Be nice if Granny gave this some coverage, but I've not seen even a snippet so I'm not holding my breath.

My brother came across the crash as he was returning home after dropping another guest off, and they pronounced Ben at the roadside while he was still there. So it was fortunate in that the police had…

Apparently he'd said previously that Wellington drivers don't give cyclists much room, something that Auckland drivers are finally…

Also, much of my car body is plastic.

And sometimes the shark doesn't get away
Drunk tourist goes swimming in deadly shark infested waters

I imagine him swimming furiously along and pinning them to fleeing sharks. Although they'd probably leave him alone if he just quit skitching off them.

It won't be immediately obvious to a driver who's just heard something go thunk onto their car that it's a non-damaging and innocuously…

What Jolisa said, re a civilised society supporting cycling, or more…

Works really well! It'll estimate your calories, height, distance travelled, average speed too.

Roehl is not content with making life easier for Copenhagen's inner-city cyclists: he wants to get suburbanites out of their cars and onto two wheels as well.

His goal is to hike the percentage of suburban commuters cycling to and from…

On my bike I stay out of the way,

Indeed. And for infallible investment advice, I recommend following the related advice: buy low, sell high. You can't go wrong.

Anyone not following either bit of advice has only themselves to blame, frankly.

“On my bike I stay out of the way, and five years on I am still unscathed and at least part of that is because, on the road, I know my place.”

Which is not a technique, because the great dilemma of cycling in Auckland seems to be working out…

So exactly what is Mike Hosking’s near-infallible technique for avoiding getting killed on a bike?

"On my bike I stay out of the way, and five years on I am still unscathed and at least part of that is because, on the road, I know my place."

As always, his…

Let's put it bluntly: If you're so thick you can't look in your rear-vision mirror before you open your car door, education isn't going to help.

If you're that fat, bald man with the bad attitude behind the wheel who honks and flips the bird, education isn't going to help.…

But the cycling fraternity have done themselves no good this week.

They…

http://www.youtube.com/v/Rx9SIyFMfcY

who knew riding exercycles could be so tricky? :-)

[Hmm, link’s not embedding, I wonder why?]

I was driving down to the shops; from Kingston to Island Bay and back. And, in those five minutes to-and-from I had what, I guess,…

Cyclists are pictured getting along cheerfully on pretty streets and scenic roads. In reality the environment for cyclists here is dangerous. Indeed, it can be downright intimidating,…

I'd like to see a CRAPLOAD more…

All the people moaning about pelotons and cyclists riding two abreast should consider it useful practice for rounding a corner and encountering a handful of kids happily riding home from school the way my siblings and I used to. A chance to practice navigating cautiously and expect the unexpected.

^^^This.

I’m off to Wellington for the weekend tomorrow. Might be worth hiring a bike there too?

The forecast's good (for Sunday, at least) so it's probably worth it. The ride around the bays is very nice – there's a few good cafes on the way around too. Definitely worth a…

it’s like they couldn’t bear to be seen to yield space to a bike (speculation).

More probably didn't/don't realise how unpleasant it is to be passed closely when you're on a bike, or didn't notice you. Or some combination thereof.

Most people are extremely unobservant. Also, if they're not regular…

This means there are always a lot of cars parked on the street, true. But there…

All bike riders must pass a road-licence test – Do you know anyone adults that ride a bike that don’t drive?.

* Puts hand up *

I know plenty of others too, and that's without being particularly involved with cycling lobby groups (I get the Spokes newsletter, never been to…

Then nobody – not…

Another genius article.

We sure know how to produce them.

Bikes must be fitted with rear-vision mirrors – This would actually be a good thing, cyclists probably wouldn’t like it but you’d feel a lot safer on…

At last I can post my ever-at-the-ready Copenhagen Cycle Chic link.

Niiiiccce!. Love the granny bike and basket. They are chic over there with the kids!

But..but...but...did you see THAT!!! The groomer cruising up the BIKE lane and keeping the BIKE lane clean. Does anyone remember the first…

What [the shit] is up with motoring writers proposing ingenious rules for cyclist when motorists are responsible for 9/10 cycling accidents?

It's a lovely day out there, by the way. Get on yer bike and get some fresh air.

I did! Had half a day to kill in Auckland so I hired a bike from BikeCentral in Britomart and hit the road – along the waterfront to…

Only one was a motoring journo.

Nope, one each from The Press and the Herald. The other was a former Craccum editor. None of them made a lot of sense.

ETA: Of course, it could be both.

Pretty much tells me everything I need to know about who has the bad attitude, and where that comes from.

