Galway Cycling Group Report on bad Road Design Guidance issued

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday May 09, 2002 15:05 by blisset

Press release

Report reveals that DoELG and DTO distributed dangerous design guidance to Irish Local Authorities.

Report reveals that DoELG and DTO distributed dangerous design guidance to Irish
Local Authorities.

An independent report has revealed that the Department of the Environment and
Local Government (DoELG) and Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) has been
distributing dangerous and inappropriate road design guidance to Irish Local
Authorities. The report, on Irish cycle facilities design guidance, was
compiled by the Galway Cycling Campaign and has revealed that the DoELG and DTO
had endorsed the use of cycle track designs associated with up to 12 fold (x12)
increases in the rate of collisions between cars and bicycles. It is now over
25 years since a previous An Foras Forbartha report found that the use of
roadside cycle tracks was inherently self defeating because of "the very real
risk of collisions in the merging phase" at intersections. At a European
conference in 1991 the use of roadside cycleways was described as being
equivalent to "Russian roulette".

The DTO/DoELG document was adapted from previous Dutch design guidance and is
based on the unique Dutch legal system in which cyclists must yield to motorists
unless there are special road markings. Under Dutch law motorists are also held
to be automatically liable in collisions with cyclists regardless of the
circumstances of the accident. The Netherlands has set a target of 20mph speed
limits on 75% of urban roads and there are estimated to be 1,500 speed camera
installations in the Netherlands. The Netherlands also has 6,500 residential
zones in which a speed limit of "walking speed" applies. However, the Irish
Ministers for the Environment and Local Government failed to introduce similar
legislation or measures in support of the Irish document.

Comparison of a draft of the document with the final version further showed that
some of the Dutch cycle track designs were changed by removing protective road
markings that were intended to reduce the safety risks to those cyclists who
choose to use them. In addition, several key designs have were changed so as to
remove priority from the cyclists using the cycle tracks and give it to
motorised traffic. Cycle track users who could have proceeded normally if they
had stayed on the road were expected to stop and yield to turning and crossing
motor traffic at every side road.

"Many cyclists have long suspected that most Irish "cycle facilities" were
neither intended to enhance safety nor to promote and encourage cycling.
Instead, it is suspected that they actually represent a crude attempt to manage
and control bicycle traffic for the benefit of motorists. This view is
reinforced by the nature of design guidance being issued by the DoELG and DTO."
said Shane Foran the Safety Officer for the Galway Cycle Campaign who wrote the
report.

The report was funded in part by a grant from the Environmental Partnership Fund
and copies have now been distributed to all Irish Local Authorities and
University Libraries.

Ends