Government Claims on Cycling

Open letter to the Minister of Transport on the matter of his office's claims with regard to "cycle facilities" 01/03/04.

Summary of main points

Letter of response to claims made in a letter from the office of the Minister of Transport, November 2003.

Full Text Here 

• The Minister's office has neglected to address the appalling safety record of cycle tracks.  Irish cyclists are having their lives and property endangered by cycle track/cycle lanes that demonstrably flout basic safety principles.  The view is put that the activities of the officials who created this situation are a national disgrace and constitute a national scandal.

• The Minister's office has made the claim that the construction of cycle-tracks is the most effective way to get non-cyclists on the bicycle.  Evidence is cited from the UK, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands indicating that this claim is false and untenable.

• The Minister's office has made reference to the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations of 1998 relating to cycle tracks.  The Minister is reminded that since they were published, these regulations have been viewed as an attack on the lives and safety of Irish cyclists and also as an attack on Ireland's native cycling culture.  

• The Minister's office has made claims with regard to the document Provision of Cycle Facilities - National Manual for Urban Areas.  Evidence is presented indicating that these claims are untenable, do not stand up to scrutiny, and are not supported by the available facts.  Further, established historical precedent and the available evidence suggests that, as in Germany in the 1930's, the "cycle facilities design manual", and the associated cycle-track devices, are being promoted for the purpose of facilitating motorists and encouraging a shift to greater use of private motor cars in Irish towns and cities.  

• The Minister's office has claimed that it is government policy to promote cycling.  Evidence is presented indicating that this claim is untenable and is not supported by the available facts.  Evidence is presented suggesting strongly that the opposite is the case and that in fact it is government policy to discourage cycling in Irish towns and cities.  Confirmation of this is provided by recent census data.  

• The Minister's office has made reference to the DTO's recently published Traffic Management Guidelines.  Evidence is presented showing this document to be deeply flawed, the view is put that the public interest would be best served by the minister repudiating the current DTO Traffic Management Guidelines and ordering its withdrawal from circulation.  

• The Minister's office has made the claim that cycle tracks are being built as a means of encouraging cycling by Irish children and old people.  Serious reservations are expressed about this practice.  The proposal that such devices represent some form of "nursery area" for child cyclists is refuted.

• The Minister's office has requested details of incidents where Irish cyclists were killed by HGV's while using cycle tracks.  It was already established that cycling on urban roadside cycle tracks is frequently more dangerous than cycling on unsegregated roads.  Clearly it is the government's officials who must prove that they have not through their actions, procured unnecessary and avoidable, deaths and injuries to Irish cyclists.  Clearly it is arguable that the officials involved in encouraging cyclists in "cycle-track/cycle-lane" type behaviours are culpable in any resulting deaths

• The previously made request for direct meetings with the Ministers for Transport and Environment is restated.