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    Sarah Moss: Die Helme und Warnwesten für Radfahrer sind Symptome des irischen Problems, nicht die Lösung


    Sarah Moss: Die Helme und Warnwesten für Radfahrer sind Symptome des irischen Problems, nicht die Lösung

    https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2026/01/26/cycling-helmets-and-high-vis-jackets-are-symptoms-of-an-irish-problem/

    Von zainab1900

    View 18 Comments

    18 Kommentare

    1. Dookwithanegg on

      They should really just try and force all cars to have hi-vis paint jobs and ban any dark/neutral colours so drivers have a point of reference on how ridiculous the proposal is.

      Edit: love how every response so far is saying cars don’t need this because they already have things that bikes also already have.

    2. Ev17_64mer on

      I understand the hi-vis argument, but what is wrong with wearing a helmet while driving a bicycle?

    3. Gwanbulance on

      I don’t care if you wear a helmet or not. Your skull is your responsibility.

      Have lights on your bike, and wear high viz. It’s not some ideological battle with motorists, it’s a simple matter of safety. You can be seen better, particular in bad conditions.

      Pedestrians should also wear hi viz (and carry a torch) when walking in unilluminated areas, even on a footpath. I do, and I put an illuminated collar on my dog too.

      Cars and other vehicles are mandated to have lights and reflectors for the same reasons.

    4. mrlinkwii on

      it kinda is teh solution ?

      that person the other week that got injured due to having no helmets and high vis ,

      i wish it was legally required to wear a helmet the same way its legally required to wear a seatbelt

    5. SouthSource1936 on

      A well artculated article, which explains some of the nuances of the argument. But no way will compulsory wearing of hi-viz & helmets ever work.

    8. Gwanbulance on

      There used to be a gobshite on Boards who kept posing „if hi-viz is so good at making you seen, why don’t motorists have to wear them?“

      Fact is that loads of motorists DO wear hi-viz – every Garda, Ambulance driver, most builders and trades people. Even I do when I’m driving out to go for a walk is a remote area. I’ll put my hi-viz jacket on leaving the house. .But it doesn’t work inside a car, because of the position of being inside a big box with reflective windows and the fact that it needs car headlights to illuminate it for the driver of that car. That’s the beauty of reflective hi-viz: it’s targeted to the person proving the illumination.

      Next time you drive pass a Garda car at night, see if you can see the occupants better than in any other car.

      Next time you drive past a person wearing hi-viz at night, see if you can see them better than someone not wearing it.

      Case closed.

    9. ambidextrousalpaca on

      The people who push for this kind of thing are the same ones who suddenly turn into Freedom or Death libertarians if anyone suggests lowering speed limits or – heaven forbidden – inhibiting cars so that they are incapable of exceeding the country’s maximum speed limit.

    10. theartfultaxdodger on

      Simple fact, head trauma kills. Or worse, leaves you in a state where you’d be better off dead.

      We’re actually quite fragile as a species. So when we forego a big metal cage with restraining straps and airbags, crumple zones and a plethora of safety features etc. And instead favour to ride atop a hollow tube barely thicker than a sweeping brush handle, with tyres as thick as a thumb.. I don’t think a helmet is a bad shout really. On a bicycle, you are the crumple zone sure.

    11. KatarnsBeard on

      Dunno why you’d ever cycle without a helmet. It’s entirely possible to fall off a bike and smash your head without the interference of an evil car driver

    13. TrainingSuccess6516 on

      Perhaps compulsory training for cyclists and licenses may help and cycle awareness added to th the driving test. Being a car driver, motorcyclist and cyclist it seems to me there could be improvements on the part of all concerned

    14. BenderRodriguez14 on

      I use a high vis after dark as well as a helmet with a light on it (and the lights on my scooter), though the daytime stuff sounds a bit silly unless it is a particularly dark day.

      Why don’t darker coloured cars have ti have high vi’s strips across their back, front and sides though? If this is about visibility and safety of all road users, rather than placing the onus on one group to placate the other, this would be the only logical step once you introduce it for cyclists and those on scooters. 

      EDIT: There seems to be some confusion from some replying as [lights, reflectors and high vis are already a legal requirement for cyclists after dark](https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel-and-recreation/cycling/lighting-of-bicycles-in-ireland/#84a0c6). What is being proposed here is to also have to have them all going even during a cloudless, sunny day.

    15. GemmyGemGems on

      This is just a whinge piece. There is nothing in it to suggest what the actual problem is, which I assume could be lack of designated cycle lanes, inadequate lighting, and drivers attitudes? I really don’t know. I do know inadequate lighting is a huge problem and, for me personally, it’s made worse by the super bright headlights on new cars. There are times when I literally cannot see anything on my side of the road unless there is a driver in front of me. I think this will the last year I do nighttime driving on unlit roads.

      The only takeaway away from it is she doesn’t like „Be safe, be seen“ because she feels it places too much responsibility on the cyclist to keep themselves safe. She’d prefer „Look, don’t kill“ to be printed on the tabards to shift responsibility and accountability back to the driver. That’s understandable, as drivers we have to assume more responsibility than people who are not protected by X tonnes of metal.

      For someone who doesn’t live in Dublin and doesn’t cycle I have no idea what point she is making other than Ireland is not Amsterdam (insert European city of choice here).

    17. TarMc on

      I seem to be posting this every week now, but yet more cars vs cyclists culture wars SHITE.

    18. railer201 on

      Do cyclists want to make themselves as conspicuous as possible or not ?

      In the event of an accident do they want to protect their heads or not ?

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