Once ranked among America’s worst bicycling cities, Boston has cleaned up its act in recent years, becoming a safer place to bike to work, according to a Harvard Chan School study of injuries to bicycle commuters between 2009 and 2012. Read more
Tag Archives: Health&Safety
All health & safety issues, inc. diet & lifestyle; also helmets
The economic burden of physical inactivity
The pandemic of physical inactivity is associated with a range of chronic diseases and early deaths. Despite the well documented disease burden, the economic burden of physical inactivity remains unquantified at the global level. A better understanding of the economic burden could help to inform resource prioritisation and motivate efforts to increase levels of physical activity worldwide.
Full article in the Lancet (registration required, but FOC)
Airbag for cyclists?
The new bicycle helmet? Hövding thinks so
Poll: Should cycling be part of the school curriculum?
IN AN EFFORT to combat obesity and improve road safety, Mayo County Council has called for cycle training to be part of the national curriculum for primary schools.
Use Deliveroo? The company won’t be looking like this for much longer
Online food delivery service Deliveroo has gone through a major re-brand, trading in the animated kangaroo for a much more London Olympics 2012-esque minimalist logo.
The company, which has been in Ireland for over a year and a half now, is hoping to make its new logo “shorthand for great food delivered anywhere”.
The re-brand comes with some new kit for the firm’s delivery people. Now cyclists will sport a brightly coloured hyper-reflective kit, which Deliveroo says will enhance the safety of its workers.
Love 30 Campaign
The Love 30 Campaign favours a default speed limit of 30 km/h in urban areas, in residential estates, and in all areas of high pedestrian and cycle use. This includes residential streets and estates as well as the centres of cities, towns and villages and the areas surrounding schools. We believe there is a need for a paradigm shift in how road authorities manage traffic to enable pedestrians to use our roads and streets safely, to cater for the safety of the 8-80 age cohort while cycling and to allow our children to play outdoors and to walk to school, shops and friends & family. There is a need to protect the next generations, by ensuring that drivers understand their responsibilities fully, and that Councils put in place necessary speed limits to slow traffic. Road traffic planning and provision for many years has been for the benefit of the private motorist to the detriment of other road users including pedestrians, cyclists, public transport users, older and very young people and those with disabilities.
Link to Love30 on this site: see Organisations / Collaborative
TDs drafting bicycle passing distance law which would make 1.5 metre mandatory
An Irish campaign to introduce a law that requires motorists to give cyclists 1.5 metres clearance when passing from the rear is on the verge of a major breakthrough, with TDs drafting a suggested new law. Read more
Appointment of Professor Donal O’Shea as Honorary President of Cyclist.ie
Press Release from Cyclist.ie – The Irish Cycling Advocacy Network – to mark the appointment of Professor Donal O’Shea (RCPI Policy Group on Obesity) as Honorary President to coincide with National Bike Week 2016 (Sat 11 – Sun 19 June)
Cyclist.ie – The Irish Cycling Advocacy Network – is pleased to announce the appointment of Prof Donal O’Shea as its first Hon. President. Prof O’Shea is a consultant endocrinologist specialising in obesity/overweight and is Chair of the Policy Group on Obesity at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. He is also a member of the Government’s Healthy Ireland Council.
“In the race to become the most obese country in Europe, Ireland looks set to win. Latest predictions estimate that by 2030, 90 per cent of Ireland’s population will be overweight or obese, the highest projected level of any European country.”
Prof O’Shea is delighted to accept this new role.
“I am very pleased to take on a role as Hon. President with Cyclist.ie – The Irish Cycling Advocacy Network. The association promotes everyday cycling activity – and that’s the type of physical activity that makes a real difference at a population level over time. We have seen the increase in triathlons and weekend distance cycles, but Cyclist.ie is really trying to encourage day to day cycling – to school, work or just down to the shops. That’s an important goal for making positive changes to our population health. Continue reading Appointment of Professor Donal O’Shea as Honorary President of Cyclist.ie
HGV Permits for Dublin
On behalf of Cyclist.ie, Deputy Tommy Broughan (Ind) kindly asked Parliamentary Questions (PQ) – directed at Minister Frances Fitzgerald (Justice) concerning the An Garda detection & enforcement of the Dublin City Council HGV permit system
- PQ68: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the Heavy Goods Vehicle permit system for Dublin City including the number of permits issued in 2014 to 2016 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
- PQ69: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number and results of discrete Heavy Goods Vehicles stopping and checking operations An Garda Síochána has carried out to detect the permit status of Heavy Goods Vehicles requiring a permit in each of the years 2014 to 2016 to date; the number of multi-agency check-point stoppings conducted with An Garda Síochána, the Health and Safety Authority and the Road Safety Authority; and if she will make a statement on the matter
Response:
I am informed by the Garda authorities that the Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) permit system, which is administered by Dublin City Council under its HGV Management Strategy, continues to operate within Dublin City Centre from Monday to Friday, during the hours 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The system requires HGVs utilising 5-axles to obtain a permit to travel inside a designated cordon area to conduct business or make deliveries. HGVs using 4-axles do not require a permit to enter the cordon area. Details of the number of permits issued are a matter for Dublin City Council.
I am further informed by the Garda authorities that Garda checkpoints cover all areas of road traffic legislation and roads policing, including HGV requirements. However, specific details on the number of such checkpoints are not available, with the exception of Mandatory Alcohol Testing Checkpoints and Truck/HGV Checkpoints, which are recorded on PULSE. In the period 2014 – 19 May 2016, An Garda Síochána has conducted 3,763 Truck / HGV Checkpoints. I am advised by An Garda Síochána that these figures are provisional, operational and subject to change. An Garda Síochána has further advised that multi-agency checkpoints with other agencies, including the Road Safety Authority, are not separately recorded on the Garda PULSE System
Super-size me
One fifth of adults worldwide will be obese by 2025, predicts study
UK is on track to have the highest obesity levels in Europe, while a fifth of world’s obese adults live in six high-income English-speaking countries