Fine warning for cyclist after reporting motorists’ close passes to be raised in Dáil

— Motorists get €120 fines, but cyclist warned he will be fined too.

Gardaí warning a cyclist that he will be fined €40 twice after he reported motorists is to be raised in the Dáil, Galway TD and former Government minister Ciaran Cannon.

Earlier today Cannon said: “This really poor decision making by some members of @GardaTraffic @gardainfo needs to stop now. It has the potential to make our roads and streets even more dangerous for cyclists.”

Cannon also tagged Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee; Tánaiste (deputy prime minister), Leo Varadkar; Taoiseach (prime minister), Micheal Martin and Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan. The added that he will be raising the issue in the Oireachtas.

The case involved ‘righttobikeit’ a Co Cork-based twitter user, who has been successful in using bicycle camera footage to get motorists fined for close passing him. In the two cases where he was fined, he was told by Gardai that the motorists were also fined and given points.

IMAGE: A screen capture of an incident with a driver of a van.

Regarding the first video below, with an commercial SUV, righttobikeit said on Twitter that Gardai told him that he will likely be fined for ‘cycling without reasonable consideration’ due to “weaving around the road” and because he had “poor road positioning”. However, the video does not seem to show abnormal movement or weaving, and the road positioning shown is called the “primary position”.

The “primary position” is often seen as more dangerous by people who are usually not used to cycling in higher-speed roads, but is backed by official Irish and UK cycling training and is included in the most recent revision of the Rules of Road.

The Rules of the Road state: “Drivers should be aware that cyclists may need to change direction from the
normal secondary position on the road (left side of the road) to a more primary riding position (centre of the road) in order to: get the best view of the road and junctions ahead; increase visibility for approaching traffic, especially where a driver’s view may be blocked; turn left or right, enter a roundabout, change lanes or approach a bend.”

It adds: “…Drivers, always check and give extra space to cyclists, as they may need to change position to safely avoid uneven road surfaces and obstacles.”

In the case of the video below, the road is on the approach a bend where the road narrows.

In the second video, below, he was was told by Gardai that he will likely get a €40 fine for “swerving on/off the lane” and that because his “hand signal wasn’t of sufficient quality”. He said: “I consciously moved back off the lane to facilitate traffic.”


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1 comment

  1. this is a very dangerous precedent as it will prevent other cyclists and pedestrians from reporting issues. I had the same a few years ago after reporting a car going straight through a pedestrian crossing and had it on video the gardai at Summerhill just said it would be down to my word against theirs so it never progressed.Hopefully the fines are quashed

    Reply

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