tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71683890393733236402012-02-09T01:33:47.308-08:00A blog about making Adelaide, South Australia, safer and better for pedestrians and cyclistsEdwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.comBlogger1561100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-2637768865954966412012-02-05T18:31:00.000-08:002012-02-05T18:31:47.358-08:00

As part of recent amendments to the Australian Road Rules, something called a "bicycle storage area" appeared in them. It took me a while to work out what was meant by that. For a while I thought it was one of those little lay-bys that are on certain four lane roads that are designed for cyclists to sit in, turn their head 180 degrees like an owl and wait until the coast is clear before turning

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-45351241372454347832012-01-30T19:32:00.000-08:002012-01-30T19:32:14.435-08:00

Nowadays in South Australia, if you continue to drive a car like a nong, you will not only lose your licence but you also risk losing your car. Courts can order that your car be forfeited if you commit a certain number of offences within a 10 year period or if you commit what is called a "forfeiture offence". That's what happened to someone recently. They appealed the decision but, unlucky for

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-51270062930930294452012-01-29T02:18:00.000-08:002012-01-29T02:18:42.429-08:00

Where there used to be one, there are now at least four bike shops within a stone's throw of each other in Adelaide's east end. Super Elliots have been there for ages but there is now megabike right opposite, Treadly Bike Shop around the corner on Ebeneezer Place and a block away on Grenfell Street is Pedal and Thread which sells the magnificent Pashley Guvnor.Not far away on Pulteney Street is

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-76621468941208040192012-01-26T00:58:00.000-08:002012-01-26T00:58:59.816-08:00

Anybody familiar with Adelaide's bike lanes would know that there is no such thing as a bike lane over an intersection. The painted line stops and just leaves you to it - either in a turning lane or in the middle of nowhere. Some time ago, somebody who is in charge of these things realised that students tend to ride bicycles more than the rest of the population. I'm just clutching at straws here

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-66814051426754285332012-01-20T15:38:00.000-08:002012-01-20T15:38:24.766-08:00

I came back from a road trip last Sunday evening. The route from the Hills Freeway bypasses the city next to the parklands. While driving through there, traffic had to slow and move to one side of the road because some event was on. It became obvious pretty quickly that it was related to the Tour Down Under bike race. There were people on bikes all over the place. It was great. At the few

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-72759864296972754822012-01-17T16:59:00.000-08:002012-01-17T16:59:57.258-08:00

On a recent trip, I stayed in Melbourne for five days. It really is a great city. I hear stories of how it used to be dead in the centre to the point where it was known as the donut. There is no evidence of that any more. There is plenty to see and do. Like other Australian cities, cycling is much more popular than it used to be. I was staying on St Kilda Road and especially during the rush hour

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-60368895746270910752012-01-15T19:09:00.000-08:002012-01-15T19:09:28.695-08:00

When I was in Melbourne recently, my children excitedly told me that there was a news article on some time about cyclists and car doors. I found out afterwards that it was on the tv show called The Project. My son could not remember much about the preview other than that "both sides were blaming each other". Eh? How can a cyclist be to blame for someone opening a car door in their path? On The

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-56819365040640250182012-01-15T19:05:00.000-08:002012-01-15T19:05:58.891-08:00

I've just been on a road trip. I went over the border into Victoria. One of the first places I stopped was Portland. It's a very picturesque town but what struck me most of all (because I'm strange) were these pedestrian crossings: They were everywhere and appear to work as if by magic. You stand on the side of the road at any time and motorists just stop for you. No pressing buttons to apply

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-23505535296997594882011-12-19T20:46:00.000-08:002011-12-19T20:46:51.753-08:00

My wife recently bought herself four dresses from Jigsaw. They look fantastic. The first was more formal than the others. The top half is silk and the rest is a "tulip style skirt finished in a silk jacquard print that sits just below the knee". She looks totally hot in it: The next is a summery one. It is made of silk and has what is described as a leopard print. The silk is super soft and

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-47979840248427717052011-12-15T14:02:00.000-08:002011-12-15T14:02:19.841-08:00

Like most people I know, I have put together a route home from work that as much as possible avoids riding on main roads. It's self-preservation really. The whole "take the lane" ideology is all very well but it still doesn't guarantee you from being driven into from behind by someone who is drunk, speeding, fiddling with their radio or just scratching their balls. Despite my best efforts, there

