1,500 cyclists but only four motorists have been fined after the introduction of new road laws in NSW

NSW is cracking down hard to discourage mobility without fossil fuel, prioritising cars over active transport – bikes and walking.

"Cyclists bear brunt of new road fines as NSW Liberals accused of 'dash for cash' About 1,500 cyclists but only four motorists have been fined after the introduction of new road laws",  Guardian

How to fatten up by taking the car

A study "Showed that switching from private motor transport to active travel or public transport was associated with a significant reduction in BMI compared with continued private motor vehicle use.... Interventions to enable commuters to switch from private motor transport to more active modes of travel could contribute to reducing population mean BMI."

Meanwhile automobile dependent mobility in Australia has come to a standstill.
All major cities suffer from road congestion. "The report says car travel times in the most gridlocked parts of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra are expected to jump by at least 20 per cent if there no measures to boost capacity or curb demand." (source)

Australia being deficient in public transport, footpaths, cycle paths and walkable neighbourhoods will of course 'do more of the same' - build more gridlocks.

And the Australian obesity rates are climbing faster than anywhere else in the world... (source)

Impact of changes in mode of travel to work on changes in body mass index: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey,  Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health

Images:
Manly Beach, Sydney
Sculpture on road side, eu
Sawtell, NSW No bike paths, smelly cars

Putting Geelong on the Map with Hit and Run

The almost daily news in an automobile-centric country with motor enthusiasts:

"A hit-and-run that killed a cyclist near Geelong may have been deliberate, police have said, after they received numerous reports of cyclists being "stalked" in the area." (source)

The mind of motorists

 

The mind of a motorist

 

Visible at night

A new reflective spray is being tested in England which makes bikes and their riders more visible at night. You can spray it on your bike and/or on your clothes. During the day you cannot see it but at night it glows white. Life paint is being developed by a car manufacturer to help prevent cyclists being killed by their cars.

The spray remains visible for a week and can be washed off your clothes.

It may also be of value for pedestrians who want to be visible to cars at night on the footpath.

Sprayed with life paint you can go out on foot or on your bike without wearing special clothes to make car drivers see you.

Keep it next to the front door along with your personal insecticide. One spray for the insects, one for the vehicles.

See the video here.
Images: Light pollution in Berlin

Why don't we convert more roads into bicycle paths?

Why don't we convert more roads into bicycle paths?

One less car

Space gobbling private combustion machines pollute cities. Free public transport and driving restrictions for (inner) cities are a must to keep them habitable.

The car door is potentially a deadly weapon

Alberto Paulon, 25, was knocked to the road when a person in a parked car opened their door, and he was then hit by a passing truck in Melbourne. (source) (video)

Paulon was riding to work. The 'accident' happend in an area where one in ten residents regularly ride to work. (source)

"Car drivers and passengers need to recognise that the car door is potentially a deadly weapon and was in this situation

Victoria Police issued 180 dooring notices in the past 12 months. The fine is $369." (source)

Cyclist groups are pushing for government-backed safety awareness campaigns (source)



In Paul Virilio's dromology there is no 'accident' or even 'incident', there is only an integral accident. The accident is inherent in the set up of the technology and its (fossil fuel) culture.

Paul Virilio: Der eigentliche Unfall. Wien: Passagen 2009, Allem Anfang wohnt ein Unfall inne Buchrezension

see also
Cyclist killed, law breached, driver not charged

Update:
Eliminating the risk of "Dooring": Good cycle infrastructure design keeps cyclists out of the door zone and saves lives, A view from the cyclepath

Association between Traffic-Related Air Pollution in Schools and Cognitive Development in Primary School Children

"Air pollution is a suspected developmental neurotoxicant. Many schools are located in close proximity to busy roads, and traffic air pollution peaks when children are at school. We aimed to assess whether exposure of children in primary school to traffic-related air pollutants is associated with impaired cognitive development. Children attending schools with higher traffic-related air pollution had a smaller improvement in cognitive development.

Human brain development is a complex and lengthy process... "

Association between Traffic-Related Air Pollution in Schools and Cognitive Development in Primary School Children: A Prospective Cohort Study, PLOS

Being in a car-centric environment - Unter den Linden

Being in a car-centric environment dwarfs the human. Unmotorised people walking or cycling have to move with the dictate of the machines moving. They are forced to breathe the exhaust and the dust of the asphalt. They run for their lives to not be squashed by the ever bigger cars.

