Irish racing cyclist Imogen Cotter is the face of a new Road Safety Authority (RSA) campaign, which is focussed on crashes involving drivers on the roads of Ireland that cause serious injury to cyclists
Cotter, who is riding this year in Europe for Fenix-Deceuninck Continental, appears in the video below with a tearful message for drivers as she recalls the painful day she was left with very serious injuries. An oncoming driver, who was overtaking a cyclist, hit Cotter head-on as she was out training.
Cotter had won the Irish road race title months earlier and had just secured her first pro contract - for 2022 - moving to Girona to ready for her first season as a professional. She breaks down in the video as she recalls how thankful she was that she was still alive after the crash.
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“I remember seeing the van coming at me and thinking I was going to die. I hit the windscreen really hard. It was horrifying for my parents to get a call like that," she says in the video - below - for the launch of the new campaign, which is unfortunately sponsored by a motor company.
“It felt so unfair, everything I worked for, for so long could have been gone in an instant. People need to slow down and see the impact not observing people cycling can have. My message is for people to slow down and realise there is a real person cycling on that road. They are people with whole lives and goals.
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“If this campaign can make one person slow down that will be a step in the right direction to making roads safer for everyone.”
Also speaking to the media yesterday in Dublin to mark the launch of the new RSA campaign, Cotter questioned how safe the roads of Ireland are for cyclists, especially in Dublin.
“I’m from Clare and generally I’m cycling on very quiet roads. I do feel like there is more speeding on rural roads but in general I’m not meeting many cars," she said.
She believed drivers in other parts of the country needed more patience and awareness and simply needed to slow down and give cyclists more time and space so they can complete their journey safely.
“I really do see that here in Dublin. It’s just a more aggressive type of driving for sure when you get into city centres and if I was in Dublin I wouldn’t be cycling," she told The Irish Times.
