Joanna Donnelly, known to many as one of the faces of RTÉ's weather forecasting team, has shown the multiple scratches she was left with after being set upon by a driver while she was cycling.
Ms Donnelly, a meteorologist who also presents TV forecasts, spoke out after seeing social media posts from a man who said his 8-year-old child didn't want to cycle home from school because of the abuse he had been subjected to by drivers.
Ms Donnelly said her own child, aged 13 years, had often endured a hostile environment on the roads when cycling.
And while she was reluctant to speak publicly about her own family, she felt compelled to do so when she saw Tweets from the father of the 8-year-old child struggling to continue cycling because of "beeps and abuse" from some drivers.
Advertisement
"This summer a woman beeped at a child I was cycling with," she explained while also sharing the above photo of her injuries from the incident.
Related News
"When I stopped and suggested this was unacceptable she put her hand around my throat, throttled me, then pulled her nails across my neck drawing blood. This is not appropriate behaviour on our roads."
She added while she had reported the matter to the Garda, and it was still with them, they had so far been unable to track down the driver in question.
"It’s very sad and very upsetting," she added of hostile drivers. "My 13-year-old cycles to school and he experiences people beeping at him regularly because he is taught to take a safe cycling position on the road, and as a result he gets beeped at."
In fairness that’s a lovely bike. I think we all get that intimate relationship with our bikes when it’s how we commute though. It’s a part of you much more than a car can be. I also love my trusty blue trek. pic.twitter.com/2RZxOb6RE7
— Joanna Donnelly (@JoannaDonnellyL) December 12, 2020
Joanna Donnelly is keen cyclists; picture here out on her rothar along the seafront at Clontarf-Raheny in Dublin
Topics
