Posts by Christopher Dempsey
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Hard News: When "common sense" isn't, in reply to Ben Gracewood,
Oh fantastic!
I would like to get a camera set up just so I can film the dicks that pass me *very* close, and I can send the info to NZ Police (though there is evidence that they don't bother doing anything about the offence).
And your film of your commute is great! My brother lives out your way, so in recent times I've used that Northwestern cycleway, though I join on at Newton Rd bridge. Can you please slow the film down where you meet Carrington Rd? I can't figure out the best way to cross the road and join the path again at Unitec.
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Hard News: When "common sense" isn't, in reply to Deborah,
So… the road code doesn’t apply to cyclists?
It's a fluid situation. Where my safety is compromised, the road code goes out the window. Having said that, I very rarely break the code, however, on a few occasions, I will act to protect me regardless.
Being on a bike in Auckland requires abilities to be fluid and open to all possibilities at any time. We don't have dedicated separate cycle lanes yet so for the most part we are mixing with general traffic.
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Hard News: When "common sense" isn't, in reply to Ben Gracewood,
What camera set up do you use?
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Hard News: When "common sense" isn't, in reply to Zach Bagnall,
Didn’t Auckland boost roll out of optic fibre by requiring it to be laid whenever the road was dug up, for any reason? Perhaps cycle lanes could be built out in a similar manner. At least NZ city roads still have enough room to do it.. get started early rather than later.
Not sure about the optic fibre, but the current regulatory design of our streets in terms of network utilities means that companies operating such utilities as fibre optic aren't required to co-ordinate road digging with anyone else, and can, with some notice, simply dig. Wearing my elected rep hat, I can tell you that council officers have lost hair trying to persuade utility companies to co-ordinate their capital activities, with increasing sucess.
But yes, we, that is, some elected reps (notably Pippa Coom) have asked for cycle infrastructure to be 'built into' road designs (at the design stage) so that we can build in such infrastructure as we renew various spots around town. Increasingly this is starting to happen, but we have some way to go yet, but we do face resistance from some officers at the implications this holds - essentially we are asking for a redistribution of road space away from cars. They naturally will defer to the cultural idea that drivers should expect to be able to 'flow' to their destination, in town.
The redistribution is difficult to achieve in the city centre and surrounding areas as the road are narrow for historical reasons, but much easier in suburbs developed during the 60s and 70s i.e. places south and north of Auckland, as these roads are very wide.
Doffing said hat.
Speaking personally, I agree that wearing bobparkers singles me out, and creates an us/them situation which is not helpful. Commuting around town I only ever wear normal clothes i.e. clothes I wear to work, so I just look like a normal person who is cycling, rather than a marked person.
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Hard News: When "common sense" isn't, in reply to Russell Brown,
The stress of negotiating my way to the front, and the 'requirement' to put on speed when the lights change became just a tad too much for me. This way I just pootle on...
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My 2c worth:
a) Helmets. Having participated in the Pride Parade on my bike (in the Green's 'float') without wearing my helmet and being castigated by my brother in law for not wearing it, all I can say is that after 6 years of cycling in all sorts of weather and conditions in this city is that it depends. Sometimes I ride slow, and in that case, I don't think a helmet is particularly necessary - I can stop very quickly (i.e. within a few metres) and I'm very likely to remain upright.
However, if I ride fast, then I definitely wear a helmet. Some protection is better than none. Most of my rides involve a mix of slow and fast riding, so on balance, I just wear my helmet, except for particular situations like the Pride Parade where the risk is very minimal. And very hot days where I sometimes 'forget' to wear the helmet for short periods of time.
b) Bobparkers aka hi-viz: When I bought a bike, 6 years ago, I bought a bobparker at the same time for 'safety' reasons. Over time though, I gradually wore my bobparker less and less as I observed that really, it made little difference to how drivers treated me. Besides, they are butt ugly.
What I have found is how I ride, and lights seem to help make drivers aware of me. I am what some would term an 'aggressive' cyclist.
- I take the whole lane, for the length of Ponsonby and K'rds. But I do it in a particular way, that is, I never try to get to the head of a queue of cars at the lights. I just stay in the middle of my lane, and line up behind the cars already in the lane. This way, drivers know that all they have to do is simply move into the next lane, drive past me, then move back over if they want (many surprisingly don't, thankfully). Doing this means a MUCH less stressful trip down these roads.
- I take the lane where I feel that my safety is enhanced by doing so and move back left. I am consistent about being 1.5m away from parked cars. I take the entire lane at roundabouts (having had the unfortunate experience of a driver trying to 'squeeze' past me on a roundabout). I take the lane at those annoying pedestrian build outs, having discovered that a car and I going through those gaps is no fun for me.
And I take the lane entirely if a driver drives dangerously past me - I immediately move out left, do violent gesticulations with my hands, and stay that way for a short distance. This way I hope forlornly that the drivers behind learn that it's better to give me some room, but it's more of an outlet of frustration than anything.