I myself would have thought that slowing cars down, and getting rid of drunk drivers, and making it illegal to pass a cyclist within 1.5 metres would be a better way to go about it. Really registration? Where has…

At last I can post my ever-at-the-ready Copenhagen Cycle Chic link.

Heh, well yeah. That's the part of the world I'm from so I have come across that site before. What I find interesting about that site is that it's like a kind of anthropological study of, well, what's normal…

If you're after a classic sit-up-and-beg, give Mamachari (http://mamachari.co.nz/) a go.

To fix that link. Mamachari are good people (two friends of mine are part owners of the business, one works there).

Part of the reason for buying into the business is that it's about recycling (the bikes are imported…

I’m not a fking cyclist
I’m a cyclist with a son
And I’ll keep of fking cycling until the drivers understand.

At last I can post my ever-at-the-ready Copenhagen Cycle Chic link. Phwoaaar. Imagine. Heaven will be a little bit like this, except that in heaven, all the bikes (and those outfits) will be free.

If only

I know, I know. But, assuming for a moment that these opinion-pieces are not just troll-bait; have these writers ever been to another country?

It's all so tedious.

Herald must think they have a lucrative angle now, so publish another opinion piece about how cyclists must change (out of concern for their safety) lest they inconvenience car drivers. Bless.

Are you sure this isn't satire? I'm not.

"A dark city street with men lurking around is no place for a young woman, no matter how much they bleat about having every right to be in the same place as a man. I’m unsure if it’s either arrogance or stupidity that lead various wimmin's organisations to…

For my part, I'm unsure if it’s either arrogance or stupidity that lead various [defeatist wombles] to insist on saying [miserable told-you-so buggers] have equal right [to my headspace] with [those who are eternal optimists about human nature.]

...useful practice for rounding a corner and encountering a handful of kids happily riding home from school the way my siblings and I used to.

Kids are "strongly discouraged" from riding to our local school. Instead we have a walking bus, which means five and six year old kids (who…

That’s like me going head-to-head with a supertanker in a small sailboat in a crowded shipping lane expecting a ship the size of a small country to get out of my way.

Nice to see they've lost all sense of perspective there.

A public road with cars thundering along is no place for a cyclist, no matter how much they bleat about…

Yes, this has happened to me. Twice.

It's a lovely day out there, by the way. Get on yer bike and…

Maybe we could revamp & update some of the old defensive driving ads, to address our multi-user public roads ?

There were a series of ads with the Magnet Man, Peter (Perfect) Brock years ago. He had teenagers going through scenarios of cars coming out of side roads, late…

Traffic…

More than 60% of nine to 13-year-olds think the roads around their home and school are dangerous for those on foot or bicycles. And almost nine in 10 of these children reckon drivers go too fast in…

Nearly every vehicle (notably always the big trucks and SUVs) pulled as far out of their lane as possible to give me room. I waved to every one of them in thanks.

I actually find it a little disturbing how far Americans will pull out if you're walking on the…

Slowed motor traffic — “traffic calming” — is one of the department’s goals for new bike lanes, to the annoyance of many drivers.

“I was shocked; I thought there had been a big accident,” Mr.…

It’s four car parks, some distance from either beach, at a point where a median barrier had been added to try and curb accidents

I missed this one Russell wot being down here like.

A median barrier?
In a 50km area?
Two lanes?

W T F !

You guys have…

We used them on our trip across Canada (mounted on the handlebar) and they were worth the extra weight!!!

It takes away the wobble when turning the head.…

Police and transportation officials, meanwhile, have begun a crackdown on bicycle-related traffic violations amid complaints from some pedestrians.

Surging bike ridership has created a simmering cultural conflict between competing notions of urban transportation. Many New…

My most recent comment is my best, I think:

"Bikes are vehicles ridden by people. Cars are vehicles driven by people. People need to pay attention to the fact that people in cars cause between 7* and 9* out of…

In the past few days it has occurred to me that a rear vision mirror, affixed to either helmet or handlebars, would be more than ornamental on the bike. Has anyone got any tips on what works with these?

I’ve seen a fair few people on bikes – mostly cycle…

It would be nice if more motorists treated the already compulsory rear-view and side mirrors as more than ornamental too, just to revisit an earlier point.

Side mirrors are more than ornamental. They're there for clipping errant cyclists who're minding their own business, keeping left, and obeying the rules on…

I've also started signaling whenever sensible, and thank-you waving and nodding. So either I look like someone on a bike riding well and making a connection with someone in a car, or I look like a smiling, waving, nodding, veering lunatic. Either way I'm getting space!

