MIGRANT cyclists disproportionately feature in serious injury and fatality stats, a leading cycling campaigner has suggested.
Mike McKillen, chairperson of the Dublin Cycling Campaign and spokesperson for cyclists.ie, was speaking after attending the tragic cremation ceremony for a young Chinese cyclist killed at Harold’s Cross Road in Dublin, when he was hit by a cement truck.
“It was very moving,” McKillen said of the service. “The whole gathering was in tears and asking why he had to die.”
McKillen said that immigrants are “disproportionately affected” by bicycle accidents as they are more likely to cycle due to economic circumstances.
While describing cycling in Dublin as “not that dangerous”, he said that trucks have an “inherent and fundamental design flaw” in that drivers’ vision is curtailed in the cabin - and yet four-axle trucks face no restrictions upon entering tight city streets.
The cyclists’ rights activist also suggested that gardaí have statistics on the nationalities who suffer injury on Ireland’s roads, “but don’t release them”.
He added, “What I feel and see is that I would think that the new Irish feature disproportionately in the serious injury and fatality statistics. That’s a hunch.”
One experienced cyclist, who was wearing a helmet and high-vis top when Metro Éireann encountered her on Dublin’s O’Connell Street, described herself as “lucky” never to have been injured while cycling on the capital’s roads.
Dubliner Eilis Dignan commented: “We need a lot more cycle tracks, wider cycle tracks. At times bus lanes merge with cycle tracks. Also, some footpaths could be divided to include a cycle track. We just don’t have a cycling mentality here – it’s all about motorways, reducing petrol costs, there’s no emphasis on bikes.”
She added that the existing cycle lane infrastructure seems almost tokenistic.
Some 22 cyclists have been killed in the greater Dublin area over the past seven years. Asked for any available statistics on the nationality of those killed or injured while cycling, a Garda spokesperson said: “This data is not available.”
