I happen to really…

Heaven forbid. You'll recall the organised wailing by roadside parkers when Mt Albert Road's cycleways were introduced – and the resulting "compromise" is visually obvious.

Seems things might be getting a bit of headway although the strange but true story of…

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=206432868319884065325.000479a64faf5f12c026f&msa=0

SAP might tell you how many signs you had.

As for the undertaking law only being for cars, no it isn't. The Road Code is for all vehicles unless stated otherwise. Cyclists must observe the same rules as cars / truck / horses and carts etc.

The best fix to Tamaki Drive problem…

Even working as an institute of contemporary art.

Nope, SAP, just like what's being used by the Council. That's part of the reason for the outrage at the cost: it's the same software, so spinning off another instance for use by the Council, or even sharing…

you lucky bugger

This was my point, better made. And I don't know how big a part of the answer biofuels can be, considering that their production depends on…

Chances are it's sour grapes for John Banks not taking Greater Auckland.

Not so much, with Joyce's deliberate shifting of responsibility from Auckland Council's transport committee to Auckland Transport's appointed board and bound by Ministry/NZTA national priorities.

Auckland is even more…

the database of speed limits has to be kept strictly up to date.

True job: a poor soul in Auckland Transport spent a good whack of time compiling the speed limit database for every road in the Auckland Council area. That’s 14,000 lines in an excel…

* * *
As for ponies for everyone: Remember that the advent of the motor car actually decreased urban pollution levels, for a very basic reason. Considering the likely effect on public health, horses will probably not…

I am sorry about that, really. I didn't mean much more by that throwaway than that all the work all the horses in the world could produce wouldn't be enough to maintain the level of production…

Really? Fuel is the most wasteful possible use of petrochemicals. By any logical measure, oil’s use as a chemical feedstock for plastics should have much higher priority at a…

Also, one moment of distraction while using a hammer is likely to cause only a sore thumb, rather than…

What Islander said. No-one but an arsehole works a horse to death. Sometimes, Ben, your arguments smack more of wanting an argument than of making a logical point.

Oh, of course, but I was actually thinking, and poorly expressing, of the relationship and emotional bond formed, just like your Nana's friends.

Indeed Chris- because there times, past & present (and putting aside any notions of
appreciation/love for the animal itself) when your life would depend on the animal's wellbeing...

Just…

I'm inclined to think a good horseperson will take care of their horses the way any good farmer will maintain their machinery, the difference being…

Ben, there are still farms where afficionados of heavy horses largely work their farms by horse-power (mainly in Otago/Southland.) They go places where the machines cant, and they learn from their jobs.

Even in the bad old days, the majority…

Does seem like a bit of an unnecessary step backwards. Farms have so many options for fuel generation, and such a justifiable need, as part of the human food supply chain,…

Or the vehicle with four legs? I imagine it's how all got by out your way before the oil-age.

I doubt there will ever be a post-fuel countryside. They can make fuel themselves. In the long run, it will be one of the only things that would justify ICEs continuing to exist. And they will get all the fuel at…

Indeed. People often wring hands about what the post-oil city is going to look like, and how we…

We did used to have (the old RNZ bus network – but even back in the early 1970s, it didnt come into Big O (or many other tiny off -main-road Coast communities.))

A car has…

We could have a Postbus service that goes everywhere, as in Europe, but we don't.

In terms of land area, sure. In terms of population? NZ is very highly urbanised.

Well I don't intend to spend hours with a GIS proving this, but suspect that a large proportion of NZ has no bus service and is beyond reasonable walking or cycling distance from anywhere that does.

I think I just cut myself on your tongue...

Still the situation for some disabled and elderly New Zealanders.

If you have absolutely no other way of getting around (you're confined to a wheelchair and live on a sheep…

That was Joyce's aim in changing regional transport authority arrangements to force more explicit obedience to the Goverment Policy Statement (GPS) which shifts funding priority from things like cycleways and potholes to building new…

That notion certainly seems to animate some fervent anti-public-transport advocates, as if providing other options somehow reduces theirs. #zerosum

I do love it, btw. It's almost like Asimov's vision of Trantor, the Imperial capital planet, so completely covered in buildings that the area on top…

It's worth noting that no one was actually harmed by said comedian. He was punished in a way commensurate with the crime, I think. Much harder than some other unrepentant drunks I know who have managed to get dispensations on…

Yes, but there's also a section of society who would still not get a driver's licence if they were…

the new radar detector

Good idea. One would be able to make a fortune selling GPS spoofing devices.

But that would force everyone to buy a new car. I like old cars ):

Not if your WOF depended on it

it might if there was a proximity sensor that automatically fined any motorist for being within say a foot of one

ETA: Steven Joyce would LOVE that.

