Everywhere you turn in Dublin’s city centre, you see bicycles. They fly up and down the roads, winding through traffic and completely ignoring and consideration for traffic lights or more importantly-pedestrians.
I can generalise because in all my adult life, I’m yet to see a cyclist join stopped traffic and actually do what they’re meant to do and STOP!
They rarely slow down yet alone stop. They fly through pedestrian crossings leaving the elderly and children to fend for themselves. The gardai unfortunately are not usually where they need to be when this happens, because I’m more than confident in the fact they’d do their job and charge someone for this gravely dangerous activity.
The media for far too long consistently shows adverts about keeping an eye out for cyclists, where’s the adverts showing cyclists stopping at red lights, at pedestrian crossings or indeed keeping an eye out for cars.
The thankful loss of Johm Gormley has meant more meaningless ‘bike campaigns’ have been shelved.
I recently was walking down lower Baggot St in Dublin. Upon coming to a pedestrian crossing, a courier on a bike went through a pedestrian crossing that was green for pedestrians and red for traffic.
A man was nearly knocked and shouted at the cyclist who stopped. A fist fight broke out which was duly stopped but nonetheless shows what can happen with the attitude of most cyclists.
Common campaigns ask for traffic to respect cyclists, I think it’s high time cyclists respect traffic and more importantly pedestrians.