The ‘Psycho’ Lane

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Cyclist passes a traffic light

Aaron Rogan, in The Times Ireland edition, reports:

An “expert” with the Road Safety Authority claimed that cyclists were a “law unto themselves” and had a “complete disregard for the rules of the road” in the first draft of a controversial newspaper article that prompted a backlash when it referred to the increasing number of bike users as “swarming masses”.

The reference was removed by the RSA before the article was submitted for publication along with a claim that cyclists had developed a “majority-rules mindset” and were “battling it out for first place in the cycle lane, or as some call it, the ‘psycho’ lane”.

The toning down of the article, published in the Irish Independent’s motoring section under the byline “RSA expert”, was revealed in documents released to The Times under the Freedom of Information Act.

RSA expert’s ‘anti-cyclist’ piece toned down (Aaron Rogan, The Times Ireland edition)

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31 thoughts on “The ‘Psycho’ Lane

    1. Cian

      The numbers of people dying on the roads last year was at an all-time low. The deaths have been decreasing for years (in spite of car ownership is getting higher!). It has gone from 400+ twenty years ago to under 200 for the last ten, and under 150 last year. This is brilliant.

      This is due to a number of factors – but the RSA is one of the factors.

      Better roads, safer cars, better drivers, more enforcement of laws, are some of the other reasons.

      1. Ads

        …but more people on bicycles were run down and killed last year. Numbers were up 50% if I remember right

  1. Dr.Fart MD

    don’t know what’s offensive about this. he’s given an accurate account of cyclists in dublin. theres no part of what i’ve read there that isn’t true about cyclists. its also in true fashion, that cyclists would read that and be offended, they could literally break red lights, cut across a path and down the wrong way on a one way, and you could say “youre breaking the law there” and they’d respond all offended “how dare you!”

      1. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

        A LOT of cyclists. I’m one and I have to say that a lot of my fellow cyclists are utter douchebags. This morning alone I was cut off by a lycra dirtbag and saw a lot of cyclists barreling through a light that was green for pedestrians along the canal. Common courtesy is lacking–not just for cyclists, though. SIGH.

        1. rotide

          I feel your pain. I cross those canal cycle lanes multiple times a day and they seem to be a magnet for the very worst examples of these pooheads

          1. Dr.Fart MD

            i wonder who rotide is. i forget ur an actual person sometimes. i wonder who you are. like, why are u crossing the canal over n over? what do u do? what demographic are you? in my mind i have you pegged as a mddle aged woman, short hair, bit rough.

        1. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

          I’m a terribly nice cyclist to pedestrians, mostly. I spend a lot of time shouting “SIGNAL, YOU ASSHOLE!” at other cyclists, though. I must say the anger helps with the drudgery of cycling in to and out of work.

    1. millie st murderlark

      As a cyclist +1

      Honestly, if you can’t understand the rules of the road and how they apply to cyclists and motorists then you shouldn’t be on the road.

  2. Nigel

    Get rid of most of the cars, it’ll be easier to enforce rules on cyclists. Cars disobeying rules are more of a problem and far more dangerous and disruptive so cyclists aren’t a priority.

      1. Nigel

        A lot of the dysfunctional behaviour in road users is a result of dealing with dangerously bad infrastructure. Better enforcement would help, but ultimately road users will behave in ways that keep traffic flowing. That this is dangerous and reckless is a given, but the behaviour has been internalised and normalised by so many as a response to the sheer pressure of awful traffic. The prioritising of single occupancy vehicles is the worst problem city traffic has to deal with. I recently was obliged to drive through Dublin city centre. Singling out cyclists is beyond laughable. But so is singling out drivers and pedestrians. It’s a rolling disaster.

        1. Nigel

          Singling out for their bad behaviour that is. Targeting cars to reduce congestion should be a priority.

  3. spudnick

    I’m putting ‘gets unreasonably worked up about cyclists’ in with ‘animal lover!!!’ as appears in Twitter bios, as a red flag to being a total brexity, tommy-robinson gammon.

    1. rotide

      “All opinions my own” is the biggie althought the red flag is actually paying attention to nobodies on twitter in the first place.

  4. postmanpat

    Despite all the light running, cyclist are practically a zero danger to pedestrians or themselves, definitely a zero danger to motorists . Everyone runs changing lights by car or on foot. Every pedestrian crosses during the red man at a pedestrian crossing if no traffic is coming either way, its no harm to anyone, but when a cyclist crosses a junction during a red light when no cars are coming in any direction all or a sudden it’s the end of the world. I’ve been a heavy traffic Dublin cyclist for nearly 30 years , I run red lights at junctions every day when the coast is clear and the only accidents I’ve had with cars is when I’m actual obeying the rules. Ive been hit by drivers on phones or turning left into petrol stations without looking in the side mirror in broad daylight. I know its frustrating sitting behind the wheel in the morning rat race because I drive a car too. But you’re all just jealous when you see cyclists making better time than you. If a cyclist got off his bike and walked across a junction with all the pedestrians who themselves all taking a calculated risk during grid lock its okay, but when you stay on the bike and slip through its bad , why? frustrated unfit motorists, that’s why. It will all calm down in a few weeks ., the slow nervous four eyed mushroom head lycra clad new years resolution cyclists with give up in the bad weather , (or have their bikes stolen by junkies )and the real cyclists will get on mind there own business. I saw gobs__te on the canal this morning with two mirrors sticking out his handle bars , what a wuss!!

    1. Spaghetti Hoop

      ‘Despite all the light running, cyclist are practically a zero danger to pedestrians or themselves, definitely a zero danger to motorists ‘

      That is pure nonsense. Are you actually saying that a metal bike with a 50-80kg human colliding with another person or vehicle will not result in injury? You’ve obviously not observed the traffic junctions around the city and the light-running by road-users, especially cyclists.

    2. millie st murderlark

      I’ll remember that the next time I end up in hospital after a cyclist takes me out when crossing the road at the pedestrian crossing because they broke the red light and the rules of the road.

      1. small ads

        That’s in England, and a case where a woman on the phone walked out onto the road, not on a crossing, and an incompetent cyclist misjudged how she would move. He should have slowed down; he was riding a fixie with no brake.

        As far as I know, no one has been killed in a collision with someone riding a bicycle in Ireland in many years. On the other hand, cars and other motor vehicles kill from 150 to 200 people and injure around 8,000 every single year (though this number is well down from almost 600 in the 1970s and 1980s). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_road_traffic_accidents_deaths_in_Republic_of_Ireland_by_year

        It seems clear who we should be calling stupid, careless, irresponsible scofflaws.

        In any case, we all – drivers and cyclists – should be fighting hard for the Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network to be built, which would allow people on bikes to ride separately from drivers. https://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Written_Report11.pdf

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