There have been nine fatal cycling accidents so far this year, but all the transport minister Shane Ross has to offer in terms of improving cycle safety are platitudinal non-starters like “targeting cyclist and motorist attitudes and behaviour” and “education programmes”. He is riding his preposterous high nelly of a ministerial tenure up the wrong street, in the wrong direction.
The right direction would be to begin immediate and widespread construction of connected cycle networks in Ireland, especially in the capital. This would of course require hugely increased capital funding for cycle infrastructure (which currently stands at just 2% of the overall transport budget), but it would be good value.
If proof were needed it would work, a recent study on the Spanish city of Seville’s ambitious cycling network showed that the risk associated with riding a bike there fell off a cliff since it first opened in 2007 — and has continued to decrease, despite a huge increase in cycling activity.
In 2001 the Spanish city saw roughly 20 collisions between motor vehicles and bikes per million bike journeys, when there were roughly 3m bike trips and a rudimentary cycle lane system, much like the one in Dublin today. By 2007, when the first cycle routes were opened, there were well over 6m bike trips, with just 7 collisions per million.
The Sevillanos went all out to make their city cycle-friendly, completing 80km of track in one phase alone. Physical barriers such as kerbs or fences were built on each lane and all of the segregated routes are two-way. Unlike some of the bike infrastructure here — such as the partially completed S2S route, which appears to attract a more “sporting” type of cyclist — the bike lanes in Seville promote riding as a much more ordinary activity.
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In a city of roughly 850,000 inhabitants, which suffers four rush hours per day due to the traditional siesta, the new infrastructure has helped ease near gridlock, despite taking some road space away from cars, and made the city more accessible to wheelchairs.
The city also has a bike share scheme with 2,500 bikes. The cycle path network has cost €32m to date, which seems like really good value, especially when compared with projects here — the S2S could end up costing €100m.