A dedicated portal for submitting footage of dangerous driving to the Gardaí is urgently needed for cyclists, Galway East TD Ciaran Cannon.
In light of road safety week which runs until the end of this week, the Fine Gael TD is calling for a specific online portal which would allow cyclists to submit footage to be reviewed by the relevant authorities.
Deputy Cannon said that there is a serious need to strengthen the rights of our vulnerable road users.
Cannon recently shared an example of some footage of life-threatening driving on Twitter, captured by a fellow cyclist.
When people ask why we need a dedicated portal to submit footage of life threatening driving to @GardaTraffic, please show them this. There’s an urgent need to strengthen the rights of our vulnerable road users. @gardainfo @HMcEntee @RSAIreland @EamonRyan @1Hildegarde https://t.co/OFyiRX0C2O
— Ciaran Cannon (@ciarancannon) September 19, 2022
“All road users are vulnerable and deserving of a safe space. Irish Road Safety Week (IRSW) is about working together to save lives and prevent serious injuries on our roads,” he said.
Deputy Cannon, who has long been campaigning for cyclists and their safety, said that it is vital that those experiencing reckless driving are given the opportunity to follow up on this and have their case assessed by experts so that we can have consistency of enforcement right across our country.
“That simply doesn’t exist at the moment. Some cyclists have a very positive experience of submitting video footage and others have the exact opposite.
“Recent figures from An Garda Síochána revealed that 107 people have been killed on Irish roads between January 1st and September 2nd, up 14 on the same period in 2021 and up 18 on the same period in 2020.
“An online portal would completely transform the reporting process, giving additional eyes and ears to our Gardaí, and would make our roads much safer for all vulnerable road users. Many of these tragic deaths could be avoided.”
Deputy Cannon said that this would require no legislative change and we’ve seen a number of successful prosecutions taken using video footage from cyclists.
“We simply need to offer the opportunity to submit the footage in a far more streamlined manner and have it assessed by Gardaí, who are experts in our road safety legislation.
“It’s already been done very successfully in the UK and we should be doing the same here.”
