It also has power poles and signposts mid-path sprinkled along its length. I don't see Councils erecting?

I agree that Auckland roads have more than enough space for the creation of cycle lanes, preferably seperated from the road by a small kerb where possible rather than just a painted?

is poor maintenance, planning, implementation of plans generally grounds for a defence in a case like this?

My non legal mind doesn?t understand why the charges were dropped (not angling to see the driver punished) as?

Is it actually so ludicrous to consider that people might, having parked in a place that's unsafe to exit, make a little extra effort?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBdf9jYj7o

The cycling infrastructure was only built after a huge number of deaths of cyclists, particularly children, caused wide public protest. It?d be nice if lots more people didn?t have to die for our cycling facilities to be improved.

Edit: and it?

Well, Bob, because as I understand it the prosecution didn't prove beyond reasonable doubt that Becker actually?

The evidence from other cities is that this is both possible and practical. So let's start doing it, now.

As a non-Aucklander, I'd like some more info on this, please. Of the main popular cycling routes, how many have separate?

Is that being done here? If not, let's get it done.

Or we could install disintegrator rays to the handlebars of our bikes and zap anything that gets in our way – I always used this?

I'd be pretty surprised if the judge is correct in that reading of the passing on the left rule. For one thing it only applies to drivers.

Further, my reading of the reports are that he was already up and out of the car and standing up as Bishop clipped him?

As the prosecution effectively conceded in court, thus rendering its own charge invalid.

I also think it's not unreasonable to assume that local authorities will be?

That was my reading of the reported evidence, yes.

Oh so it was her fault?

Cyclists aren't legally allowed to ride on the footpath. Some do, I've done so as well. I can understand the cyclist riding on the footpath because the roads are a?

would make for a much healthier and happier population I reckon – possibly reduce that crazy number of people dying thanks to the air quality in Auckland and in other car related?

If this happened in America, well, someone would likely be out of pocket to the tune?

My point is that the driver chose to park somewhere he couldn't exit the car safely from the driver's side. If your partner can't get out any other side I'd expect him to?

The key change that we need in London is to reinstate the road user hierarchy,?

REDACTED TO READ: OK, Bart, it?s obvious you?ve got incredibly strong feelings on the subject and I?ll leave it there.

For some reason New Zealand has gone down its own path with regard to road safety in general and bike infrastructure in particular. You will notice?

I?m reasonably impressed with the cycling infrastructure here in Palmerston?

__Bad driving style is undoubtedly a cause of accidents, but the finger of blame tends often to point towards groups that are only?

Bike riders are called cyclists in other clauses of the Rule, which means they are something other than drivers.

Bart, can I direct you to?

He was parked in a marked car park. If the council is going to designate an area for parking, then they carry much of the responsibility for the safety of?

Thank you, Russell. Barb Cuthbert also said on the?

Quite.

driver means a person driving a vehicle; and includes the rider of an all terrain vehicle, a motorcycle, a moped, a cycle, a mobility device, or a wheeled recreational device

There is no doubt that having a parking space there was stupid. But it was stupid because it is predictable that drivers will not check before opening their car door.

IF every driver thought about the possibility of a cyclist being there before opening?

Cyclists save public money by being healthier. They pay rates and taxes. They use far less space and cause far?

I always check my mirrors, because I'm also a cyclist. But I cannot honestly guarantee that I would have done better in that particular situation than that driver did.

That's what I'm saying as well. Both things are true. It was a bad parking space because it is unlikely every driver will take the care needed.

Don't design bad parking?

As a result there is nowhere for?

That is a core problem of attitude, yes. New Zealand's national policy and funding system is?

the government's working on that.
progress!

I can't remember the relativity for cyclists, but one truck causes as much damage to a road as 8,000 cars. It's pretty clear who the current system is subsidising.

FFS, Bart, in this specific case Glenn Becker was charged with a criminal offense for which he could have ended up in prison. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I?m sure?

Most roads in New Zealand are originally built and 100% paid for by land developers and therefore the cost of roads is factored into land prices. So it is the purchasers of land that pay for road construction **NOT**?

Hasn't the judge decided in this case that the driver did take reasonable care?

Most roads were built and paid for by government and local bodies, with large inter-generational loans. Developers and users paid back some of that investment, as did the increased tax/rates take from the economic activity?

totally.

This. Several times a day, I move fully into a lane either a) to discourage people from passing me in a narrow bit or?

Good to hear. And thank goodness Shane Warne doesn't live here (for so many reasons).

boggle

Yes I'm angry another person was killed. I personally believe there was no way a legal case could have been made against the driver. I said that in the first post to which you replied so calmly and collectedly.

