Safe Cycling Ireland

Making Irish roads Safer For Everyone

Campaign update Oct 2015

Stayin’ Alive at 1.5

Stayin’ Alive at 1.5 was started in March/April 2013 following the deaths of 2 bicycle riders on Wexford’s roads. Both these tragedies happened as a result of overtaking manoeuvres by motor vehicles. In between these tragedies, I myself (Phil Skelton) was hit on the elbow by an overtaking car while out cycling. Rather than giving up or be discouraged from continuing an activity that I enjoy immensely, I did some research in to what other jurisdictions had done about this particular problem.
I discovered that many jurisdictions across the globe had defined exactly what distance was recommended to overtake a cyclist and passed this recommendation into law to crystallise its overall message. To date, these include 25 US states, 2 Canadian provinces, some Australian states and territory, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium etc. Just last month, Ontario Canada introduced safe passing laws while this month, the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) and South Australia are also introducing this law along with an awareness campaign. 
This looked like a very good solution which could have had the effect of changing driver behaviour and possibly prevent future casualties and fatalities as we witnessed in Wexford.
I decided to then set up Ireland’s campaign for safe passing law to try to effect this change and hopefully prevent similar tragedies.
Having lived in Australia for 10 years, I was drawn to similar campaigns there and set up initially with the assistance of one such campaign, Safe Cycling Australia. They have since gone on to have a trial of safe passing laws there in Queensland which commenced in April 2014 and have witnessed good improvements in bicycle rider safety including a substantial drop in cyclist fatalities there. The ACT, and Sth. Australia are now set to follow suit. Ireland too needs to follow suit..

The Stayin’ Alive at 1.5 campaign strives to save the disastrous injuries and deaths of a vulnerable road user group. In this case cyclists. There has a lot of work both at grass roots and national level gone in to bring this project where it is today. I believe that in getting this minimum safe passing distance message out to the public could have the effect of making cycling a much more pleasant experience than what it currently is. This feeds into lots of different areas of society. The benefits to both physical and mental health are widely known. Our population is growing increasingly overweight, our congestion problems are increasing, our carbon usage needs to be lowered.

There has been many milestones and various achievements by the Stayin’ Alive at 1.5 campaign to date all in an effort to foster mutual understanding of bicycle riders and other road users. I will endeavour to capture as much of this as I can here in this through images and links.

Stayin’ Alive at 1.5 has a dedicated website safecyclingireland.org. We have a Twitter account and a dedicated Facebook page with a growing number of 4,600 plus active followers. These followers help share safety messages which regularly reach almost 300,000 users per week.image

Stayin’ Alive has a dedicated safety cycling jersey which promotes this message where it really matters; on Irish roads, worn by cyclists. This jersey is highly visible and has an all important reflective band on the rear. To date over 500 of these have been sold and they are a common sight now on Irish roads.

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Several cycling clubs now have the 1.5 metre logo on their jersey too. Again this helps with getting the message out there.

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Rear window stickers I know are not something that the RSA are comfortable with but many people wanted these so they now occupy many car rear windows across the country. Through interactions with Wexford Co Co, one of these stickers was given to each family who had a child in primary school. A Councellor in Kerry, Noel Grady, also used €1000 of his allowance to have some made up and distributed there.

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Stayin’ Alive at 1.5 proudly interacted with and supported Wexford Co Co in producing 4 safety videos, the central message of which was safe overtaking of bicycle riders allowing 1.5 metres. These were narrated by former newscaster, Anne Doyle and have been a massive success with millions of views across various social media platforms. They continue to be shared by many people not just in Ireland but worldwide in an effort to educate other road users how to overtake cyclists using internationally recognised best practice. (You tube links below)

http://youtu.be/YLH8dsig2Og
Many councils, government bodies and private businesses now have the 1.5 metre message on their vehicles. This helps reach a greater audience, again on the roads where constant reminders really matter. To date the County Councils of Wexford, Mayo, Kerry, Donegal have this sign on their suitable council vehicles. Sligo has agreed to do so and many others are in negotiations.
The EPA (Environment Protection Agency) has started to add the message to their vehicles too.
Many business owners have requested the logo and added it to their vehicles too.

