Garda campaign could deter cyclists, says councillor

A COUNCILLOR has questioned the wisdom of a Garda campaign warning cyclists they are in “constant danger” on the city streets.

Gardaí mounted a checkpoint in Dame Street last week to advise pedestrian, cyclists and motorcyclists they account for two-thirds of those killed or injured in crashes in the city at this time of year. The move is part of an eight-week initiative to reduce deaths and serious injuries by highlighting advice to “vulnerable road users” that they should be aware of “constant danger”.

Speaking at the Cities for Children traffic and safety seminar in Dublin yesterday, Labour city councillor Andrew Montague, who spearheaded the Dublin bike scheme, said the Garda campaign could deter people from cycling.

“There have been two million trips on Dublin bikes to date and two injuries that required hospitalisation and both these cyclists were out of hospital within 24 hours. In 1997 24 cyclists were killed in Dublin, in 2009 three were killed, and there are far more cyclists now.”

Mr Montague said he had no problem with cyclists being given safety advice, but the message should not go out that cycling was dangerous. Research had shown that safety records improve as the number of cyclists increases.

“Cycling in Dublin is safer than ever before; the statistics show that. Stopping cyclists and telling them they’re in danger is counterproductive; it will only deter people from cycling and the less people cycle, the more cyclists’ lives will be at risk.”

The conference heard that negative media coverage of the dangers of children walking and cycling can exaggerate road safety fears and lead parents to unnecessarily restrict their children’s mobility.

“Children are not being killed as they walk and cycle to school, but if they are driven to school they are at greater risk of obesity which is a genuinely great risk to their health,” said Máire Igoe, a senior executive officer with Dublin City Council. Children who did not pick up habits of walking or cycling were less likely to walk and cycle as adults.