A compulsory device for vehicles (phased in) that:

– Disables ignition until insertion of valid smart card license.
– Uses GPS to track local speed limit, warns if exceeded, and imposes instant fines for exceeding tolerance after the…

Or wheel clamps, which would be a lot cheaper.

The keywords are, "when used as directed". But still, more creative ways of enforcement need to…

And they would seem to be involved in a lot more death, destruction and general mayhem than are firearms.

One thing I've seen on main roads entering Beijing – way out on the border with Hebei, so a long way before the…

I was just pointing out that there is a sub-section of society that scoffs at our ideas of civilised behaviour and cocks a proverbial snook at rules, licences and the like.

No. And it's a bullshit argument against making it more difficult to exercise the legal privilege of controlling a lethal weapon. Driving is a privilege, and your argument pretty much predicates on it being a right. If you don't get a licence, you should expect…

Yeah, maybe, but aren't people caught driving while disqualified or otherwise without a licence usually prosecuted? Still, would be nice if they were caught before they crash.

It seems like half the accidents involve people with no licence (admittedly generally disqualified drivers rather than those that never got one to start with, but I don't want to increase the incidence of either).

Are you scared enough yet?

I kind of like the idea of the 10 year retest cycle. Things do change, after all. Rules change, eyesight changes, conditions change. Such obsessive retesting…

To be fair, the tests are now computerised and the order (of questions, and the answers within) is random. The “memorise the ‘practice’ scratchies” (there were 20 combinations in use by MOT/LTSA, and one could buy all of them from…

Oh, yes, had a lot of trouble of that nature last summer out in Yanqing, expecting more such trouble once the weather warms up. The county government put up signs marking some of the rural roads as a cycle touring route, which is a great…

As a nation, we have tolerated cheap and short-sighted far too readily.

My mother, who is her mid-80s, drives an automatic early1990s BMW. She belongs to a group called Probis, which,…

And that's what the political left has to show it's capable of doing again.

And re driver training, the idea was…

I know who I'd rather drive with. This of course isn't an indictment of speeding campaigns and…

My own Grandmother, who is in her mid-80s, still drives around. She's cautious, but has less control of the vehicle than she should. Nevertheless, owning a car greatly increases her mobility and allows her to…

In most cases, I think it doesn't actually add any time at all. This is a great fallacy that many drivers believe, that if you…

Subsidised or free compulsory training paid for from taxes and transport-user fees? Not that hard.

couldn't resist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ1ZkNg4Qc8

Totally. I initially learned from my mother, which was great for the basic mechanical business of driving a car, but after that my folks paid for professional instruction…

It's an interesting thing, because the high cost of gaining a license is a barrier to poor people, but in mitigation it's much easier to be…

Then you'll love the proposed future from the draft central city masterplan – scroll about halfway down until you find an picture of this:

A…

A classic example was the former Auckland City Council's C&R councillors headed by Mr Hay (with Banks as ceremonial frontpuppet, a role he seems to relish) demanding that the bus lanes all be marked with blue paint because green was the colour of the opposition City Vision bloc.…

Good stuff. I imagine permanent cycle lanes need less costly sub-surface treatment than other vehicular lanes. That should also be an attractive cost-benefit argument…

Jane Bishop’s death is not by any ordinary use of the word an accident. The danger was identified four years previously. By all accounts, any number of regular users of that road regarded it as a notoriously life threatening spot.…

Puhinui Road west/east to/from the airport is pretty popular, because although it's mostly open road it's got big, wide shoulders. Likewise George Bolt Memorial Drive, which is the north/south airport road. I have never…

And just as dangerous.

Now, if between 'Trucks (large)' and 'buses', you add the following:

Cars with military licence plates
Cars with People's Armed Police licence plates
Cars with diplomatic licence plates (especially if they have a little flag…

Not sure if anyone has pointed this out yet, but the regulations say:

driver means a person driving a vehicle; and includes the rider…

As a car driver it is enough to be worried about other cars, trucks and busses on the road without worrying about cyclists when there are also cyclists riding along the footpath next to you amongst others.

No, you need to be able to do all these things at the…

Indeed. There's a sign on the corner of Wheturangi Road and Green Lane saying something like "Cyclists please dismount and cross to use the cycle lane". So if I'm heading east,…

Good tip, will watch.

I'd almost go so far as to say that the very presence of a lane like that increases your risk, because it makes car drivers angry at cyclists…

For that to work we'd need to agree on a high minimum standard for such lanes. Using the one dedicated footpath/cycle lane on my commute I'm pretty sure would…

I'd be interested to hear, when you get a better idea. It's really hard to get a straight answer on mileage because "with pedaling" is inspecific. But more importantly, your weight/load is a…

You are probably right about the clothes – but motors up to 300W are legal in NZ. We haven't had a chance…

I think unless we agitate, nothing will change, except more cyclists will die. The Dutch got there by mass protests.

