting selected one-way streets back to two-way use as part of programs to improve the "liveability" of the adjacent neighbourhoods, and render the converted streets more compatible with both pedestrian and bicycle traffic and also public transport.

If the county council engineers are concerned with congestion due to school traffic then the obvious answer is to make Tuam a safe place for children to walk and cycle - putting in one way streets has the opposite effect and will make things worse for everybody in the long run