The building of the Newtown Road Active Travel Pathfinder Scheme in Wexford has prompted a “car brain” mentality as highlighted in local media coverage, local cycling campaigners have said.
“Car brain” — and the more academically sounding “motonormativity” — are phrases coined to be shorthand for a sort of status quo bias relating to the dominance of car use, the forgiveness of poor driver behaviour such as speeding and protectionism of the current street and road design which favours car and often encourages speeding.
The Newtown Road Active Travel Pathfinder Scheme has a reported price tag of €3m for a 1.3km phase of the project. The work has included new footpaths with safer junctions, segregated cycle tracks, and full roadway resurfacing.
Several local newspaper articles published in the Wexford People year — including in which councillors from the nearby Rosslare area complain that the project exceeded the road maintenance budget for their area — have incorrectly claimed or implied that the Newtown Road works were just “cycle lanes”.
This is a recurring issue with projects nationally, which include substantial footpath works, road resurfacing, and other works that are claimed or implied to be just cycle lanes. The project, in this case, included both footpath replacement and a redesign of footpaths aimed at giving more priority to pedestrians and slowing cars to improve safety.
It also included not just basic resurfacing but road strengthening in at least some locations.
Cormac Mac Gearailt, chairperson of Wexford Bicycle User Group (WexBUG), said: “There have been a number of articles in the local press recently which have focused on perceived negative aspects of active travel schemes and activities in Wexford.”
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“WexBUG contends that there has been insufficient balance in the below articles and wishes to address this imbalance. At a time of increased fatalities on our roads and an ongoing climate emergency, it’s important to reflect on the full facts of the below in order to prevent the spread of misinformation,” he said.
Another example published in the Wexford People in July article was headlined, “€3m cycle lane works causing chaos in Wexford estate – ‘We want our entrance back the way it was. End of story.’” The story outlines the annoyance of residents of the 70-house Coill Aoibhinn estate.
Mac Gearailt said that this frames the improvement works to footpaths designed to “improve pedestrian safety as negative, as it slows down vehicular traffic. The purpose of the improvements is to slow down vehicles in order to improve safety.”
The reporter said without attribution and in a matter-of-fact way: “That entrance, already narrow, has been tightened up even further since the works on the cycle lane began, making life very difficult, and very dangerous, for those who live in Coill Aoibhinn.”
The article also included the claim from a resident that “it was only the last few months that we noticed they had done one side of the footpath and how narrow they were making the entrance and then, all of a sudden, it was really narrowed, it was already a narrow entrance, which has now been made even narrower.”
By all accounts, especially for its location on a hill, the entrance is on the narrow side now, but it was previously very wide at its widest point.
When the newspaper article was written the photographs accompanying it show that the entrance was temporally narrowed further by unfinished surfaces and traffic cones on both sides of the carriageway at the entrance. This situation, of course, will be worse than the road when the works are finished, but it is not uncommon for the media to imply that temporary issues will last longer than the construction phase.
In the same article, the newspaper reporter said: “Adding to the sense of frustration, is the lack of prior consultation” as if this was a fact. This line was not quoting anybody and was not an directly attributed claim, it was also stated as fact. There was, however, prior consultation.
As explained by a councillor later in the article, the residents claimed they were unaware of it.
A resident was also quoted as having said: “We’re just really angry about it… there was no consulting anyone beforehand, WCC [Wexford County Council] seem to think narrowing the road will reduce the speed. This is one of the busiest roads in the county and its prioritising cyclists and pedestrians over the people who live in this estate.”
Reducing traffic lane and entrance widths are proven measures to reduce speed on roads — something an angry resident might be somewhat forgiven for not accepting, but important context that is the responsibility of a newspaper to include. Somewhat paradoxically, the same resident complained of other motorists travelling at speed while residents were trying to exit the estate in their cars.
Another published in the same newspaper in July, was titled “Wexford roadworks branded ‘the most frustrating we’ve ever seen’”.
Mac Gearailt said this article misrepresents delays to motorists as being caused by the addition of cycle lanes when it had already been “clarified by the engineers that these delays are due to poor historical road engineering, requiring massive remedial upgrades.”
He added: “These upgrades would have been necessary regardless of whether or not the cycle lane was being installed. Improvement to bus stops, footpaths, and junctions were also completed under this scheme.”
Another article, in May, outlined that “Wexford councillors voice concerns over €3 million first phase of Newtown Road cycle scheme”.
Mac Gearailt said that it is implied that “modern and safe active travel is not worth being done to a high standard” but he thinks that “Completing works to a high standard saves the state and taxpayer money in the long run.”
He said: “Short-term thinking regarding the quality of infrastructure has led to the necessity for massive remedial works in this area. This scheme is attempting to reverse decades of car-centric road development in county Wexford.”
Another also in May, titled “Concerns that Wexford County Council’s €3m cycle track will spell ‘disaster’ for emergency vehicles and buses”, he said “listed the grievances of car/bus/coach drivers relating to works that are designed and implemented to a national standard,” but he added: “There have been no issues with access for busses and emergency services vehicles to date.”
The Newtown Road project also includes central hatching for much of its length, where emergency services could overtake motorists.
Mac Gearailt said: “These articles, written and presented against a backdrop of a rise in fatal road traffic collisions and an ongoing climate emergency often give precedence to anecdotal incidents or perceived threats without relaying the facts for the reader.
WexBUG also pointed to articles about electric scooters, which the group said contracts to “clear law-breaking by motorists in relation to speeding, illegal footpath parking, and mobile phone use behind the wheel is conspicuous by its absence.”
Mac Gearailt said that the Wexford People published an article written by WexBUG founder and PRO Phil Skelton, that pointed out the benefits of active travel, cycling, and welcomed the then-incomplete Newtown Road scheme. But he said that that has been outweighed by the follow-on reporting, which has framed the project in a negative light with little or no balance.
“WexBUG is disappointed to see a lack of engagement with easily obtainable facts from recent reporting. Reading between the lines, recent articles seem to imply that the only viewpoint that matters is that which is observed through a car windscreen. The above examples portray the narrative that prioritising pedestrian safety and re-allocating road space for safe and segregated cycling infrastructure is not worth it, if it is perceived to inconvenience drivers,” he said.
“An increase of safe, segregated active travel infrastructure also encourages a modal shift, getting people out of their cars and onto other modes of transport, reducing, in many cases, traffic at peak times. This is of benefit to all society. It is unfortunate that local media and some local representatives do not wish to represent those constituents who wish to choose or are choosing a more sustainable approach to travel,” Mac Gearailt said.
He added: “We would call on the local media and councillors to engage with us, and to challenge the ‘car brain’ mentality.”
IrishCycle.com contacted the Wexford People early on Monday morning to seek comment on the criticism of its coverage. A follow-up email was sent in the afternoon. No reply was received at the time of publication.