National and local government should encourage improved public health by making walking and cycling more attractive to everyone, as has been done on the Continent, according a new report by the National Institute for Health Clinical Excellence (NICE). Read article (inc. video clip)
Follow-up: Which really is more deadly: cycling or sitting down watching TV?
And another: Ditch the car to walk or cycle short journeys ‘for healthier Britain’
Years of government efforts to promote cycling have had almost no impact on a sceptical population who largely view bikes as either children’s toys or the preserve of Lycra-clad hobbyists, a university study has found. Read article
Work to do!
The National Transport Authority intends to introduce public bike schemes in four regional cities by the second half of next year.
The NTA yesterday invited sponsorship applications for bike schemes in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. Read article
Cyclist.ie asks: Why does it need a commercial sponsor? The obesity time-bomb lurking within the health system due to inactivity urgently requires a policy response that ensure that these schemes go ahead, with government funding if needed.
The obesity epidemic is costing the State over €1.1 billion in direct health costs and indirect costs such as absenteeism, according to a major new study to be published today. Read article
The Independent Child Death Review Group report uncovers high level of child fatalities attributable to Road Traffic Accidents
11 out of 68 non-natural child deaths known the HSE (and 3 out of 17 while in the care of the HSE) found to be attributable to Road Traffic Accidents
Cyclist.ie find this data scandalous but reject often-heard calls for children to be corralled away inside – childhood obesity is now a far higher risk; our streets must be made safer for all
Full report and relevant tables Continue reading Ireland’s roads dangerous for children?
Letter from Cyclist.ie to Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland re: ASAI finding ref no. 19340 for unknown complainant regarding ‘Unilever’ presses advertorial for ‘Flora’ spread and active lifestyle
‘Cyclist.ie’ is the umbrella body for the various cycling advocacy groups throughout Ireland. We are the member for Ireland of the European Cyclists’ Federation. Our goal is to see a vast increase in the numbers of Irish people using their bike for work, shopping or socialising. The benefits of increased cycling are many: population health; personal and public cost savings; better traffic flow; environmental improvement, and better ‘liveability’ of our towns and cities. Our mission is to inform the Irish public and officialdom of these benefits, and the simple changes – engineering, education enforcement and others, required to reap them.
We write to object strongly to the recent finding of the Authority, Ref No. 19340 on the ASAI website, that an advertising feature (Unilever ‘Flora’ spread) in The Irish Daily Mail showing a family cycling in a park-like setting (not on a road) was in contravention of the Authority’s Code section 2.29. The complaint was that the group were not shown wearing helmets. The behaviour illustrated is in fact much healthier than the average Irish lifestyle, and is to be encouraged. Letter from Cyclist.ie to Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland re: ASAI finding ref no. 19340 for unknown complainant regarding ‘Unilever’ presses advertorial for ‘Flora’ spread and active lifestyle It does NOT constitute dangerous behaviour or unsafe practice, in our view. We note that motor vehicles being driven at speed are a constant inescapable feature of advertising and would challenge the Authority to show that all complaints to it regarding all examples of unsafe motoring have been justly upheld. Continue reading Decision of The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland to require Unilever to pull its Flora advertorial in The Irish Daily Mail is regrettable
Just in case you thought that the Nanny State had gone away, think again.
In fact, make that the Mammy State, because nobody but a brooding, finger-wagging, cross Mammy could take exception to the vision of a Sound of Music-style family meandering through the woods on bicycles. The Mammy in question is the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland and the outrageous behaviour they espied consisted of a national press advertisement featuring a two adults and three children cycling on a lane-way through fields. Read article
Cyclists hail scrapping of NRA “fake greenway” scheme
Cyclist.ie, Ireland’s National Cycling Network and Lobby Group has welcomed An Bord Pleanala’s rejection of a controversial National Roads Authority (NRA) scheme for the N86 in the Dingle peninsula. The road upgrade scheme running from Camp to Dingle had attracted particular concern because the designers planned to co-locate a tourist cycling path directly beside high speed traffic for the entire length of the scheme (28km).
See also Irish Times article
Ireland needs a well-functioning capital city, but suburban sprawl, poor transport and weak administration are dragging Dublin down.
A new series starting today examines ways to reinvent the capital … read article.
The way we view each other with mutual suspicion is often down to cramped roads, crap cycle lanes and a lack of intersection between how motorists and cyclists use the road.
CYCLING IN DUBLIN is, at the best of times, a dangerous thing to do. As we head toward the darker, colder days of autumn and the clocks go back many road users need a few weeks to readjust.