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-77371332143085281312011-12-07T20:26:00.000-08:002011-12-07T20:26:49.068-08:00

A friend of mine has gone to live and work in Canada for a year. It's the same friend who wrote rude things about the Dutch some time ago. Currently he is in Calgary. He had a strange experience the other day. he wrote: I was almost going to text message you - get this - in Calgary, Alberta, pedestrians have the right of way. My friend and I (she lives here) needed to cross a main road,

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-64939668381593314112011-12-06T03:07:00.000-08:002011-12-06T03:07:49.650-08:00

I took a trip to Port Pirie not long ago for work. It's a two and a half hour drive north of Adelaide. It has a population of about 14,000. Its biggest employer is Nyrstar which operates the lead smelter there. It has a few things of interest to visit such as the museum that used to be the railway station. It faces the road because trains used to run down the main street: I find Australian

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-38754474575074966452011-11-10T20:01:00.000-08:002011-11-10T20:01:26.662-08:00

I think with many people, if they hear Copenhagen held up as an example city one more time they'll probably scream. This isn't Copenhagen, they say. You can't just take all of that and plonk it here in the same way that you can't install Windows on a Mac (they don't really say that but it is a good analogy). It's not a case of simply transfering things though. Rather, what we can do is look at

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-53523644802945828232011-11-10T17:05:00.000-08:002011-11-10T17:05:45.817-08:00

Geoff McLeod had the unmitigated temerity to make a film that asks one simple question: If tens of thousands of people in other countries can use their bike every day, including children as young as 8, without wearing a helmet and other safety gear, why can't we? We are told it has "incensed" the authorities responsible for road safety. Here's the offending film: One thing that should be

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-16908481574445333462011-10-27T17:32:00.000-07:002011-10-27T17:32:40.007-07:00

On my ride to work this morning, I saw a couple of women waiting at the bus stop. I never try and guess people's ages because I generally offend. If I were to hazard a guess though, and I mean this with the utmost respect, I'd say they were in their sixties. After 9 o'clock in the morning, you see lots of women (and men) that age at bus stops and on the bus. You never see them on bikes. In the

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-69096281809751637432011-10-20T23:22:00.000-07:002011-10-20T23:22:59.750-07:00

If you have any interest at all in taming motorised traffic and providing freedom of transport choice for everyone, you will know about David Hembrow's blog and the brilliant videos by Mark Wagenbuur. His latest video will I am sure become a classic. It is discussed in the latest post on A View From the Cycle Path. It's all about how the Dutch got their fabulous cycling infrastructure. It's not

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-36253990239476313832011-10-19T23:39:00.000-07:002011-10-19T23:39:23.561-07:00

Copenhagenize Consulting recently published its 2011 index of Bicycle Friendly Cities. Amsterdam is at the top with Copenhagen a close second with places like Rio, Vienna and New York coming up the rear. They rated 80 cities around the world but purposely included major cities because of time constraints. As they say, smaller cities like Groningen or Malmö would have been at the top of the list

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-57284890884364583232011-10-18T16:35:00.000-07:002011-10-18T16:35:56.217-07:00

Until now, any article in the local newspaper about bicycles, bus lanes or any effort to make our streets more inviting to human beings rather than motor vehicles is met with the same, tediously predictable comments (with some notable exceptions of course) about motorists paying for the roads, cyclists never obeying any road rules and nearly killing people, and so on. The tide might be changing

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-11006587391359019992011-10-11T20:49:00.000-07:002011-10-11T20:49:24.883-07:00

A report on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's website begins by saying "A woman died Tuesday morning when her bicycle collided with a car door". Read a little further and you see that that is not what happened at all. The door was opened in her path. I remember a similar story in German about 20 years ago. A woman was knocked off her bike by a car door being opened. Her young child, who

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-53998643620606237822011-10-02T23:55:00.000-07:002011-10-02T23:55:22.647-07:00

Peter Goers is erm different. You can hear him on ABC Radio in the evening. He's a slow talker which makes it very relaxing. He is a refreshing antidote to radio hosts who shout at you at a million miles an hour. He's also famous for driving a really old Volvo around. We know this from his page in the Sunday Mail. Peter is a friend of the motorist and has written in the past about how unfairly

