A letter in today’s Irish Times.

In fairness.

Deplorable state of cycle lanes (The Irish Times letters page)

Via Brian Coffey

Previously: Free The Cycle Lanes

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40 thoughts on “How Many?

    1. Rob_G

      Road Tax was abolished in the 1930s ;)

      I imagine that a professor of civil engineering who lives around Ranelagh pays a lot of tax, and more than likely owns at least one car.

      1. Spaghetti Hoop

        Why would he need more than one car?

        Anyways, while collecting this data highlights an issue, I doubt if the RSA actually consider it as it’s not their own sampling.

        1. Rob_G

          I’m not suggesting he would need more than one car at all; merely that, as someone with quite a good job living somewhere in the vicinity of Ranelagh, odds are that his household owns one or more cars, and as such pay the famous, oft-miscategorised motor tax.

    2. D Farrelly

      Many of us cyclists have cars and pay motor tax.
      I cycle to and from work to reduce commute time. This has the added bonus of taking another car off the road during rush hour.

        1. $hifty

          We do, same as all drivers do.

          The roads are paid for from the giant pot of tax that’s collected from taxpayers (income tax, CGT, CAT, VAT, inheritance tax etc). Cars and vans and trucks pay motor tax, which is based on the emissions that come from the engine.

          That money is, nominally, for improving air quality. It is not ringfenced for that purpose either, I imagine, but neither is it reserved solely for road improvement purposes. In fact, it went to Irish Water up until not so long ago, did it not?

          Anyway, to get back to your main point, why should bikes be taxed to use the road? What damage would a 12kg bike with a 75kg cyclist sitting on top do to a road that would justify paying for it?

  1. Bruncvik

    How about we deputize TV license inspectors to ticket cars illegally parked in cycle lanes? The fines could possibly pay for TV licenses for everyone.

    1. JEH

      That’s quality outside the box thinking! Which is greater, parking fine or TV license fee? There are also likely far more cars parked illegally in Dublin than there are residents who will both answer the door AND pay the TV license fee.

      Sounds like a winner to me!

  2. spider

    But was he wearing hi-viz and a polystyrene helmet? how are the car dirvers supposed to know he’s going to use a cycle lane if he isn’t wearing hi-viz?

  3. paul

    some cycle lanes are only cycle lanes for parts of the day. Granted, people should know those times and move their cars accordingly. Going up Dorset street in the morning and there would be tons of cars parked in the cycle lane there that must have been parked during the night when parking is allowed but left until the parking time had elapsed. They’d make a mint ticketing all of those cars. Not clamping though, pointless exercise, turns a car into a road-block.

  4. Juniperberry

    When I read ‘The deplorable state of cycle lanes’ I thought it would tell of the actual state of them. Potholes , manhole covers , storm drains, potholes , grit and stones , sludge and did I say already , potholes ? that cyclists face on a daily basis, not to mention the cars, lorries and my personal favourite, motorcyles using the cycle lanes . Cycle in the middle of the road professor and avoid it all.

    1. JEH

      Cycle in the middle of the road to avoid doors flinging open straight in front of you and mindless pedestrians stepping into the road a foot ahead of you.

  5. Charlie

    He should “photograph and count” the amount of eejit cyclists breaking the lights at every opportunity going through Ranelagh. He’ll be needing a calculator.

    1. SB

      Here we go. If we’re going down the ‘whataboutery’ road, motorists actually break red lights more than cyclists, and indeed cyclists break fewer rules of the road in general than motorists. Not to mention that cyclists don’t kill anyone, or hardly anyone anyway – I think one fatality due to cyclists over the last 20 years vs thousands due to motorists.

      1. Charlie

        “Motorists actually break red lights more than cyclists”? What planet are you on? That’s probably the most stupid thing I’ve read anywhere this week.

        1. SB

          Example:
          “A pilot project that saw detection cameras installed at a dangerous Dublin junction has revealed motorists broke the lights more than twice as often as cyclists. And before fines were introduced for drivers, their rate of offending was even higher. In the period before the fines, some 87 per cent of people breaking the lights were driving vehicles.”
          http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/cameras-benburb-blackhall-luas-red-lights/
          https://www.thejournal.ie/luas-red-lights-4501812-Feb2019/

          1. SB

            Stand on the south quays at Butt Bridge on the Liffey any evening rush hour for 5 minutes and you will see dozens of motorised vehicles breaking the lights going over the bridge, while maybe 2 or 3 cyclists do so.

          2. Charlie

            Gimme a break. Cops are 1000 times more likely to catch a motorist than fine a crusty cyclist who rarely even bother to see a traffic light. I see them every morning and evening in both Ranelagh and Harolds Cross. Suicide squads of them. A quick glance to the left or right and they’re gone.

          3. SB

            OK, leaving aside the rights and wrongs of the red light thing for a second, what harm are they doing? Do you have any stats to refute the number of deaths caused by cyclists vs those caused by motorists?

          4. Charlie

            “What harm are they doing”? Even considering asking that question ends this chat. Have a nice evening and stay safe.

          5. Ciaran

            charlie there, refuted actual empirical facts and evidence with “my bum!”
            If he’d lived in the UK he’d be a brexit voter who’s “sick of experts”….

    1. JEH

      Precisely. All the laws in the world are useless if no one is enforcing it.

      What do the guards in Dublin actually do by the way?

  6. Matt Fitzpatrick

    Cycling has never been taken seriously. Cycling infrastructure is largely token and designed to be looked at rather than used. Cycling infrastructure is the first thing to be abandoned when there isn’t enough space and the last thing to be thought of when there is. It’s unmaintained, unprotected, unsafe, unfair and evidently, unimportant. The reality is, those who plan infrastructure drive to work.

    When a cyclist gets hurt and it goes to court, everyone hangs their heads and say sure isn’t it an awful tragedy. A fine should teach the motorist. Besides, yer man should’ve been wearing hi viz, lights and a helmet, sure he doesn’t even pay motor tax, he had no business being there in the first place. Then everyone hops in the car and goes home. Sure they’re grand to drive they’ve only had the two.

    1. Charlie

      “Cyclists have never been taken seriously”? Rubbish. They need to take themselves seriously first and start obeying the law on an odd occasion. They’ll take a chance at every opportunity to break a light, hail, rain or snow. Sooner cops start targeting these morons the better.

  7. Salmon Eile

    Dear Sir,

    When are cyclists going to stop pedaling myths about road tax?

    Yours, etc.,

    Paul Delaney-Quinn
    Dalkey Quarry
    Dublin

  8. Christopher

    Always a crappy Yaris parked outside Boojum on Kevin St during rush hour- either he’s a deliveroo driver or is in getting a massage in the Thai parlour next door.

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