Europe's annual car-free day will likely have a poor showing in Dublin, as the Mayor was unable to sign up to the charter, writes David Maher
European car-free day, which occurs on Sunday, September 22nd, offers a welcome opportunity to put sustainable transport centre-stage within Irish politics. The Dublin Cycling Campaign, which represents commuter cyclists in the city, with the aim of "making Dublin a bicycle-friendly city", welcomes the opportunity to promote cycling as an alternative to the car.
Cycling needs to be promoted as the good news story that it is - as a fast, healthy, non-polluting and reliable way to get around the city. And the message does seem to be working: cyclist numbers are again increasing and accident statistics for cyclists have fallen 40 per cent in the last five years.
Car-free day originated in France in 1998, with the specific purpose of allowing citizens to see what a city would be like without cars. Having proved a huge success, the event expanded to more than a dozen European countries. Milan now has six car-free days a year.
Dublin first participated in the event in 2000. Despite a good public reaction, the initial event was not built upon. Just how out of step Dublin is with other European capitals was highlighted during last year's event. While right across Europe citizens were being encouraged by governments to reclaim their cities for a day, in Dublin the authorities were using the police to clear the citizens who demanded their right to do just that.
This year's official "car-free day" in Dublin will likely be poor, with no main streets being returned to pedestrians and cyclists for the day. For a city to participate in the European event, the city's mayor must sign up to a charter committing to the key principles, i.e., the event must be larger than in previous years, and contain significant road closures. However, the failure of Dublin Corporation - and, indeed, the Government - to live up to its responsibilities means that Dublin's Lord Mayor, Mr Dermot Lacey, was unable to sign up to the charter.
Ireland's failure to embrace the event event reflects on how car-focused our transport policies remain - and how our city's streets are viewed purely as transport routes rather than part of the city's social and cultural fabric.
The good news is that, after years of constant decline, cyclist numbers are finally beginning to increase and now represent about 4 per cent of journeys made in Dublin.
A target of 10 per cent is achievable if the following key areas are addressed:
Enforcement is the key issue. At present there is little enforcement of the existing traffic laws by gardaí. Rampant illegal parking, speeding and drink-driving are tolerated. While 94 per cent of cars speed in uncongested urban national roads, Irish ticketing levels for traffic violations are at approximately 30 per cent of UK levels. Clearly the risk of getting caught is far less than the risk of an accident.
Cycle-lane design standards are important, as a poorly designed cycle lane is much more dangerous than no cycle lane at all. While 300 kilometres of cycle lanes now exist in Dublin, many are poorly designed. However, in general, cycle-lane design has improved dramatically (with exceptions such as the dreadful facilities on the new Dundrum bypass), with recent routes such as Ranelagh, Rathmines and the Grand Canal extremely well designed.
The integration of cycling with public transport has huge potential, as the catchment area of public transport is 16 times greater when customers cycle rather than walk to their local bus stop or train station. While some progress has been made at DART stations, Iarnród Éireann has failed hopelessly to exploit this opportunity. Incredibly, it has no policy of encouraging customers to cycle rather than drive to stations. At Ceannt station in Galway, Iarnród Éireann offers, on the one hand, the cheapest all-day parking in Galway city - €4 per day - while, on the other, it fails to provide any bicycle parking at the station. Dublin's Heuston station upgrade involves the downgrading of bicycle parking, with all protests on the issue falling on deaf ears.
Cycling should be promoted on the basis that bicycles use road space efficiently, cause no pollution and pose a low level of danger to other road users.
In a society with spiralling obesity and diabetes levels the health benefits of cycling are worth noting. In terms of life-years gained, cycling's benefits outweigh life-years lost in cycling fatalities by a factor of around 20 to one.
David Maher is public relations officer of the Dublin Cycling Campaign. Further information about the campaign may be had at www.connect.ie/dcc