INDEPENDENT councillor Fergus Kilcoyne proposed that hi-vis jackets, vests, and lights be made compulsory for all riders of bikes and scooters in Ireland.
The City West representative asked at this month’s the meeting of the Metropolitan District that the Council write to the relevant departments in Government to request this be made law.
Cllr Kilcoyne says he can been contacted by numerous delivery drivers and postal workers who have experienced issues with cyclists in the early hours due to low visibility and the darker mornings.
“Some of these cyclists are wearing headphones. They can’t hear what is coming behind them and electric cars can’t be heard, so they need to be more proactive in their care of cycling,” Cllr Kilcoyne said.
Last Friday morning, Cllr Kilcoyne said, he saw a person on a scooter on Henry Street sitting on two cases of Heineken while driving his scooter.
“They have to have a bit of respect for our laws here as well,” he declared.
Seconding his proposal, Fianna Fáil councillor Catherine Slattery deemed it a timely motion, especially coming up to Christmas.
However, Green Party councillor Seán Hartigan took a different view, stating that, while cyclists do have a responsibility to have lights on their bikes, mandatory hi-vis wear “will do nothing to prevent injuries to cyclists”.
Cllr Hartigan explained that a long-term study of the use of mandatory hi-vis clothing on Italian roads showed that no difference was made as regards collisions with cyclists.
”A debate about mandatory hi-vis clothing is simply a distraction from the need to enforce road traffic laws. We know from international road safety literature that hi-vis is not the issue in road safety terms, but rather distracted driving or failure by the driver to properly scan the horizon for all travel modes.
“Preaching about hi-vis is victim blaming and a distraction from the principle need to stop distracted and inattentive driving,” he declared, hitting out that putting the onus on cyclists to wear high-vis clothing “shirks the duty of the Gardaí to enforce the law when it comes to speeding”.
The City East representative proposed a counter motion to write to the Minister responsible for Road Safety, Jack Chambers, and Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, asking for increased penalty points to motorists for speeding, too close overtaking of cyclists, parking in cycle lanes, and other behaviours which impact the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.
Supporting his proposal, Green Party colleague Saša Novak Uí Chonchúir agreed that lights, as they are mandatory, should be on every single bike.
However, she added, “if we are asking for cyclists or pedestrians to wear hi-vis, I think we should also call for all cars to be painted in bright pink, bright yellow, bright orange, and bright green”.
Fine Gael councillor Michael Sheahan confessed that he was enjoying the debate in the Dooradoyle council chamber until the Greens added their tuppence worth. To put the blame on the motorist, he maintained, is wrong.
“Only yesterday evening I saw a family of four – two adults, two children – in total black gear walking along the road, and only that the dog had a reflective band I wouldn’t have known they were there.”
”As far as I can see, the Green Party have bikes and buses on their mind and that’s it. The rest of us don’t matter. The taxpayers who are paying to keep our roads functioning properly, they don’t count at all,” he concluded.