I also believe it?

Fair enough. I don't believe I've ever been through there in rush hour, and I wouldn't advocate occupying the lane in absolutely every situation.

And, though the Rode Code tells people after?

Pretty?

I'n not sure that will help, in this case :) #battingcollapse

It's just a recommendation I believe. And I'm?

I often find myself in potential breach of the rules simply in the interests of staying clear of traffic and thus safe. I'll always?

I'd just like to say that I was running a book inside my head on how long it would take?

http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/roadcode/cyclist-code/about-cycling/cycling-through-intersections.html

It's listed in the Road Code as a?

Does this include jumping red's when you consider it safe to do so? So many intersections in Auckland are terrifying. Three lanes at the lights on a two lane road. A bus in the left most lane. I sometimes?

Yeah, OK, Bart. I?m not particularly comfortable with you offensively misrepresenting my views and basically being called a distract troll for even suggesting that there?

The mix of vehicles on the road has changed over time.

Many roads in our central cities were designed for horses and carts. Should motorists be fined for driving faster than a steady trot where the roads clearly weren't?

And that is the clue we should be looking at. There is little point in abusing a driver for a momentary lapse of caution when you are in a coma.
I rode a bike for?

Has nobody pointed out the fact that light rail?

(I've never seen indicators on a tram. In Europe, the general rule is that trams have absolute priority – which is backed up by their size and weight. The old Christchurch trams were the opposite I think?),

Without going back to said legislation, I think trams would meet?

There are places in the world with large developed light rail (aka?

Indeed. In fact I would like to see it apply to all people at all times.

There are such things as points, I believe.
Without wishing to become a?

Well said, Isaac. Cycleways really are like bicycle motorways. I would like more of?

The trolleybuses in Wellington have a much simpler system – the points in the wires are switched by the current drawn by the bus motor as it approaches the intersection. Want to change the points? Accelerate. Want to go in the "default" direction? Lift your?

I have to admit,?

This. Going down Queen St, one of my favorite paths of all, I will go through every?

* Beyond some pretty obvious stuff, like not running red lights ffs, it's stupid and?

That certainly wouldn't be a good enough reason. For my part I try to obey the rules as closely as possible on the basis that drivers are thick and can't cope with my behaving?

Becker certainly didn?t look like some callous petrol head overjoyed at getting away with ?dooring? a dirty hippy to death.

In the context of this?

Yes, I got my license here too, when I came back. I was shocked at how weak the practical test was. Basically, a guy follows you on a?

And on top of that, motorists would have a greater awareness of cyclists, simply because?

Something wicket...
...off to watch the cricket.
which is a really excellent metaphor for?

Yes, depending what you mean, this can be true. Running a red light in a car usually means being the last one through, trying to enter the intersection before the light goes red, and failing.?

In Melbourne at least, the trams use indicators all the time, and it?s useful as a driver, not only because views of the tracks are often obscured?

I found it interesting as a pedestrian that I've had to re- train myself for crossing streets over the past decade as cycling's become more popular. Just to get used to how cyclists often slip in and out of smaller?

This. I've just moved to a new part of town with oodles of cycle lanes & the place is just teeming with people riding. I don't have any problems with car drivers getting?

I'm pretty sure the sensors are inductive loops tripped by large masses of metal, but yeah, this too.

I'm always at loggerheads with some people over the right to weigh in how awesome something feels as a very good reason to do it, despite some risks. Tell me that "it feels awesome" isn't at?

one way

Yeah it is*;?

I once saw a guy coasting down Queen Street at high speed in rush hour, through red lights, wearing no helmet and a full neck brace. My immediate thoughts did not?

Discussion on that at Transport Blog.

Better still, once he's over there, get him to volunteer as a crash test driver if the dummies prove innacurate. He's a petrolhead after all, isn't he?

Rock on!

I reckon they just focus on introspective experience because it's easier and takes less effort than trying to look at other people in the real world. Provision the leaders with expensive cars (or the means?

Its smog is undoubtedly among the worst anywhere, but at least they're moving in the right direction.?

Sounds dangerous.

Point worth making.

In Auckland, the greatest distance of cycleway?

In the context of Bart accusing me of saying Bishop was responsible for her own death and?

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?

On my route home when?

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?

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, usually.

But more sensitive detectors would be good!

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.

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

[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?

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.

That'll work in New Zealand.

Thanks for that.

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.

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?

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?

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, 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?

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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?

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?

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!

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

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

too hard? #notfrickengoodenough

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?

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?