Is 'safety first' the best policy for city cycling?

The death of Padraic Carney has brought to eleven the number of cyclist deaths on Irish roads in 2017 and there is a growing perception that Dublin in particular is a hazardous place in which to ride a bike.  In the last few months, there have been calls to introduce fines for cyclists who fail to wear high-visibility clothes, and to make bike helmets mandatory.

                One can sympathise with lorry and bus drivers forced to share narrow roads with vulnerable (and sometimes cavalier) cyclists and much of Dublin is friendly neither to cyclists, drivers or pedestrians.  But the ‘safety at all costs’ approach may only discourage potential cyclists.  For many, the great appeal of cycling lies in its accessibility – fuel, parking, insurance and road tax do not apply and it’s hardly surprising that the Dublin bike scheme (in which lights and lock and basket are included with each bike) has been so phenomenally successful.  Many cyclists do wear helmets and high-viz jackets (only front and back lights and bell are required by law) but if they were made obligatory, I’ve no doubt that for some, it would make cycling seem like too much hassle.

                With regards to infrastructure, it’s hard to see how the streets can be made safer for cyclists in the short term – they are generally too narrow to adequately accommodate two lanes of traffic, long uninterrupted stretches of cycle lane and bus lanes and radical change to road lay-out seems unlikely (the Dutch solution of permanent segregation of two-wheeled and four-wheeled traffic with kerbed lanes would impinge on the effectiveness of the buses as the city’s most important people carriers).

                But regardless of the apparent dangers, Dublin’s mild climate and generally flat surface make it an ideal city for cycling and Irish children, who are now seriously prone to obesity, clearly need more exercise. It is grimly ironic that the latest fatality was a primary school principal who was setting a good example to his young charges by cycling into school every day.  Perhaps the only way to make the streets safer for cyclists is to promote cycling, rather than safety, with initiatives such as a ‘Bike to Work’ scheme aimed at schoolchildren.  Effective lobbying depends on cyclists becoming the primary road users.