Tipperary council seeks new law to compel walkers, cyclists, e-scooter users to don hi-vis

Tipperary County Council's elected members have decided to press the Minister for Transport to introduce a law to make it mandatory for pedestrians, cyclists and e-scooter users to wear hi-vis jackets or vests in the interest of public safety.

A letter from the council requesting this legislation is to be sent to Minister Darragh O'Brien following the unanimous passing of a motion proposing the safety measure at the April meeting of Tipperary County Council on Monday.

The motion that initially cited just pedestrians and cyclists was tabled by five Fine Gael councillors Phyll Bugler, Mary Hanna Hourigan, Tom Acheson, Mark Fitzgerald and Marie Murphy, who pointed to the extreme difficulty motorists have in seeing pedestrian and cyclists who don't wear this high visibility clothing, especially on narrow county roads and in towns.

Cllr Bugler, who proposed the motion, highlighted how difficult it was for drivers to see cyclists and walkers wearing dark clothing as night fell.

Cllr Acheson, the motion's seconder, said they all saw people walking on roads unaware they are not visible to motorists.

“Hopefully something good will come from this,” said the Clonmel Borough District councillor.

Cappawhite Cllr Mary Hanna Hourigan declared she was “just gobsmacked” by the amount of people who wear dark clothing when cycling in wet weather and when it's dark. It was very hard for motorists to miss hitting them.

Independent Cashel Cllr Liam Browne said he completely agreed with the thrust of the motion but believed its wording was a “little bit open” and needed to be “tightened up” in relation to pedestrians.

He pointed to people, like him, who walked on footpaths in a town after dark and may only cross a road twice during the journey.

Cllr Bugler responded that she believed pedestrians should wear hi-vis vests at all times.

Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Pat English requested e-scooter users be added to the motion and Cathaoirleach Cllr John Carroll agreed, noting that if you took a turn in Nenagh, an e-scooter user not wearing any hi-vis clothing was nearly upon you.

Fianna Fáil Cllr JP O'Meara, who also spoke in support of the motion, pointed out that e-scooter users are treated the same as cyclists in legislation and any change to the law for cyclists would automatically also apply to e-scooter users.