Dublin city council issues warning for rickshaw users

The Dublin city council on Friday issued a public advisory notice warning people of the safety hazards of using unlicensed rickshaws. The vehicles, which are often motorised, are a popular form of transportation for late night partygoers and revellers in the city centre.

“Dublin City council wishes to advise members of the public, for their own safety and the safety of others, that rickshaws operating in Dublin City are not regulated by DCC or otherwise and that some rickshaw operators appear not to have public liability insurance,” said the council in the notice posted on its website.

It was reported earlier in the year that the council had hoped to ban the mode of transport entirely by the end of 2017. There have been a number of accidents in the past with people falling out of rickshaws and of collisions with other vehicles – it’s a real worry because the combination of crowds and alcohol and narrow streets is very dangerous.

“Rickshaws are a real difficulty in in Dublin because they’re unregulated,” Green Party councillor Ciaran Cuffe told TheJournal.ie. “We have written to the Department of Transport seeking such regulation and we’re still waiting for that to happen,” he added.

Chairman of the Dublin City Joint Policing Committee Daithi De Roiste hit out at rickshaws earlier this year, calling the city centre a “free for all” at the weekends and demanding the issue be sorted. Last year, a woman was forced to have surgery after being launched out of a rickshaw and injuring herself.