Open letter to Minister Shane Ross on cyclist deaths. But will it do any good?
Flowers mark the scene where cyclist Donna Fox was killed last year. To date in 2017 eight cyclists have been killed in the Republic, almost at the full-year number for 2016.
With the cyclist death toll on the Republic’s roads having reached eight already this year, concern is mounting over cycle safety.
The Dublin Cycling Campaign has already staged a number of rallies, outside the Department of Transport and Dáil Eireann.
They have been held under the #allocate4cycling appeal. It seeks to increase the percentage of Government transport spending on cycling from one per cent at present towards 20 per cent.
And in the wake of the recent eight fatalities, compared to 10 in all of last year, the Irish Cycling Advocacy Network has written to Minister for Transport Shane Ross.
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It is calling on him to make a “serious intervention” before the cyclist death toll mounts even further.
“We need leadership at this point to bring a halt to the death and misery inflicted by the utter dominance of motor vehicles on Irish roads,” the letter by Dr Damien Ó Tuama states.
Ó Tuama, the national cycling coordinator of the Irish Cycling Advocacy Network, has requested a meeting to Ross to discuss the concerns about the continuing fatalities.
And the network also says the big debate that needs to take place in the transport arena is the need to decarbonise transport.
“The giant elephant in the room - is the need for transport to decarbonise and hence for capital expenditure on transport to switch away from endless demand-inducing road building and, instead, shift to investment in public transport, walking and cycling,” Ó Tuama says.
You can find the full text of the letter to Ross below.
Let us know what you think; do you believe this approach will make any difference to Ross and those who set Irish transport policy?
Irish Cycling Advocacy Network's letter to Shane Ross
Monday 22 May 2017
Dear Minister Ross,
I am writing to you again on the matter of cyclist safety but, this time, after eight of my fellow cyclist citizens have been mowed down and killed by motor vehicles in 2017 – and it is only mid-May. In 2016 a total of 10 people riding their bikes lost their lives.
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The carnage can and must be halted!
There is something fundamentally wrong with our system and culture when the lives of mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters are extinguished – at a rate of more than one per month - while they are engaging in a healthy activity that is promoted as government policy.
On behalf of those who use bicycles, both for everyday transportation/utility trips, and for recreational/tourism use, I am calling on you as the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to make – as a matter of urgency - a serious intervention before any other person on a bike loses their lives.
We need leadership at this point to bring a halt to the death and misery inflicted by the utter dominance of motor vehicles on Irish roads.
As pointed out in our previous letters, your Department’s National Cycle Policy Framework (NCPF) of 2009 has all but been set-aside.
All we hear about (for the last 2 to 3 years) is “an upcoming review” of same – with nothing forthcoming.
Your department still has no National Cycling Coordinator in post, a basic pre-requisite for advancing a multi-faceted policy framework and a specific action of the NCPF (Objective #17.1). The promised National Advisory Forum has still not been established (Policy #17.2).
Furthermore, and to exacerbate these shortcomings, active travel is downgraded in the National ‘Building on Recovery’ Plan to a mere 1 per cent of the proposed transport expenditure, despite the NCPF commitment of ‘adequate and timely funding’ (Chapter 4).
This 1 per cent figure compares very poorly to our European neighbours and to the UN recommended level of 20 per cent of transport funding to go on non-motorised / active travel modes [1].
I am pleading with you to show real leadership in procuring a paradigm shift in how those who use active and healthy travel modes are treated on Irish public roads and, consequently, in how transport funds are spent.
We strongly commend your support for lower vehicle speeds and for lower alcohol limits for drivers, but the parallel issue here - and the giant elephant in the room - is the need for transport to decarbonise and hence for capital expenditure on transport to switch away from endless demand-inducing road building and, instead, shift to investment in public transport, walking and cycling.
We would like to meet with you at the earliest possible date to discuss our concerns over the present level of cycling deaths, the need for adequate funding and resources, and the very real and relatively quick benefits to be gained from increased investment in cycling, as outlined in the NCPF.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely
Dr. Damien Ó Tuama
National Cycling Coordinator, Cyclist.ie – the Irish Cycling Advocacy Network
Vice-President, European Cyclists’ Federation
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