Sternfahrt Berlin 2016

Hundreds of thousands of cyclists took to the streets of Berlin in support of safer conditions for bikes. There is an urgent need for real cycle facilities, not just cycle streets where cars can drive and cycle paths which they park on. The traffic infrastructure need to support pedal powered vehicles and not just the fossil fuel users. Berlin needs to meet the needs of modern road users.

Sternfahrt is the one day each year when the potential of streets for pedal transport can be experienced first hand. Cycling on the Autobahn in the fresh air is so easy compared with dodging illegally parked vehicles.

Unfortunately the event was tainted by a massive release  of balloons distributed to participants in the ride with the slogan ‘ride bike' on them. The high cost of such balloon releases to children, wildlife and rural animals seems to have gone unnoticed to those giving away these free balloons.

Hopefully next year it will be different.

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

Dysfunctional mobility

As they convert this Earth into paved roads and and parking spaces for fossil fuel machines, the whole 'flow' of traffic comes to standstill. They are caught in traffic jams, going nowhere. Despite this dysfunctional 'mobility' they continue to pave paradise. Big Asphalt coats the living landscapes in the U.S., Australia and even the Amazon.

Mobility, not stuck in a traffic jam

Images:
Berlin graffiti on public transport