‘This Death Marks A Turning Point’

at

Neeraj Jain (above) who was killed while cycling to work last Friday: I BIKE Dublin plan a week of activities to mark Mr Jain’s death

Following the death of Neeraj Jain who was cycling to work last Friday morning when his bike collided with a cement mixer at the back of the builkding site of the National Children’s Hospital….

….I BIKE Dublin is organising a series of actions this week to draw attention to “the fatal neglect of our roads by critical public services”.

Mr Jain, from Faridabad, India, moved to Ireland in 2018 to pursue a Masters degree in Engineering in UCD and was working with Deloitte in Dublin.

Ciarán Ferrie of I BIKE Dublin writes:

This week, I BIKE Dublin will hold a series of actions targeting those State institutions that bear responsibility for the safety of people who cycle in this city….

We demand that the killing of Neeraj Jain marks a turning point – and that those responsible for safety on our streets ensure that no more cyclists are killed.

I BIKE Dublin demands:

A commitment from those responsible for the safety of our roads that there will be no more deaths of people who cycle.

We demand this commitment from:

Owen Keegan, CEO, Dublin City Council

Shane Ross, Minister for Transport

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris

Anne Graham, CEO, National Transport Authority

Moyagh Murdock, CEO, Road Safety Authority

Dr. Sharon McGuinness, CEO, Health and Safety Authority

Dublin City Council to immediately fast-track a programme of physically protected cycling infrastructure in the Dublin City Council area. NB The space for this can be taken from private motor traffic lanes and on-street car parking and not from pedestrians; this history of reallocating space from pedestrians is completely unacceptable.

Dublin City Council to immediately release all statistics in relation to the 5 axle HGV ban, including the names of companies in violation and the frequency of violations.

Dublin City Council to install speed cameras to measure the worst streets in Dublin for speeding motorists.

An Garda Síochána to desist from all social media activities pending an independent review by the Garda Ombudsman into derogatory and insensitive communications dating back to 2017 (following inappropriate tweets from the @gardatraffic account which make jokes about bicycles on the same day that Neeraj Jain was killed).

I BIKE Dublin

Last Friday: This Morning

Sponsored Link

26 thoughts on “‘This Death Marks A Turning Point’

  1. Nullzero

    We’re all for nobody dying on the roads but we also have no idea who was at fault in this particular incident. Humans are fallible, be they on a bike or behind a steering wheel. Personally I’m glad I don’t cycle any more, but the notion of cyclist = good and motorist = bad needs to be knocked on the head once and for all. Then maybe we can get people on bikes and in vehicles to cop on and have more respect for everyone on the road.

    1. Manolo

      “We’re all for nobody dying on the roads”, great, then let’s make the roads safer. As it stands, most people are unable to cycle to work or school. Let’s provide them with the infrastructure, which in this case equates to choice.

      1. Praetorian.

        Infrastructure is in place in quite a few places…N4 in and out bound purpose built cycle lane adjacent to the bus lane,cyclists ride in centre of bus lane.
        N11,in and out bound,purpose built cycle lane adjacent to very busy bus lanes…cyclists ride in centre of bus lane.
        Cyclists are law unto themselves in this city.

        1. me

          N11 cycle lane is bullpoopy, especially outbound. Large sweeping left turns like the one onto booterstown avenue results in people getting left hooked. I’ll ride in the bus lane if it keeps me alive.

          1. Praetorian.

            Always some excuse with you shower…instead of making an effort to be more aware of your surroundings just bull ahead and fupp everyone else.

  2. jd

    RIP.
    I certainly believe in speed cameras. Driving in frankfurt, I broke a red light (turned 3 seconds) doing 38km/h in a 30 zone. Financial penalty around 300 euro, given two points and was banned from driving for a month.
    Lesson learned.

  3. MaryLou's ArmaLite

    Were the cyclist and driver obeying the rules of the road?

    Has the driver been charged?

    1. Manolo

      This is not about whether the driver or the cyclist are responsible. It is about risk mitigating measures that the government could take but is failing to. The vast majority of cyclists’ death are preventable though infrastructure, legislation and enforcement.

  4. martco

    RIP & my condolences to that man’s family

    I’m sick sore & tired of flailing responses to tragic incidents like this.

    there is only one true answer to it all, per above:
    “Dublin City Council to immediately fast-track a programme of physically protected cycling infrastructure in the Dublin City Council area”

    DCC have danced around this for years. blame this, blame that, blame the other. instead of spending the €millions required to build proper raised/kerbed/signalled bike lanes. like Amsterdam. copy Amsterdam 40 years ago ffs. it’s not rocket science. just an unwillingness to spend mon€y. fupping painted lines are not cycle lanes! build proper lane infrastructure.

    instead of reverting to this type of excuse enabling whingeing nonsense, per above:
    “Dublin City Council to install speed cameras to measure the worst streets in Dublin for speeding motorists”
    gah! what? at 4am? there’s that much gridlock going on nothing moves faster than 30.

    jesus just build lanes already.

  5. Spaghetti Hoop

    RIP that man.
    I drive, bus and walk and sometimes Luas – the roads in Dublin City are in quite good condition and while markings and signage displayed poor maintenance during the recession, they are improved, and everything seems to work and is as per road standards. We will never have the road width to completely segregate all users, so space must be shared.

    What makes the roads unsafe are road users, I’m sad to say.

  6. Kingfisher

    Of course we have the road width to segregate users. Look out the window at the road outside. 90 to 1 it’ll have cars parked all along both sides. Those lanes could be used for separated infrastructure for people to cycle safely.
    If we had the political balls, we could have children cycling to school and people cycling to work, the roads clear of cars and public transport flowing freely.

        1. A Person

          Rubbish, not every road has on-street car parking. Cyclist deaths are actually a small proportion of overall road deaths in urban areas (cyclists are far more likely to be killed on rural roads). The last two cyclist death locations in Dublin did not have on-street car parking.
          I am not saying for that we don’t need more infrastructure, but it is not sole solution – road behaviour for cyclist, motorists and pedestrian is.

          1. Kingfisher

            Separated infrastructure is the main solution. Separating people on bicycles from cars removes 99% of the risk of crashes.
            Road behaviour is certainly a big part of the problem. In the Netherlands, when it was realised that motor vehicles hitting cyclists and pedestrians were far more likely to kill them if the vehicles were travelling faster than 30km/h, the law was changed so that all inhabited areas have a 30km/h speed limit; as soon as this limit became the law, the number of deaths and injuries dropped.
            Dublin too has many areas with a 30km/h speed limit, but according to a recent RSA study, only 2% of drivers stay within this limit.
            Cars with just the driver inside massively dominate our traffic in Dublin. We have to change this. It’s terribly polluting, it’s expensive in road surface wear, it’s a stupidly costly model for individual families – who would have many thousands of euro more in disposable income if they were cycling instead of paying for the money sink that is the family car.

    1. George

      There are no shortage of extremely wide roads in Ireland with no cycling infrastructure. We also routinely widen roads to add extra lanes. This is rubbish.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie