Protecting pedestrians and cyclists

Well-tested solutions exist

Sir, – The tragic deaths of two pedestrians (“Two pedestrians die in separate Dublin road incidents”, News, January) comes on the back of an increase in fatalities for pedestrians and cyclists for 2022 as a whole.

While the circumstances of each death are clearly complex, what is apparent to anybody who walks and cycles in urban areas is that increases in the size and number of cars are not matched by improvements to either engineering or enforcement.

There has been some great work by various groups and agencies in promoting a default 30km/h speed limit in urban areas, and councillors here in Galway recently voted to adopt this limit on some city streets.

But 30km/h limits have been subject to a far amount of “pushback” by people claiming that driving at this speed is difficult.

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Whether or not you subscribe to this view, it is the case that much of our infrastructure is designed to support (and therefore encourage) much higher speeds.

While enforcement often seems very light, it’s unrealistic to expect gardaí to be able to spot every infraction, and although measures like red light cameras (the rollout of which seems subject to a depressing lack of urgency) can help, excessive speeding is usually the sign of a lack of the right kind of engineering.

For example, in many places it’s common to see entrances to residential streets and estates treated to four-lane entrances with wide, sweeping corners. As well as giving pedestrians a far longer distance to traverse, it also indicates to drivers that maintaining their speed is the most important design factor. Road widths themselves are also relevant, and once again, the designs that are employed in many places encourage speed, reduce space for pedestrians and cyclists, and make the interactions with motorists more dangerous than they need to be.

Well-tested solutions exist to fix all these problems, and the guidance is available to local authorities.

What appears to be lacking in many places is the will to fully implement these designs, with maintaining “traffic flow” often taking precedence.

While it’s very hard to link an individual pedestrian death to a particular design or decision, it is surely undeniable that locations where speeding and red-light jumping are endemic, and where pedestrians are faced with wide roads and poor crossings, are more likely to result in motorists striking pedestrians, often with tragic results.

We’ve tried handing out reflective vests and “urging” drivers to slow down, but what’s required if we’re really serious about reducing the danger is to properly implement tried and tested measures. – Yours, etc,

DAVE MATHIESON,

Salthill,

Galway.