I always head out on my bike with the awareness that one wrong move could get me killed. My experience has been that most people on bikes have the same outlook.
A sobering read and sound reasons to increase our vigilance when driving - assume there will be cycles in the cycle lanes; check the wing mirror before opening the door, etc. Meanwhile you are right about who used to cycle - a small excerpt from 'New Zealand by Design' - the observations of a German doctor visiting Christchurch just before the start of World War I:
"The streets boast of a lively traffic: electric trams, neat hansom cabs with good horses, motor-cars, farmers’ phaetons and carts pass by: and above all is the bicycle. Hundreds — thousands speed along. Everybody cycles in this ideally flat district: bishops, parsons, telegraph boys, letter-carriers, lamplighters, physicians, merchants, chimney-sweeps, clerks, shop girls and school children: mothers, who fasten their babies on in front with straps: butcher boys, who support their baskets on handle-bars — in short the world and his wife."
I agree so much with this.... and while I don't ride a bicycle, I'd really like to see the teeny 1 and 2 seater electric vehicles I saw in Italy, so useful for those villages in the South where the streets are narrow and often steep. These vehicles did not go fast and were so very cute.
You missed the bit about it all being cyclists fault as they ride like maniacs (usually to ensure they keep out of the way of cars/trucks/buses/utes), and the bit about "well they dont pay road tax/are not registered/not licenced....." etc etc. What is it with the attitude to cyclists in NZ? The vitriol is quite sickening. I have done a lot of cycle touring in my time and the countries where I have been treated badly and have really feared for my life on a bike is in NZ, Australia and the UK. In those countries if I rode I was on complete high alert, kitted up to the hilt in dayglo and thinking every ride without being knocked off was a success. I now live in the Netherlands - need I say more?
I will never forget the childhood memory of one of twins from a school family we were friends with, who died after her little bike and body went under the wheels of a double-trailer stock truck between her house and ours. Nor will I forget about the Otago University lecturer who was doored into the path of another stock truck along Cumberland Street while I was living there.
Apart from the fact that WTF are stock trucks doing in urban areas (and it's even worse with delivery trucks and trailers now), people in vehicles have little concept of bicycle riders these days. Long gone are the days when most of the school cohort used to bike to school - you'd be lucky if 10% of kids do that now, and it's no surprise why they don't. I'm a confident cyclist but these days you'll be lucky to find me on my bike around Hastings - it's too bloody dangerous.
Hi David , as a regular cyclist I couldn't agree more with your article . As a resident of Beach Haven , with only one stretch of dedicated and marked cycle lane of about 1 k this side of the northern motorway , I am constantly amazed at the lack of provision and consideration of cycle traffic in our streets . While there has been various upgrades to Intersections and roundabouts and Pedestrian crossings in the area , Waka Kotahi seem to be unaware there are cyclists to design for as well . My biggest fear is getting doored , and constantly being squashed into kerblines at those bloody" median /pedestrian refuge" strips . I am also astounded at some of my friends ( non cyclists ) who don't give cyclists room if I am a passenger in their car , or get annoyed that cyclists hold them up, because the bikes drive wide of parked cars so they don't get doored . One even suggested cyclists should ride on the footpaths , until I told him that was illegal. Thanks David and Michael , keep pushing those pedals. ! NEIL
Not an easy share, I bet. The terror of what might have been. I have to say I share your sense of outrage that thus is allowed to continue. And the callousness of those I argue against going ‘the rate this happens at is acceptable .”
too many people have no regard for their fellow road users , I personally would not ride a bike at present on a main road , it's bad enough driving a car amongst them
"We have acquired the habit of driving" Thats the thing we can acquire other road using habits, tho it seems we need help to do it now from all those local & national bodies in charge of roads to make it happen. Make it happen NOW! IF we dont we are rushing headlong over a cliff.
And we could start on farming emissions at the same time. Urgency is needed
Apr 7, 2022·edited Apr 7, 2022Liked by David Slack
I got a good reminder of the economics of bike ownership recently. Once the "down to the bare metal" squeal from my 25 year old bike (converted to eBike some years back) was getting a bit unnerving each time I braked I finally got around to replacing the brake pads. $8 from Trademe and ten minutes of my time. I would never attempt such a thing on a car.
Just a quick reply on the Art Department Ltd comment - one is entitled to "just get on a bike "and be safe and considered as a legal road user , just like cars . Neil Coleman
Every parent’s nightmare – not to mention anyone else who has a loved one who chooses to ride a bike. So glad your lovely daughter got off comparatively lightly but you’re right – it should NEVER have happened.
Apr 7, 2022·edited Apr 7, 2022Liked by David Slack
That must have been a horrific day for all of you. There’s so much more we need to be doing and this removal on on-road car parking thing is just the start.
I always head out on my bike with the awareness that one wrong move could get me killed. My experience has been that most people on bikes have the same outlook.
