Cyclists urged to report all collisions to gardaí

CYCLISTS are being urged to report all collisions to gardaí, even where no other road user is involved, to help build a better picture of the hazards facing cycling.

Trinity College Dublin researchers found most collisions went unreported, particularly those not involving motorists.

They say that leaves a gap in information about what causes collisions and how they might be prevented.

Kevin Gildea and Ciaran Simms of the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering said Garda statistics showed the vast majority of cycling collisions involved a motorist and fewer than 10pc a single cyclist.

But their survey of more than 1,000 cyclists who had collisions found motorists were involved in just 56pc while 29pc were single-cyclist incidents, 8pc involved other cyclists and 7pc pedestrians.

“The biased nature of cyclist collision reporting has clear implications for policy makers and road safety researchers, who generally rely on police data to determine road safety priorities,” they said.

Their survey found many similarities in the circumstances surrounding collisions but there were important variations depending on whether the location was rural or urban, the journey was for commuting or leisure, the speed and the type of road.

The study showed the odds of a collision with a motorist being reported to gardaí was 20 times greater than a single-cyclist collision, 10 times greater than a collision with another cyclist, and four times greater than a collision with a pedestrian.

The authors said safety and perceptions of safety were important for increasing cycling rates and called for ways to be found to gather the missing data.

Garda headquarters urged cyclists to report all collisions.

“Mechanisms are in place to record collisions involving cyclists even if no other motorist is involved, similar to single-vehicle road traffic collisions. The information is recorded on Pulse,” it said.

“The information in respect of all collisions involving cyclists would be useful in establishing trends or identifying hazards.

“An Garda Síochána encourage all road users to report collisions. Mechanisms are in place for the recording of all collisions irrespective of road type user or injury/damage.”