‘If I was in Dublin, I wouldn’t be cycling’ - professional track and road cyclist Imogen Cotter

She has been a track and road cyclist, represented Ireland on the world stage and became National Champion in 2021 but even pro-rider Imogen Cotter would avoid two wheels in Dublin.

On Thursday, the Clare-native was the focus of the RSA’s new cycling awareness campaign following her remarkable comeback from a potentially fatal crash involving a car in Spain in 2022.

While her experience, which included having her leg and arm stapled over five surgeries, happened abroad, she can find herself weary of roads at home.

“It depends on what part of Ireland you are cycling in,” she said. “I’m from Clare and generally I’m cycling on very quiet roads. I do feel like there is more speeding on rural roads but in general I’m not meeting many cars.”

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However, while she has not cycled in the capital, she is unlikely to any time soon. Cotter described a “disconnect” between drivers and cyclists, the former often seeing the latter as objects to overtake on a commute.

[ ‘Midweek phenomenon’: over 1,600 cyclists suffer serious crash injuries on Irish roads ]

[  Dublin ranked worst for public transport in Europe due to price and ways to buy tickets ]

“I just don’t think there is that patience or that awareness that the people who are on bikes are also people who are trying to get home to their loved ones or get to work; they are just normal people who have whole lives outside of that five seconds that a driver might be held up,” she said.

“I really do see that here in Dublin. It’s just a more aggressive type of driving for sure when you get into city centres and if I was in Dublin I wouldn’t be cycling.”

In 2022 Cotter was hit by a car overtaking on the other side of the road. In an RSA video to circulate on social media during May, she describes the effects of her catastrophic injuries on herself and her family.