Cycling campaigners call for action after three injured in Cork hit-and-run

Cork Cycling Campaign respond to Midleton incident with renewed calls for improved infrastructure, enforcement, and third-party reporting

As well as the Midleton hit and run, Cork Cycling Campaign pointed to previous road traffic incidents including two in Carrigaline, in one of which a child died. 

Cycling campaigners have called on the Government to fast-track the introduction of a raft of camera enforcement measures after three cyclists were injured in a suspected hit-and-run incident in East Cork.

The Cork Cycling Campaign said the incident in Midleton on Wednesday evening is the latest in a “disturbing string of serious road incidents” involving cyclists.

A man in his 30s was later arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. He was released without charge, while gardaí prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

But the campaign group pointed to other incidents, including one in which a girl was struck by a vehicle outside a school in Carrigaline, and to the tragic death of a young boy who died after he was struck by a car as he used a pedestrian crossing, also in Carrigaline.

“These are not accidents — they are the predictable result of a broken system of poor road design and lack of enforcement, where dangerous driving is rarely punished and often ignored,” the campaign said in a statement on Thursday.

“Our roads are designed in ways that encourage speeding and fail to adequately protect people walking and cycling.” 

The group has now called on the government to:

• fast-track the rollout of red light cameras, average speed cameras, and bus-mounted road safety enforcement cameras;
• introduce improved third-party reporting mechanisms;
• significantly increase garda traffic enforcement, with a focus on vulnerable road user safety.

And it said elected public representatives who “rail against active travel, who resist lower speed limits, or who put driver convenience ahead of public safety must be challenged”.

“Safety — especially for children, pedestrians, and people cycling — has to come first. Lives are being lost, families are being shattered, and communities are living in fear,” it said.

“The time for studies, pilots, and slow-moving policy reviews is over. We need enforcement. We need protection. We need action - now.” 

It said the lack of technology is not the problem, pointing to a Bus Éireann pilot programme using bus-mounted road safety enforcement cameras on selected bus routes in Cork last year, which recorded over 8,000 road traffic offences between August and November 2024 alone.

The campaign group said these figures reveal the true scale of law-breaking on our roads — yet due to the slow process of enacting legislation, the camera technology will not be available for enforcement for years at the current rate of change.

It said a red light camera study was piloted in Dublin in 2015 but a decade on, there is still no widespread deployment of these cameras in cities and towns.

It added that current third-party reporting channels such as Traffic Watch are not widely promoted by An Garda Síochána, and members of the public are often not encouraged to follow through with a formal written statement, which is required for action to be taken.

The group said gardaí cannot be everywhere, and a modern, accessible third-party reporting system would not only support enforcement of offences like dangerous driving and illegal parking on footpaths and cycle lanes, but also act as a deterrent to would-be offenders.

"We already know what works — cameras, enforcement, consequences. What we lack is the political will to act," the spokesperson added.

"This is the proven approach in other countries who take road safety seriously and act accordingly."