Cycling advocacy group urge no backpedaling on funding

All parties fighting the general election should commit to spending a minimum of 10 per cent of transport funding on cycling, according to the Irish Cycling Advocacy Network.

The network is the umbrella organisation supported by cyclist.ie, the Dublin Cycling Campaign and An Taisce.

According to the network, “the normalisation of everyday cycling will address several key high-level aims in achieving a fairer society, a better functioning economy and dealing meaningfully with the ever-increasing C02 emissions from Ireland’s transport sector”.

It says that in Ireland, just 1.25 per cent of secondary school students cycle to school, compared to 44 per cent in Denmark. Not unrelated to this, 26 per cent of nine-year-olds are overweight, it adds. Almost 20 per cent of Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions are from transport.

Election issue

“Our vision is for everyday cycling to be normal part of life for all ages and abilities, very similar to the ways it is in many northern European countries,” said the network on Wednesday.

It wants greater promoting of cycling to be an election issue and, apart from upping spending on cycling facilities, wants the next government to implement fully the National Cycle Policy Framework.

Targets to be achieved by the next government include having at least 10 per cent of all journeys by bike by 2020, up from the current 2 per cent; the appointment of a National Cycle Officer at the department of transport; making 30km/h the default speed limit in urban areas (in Graz, Austria, this move resulted in serious crashes falling by a quarter); have a legally enforced 1.5m gap between cyclists and overtaking vehicles; allow contra-flow cycling on one-way streets, retrofit the top 50 most dangerous junctions for cyclists; and, more generally, fund high-quality cycle ways.