I used to cycle…

In the past few days it has occurred to me that a rear vision mirror, affixed to either helmet or handlebars, would be more than ornamental on the bike. Has anyone got any tips on what works with these?

numbered high-visibility cycling jerseys

I bags #666!

I’m actually not sure if it’s satire or not.

ETA:
OK, it must be a joke:

And maybe, just maybe, cyclists should be required to purchase numbered high-visibility cycling jerseys so that they can be identified for both their safety and a sense of…

I really feel…

Mind you, I'm the sort of person who indicates in supermarket car parks, so perhaps I have an overdeveloped sense of the importance of signalling.

I don't understand people who don't signal at every opportunity. Who does it hurt, and it could help.

I actually *stop* at every red light and stop sign (and put my foot down; I figured track-stands in lycra are somewhat antagonising)

Hmmm... I find it disconcerting and worrying rather than antagonising. the cyclist looks as if she might fall off at any moment, and she occasionally wobbles right…

I've always suspected that the critical mass flash-mob approach, while valuable in its time for uniting cyclists and so forth, has a major flaw: it presents cyclists to motorists as an undifferentiated mass of inconvenience.

I think a much more lasting effect is achieved when drivers…

Shortly after I met the man who was to become my husband he was knocked off his bicycle by a jogger. From memory the jogger ran off swearing. My fella struggled to his feet, bruised and…

Of course, some cycle lanes say "cyclists use this road, and I, the painter of this cycle lane, wish…

Road sharing is the way forward.

Indeed.

A couple of thoughts.

1) Visibility and expectation. If motorists consciously or subconsciously expect there to be cyclists, they ought to be more cautious. My guess is this would avert the bulk of vehicle/cycle accidents that were the fault of the motorist. We…

Oh, wait, you said dyke.

With a beard, even. Donald Dyke?

Best thing I’ve had shouted at me from a car: “DYKE!”

Best thing I’ve had thrown at me from a car: a fork. I’ve still got it.

nice of them to give you a warning before throwing things at you.

Oh, wait, you said dyke. Sorry, having a bit of…

Drivers were at fault in 87 per cent of incidents with cyclists and most did not realise they had behaved in a reckless or unsafe manner, according to the Monash University Accident Research Centre and The Amy…

most people – drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, that idiot on the kick scooter – are actually pretty considerate and nice

I thought I'd said that, but I see I neglected to do so. Thanks, Jack.

the past few days I have sensed a bit of a sea change in motorists’ attitudes while I’ve been out pedalling around Wellington.

I think this is something that we should probably highlight: most people – drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, that idiot on the kick scooter – are actually pretty considerate…

Perhaps we've reached a critical mass kind of level, where…

Not only is it dangerous for the driver, it could mean the end of a door, if a car passes too closely.

Perhaps appealing to people's…

your doughty hypotheticals

And so I've found a name for my band. Zoink!

Preventing car parking on Tamaki Dr may do several things:
– increase the distances to walk to the beach, which increases the risk to pedestrians as they have to cross more roads.
– encourage illegal parking, which may occur in even worse spots.
– encourage double parking where the family…

I mean, I've got a beard, FFS.

Best thing I've had thrown at me from a car: a fork. I've still got it.

Then again, I've had quite a few things shouted at me from passing cars over the…

Allowing legal car parking on Tamaki Dr increases traffic constriction with potentially hazardous mingling of cyclists and…

And it’s the latter I see from other cyclists every day. Grown men riding on the footpath.

Wasn't me. While I've just got in from a fairly lengthy trip, much of it on the footpath, I'm not a cyclist. I just happen to ride a bike.

Honestly, the world would be a better place if everyone would just listen to me and the Book of Rules.

I've already implemented that rule. So your theory will only work if your book of rules is copied from my book of rules.

In which case, there's this old thread…

What is sensible behaviour for a car is often bloody daft for a cyclist, or motorcyclist.

Descending a steep hill with only one hand on your brakes because you have to hold the other one out as your turn signal, for example?

Oh granted, I was being more than a…

Local knowledge is…

Descending a steep hill with only one hand on your brakes because you have to hold the other one out as your turn signal, for example?

I believe that's the little known "stick your appropriate leg out" alternative sub-rule.

This law may be imperfect, but it still applies to cyclists.

One of the reasons that cyclists (and motorcyclists) are rather free and easy with traffic laws is because they are designed with cars, and more or less only cars, in mind.