Unter den Linden ("under the linden trees") is a large boulevard in the Mitte (middle) of Berlin. There was a time when flâneur wandered in the shady place. At other times it was a playground for military machines and parades. Today, many trees have disappeared and the place is studded with building sites and pipes.

Despite all the obstacles of this car-centric city 'design', one can dodge most hassles with a bike on this multi-lane parade. There is always time for a cup at Café Einstein Unter den Linden.

Click to enlarge

Glitter Illusions for Babies in Berlin Mitte

This bike stands in the not yet 'developed' Postfuhramt.  A beautiful 19th century post office that could house many horse-drawn postal wagons. Occasionally one can still hear the clip clop of (tourist) horse-drawn carriages on the cobbled streets of Mitte.

After 1989 a space-time of creativity arose. Bicycles were the dominant mode of transport in the area.

Once the old houses of the East where made trendy, people came from everywhere to live the life of a permanent party. The parties led to a lot of offspring and money flowed from the West to boost the project. With an influx of families and the associated capital the streets and footpaths were populated with inner city SUVs and family vans to cart the family and all its gear around the inner city. Many areas are like a big 24/7 creche now. A lot of cars are squeezing into the small streets and footpaths. The rest of the streetscape seems an endless row of child care, child speech therapist, child psychologist and child psychiatrist.

"Childhood" is a modern development: Philippe Ariès, Centuries of Childhood (1962)

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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Air pollution kills most

Although collisions with vehicles remain a serious danger to the lives and physical well-being of cyclists, the main danger is less visible. Air pollution is slowly killing far more cyclists than are being more rapidly killed by the vehicles we are forced to share the roads with. Diesel in particular is a major life-shortener. Where the hit-and-run driver may be found after claiming to go and get an ambulance and may have to pay for the action, the impersonal addition of poisonous particles to the commonly owned air we breathe cannot be attributed to any particular agent. This kind of mass poisoning seems to be permitted by law.

Image: Air hunger, public urban art, Frankfurt

User-pays cars in Holland

In the Netherlands, a user-pays system for motorised vehicle use is being introduced. Motorist and motorcyclists will pay for every kilometer they drive on roads, just like gas and electricity is billed by volume. Usage of roads will be charged according to the time of day and place. Vehicles which have higher emissions will pay a higher rate.
In Holland there have been discussions for a long time about the introduction of road use taxes to reduce traffic jams as well as pollution. Each morning there are 160km of traffic jams in Holland and 180 km in the evenings. Agreement could not be reached about local road tolls or petrol usage tax, but the user-pays system has achieved high levels of popular support.
Instead of pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users paying for road use through general taxation, drivers will pay as they drive.
If introduced in other places, such a system would discourage such anti-social practices as driving around to avoid paying parking fees in popular locations such as beach suburbs. It would fairly distribute the cost of driving onto the car owners and make polluters pay. Drivers would reconsider each kilometer driven if the true cost was to be paid and may avoid senseless journeys. It would allow tax money paid by cyclists to be used for cycle paths. Pedestrian facilities could be upgraded. The transport system could reflect true costs rather than subsidising motor vehicles.
source

Bikes for transportation - easy & fast velos

In Sydney, Manly families arrive with their SUVs, unpack the mostly dysfunctional bikes onto pedestrian paths and wonder why it is no fun to cycle. The other version of bike arrives (mostly) on top of the car. The mountain-bike riders are fully clad in plastic uniform, seeking a free gym.

All have in common that it is terribly un-chic to have a bike rack at the back or a basket at the front to carry any goods. People might think, they can not afford a car! That's what the suv is for, driven to the next mall/super-market it is filled with all the bulging plastic bags and driven home, around the corner to bland-burbia. There are many spare 'exercise-bikes' standing around in garages.

In Berlin it seemes normal to take the kids out on a velo-cycle. Do the shopping and carry loads on bikes. A lot of places/shops provide bike racks right in front of their businesses. Businesses deliver on cargo bikes. In Sydney they need a rocket to deliver a bit of dough wrapped in cardboard.

"Amazingly, only about 40 percent of Copenhageners own cars, even though this is the capital city of one of the richest countries in the world. Sure, vehicles are taxed heavily but the reason is simply because we have the infrastructure in place for bicycles and we have a rather good public transport system.
Even 50 percent of the citizens of Berlin do not own a vehicle, for the same reasons. Fifty eight percent of Copenhageners, when polled, say that they ride their bike because it is easy and fast. Only one percent say they do in order to help the environment." LA Times 0908 More on velo bikes there!

Images: Berlin Mitte velos