Mandatory hi-vis for cyclists a “timely proposal” coming up to Christmas, say councillors | road.cc

19 comments

1. Great idea.

   It should also be mandatory that they utilise cycle lanes where they are provided.

2. When will the pedestrian helmets come in?

3. I’m sorry but if you refuse to attempt to remove yourself from danger, you no longer have the right to call yourself a victim in this situation. You’re contributing to the fact some poor innocent individual could end up killing you. There’s ones out walking/running/cycling in black at night. They’re safe on a footpath but on the road they’re just not safe.

4. I welcome the move because this is a made up problem. I cycle to work twice a week in Dublin and it’s rare to see a cyclist not wearing a high vis in Winter. At least if it’s mandatory it’ll stop gammons from whining about something they’ve invented inside their own head.

   The focus needs to be on improving cycling infrastructure and keeping it separate from other road users. Motorists are always going to be a far bigger threat to cyclists than the other way round.

5. It won’t make a blind bit of difference. It’ll just make it easier for motorists to see us while they attempt to run us off the road.

   How hard is it to slow down, just a bit, and give a little space? You are not that important.

6. Hahaha yeah this will be enforced.

7. People onelectric scooters seem to think it’s mandatory to wear all black. It’s like a ninja club

8. An independent councillor from Limerick? Yeah, this is going nowhere.

   A proposal aimed at punishing cyclists while trying to claim it’s for cyclists safety.

9. As a lorry driver, I believe all cars should be painted bright orange.

10. Let’s also have all vehicles hi vis.

11. Even if dressed as chrismas tree, this won’t prevent driver to pretend they did not see you to pass the blame

12. Go to any city where there is a large number of cyclists like Amsterdam or London and you don’t see as many hi-vis wearing cyclists as you do here.

    Why? Because they have safe cycling infrastructure and drivers there have learned to watch for cyclists.

    The attitude in Ireland seems to be that the people controlling the two tonne metal object travelling at 50kmph are incompetent nit wits and need handholding to not indiscriminately murder dozens of people on their way to the shops.

    The discussion about mandatory helmets and hi-vis in cycling is similar to the “what was the rape victim wearing” question. While some people may view a change in behaviour as risk mitigation; the intense focus on it ends up explaining away really terrible behaviour on the part of the perpetrator.

    Like if you can’t see a cyclist on the road in broad daylight regardless of their attire then you shouldn’t be driving. We don’t expect cars to be brightly coloured to avoid collisions do we? What’s the difference with a cyclist?

    It’s worth remembering that bike lights are already mandatory when travelling at low light/night. There’s a complete lack of enforcement and bikes are not required to be sold with lights which is bizarre to me. The lack of enforcement there means that any hi-vis rule would similarly not be enforced and only be brought out to diminish the responsibility of a driver when there is a collision.

13. Obviously this is just rage bait, but once all cars are bright orange with full reflective panel on the back, like an ambulance, then we can move onto less deadly forms of transport.

14. Used to work on projects with RSA. Most (80% plus) cyclist deaths happen during daylight hours with the cyclist been hit from behind. Nothing to do with visibility and everything to do with drivers concentrating on the road, not speeding and not on their fucking phones. But much easier to suggest a piece of hi viz is the answer.

15. That’s crazy how about mandatory not running cyclists off the road because you turn feral when you see one.

16. They did this in Australia with helmets and the only effect it had was decreasing cycling.

    Terrible ideas from the usual crowd.

17. How was it not already mandatory?

18. If this recent case is any guide it would solve nothing and just create more excuses for incompetent driving.

    https://m.independent.ie/regionals/kerry/news/courts/kerry-driver-pleads-not-guilty-to-hitting-cyclist-i-did-not-see-him-it-was-an-unavoidable-accident/a227385776.html

19. Stupid idea but would love if more people had lights on the bike. Lads dressed fully in black with no lights on the bike are terrifying. Almost impossible to see until you are very close even with street lights.