Galway City Community Forum rejects use of cycle tracks.

galway | environment | press release

Friday October 17, 2003 18:56

by Shane Foran - Galway Cycling Campaign

galwaycyclists at yahoo dot ie

087 9935993

Victory for cyclists in Galway as Community Forum rejects the use of roadside cycle tracks in the city.

Galway Cycling Campaign -Feachtas Rothaiochta na Gaillimhe
c/o Galway One World Centre, the Halls, Quay St., Galway.

Galway City Community Forum rejects use of cycle tracks.

http://www.eirbyte.com/gcc/cycletrack.html

The Galway City Community Forum has adopted a motion rejecting the use of roadside cycle tracks in Galway City. The motion was adopted Thursday 2/10/03, at the regular quarterly meeting of the forum. The motion was brought on behalf of the Galway Cycling Campaign and the meeting received a detailed presentation setting out the legal and cultural reasons why cycle-track devices are alien to Ireland's native cycling culture and inappropriate to the situation in Irish towns and cities. The meeting was also presented with data regarding the appalling accident records associated with cycle-track use in other countries. Depending on direction of travel, cyclists who use cycle-tracks have been found to experience 2 to 12 fold increases in the risk of the most common car/bicycle collisions. Evidence for this effect was presented from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Canada the UK, The US and Germany.

The presentation also raised the problems associated with the use of cycle-lane devices marked or painted on roads. Typical problems such as reduced clearance from passing motorists and cyclists feeling encouraged in making dangerous manoeuvres were explained. Particular reference was made to the issue of cyclists being encouraged to creep up inside turning HGV's and buses. This practice carries high risk of fatality and the recent use of cycle tracks in Ireland has been accompanied by a simultaneous increase in the proportion of cyclists being killed in collisions with HGV's.

Although there are situations where it is sensible to provide extra road space for cyclists, the Galway City Community Forum has endorsed the view that this can usually be achieved by using standard, well-established, treatments, such as hard shoulder markings or bus/cycle lanes. If used in accordance with appropriate design guidance these offer profound advantages over imported foreign treatments such as cycle lanes. The motion adopted acknowledges a role for cycle facilities but only if they are meticulously designed and intended to solve some clearly defined problem such as providing two-way cyclist access on one-way streets. Galway's cyclists are currently facing numerous problems caused by inappropriate road designs. These cannot be solved with roadside "cycle facilities" and will in fact be made worse in most cases by tacking on "cycle facilities". Spending money on "cycle facilities" without first tackling these problems would be considered a waste of public money.

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Galway Cycling Campaign Web Site
http://www.eirbyte.com/gcc

Formed after a large public meeting in 1998, the Galway Cycling Campaign is a group that exists to forward the interests of ordinary everyday adult bicycle users, we have the following core aims.
· · Safer conditions for cycling
· · Planning that gives equal priority to all road users
· · Improvement of existing facilities
· · Secure parking for bikes
· · Recognition of the rights and responsibilities of all road users by all road users