- I use hand signals a lot. It's surprising how many drivers respond to hand signals to move left, or to be wary.
- Bright lights seem to help quite a bit even during the day.
c) Drivers in Auckland: Generally are pretty good and tolerant. However, the odd nasty one (like the one on Saturday, in car with wife in front, two kids in back, attempted to over take me but was frustrated as I was taking the lane, who pull up to yell obscenities through the window; the kids and wife were very embarrassed) can spoil it and I've yet to learn to let them go. Boy racers surprisingly are very good at pulling out around you, and often they wave hands out the window and give a few shouts of encouragement. At least I think it is.
I tend to let buses go first i.e. I stop and wave them on. I just can't be fagged having to cycle with a bus right on my back wheel. Better to pull over and let them zoom on.
Overall, in the past 6 years, there has been an increase in the numbers of people cycling around, which is great to see, and ultimately it will be sheer numbers of cyclists that will force drivers to slow down and be careful.
But I do think we ought to change the law to a proportionality law (I think Germany has something like this). If a cyclist hits a pedestrian, the cyclist is automatically at fault. If a driver hits a cyclist or pedestrian, the driver is automatically at fault. If a truck driver hits a car, cyclist or pedestrian, the truck driver is automatically at fault (and I should point out that there are obvious exceptions here i.e. where deliberate carelessness on the part of any party can be proved).
This is linked to the the power and weight of the moving object; the greater the power and weight, the more damage that it can cause, therefore the greater care placed on the heavier vehicle to operate in a safe manner.
I have also advocated for a law change that means drivers who are convicted of hitting cyclists are required to ride a bike for a 6 month period, in all weathers and times of the day, over all kinds of distances, and through all traffic conditions and on different roads (urban, semi-urban, rural, State Highways, non-state highways etc). This would be an exercise that is intensively supervised. That way, they will learn how cyclists are vulnerable to bad drivers.
Just my 2c worth...
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Wearing my elected rep hat:
The Freegal service costs $205,000 / yearly. Small beer in the overall context of Council expenditure of a billion or so.
That such a small thing is offered up is really a reflection of a few things; Mr Mayor called for 3% cut across the Council whanau. Various parts of Council responded, in different ways. This is the Libraries response, and really reflects the degree to which library is a tightly run and well managed ship. There is no room there for any deep cuts unless you want to do really unpopular things like cut hours, or charge for books, or outsource the operation to McDonalds to run.
I appreciate learning that Freegal is likely used by those that are young, and disadvantaged - this throws a different light on things. Thank you Robin for pointing out the limitations of the service. And if anyone from The Audience is reading, feel free to contact Auckland Libraries to see if your service can be installed on their machines.
If you feel strongly about this issue, I encourage you to submit - actually feel free to submit on any aspect of the Annual Plan, or suggest additional areas of focus.
Doffing said hat...
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Volunteered at Takaparawhau (Bastion Pt) for the ZERO-waste initiative organised by Ngtai Whatua o Orakei. Had a great time, helping people figure out what resources they wanted to put into which bin (recyclable resource, organic resource, and landfill resource).
The sun was hot the wind cold (but it died out by noon) and the music gentle. The crowd was lovely with a mix of people who paid to go into the 'mosh' area directly in front of the stage, and families spread out on the slope up from stage outside the paid area.
Not sure what Waitangi Day is really other than music and a lovely picnic with friends.
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Speaker: Queen City: A Secret History of…, in reply to David Herkt,
Actually, I'm not surprised that you danced to good music during this time David.
In my research on public plazas in the CBD, I discovered that the National Mutual plaza, built in 1972 or thereabouts, on Shortland Street, was a direct copy (albeit smaller in size) of one in London. The style was international modern. On the property file are (IIRC) references to international architectural magazines, and I think a copy of an article about the London plaza.
I realised then that NZ wasn't necessarily the backwater I supposed it was. Architectural styles, and presumably other kinds of fashionable styles such as dance music, flowed down to NZ by various means.
One common way is for people coming home from London to bring stuff with them. I recall quite a number of gay men in Wellington during the late 80s who would return from London with the latest records (House music), which inevitably got played at the 'cool' nightclubs and at Victoria University Queer Dances (community dances).
If you read Dress Circle, you can see the same mechanism at work here as well. Fashion flowed here from London constantly, thanks to a system of people bringing magazines and materials back, which was translated into NZ conditions.
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Thanks David for writing this up - it is important to have our history recorded.
I came out in 86, just after Gay Law Reform, and in the first full flush of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Interesting times then, and interesting times since.
Living in Auckland since 96 I've been privileged to witness some wonderful times, and some awful civic history.
R.I.P Neil, Kevin, Arthur (particularly Arthur, a beautiful man), and a few others I knew by sight.