Cycling has not yet fully infiltrated into Australian culture.

A classical Australian way of cycling. It requires a huge multi-lane highway, bulldozed 'clean' to do a few rounds of fitness cycling.

Australia is set up for automobile dependency. Cycling is done mostly in groups of plastic clad sweaty people hunched on sporty bikes. Fitness seems to be the main motivation. It is sport - like

Manly SUV on cycle path

most things in Australia. The plastic accessories are necessary to not lose face, as one has to display that it is only a 'recreational' thing. Imagine one could think you are of 'lower status', not part of the motorist community that hoards a garage full of fossil fuel machines. The bike is basically a recreational gadget or a children's toy. Youth prefer to hop around on mountain bikes on delicate forest soil.

Once back in the SUV the motorist mindset despises non-motorised forms of mobility. The expectation is for a carpet to carpet delivery via unobstructed roads - but fast.

Status and an absence of a cycling infrastructure combine to make cycling deadly risky for people who wish to integrate a fossil-fuel-free form of mobility on an everyday basis.

Leaders and motorists are in deep denial about the climate disruption delivering an uninhabitable planet. Some see the need to wean off fossil fuel addiction.

The Dutch Cycling Embassy is sharing their know how with Australia. "We read about bike-related accidents, complaints about the lack of cycle lanes, and road-rage aimed at cyclists. It is difficult to change such prevalent ideas about infrastructure...Cycling has not yet fully infiltrated into Australian culture. "

Cycle to the beach

Rows of SUVs are parked along Manly beach, but there is no parking for bikes at the main beach. The Pacific is acid and hot. The beach is serviced nearly 24/7 with fossil fuel.

Bicycle, car and fig tree interface at Manly Beach

Somewhere in the beach suburb of Manly, old fig trees are hosts to bats and birds. It is the flora and fauna that gives the place a special  ambiance. The trees struggle to survive in the hot bitumen road poured around them. Large branches are brutally chopped to make way for commerce and fossil fuel traffic. Cars scramble to squeeze their mostly inner city SUVs on Darley Rd. They 'just' get something from the shops or have a cup - often idling. All fig tree trunks are mutilated by vehicles ramming constantly into the unprotected old trees. At a time when there was an organic cafe, more bikes came. Council provides no bike parking in this area. This was and often is the type of access made available for people who do not wish to use fossil fuel. The unique plants and animals are the ones most affected.

Fig Tree adjusted to suit motorised vehicles and commerce

This fig could be one more space for a car. They are working on it

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Cartoon - Cycle to Work or Take the Bus?

Stuart McMillen draws informative cartoons and lives in Brisbane. He did a nice 'Bicycle vs Bus to Work' cartoon. Amongst many others, The Urban Heat Island and Energy Efficiency are also worth looking at.

'Road Fatalities Map'

The Victorian Road Fatalities Map visualises the daily car-nage caused on the roads and other spaces. The interactive Googlemap is updated daily, visualising the place and mode by which a person's life has been changed or erased. "More than 256 drivers, motorcyclists and pedestrians have already been killed this year..." in Victoria, Australia. The icon and the above stats make it hard to differentiate between push- bikes and CO2 pumping motor bikes. There is no indication how such data gathering is utilised to prevent deaths and injuries in a risk society.

There is a U.S. mash-up 'Safe Roads Maps' , using the Fatality Analysis Reporting System with Google Maps by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Excellence in Rural Safety.