Waterford Bicycle User Group (WBUG) is a voluntary group promoting utility and recreational cycling in Waterford City and County.
We welcome the vision outlined in the Waterford Climate Action. We are very supportive of the objective to improve the pedestrian environment through the improvement of footpaths, junctions, crossing points, crossing frequency and permeability. We also support the proposed cycling network and indeed any measures that make it easier, safer, and more pleasant for people to cycle in the WMA for transport or leisure.
CYCLING
In the interest of conciseness, for this submission, we advocate the following:
1. Implement of WMATS as a priority, including the inputs from our group to the draft plan (see the attachements). These inputs include more measures, which are low cost and largely quick to implement.
2. In order to allow communities collaborate in, assess and adapt to the significant changes needed, trialling and sequential change must be facilited, by planning law, consistent with national law. To do so, any county or local (bye-) law(s) that necessitates WCCC Plenary (elected repressentative’s) approval (voting through of) for Section 38 planning schemes, must be amended to makes the application of planning consistent with other counties. This is imperative to allow WCCC to pilot schemes and to sequentially implement them with community involvement. This is one of the best ways to quickly implement measures, at lower cost, while allowing adaptation.
3. Reduce traffic speed limits in all of Waterford’s urban areas to 30 km/hour;
4. Deprioritise motorised vehicular traffic on Waterford roads must be a priority too, where speeds, space (numbers of lanes, lane width, junction width, parking spaces) and the risk-based prioritisation are applied, in line with DMURS.
5. Ban the overtaking of cyclists and scooters on streets and roads where the speed limit is 50 km/hr or less. The reason being, the national guideline for overtaking a cyclist at 50 km/hour is 1m. On narrow streets and with poor driver behaviour, this is not possible.
6. Policing: collaborate effectively with An Garda Siochana to police problematic, dangerous behaviours which maintain primacy of motorised vehicles on road ways, footpaths and cycleways. Enforcement of illegal road user behaviours: illegal parking, mobile phone use while driving must be applied. This has been promised but AGS on a national level, but has not been delivered. If it continues to be unaddressed, the work of WCCC to deliver our climate targets for transport will be severely compromised. While it is not within your control, you and other Local Authorities can influence it.
7. A WCCC Climate Action target to reduce transport emissions must be based on activating people to use active transport (walking, cycling, scooter use) and public transport. A meaningful target to reduce motorised traffic by 50% by 2030 is achievable if the above points are acted on.
