Rogue rickshaws an ‘accident waiting to happen’

Rickshaws – three-wheeled pedal vehicles – continue to flout the law and operate on the city’s streets, it has been claimed.

City Councillor Frank Fahy (FG), a taxi driver, said the local authority will end up liable for a massive insurance bill if illegal rickshaws knock down a tourist on Shop Street.

He said City Council signs indicate that Shop Street is a pedestrian zone but rickshaw operators keep plying their trade there.

“If there is an accident, the City Council will be liable. Shoppers and revellers use pedestrian zones on the premise that they are for pedestrians only – not for rickshaws, which have been outlawed but they’re still there late at night,” he said.

Rickshaws are banned on the city’s pedestrian areas since bye-lwas were introduced in the past couple of years.

Cllr Terry O’Flaherty complained at the Joint Policing Committee about pedestrians dressed all in black. She said they were endangering their lives but not wearing high-vis jackets or lights.

Garda Chief Superintendent Tom Curley agreed that high-visibility jackets are essential for health and safety of pedestrians and other roads users.

He said Gardaí hand out thousands of luminous jackets free every year, as does the local authority. He said it was up to individuals to wear them – Gardaí cannot make people wear them.

Chief Supt Curley said he’d love to be able to issue “penalty points” to people who don’t wear high-vis jackets but some people might not be happy with that scenario.

In response to questioning from Cllr O’Flaherty in relation to cyclists running red lights and going straight through traffic lights endangering theirs and other people’s lives, Chief Supt Curley said his Gardaí on the beat were monitoring cyclists who flout the law.

City Councillor Pádraig Conneely (FG), slammed cyclists for illegal manoeuvres on city streets and claimed that they were prone to cycling the wrong way down one-way streets.

“They’re a law unto themselves,” he said.

City Councillor Catherine Connolly, later in the meeting defended cyclists. She said that cyclists were getting a bad name, and she didn’t want the message to go out there that cyclists were a problem.

She said that many issues with cyclists stem from motorists who are not willing to share road space with other users. She challenged members of the JPC to cycle the city with her to see how difficult it is.