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Northern Ireland cyclists "taking their life in their hands" on rural roadsWelcome to Ballymena (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 licensed by Scott Butler)

Northern Ireland cyclists "taking their life in their hands" on rural roads

Ballymena deputy mayor calls for "rural proofing" of cycle strategy...
by John Stevenson
Tue, Dec 02, 2014 15:43
6

Northern Ireland is in the midst of a push to become more cycle-friendly, as the number of journeys by bike in the province has risen in recent years.

But away from the big cities, councillors like Ballymena Deputy Mayor Hubert Nicholl fear that rural roads are too dangerous for cyclists and cycle lanes are not fit for purpose.

The Northern Ireland Department for Regional Development has drawn up a Draft Bicycle Strategy, which was recently open for public consultation.

In a discussion of Ballymena's response to the strategy, Cllr Nicholl said that cyclists were "taking their life in their hands" if they used rural roads in the borough.

The vision of the draft strategy is: “To establish a cycling culture in Northern Ireland to give people the freedom and confidence to travel by bicycle, and where all road users can safely share space with mutual respect.”

Ballymena Times reports that councillors are concerned the strategy has not been "rural proofed".

“There is a risk that this draft strategy might unintentionally become focussed on the larger cities of Belfast and Londonderry/Derry,” the council said in its reponse.

Cllr Nicholl said that the strategy needed a rural aspect because of the danger motor traffic poses to cyclists.

“You are taking your life into your hands on rural roads,” he said.

“Big lorries are passing you by at 60mph with 40ft trailers on - they just suck you in, especially if it was a youngster - they wouldn’t have a chance.”

Cycles lanes don't provide a safe refuge either, according to Mayor Audrey Wales who said that  “nine out of ten” of them were strewn with rubbish and fallen leaves.

“They are actually dangerous for our cyclists to use,” she said.

Northern Ireland
Ballymena
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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6 comments

Avatar
cavasta | 10 years ago
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Cycling on rural lanes is NOT dangerous. Big lorries on rural lanes passing you by at 60mph with 40ft trailers on IS dangerous. Spot the difference?

Avatar
Bez | 10 years ago
0 likes

I wish people would stop describing cycling on roads as "taking one's life in one's hands".

It's disingenuous bollocks.

Cycling on roads is putting one's life in others' hands.

Avatar
Yorkshie Whippet | 10 years ago
0 likes

“You are taking your life into your hands on rural roads,” he said.
“Big lorries are passing you by at 60mph with 40ft trailers on - they just suck you in, especially if it was a youngster - they wouldn’t have a chance.”

Then ban big lorries with 40ft from travelling at 60mph and make it safer to cycle. Oh, what the Conservatives have increased the speed limit, making it inherently unsafer, No, you don't say! 40

TBH from what I saw on the M1 Saturday, you place your life in the hands of HGV drivers anyway so whats new? Speed limits don't apply, line discipline does exist. Safety of other road users is secondary to getting the delivery done/getting home.

What really is starting to get me is the constant flow of stories on this site, cyclist v pedestrian, cyclist have to give way. Cyclist v car/HGV etc cyclist has to give way. It's slowly turning into a cyclist bashing platform.

Avatar
Paul_C | 10 years ago
0 likes

ah yes, that old favourite "mutual respect", please tell the motons out there that they have to get their act together...

Avatar
Baldy1alex | 10 years ago
0 likes

16 The councillor IS more than right any cycle lanes are covered with broken bottles and dog s***t under the leaves in my experience living in Ballymena, you also need to ride defensively at all times on road as most traffic will give no quarter sadly! Though there ARE some exceptions 4

Avatar
mike the bike | 10 years ago
0 likes

Good God. A councillor who seems to know something about cycling.

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