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Road signage: Currently through interactions with Wexford co co, there are now 40 of these signs on display throughout the county as a reminder to other road users to share the road with cyclists.image
Mayo Co Co have been very active in this area too with Road safety officer, Noel Gibbons actively promoting this message through signage and the use of electronic notice boards.
Many countries have permanent signage with this same message and part of the Stayin’ Alive at 1.5 campaign’s aims is to have similar permanent road signage on Irish roads too eventually.

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In December last year, Irish cycling legend, Sean Kelly signed the 1.5 metre petition. He has been followed by Stephen Roche and Nicolas Roche in doing so. We have a live online petition along with a paper petition that is used at various events. There are now over 4,000 signatories and counting.

First SAA1.5 signatory.

First SAA1.5 signatory.

stephen rohe petitionimage

In February I met Michael Rowland and Brian Farrell from the RSA and amongst other things we discussed changing the wording from the rules of the road which in my view would provide clarity and certainty to this issue.

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As a result of this meeting I gratefully received some funding for a pop-up tent which Stayin’ Alive at 1.5 use at various events in an effort to create further awareness. It is greatly appreciated and has turned something rudimentary into something which gets more attention.

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Interactions with other bodies too has led to them promoting the 1.5 metre message. I recently met with some directors of SIMI (Society for Irish Motor Industry) and I look forward to working with them in the future.
On the recent rugby legends tour for example, the 1.5 metre message was prominent on their support vehicles. The Irish Heart Foundation will be promoting this too at their cycling event in October.

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Currently we are in the process of putting an awareness programme together along with Wexford Co Co. This will be called ‘See the Person, Pass with Care’. This is an effort for other road users to see the person who is riding the bike in the knowledge that this is a real person; somebody’s mother, father, sister etc. and not as an object or an obstacle on the road. These we hope will be done in a pull-up format and will be displayed in council buildings, hospital, shopping centres and other areas of large footfall.
In April, with the assistance of TDs Ciaran Cannon and Regina Doherty, I met transport minister, Paschal Donohoe to present him with the Stayin’ Alive at 1.5 petition and to discuss safe passing law. This remains a live issue and it will hopefully be central to the Autumn review of the cycling policy framework (2009-2020)

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There has also been several interactions with various media in order to get this message out there. Among them, the Matt Cooper show, the Irish times etc.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=841647845899233
Southeast radio interview.

https://www.facebook.com/stayinaliveat1.5/posts/839775612753123:0
People paper.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/rsa-urges-passing-drivers-to-stay-clear-of-cyclists-305948.html

Irish examiner.

http://www.todayfm.com/player/listen_back/7/17307/08th_January_2015_-_The_Last_Word_with_Matt_Cooper_Part_2

Matt Cooper. 52:57

http://www.roadsafetygb.org.uk/news/4115.html

Road safety GB

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/road-safety-officer-wants-law-on-gap-between-cars-and-cyclists-1.2057928

Irish times.

http://www.thejournal.ie/cycling-safety-laws-minimum-overtaking-called-for-1869915-Jan2015/

journal.ie

http://www.independent.ie/regionals/newrossstandard/lifestyle/cyclist-launches-staying-alive-safety-campaign-29765784.html

http://bikepure.org/please-support-new-irish-cycling-safety-campaign/

http://cycliq.com/blog/10-ireland-and-the-defined-safe-overtaking-space-race

http://www.wexfordecho.ie/2015/02/06/road-safety-video-campaign-launched/
http://www.munstercycling.com/stayin-alive-1-5/

http://www.independent.ie/regionals/newrossstandard/lifestyle/cyclist-launches-staying-alive-safety-campaign-29765784.html

http://www.wexfordpeople.ie/news/cycle-safety-goes-up-a-gear-in-wexford-30959923.html

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=855875221143162
South east radio Michael Doyle

http://www.irishtv.ie/category/ireland/leinster/wexford/
Irish TV with Samantha Kelly.

https://www.facebook.com/stayinaliveat1.5/videos/926710000726350/
Crimecall

Phil Skelton
Stayin’ Alive at 1.5 campaign.