Road Safety and Advocacy Improvements

Cycling Ireland will be represented on the Road User Safety Forum which has been set up by the Department of Transport to provide insight and advice which will assist the Department and the Road Safety Authority (RSA) with decision making on road safety. The President of Cycling Ireland, Dr Tom Daly, has been appointed to the forum by the Department.

The forum has been set up within the context of the Government’s Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030. This was launched with the aim of halving deaths and serious injuries on Irish roads this decade and, in the longer term, to bring Ireland closer to achieving ‘Vision Zero’ by 2050.

The Strategy has three phases, with Phase 1 (2021-2024) now nearing completion. Preparation of Phase 2 (2025 to 2027) is under way and the Road User Safety Forum will serve as an independent consultative body aimed at providing insights and assistance for the formulation of this phase.

Speaking about the establishment of the forum and Cycling Ireland’s participation, Dr Daly said:

“I very much welcome this initiative of the Dept. of Transport and I look forward to representing cyclists’ interests in helping influence the progress of the Government’s Road Safety Strategy. This is especially welcome given the fact that the trend in fatalities of cyclists, along with serious injuries, increased sharply during Phase 1 of the Strategy from 2021-2024.

“This trend is a matter of great concern to Cycling Ireland and we will continue to work constructively with the Dept. and RSA, on this and other areas, in order to help bring about the transformational approaches which the Road Safety Strategy recognises are necessary in order to make the roads significantly safer.”

Cycling Ireland CEO, James Quilligan added:

“As CEO and personally as a cyclist, I am fully aware of the risks on the road at present. In Cycling Ireland, we are working closely with key stakeholders to help reduce the risk to cyclists on the roads, and representation on the Road User Safety Forum is a big step forward in this area for us and our members.

“We currently have an internal advocacy working group in place which is working on a charter at present and aim to strengthen our role in this area. We will continue to engage and lobby all relevant stakeholders to make our roads safer for all road users.

“As well as working with stakeholders, our commitment to improving road safety extends to improving education on road safety. Our schools programme, Cycle Right, plays an integral part in this, as does the Cycling Ireland Ride Leader course.”