The Garda Inspectorate Report on Crime Investigation, 2014 gives credence to cyclists concerns about how road traffic collisions involving motorised vehicles impacting with cyclists are handled by An Garda.

The Bedford Report for the HSE in 2011 showed that only approximately 10% of serious injuries (with hospital admission to a bed) incurred by cyclists in road traffic collisions were recorded by Garda.

The GI Report doesn’t mince its words: “This inspection has identified several deficiencies in recording practices, supervision and governance over recorded crime and the level of recorded detections for those crimes. The veracity of crime recording in Ireland must be addressed immediately. It is for this reason that the Inspectorate is making substantial recommendations to get it right from the first contact with a victim reporting a crime and through every stage of the investigative process”.

If a cyclist is knocked off his/her bike from impact with a motorised vehicle that is a potential criminal offence if serious injury results. Cyclists expect all such RTCs to be properly and fully investigated and recorded with appropriate follow-up. That clearly is not happening at present. Acute hospitals need to document all admission cases arising from cyclist RTCs and inform the Gardai of them.

The Departments of Transport, Justice and Health and the Road Safety Authority need to ensure that this scandal ends. It is an action from the NCPF since 2009. No sign of urgency so far.

Analysis of accident data and safety issues (abstract only)

Why Olympic medallist Chris Boardman chooses not to wear a cycle helmet when he’s on the roads. Video clip here

See also Helmet Links 3B (left sidebar)

Presentation

His latest work with his graduate student researcher, Jack Short, involved analysing two data sets containing information on serious injuries happening to cyclists on both our roads and off-road in driveways, gardens, MTB trails, etc. We know from the international research road safety research literature that police forces don’t necessarily record all cases of serious injury happening to cyclists from impacts with vehicles (these are called RTCs) on public roads so that there is considerable under-reporting of serious injuries. Continue reading Prof. Brian Caulfield of TCD researches cycling issues →

Children, older people and deprived communities would benefit most from a change, conference told

Cutting speed limits in urban areas to 30 km/h (20 mph) reduces the number of road accidents and the severity of injuries, according to the Institute of Public Health Ireland (IPHI). Read article

See also 30kph Speed Limits

Two out of every three adults and one in four children in Ireland are overweight or obese. In addition to the many serious health impacts, obesity also has a significant negative economic impact, costing the Irish state an estimated €1.13 billion in 2009.   Continue reading The race we don’t want to win: Tackling Ireland’s obesity epidemic →

Switching from driving a car to walking or cycling to work improves our well-being, a study suggests.

Active commuters felt better able to concentrate and under less strain than when travelling by car, University of East Anglia (UEA) researchers said.

Even going by public transport was preferable to driving, data from 18,000 UK commuters over 10 years suggested.

Read article

Message sent on Wednesday 6 August to Road Safety Authority by Cyclist.ie – The Irish Cycling Advocacy Network in response to RSA press release issued Friday 1 August regarding rise in vulnerable road user fatalities

Michael Rowland (Director of Research)
Brian Farrell (Director for Communications)

Dear Michael and Brian

As a leader of a group of vulnerable road users, who are at all times in traffic (unlike pedestrians, and who generally choose when, where and how they cross our roads) could I plead with the RSA to alter its ‘blame-the victim’ approach to getting its message across. While I commend you for the generally better content and tone of the latest press release issue last Friday the RSA could do more to place the main responsibility on motorised drivers, particularly those who drive large vehicles – buses, coaches, HGVs, SUVs/4x4s.

Let’s be blunt about the fact: it’s the one tonne plus metal projectile with its driver that is the killer and maimer. We know from the international research literature that in the case of cyclists the majority of RTCs take place at junctions. The causal factor is driver miscalculation/error in approx. 90% of those analysed in Europe. Continue reading Message sent to Road Safety Authority →