Today sees the rollout of seven fixed fines of €40 for cyclists breaking a range of offences in Ireland. These offences include breaking red lights, cycling in pedestrainised areas and having no front or rear lights when cycling in the dark. These fines mark the continuation by the government to force cyclists into better obeying the rules of the road. They come after years of cyclist bashing from members of the Irish media and the public alike at a time when exaggerated claims of the sins of cyclists are often accompanied by "Sure I have a bike in the shed myself".
Some questions spring to my mind as I envisage George Hook laughing gleefully at these new measures. Firstly, how fair are these new fines and offences to cyclists? It's good to want to make cyclists stop at lights and remain visible in the night but what constitutes reasonable consideration? Does reasonable consideration mean risking injury to yourself because of the snooty pedestrian pushing their buggy down the dead-end cycle-lane? Does it mean allowing the road-raging motorist at the roundabout barrel past you with no regard to your safety or right of way? Is it reasonable consideration to assume that motorists not using their indicators are in the right to do so? No, what it means is that any member of An Garda Síochána can pull you up and fine you €40 because they perceive you're not being reasonably considerate. Nothing to worry about there then! It's not as if there was ever any injustice carried out by that cadre.
When can we expect tighter controls to be placed on pedestrians who choose to use cycle lanes as their personal jogging/dog-walking/buggy tracks and motorists who think it's ok to use them as parking spaces?
Secondly, where is the support for the cyclist from the government and RSA? Surely, we want to be promoting this green form of transport more, not denigrating cyclists to second-class road-users and painting them as the scourge of the modern road. Why do we still have countless cycle lanes that either make no sense or end abruptly at the most inopportune of times? When can we expect tighter controls to be placed on pedestrians who choose to use cycle lanes as their personal jogging/dog-walking/buggy tracks and motorists who think it's ok to use them as parking spaces?
It seems to me, being a lowly, degenerate cyclist that the powers that be have focused on a minority of urban cyclists seldom found outside the confines of large cities such as Dublin and Cork and chosen to tar all of us with the same brush, with no proper consideration for the needs of the modern cyclist, the sins of the modern motorist and the roads that we are all supposed to share.
These seven fines are just the first to be rolled-out from a collection of 36 new offences that cyclists will face. Hopefully, and with any luck, the complete roll-out will be accompanied by a balancing of the scales and a more reasonable, level-headed discussion on how road-users, be they cyclist, motorist or pedestrian, can better get along.