What is sensible behaviour for a car is…

you are not providing a convenience for drivers, you are just confusing them

This. Remember some of them are easily confused. Be predictable. Really try to do the thing the car drivers expects you to do.

In my mind, I don’t think it is too strong to suggest that the Council and some of its employees are criminally negligent and directly responsible for Jane’s death.

More precisely, the members of the former Eastern and Bays Community Board, who chose political convenience and personal preference over safety…

Unfortunately, my faith in the Auckland Council to create a safe cycling environment for us has been seriously undermined from years of inaction. In my mind, I don’t think it is too strong to suggest that the Council…

Are you sure you weren’t a Milanese urban designer in a previous life?

With this dress sense?

Which proves that there are arseholes on bikes, just as there are arseholes in a cars and, for that matter, arseholes on foot

Indeed. The sad fact of it is, there are a…

who found her conversation with her gal pal much more important than other pedestrians

Every now and then when I'm feeling grumpy I take pleasure in not diving out of the way of the gaggle of usually three or four ladies chatting who have decided the footpath is theirs and…

This sounds a lot like the “don’t blame the flies for being attracted to the meat” argument.

Or the Lisa ad from ALAC.

[...] but there are occasional stories of people on bikes behaving like the worst kind of driver, i.e. knocking over children and then insisting that it was the child’s fault.

Which proves that there are arseholes on bikes, just as there are arseholes in a cars and, for that matter,…

...there is no practical solution, other than cyclists accepting that it is they who have the greatest responsibility to stay safe.

This sounds a lot like the "don't blame the flies for being attracted to the meat" argument.

There’s also a lot of cars turning into or pulling out of the aforementioned businesses;

For most of this year I was working at the Christchurch School of Medicine, which involved a bike ride to work turning right off Rolleston Ave, across a shared footpath/cyclepath, into the hospital driveway.

Cyclists…

I think that we’d just end up with the same footpaths we currently have, with the same design issues, but with a small bicyle painted on them at 100m intervals.

Are you sure you weren't a Milanese urban designer in a previous life?

We could use a few of these signs around the place.
BIKERS MUST YEILD TO PEDESTRIANS AT ALL TIMES – PLEASE GO SLOW

In situ that sign looks pretty good. There are a lot of designated shared paths here in Chch that seem to work pretty well, but there are…

I can’t quite see where he gets the ratio of death to serious injury from but
2600 don’t look so bad compared to the others on the injuring/killing fields.

Kitt asked how many pedestrians are killed or injured by cyclists, and there’s your answer: three deaths a year in the…

On the footpath, the cyclist is the fastest and most dangerous thing around. It may increase their safety, but it often decreases everyone else’s, which isn’t really a net gain.

Not when I’m doing it, as I’m not very fast. And I’m constantly on and off the footpath for all…

In the last ten years, just over 7,600 pedestrian were killed by motor vehicles while 29 were killed by cyclists. Over the same period, 364,000 pedestrians were injured by motor vehicles, almost 76,000 (or 21%) of them…

Tell me… just exactly how many pedestrians have been injured/killed by bikes?

You mean worldwide? It’s rare but it happens. Actually in terms of injurying it’s not all that rare. (I don’t consider 2,600 injury-causing accidents in a year in the UK alone, a fifth of which involving serious injury,…

How many pedestrians have been injured/killed by bikes?

Bikes don't kill people,
people kill people...
just like cars don't kill people,
people in cars kill people...

Laws, a middle-aged fitness cyclist himself, is rather more reasonable when he’s part of the story.

Sorry, he's still toad, the wet sprocket to me...

| Does anyone else use the footpath for short commutes around town?
| Surely the safer option?

Except for the pedestrians, of course.

Tell me... just exactly how many pedestrians have been injured/killed by bikes?

Buying a new bike from Rode for…

When I first read the Herald headline of "Driver devastated – life ruined" or some such my first thought was – why are they focussing on her?…

But goodness knows how keeping a solid median strip and 4 roadside carparks was regarded as more important than addressing repeated injuries to legitimate road users since 2006. Wonder what Kelly Tarlton’s were asked…

That’s a political problem.

Not it's not — the problem is that if you're going to be a suicidal cyclist, make sure you're part of a cluster in a slow news week. Really seems to be the only way to make anyone give a shit.

On the footpath, the cyclist is the fastest and most dangerous thing around. It may increase their safety, but it often decreases everyone else’s, which isn’t really a net gain.