Reaping the leadership we tolerate.

Hell, GetAcross successfully invoked civil disobedience on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, to put pedestrian-friendliness on the agenda.

The wife of the injured man has started this FB page.

Not sure how…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN_XjwvSL_w

For sure, especially in a really crowded city.

I also suspect the battery technology will improve with time, as it will with electric cars.

It has been and it will. But the irony is that also means that lead…

True, but around here I see people tearing into traffic on two stroke petrol scooters and various tradesfolk on tricycles fitted with lawnmower engines, and then I see the electric versions. I know whose contribution to the air…

And small people. Who don't have enough money for a real scooter. Which is hundreds of millions of people, LOL.

It's actually borderline whether they're more environmentally friendly than a petrol scooter. Most have lead-acid batteries, which eventually die and become…

too hard? #notfrickengoodenough

The editor of the HoS is clearly a different guy from the main Granny.

Yeah, I did think it read like the author had been following the discussion here.

Cyclists, in particular those who commute, are not obscure oddball hobbyists; they are the trailblazers of a transport future whom we should applaud and accommodate.

Amen!

I do strongly subscribe to the defensive riding philosophy, especially in riding past parked cars.

I totally agree, and I ride very defensively myself. But how much reaction time do you usually get when someone opens a door in…

Other cities provide examples and ideas for what can be done. Clearly they can't be simply imported wholesale and plonked onto Auckland's roads without adjusting them to suit…

So do I but even then I miss the bastards sometimes.

It's not all-or-nothing. Money spent making cycling safer or more convenient does work well before the squazillion mark is reached. Particularly…

Grah, this is actually more dangerous! It is unusual to be hit while going straight along a road. Most accidents, as always, happen at intersections. And drivers don't expect cyclists to emerge from the…

But the cyclist in this case did avoid the door...and was thereby run over by a truck. Evasive…

Wellington does have a big edge on the headwinds. But it's all close together, man, you can't call me soft.

Having lived in Auckland and Wellington, this made me LOL :-D

Yeah, from what I've seen they're for flat cities. I've ridden my brother in law's electric scooter with my wife on the back up to my father in law's orchard a couple of times, that's up a very slight rise to the base of…

Heh, don't get me started. Too late!

I have owned 3 electric bikes, one was more of a bike, the other more of…

Yeah, I agree that a big change in attitude needs to happen along with massive investment in better designed infrastructure. We've got a similar problem here in Beijing where piss poor training, inexperience, and some pretty bad attitudes combine to render what is often actually…

And that, kinda, is the way it works. The big problem in NZ is the perception that you have "Right of way" and others are "In your way" and should just get the hell out of it.
My first…

Cycling in the Netherlands wasn't always this way. After WW2 the roads were increasingly dominated by cars and many, many cyclists were killed. They've built the infrastructure and the behaviour from scratch. So, surely, could we.

Thanks for that.

That'll work in New Zealand.

Oh! Well here is a screen capture to give you the idea. The cyclists don't stop or pause, or even signal, they just go. The motorists give way.

[sigh] No. Youtube is blocked. I just tried some fancy Firefox add on that was supposed to help me sneak around the Great Firewall, and it didn't work. But it certainly sounds like the kind of video…

here’s one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEXD0guLQY0

See how the cyclists whizz on through and the motorists politely give way!

Compare and contrast…

I seem to remember watching a video on well-designed roundabouts in, I believe, the Netherlands. No barriers, no controls, just roundabouts set up so that it's clear to all road users that it's a shared space, and everybody driving with respect for that fact, and it…

Now that is a great way to induce road rage in the average Auckland driver. I don't even like it when pedestrians use them, they are usually well…

As someone who doesn't cycle much but walks a lot, I was also about to ask about that before I noticed this. Would there be a strategically practical…

Land use planning is tightly tied to transport, hence several govt departments advising during the Supercity transition against splitting transport into a separate organisation – which this govt is making even less…

That's the Herald's version of the Transport Blog article I linked earlier. If we spend most govt funding on building more highways, there isn't enough money left for building more and better public transport. This is not accidental.

Auckland was expected to…

Unless you have a carbon fibre and plastic bike

But also lean over and push the pedestrian crossing button that way you stop the cars going across in front of you.

Well, usually.

But more sensitive detectors would be good!

So bloody invest a lot more in cycling and public transport!

Then I thought, well, a few cities around the world have experimented with congestion charges, so why not Auckland? And I do believe similar ideas have been…

Well, true. They also tend to walk sedately. And also that many Chinese cities are fairly flat. I've never been there myself, but I hear cycling is unusually rare in Chongqing because the city is…

On my route home when…

Would've been nice to get some sleep earlier, though, that's the best fix for a migraine. But as I was lying there wishing I could get to sleep, I thought about your comment earlier about turning the cellphone off, and remembered a strange ad I…