The not-so-subliminal-message is that a shiny-new-car is a good sign. But car-usage is blatantly contrary to the national interest, if we are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and associated fines. Transport, a substantial proportion of which is private car-usage, accounts for approximately 20% of all national emissions.<\/p>\n
As long as media outlets receive hefty advertising revenue from car importers, there will be an inducement to avoid questioning our car culture. More obviously, vehicles are frequently offered as prizes in competitions, most recently on RTE’s ‘The Late Late Show’<\/a> on the 25th of May(3). By contrast, the lowly bicycle is rarely, if ever, considered prize-worthy.<\/p>\n II – Cyclist ‘deaths’<\/strong><\/p>\n Typically, when a cyclist is killed headlines and news bulletins state he has died in a collision \u2013 a passive inevitability arising from being on the wrong side of an autonomous vehicle. Yet such machines are under human control. Would it not be more accurate to say a cyclist has been killed?<\/p>\n Alas, neither cyclists, public transport users, nor pedestrians tend to purchase media space, despite comprising the vast majority of those in transit across Ireland, particularly in urban areas, in which most of the population now resides. Where there is coverage of transport alternatives it usually relates to how these affect motorists, as where bus lanes generate traffic jams, or where cyclists create a nuisance by failing to observe the law.<\/p>\n Little substantive probing occurs into improvements to the transport infrastructure \u2013 or indeed how Ireland stacks up internationally.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_20180523_210713-e1527546044150.jpg\")