September has been a bad month for cyclist fatalities on our roads. Nearly nine months into the year, the number of cyclist fatalities has risen to 13 compared to 10 for the whole of 2024. The government is not doing enough.  

• In Helsinki, a city of approximately 600,000, there were NO road fatalities in the last year. The critical measures to achieve this included –
• Reducing speed limit in 50% of streets from 50kph to 30 kph over the last  50 years
• Better enforcement by the police.

After announcing that they were going to reduce the default speed limit in urban areas, the government has changed its mind. They said that local authorities could lower the speed limit on certain roads but identifying individual roads where the speed limit is reduced is more bureaucratic rather than reducing the default speed limit where only higher speed roads have to be explicitly specified. You can view a short film about road safety in Helsinki on our facebook page here.

Kildare County Council proposes to open public consultation on speed limits shortly.

Car Parking & Motornormativity

Motornormativity is an unconscious cognitive bias in which the assumption is made that motor car ownership and use is an unremarkable social norm. In essence it is a windscreen view of the world and the place of cars in it. 

September has drawn to a close and a new year starts for university students in Maynooth. A few “new” cars have started to park on our estate road which is close to the university and has provoked some residents to place a note on them which states “No Parking”  here and ”Park in the GAA”. 

The cars were parked on a public road which is in the charge of the council. As far as I am aware, they did not drive in a way that would pose a risk to children or adults in the estate. They were not blocking any entrances and not preventing any emergency vehicle from entering the estate. They weren’t even taking up a parking space in front of a private house. 

Placing notes on cars about where  they are parked is a clear example of motornormativity. People don’t feel entitled to park on grassy sections of public parks but they do feel entitled to illegally park on footpaths and to tell others that they can’t park on public roads.   

Royal Canal Opens in Dublin

Finally, some good news – the Irishycle.com website reports that the central section of the Royal Canal Greenway in Dublin City is now fully opened after two and a half years of construction to make the route accessible for pedestrians and people cycling.The project included installing new, more gentle ramps, which are more accessible, and new shared crossings at the canal at the Phibsborough,/Drumcondra Road, Russell Street/Jones’ Road, Ballybough Road, and then finishing at the existing crossing on North Strand Road.

Maynooth Cycling Campaign is an independent local lobby group for better cycling facilities in Maynooth and Kildare generally.  If you would like to support our efforts, we welcome new members. Why not join us – you can find details here.