Not when I'm doing it, as I'm not very fast. And I'm constantly on and off the footpath for all…

Also: stopped at Dressmart and bought some sunglasses at the Adidas outlet store, at a third…

Just spare me the 21 gears and complicated cogs and shifts and stuff that I can’t fix myself when something goes wrong. I don’t want to have to be a bicycle mechanic to get on my bike to go to the shop to get a litre of milk.

It's really…

Sadly, this will prove an exercise in irrelevance because there is no practical solution, other than cyclists accepting that it is they who have the greatest responsibility to stay safe. And to stop pissing off motorists with their…

I’d love to be able to buy a simple 5 or 8 or even 10 gear bike. Just spare me the 21 gears and complicated cogs and shifts and stuff that I can’t fix myself when something goes wrong.

You can, but they tend to be imported and expensive. My…

Why? To provide budget for their beefy highways…

General cyclist education would be a good thing, but it should take place in schools rather than testing stations.

"Back in may day" – Hackneyed but. I remember regular (at least yearly) visits to primary school in the 60s of the Traffic Officer and his trailer of bikes and peddle…

it’s a shame if future peoples are going to see cycling as a rather specialised recreational activity involving lots of special gear rather than just … transport.

Actually, it's rather hard to buy a bike that's "just ... transport." They all seem to come with masses of unnecessary gears, no…

Does anyone else use the footpath for short commutes around town?
Surely the safer option?

Except for the pedestrians, of course.

But the fact is that in…

The people that really drive me to distraction
are the drivers with headphones on.

indeed, there is not much to chauffer
taking that diversion...

...the ones who also irk me are people like the woman
I saw the other day, texting in rush hour, while driving
with a toddler in…

City of Sydney research showed a 388% return on investment for transport-cycling infrastructure.

Compares quite well with a benefit-cost ratio as low as 20% for Joyce’s new $1,700,000,000 highway from Puhoi to Wellsford alongside the existing one.

In 19th century newspaper articles, use of the comma, is, generous and seem, ingly random. I am led to wonder, if, perchance this, has something to do, with ladies in, strapped and squeezed too, tight bodices causing breath, shortage whilst reading.

of corset is...

*City of Sydney research showed a 388% return on investment for transport-cycling infrastructure. Unsurprisingly the Council thought this an excellent use of…

this most recent road death was caused by driver error

And by poor road layout design, fixable within a day but not attended to for 4 years. That’s a political problem.

The differences in the cyclists' road code were taught in school…

General cyclist education would be a good thing, but it should take place in schools rather than testing stations.

We do a little bit in our school in conjunction with the police education officer but like a lot of things we should be doing in schools its all matter of…

General cyclist education would be a good thing, but it should take place in schools rather than testing stations.

If bikes are on the road with other users it could only be of benefit to all if they had to pass a certain level of competence before they went out to tangle with the steel monsters.

I think that would almost certainly make things much, much worse. [[http://static.radionz.net.nz/assets/audio_item/0007/2324077/ntn-20100616-1148-Science_-_David_Haywood-m048.asx|Have a…

Practically speaking, in terms of addressing the number of serious accidents involving cyclists, is mandatory testing of cyclists going to the best…

If you use the road in NZ, you have an obligation to know the road code.

You have the same theoretical obligation in Italy too, but yeah, it's never tested if you cause an accident you're never at fault. But if the 75/25 culpability split is accurate (it was bandied…

But the analogy between the shooter and the shooting victim suggests exactly the opposite – that there is no point in educating cyclists at all.

Ermmm no. Now you are making the assumption that it all shootings are the fault of the shooter. Maybe I should have said accidental (i.e.…

I used to cycle in the last city where I lived in…

To draw out your analogy more. Suppose truck/car serious accidents were 75% the fault of the truck driver and 25% the fault of the car driver. Bryan would be drawing the conclusion that car drivers need more education.

Which would obviously be correct, unless somehow educating car drivers meant you…

To draw out your analogy more. Suppose truck/car serious…

That’s like saying shooting deaths are the result of people not learning how to avoid bullets.

What a ludicrous analogy. So I take it that when a car collides with a truck, since the car is much smaller and generally it's the car's occupants that get hurt, then it's always…

If the driver/rider apportionment for accidents is about 75/25 as stated earlier it might indicate to some people that there is a problem with the way some cyclists use the road.

Quite possibly one of the most blatant misreadings of statistical data I have ever seen.

That's like saying shooting…

take off the ipods/ mp3players when cycling/ driving

I agree. Why impede one of the senses when involved in a high risk task.

It actually makes me a little bit angry on the odd occasion when I see a cyclist with earbuds in.

360º hearing is essential if you’re cycling…