A sobering read and sound reasons to increase our vigilance when driving - assume there will be cycles in the cycle lanes; check the wing mirror before opening the door, etc. Meanwhile you are right about who used to cycle - a small excerpt from 'New Zealand by Design' - the observations of a German doctor visiting Christchurch just before the start of World War I:
"The streets boast of a lively traffic: electric trams, neat hansom cabs with good horses, motor-cars, farmers’ phaetons and carts pass by: and above all is the bicycle. Hundreds — thousands speed along. Everybody cycles in this ideally flat district: bishops, parsons, telegraph boys, letter-carriers, lamplighters, physicians, merchants, chimney-sweeps, clerks, shop girls and school children: mothers, who fasten their babies on in front with straps: butcher boys, who support their baskets on handle-bars — in short the world and his wife."
It would be wonderful if children could safely ride their bikes to school and not get driven there by their parents.
I agree so much with this.... and while I don't ride a bicycle, I'd really like to see the teeny 1 and 2 seater electric vehicles I saw in Italy, so useful for those villages in the South where the streets are narrow and often steep. These vehicles did not go fast and were so very cute.
You missed the bit about it all being cyclists fault as they ride like maniacs (usually to ensure they keep out of the way of cars/trucks/buses/utes), and the bit about "well they dont pay road tax/are not registered/not licenced....." etc etc. What is it with the attitude to cyclists in NZ? The vitriol is quite sickening. I have done a lot of cycle touring in my time and the countries where I have been treated badly and have really feared for my life on a bike is in NZ, Australia and the UK. In those countries if I rode I was on complete high alert, kitted up to the hilt in dayglo and thinking every ride without being knocked off was a success. I now live in the Netherlands - need I say more?
I will never forget the childhood memory of one of twins from a school family we were friends with, who died after her little bike and body went under the wheels of a double-trailer stock truck between her house and ours. Nor will I forget about the Otago University lecturer who was doored into the path of another stock truck along Cumberland Street while I was living there.
Apart from the fact that WTF are stock trucks doing in urban areas (and it's even worse with delivery trucks and trailers now), people in vehicles have little concept of bicycle riders these days. Long gone are the days when most of the school cohort used to bike to school - you'd be lucky if 10% of kids do that now, and it's no surprise why they don't. I'm a confident cyclist but these days you'll be lucky to find me on my bike around Hastings - it's too bloody dangerous.
Hi David , as a regular cyclist I couldn't agree more with your article . As a resident of Beach Haven , with only one stretch of dedicated and marked cycle lane of about 1 k this side of the northern motorway , I am constantly amazed at the lack of provision and consideration of cycle traffic in our streets . While there has been various upgrades to Intersections and roundabouts and Pedestrian crossings in the area , Waka Kotahi seem to be unaware there are cyclists to design for as well . My biggest fear is getting doored , and constantly being squashed into kerblines at those bloody" median /pedestrian refuge" strips . I am also astounded at some of my friends ( non cyclists ) who don't give cyclists room if I am a passenger in their car , or get annoyed that cyclists hold them up, because the bikes drive wide of parked cars so they don't get doored . One even suggested cyclists should ride on the footpaths , until I told him that was illegal. Thanks David and Michael , keep pushing those pedals. ! NEIL
Not an easy share, I bet. The terror of what might have been. I have to say I share your sense of outrage that thus is allowed to continue. And the callousness of those I argue against going ‘the rate this happens at is acceptable .”
too many people have no regard for their fellow road users , I personally would not ride a bike at present on a main road , it's bad enough driving a car amongst them
"We have acquired the habit of driving" Thats the thing we can acquire other road using habits, tho it seems we need help to do it now from all those local & national bodies in charge of roads to make it happen. Make it happen NOW! IF we dont we are rushing headlong over a cliff.
And we could start on farming emissions at the same time. Urgency is needed
I got a good reminder of the economics of bike ownership recently. Once the "down to the bare metal" squeal from my 25 year old bike (converted to eBike some years back) was getting a bit unnerving each time I braked I finally got around to replacing the brake pads. $8 from Trademe and ten minutes of my time. I would never attempt such a thing on a car.
Just a quick reply on the Art Department Ltd comment - one is entitled to "just get on a bike "and be safe and considered as a legal road user , just like cars . Neil Coleman
Every parent’s nightmare – not to mention anyone else who has a loved one who chooses to ride a bike. So glad your lovely daughter got off comparatively lightly but you’re right – it should NEVER have happened.
That must have been a horrific day for all of you. There’s so much more we need to be doing and this removal on on-road car parking thing is just the start.
So well said and I’m so so glad your daughter is ok. How horrific.
Recently a student my daughter cares for at school, lost her mum in this way.
Out cycling, hit and killed by a motor vehicle. So sad, so unnecessary.
Love Disco Dazz 💕