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-30836577176871114452011-09-25T01:00:00.000-07:002011-09-25T01:00:43.057-07:00

In the Advertiser newspaper on Saturdays is a liftout called "Cars Guide". It contains mainly adverts for new and used cars but also has a couple of short articles about cars, which in truth are also adverts. In the 24 September issue was a stupid comment. The small article was about a concept car by Mercedes Benz called the F-125. The comment was: We've come a long way, baby, even if Lycra-clad

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-63179102484447116442011-09-22T17:34:00.000-07:002011-09-23T19:20:38.301-07:00

Here's the latest marketing video from the world's number one cycling country. The Dutch Cycling Embassy has been formed which means our governments and councils can get all the help and information they need in one place. Absolutely brilliant. Watch it on full screen mode.

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-37916371724574548452011-09-19T03:40:00.001-07:002011-09-19T03:40:45.503-07:00

The Dutch are voting for their own bicycle city for 2011. There are 5 contenders - Groningen, Harderwijk, 's-Hertogenbosch, Houten and Pijnacker-Nootdorp. Each has its own 2½ minute video. Here's the video for Houten: and here's the one for 's-Hertogenbosch: The others can be viewed here. It doesn't matter if you don't understand the dialogue. A picture speaks a thousand words. Check out

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-33868404299462305672011-09-15T18:46:00.000-07:002011-09-15T18:46:22.861-07:00

For four years now, in amongst the cheery writing of Copenhagenize, A View from the Cycle Path and a million and one bicycle blogs, there has been one exception - the habitually grumpy, surly, sarcastic Freewheeler of Crap Cycling in Waltham Forest. For four years, Freewheeler has been cycling around the London borough of Waltham Forest pointing out just how crap things are for pedestrians and

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-46141354038311970972011-09-11T17:35:00.000-07:002011-09-11T17:35:47.320-07:00

I was chatting again with a friend the other day. He was telling me about a mate of his who is adamant that cyclists should pay rego. His argument is that everyone should contribute to the “use” of roads. Ha! Anyone who travels along O'Connell Street in North Adelaide and then on to the northern suburbs would have seen this over the weekend: It is a very expensive traffic light that has been

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-79750249197670389632011-09-08T18:46:00.000-07:002011-09-08T18:46:39.598-07:00

Over near the zoo, a new roundabout has been installed. It's a big improvement for motorists and a bit of an improvement for pedestrians. Before, it used to be a nightmare for student coming from Adelaide Uni to get across Frome Road and carry on along War Memorial Drive. The road was too wide and cars never stopped. At certain times of day, the only time you could cross was when the traffic was

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-21247286351197947612011-09-04T22:39:00.000-07:002011-09-04T22:39:32.439-07:00

I am a total sucker for flashy marketing. When the junk mail arrives in my letterbox, I generally throw away all of the generic flimsy grocery leaflets but will keep the glossy David Jones and Myer brochures and the Freedom Furniture ones that are wrapped in plastic. The grocery ones would probably save me money but being shallow, I just ignore them. Before sitting down to look at the glossy ones

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-57207263787134256532011-08-30T04:55:00.000-07:002011-08-30T04:55:17.629-07:00

One of the most widely read bicycle blogs is Copenhagenize run by Mikhail Colville-Anderson. He's become a bit of a legend and has one of the coolest jobs around. He gets invited around the world to talk about bicycles. Recently he was in Barcelona and he had plenty of positive things to say about it and what it was doing to encourage what he calls "citizen cyclists". Today, it was South

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-64641136425560609342011-08-27T19:28:00.000-07:002011-08-27T19:28:47.549-07:00

It is that time of the year again. On my route home from work last year, I was swooped a couple of times by a killer magpie. It was horrible. No matter how much waving and shouting you do, they keep coming back. It started with just swooping (which is bad enough) but over time, it started pecking. I took a large detour to avoid it. Just the other day it was back which means a few months of

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-40750549867490551892011-08-27T16:25:00.000-07:002011-08-27T16:25:28.185-07:00

Who would have thought? According to a recent article, little detectors buried at every intersection in metropolitan Adelaide have been counting cars since 2003. They have apparently generated more than 42 billion records which will be used to study changes in traffic flows over time to help with planning. This then led to a whole bunch of comments calling for more roads to be built because that

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-57838259527153988192011-08-27T03:56:00.000-07:002011-08-27T03:56:48.115-07:00

So there I was. I'd been to school soccer. There was the lawn to mow, shopping to do, meals to plan, plenty of stuff to fix and shelves to put up. So I did what any reasonable person would do in that situation - made a cup of coffee and put the telly on. On the ABC was a show called E2 Transport. It's a series made by PBS in the US and is about alternative transport forms to the car. One episode

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-82909249780511608162011-08-25T20:57:00.000-07:002011-08-25T20:57:24.510-07:00

Well, it's two words really - "desire lines". I knew there was a phrase for them. If you visit a park, it might have footpaths all around it. Sometimes though, you can see a well worn part of the grass that has been walkled on repeatedly. It's like that because that is the way people want to walk. I've seen it too in the Ikea car park. There are little bushes around the edges (perhaps to offset

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-25952963605657798602011-08-18T17:56:00.000-07:002011-08-18T17:56:27.518-07:00

The price of a parking ticket has made the news again. Adelaide Now has an article about parking fees in the CBD rising. With no evidence at all, the article begins by saying "Rising city parking costs sting retailers". Although I have looked hard, I have not been able to find a study that has actually measured theh effect on retail spending of car parking fees. One of the problems with the

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-91482630176940521902011-08-13T21:45:00.000-07:002011-08-25T21:30:21.155-07:00

When I have work to do, I very much enjoy procrastinating and finding interesting ways of putting it off. One of the best tools of this is Google Streetview. You can go on to the street in any city that has had a Google mobile drive through it. All of Australia is covered along with all of North America and a large chunk of Europe, Singapore, Japan and a whole bunch of other places. I was

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-81384058944365215242011-08-10T21:38:00.000-07:002011-08-12T01:13:38.300-07:00

While English yoof are fire bombing cars and looting shops for sneakers and iPads, protests in Adelaide are a little more sedate. Recently, a group of people quietly protested the introduction of car parking fees at public hospitals. It was reported on the Adelaide Now website and in the Messenger Press. I have my own views about free parking. It does not exist. Somebody pays for it, even if it

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-87676170992975769022011-08-06T17:17:00.000-07:002011-08-06T17:17:18.207-07:00

Many blogs you visit have links to the blogs of other like-minded people. It is interesting to visit those when you have a spare minute. Often they become another favourite blog. That's certainly what has happened to me over time. The problem with it though is that you come across people who write so much better than you do and articulate your thoughts more eruditely than you could hope to.

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-79362331223738807052011-08-04T00:40:00.000-07:002011-08-04T00:40:34.747-07:00

A couple of recent articles on the ABC News website and on Adelaide Now refer to a study about building a high-speed railway line linking Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. It's a great idea (any new railway line is) but I confess I am confused by the figures. It is estimated to cost between $61 and $108 billion. That is a very large wad of cash. After that, it gets interesting. Adelaide

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-91225459239891446162011-08-02T20:13:00.000-07:002011-08-02T20:13:08.240-07:00

I picked up a coffee from Cibo's the other day. They like to emphasise their Italian heritage. I could see it in the picture of two ridiculously good-looking people riding on a vespa without helmets that was up on the wall. There was also an interesting picture above the counter. I tried to take a picture of it but because it was so glossy, all you could see was the reflection of what was behind

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-19738296038294283312011-07-19T22:07:00.001-07:002011-07-19T22:07:33.796-07:00

When a car driver speeds past you leaving a space of only 6 inches, one of the benefits is that you get a good close view of their car stickers. Car stickers are good because they are a way of telling the outside world about the kind of person you are while you're stuck behind all that glass and steel. For instance, your car sticker might tell the world that you're carbon neutral because some

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-6924874766046972812011-07-12T06:46:00.000-07:002011-07-12T06:46:32.919-07:00

I took a trip to Perth the other week. The number of meetings I had meant there was little time to see daylight. Most people when visiting a new city will try and find time to see some attractions. Not me - I go looking for bike paths and trains. Perth has a couple of both. While wandering around the CBD, I came across this cycle path: It's quite similar to the short-lived Sturt Street bike

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-43640814697599969812011-07-09T22:34:00.000-07:002011-07-09T22:34:31.955-07:00

I got an email the other day from a friend and neighbour. Although parking in Adelaide is cheap and plentiful compared to many other cities, she has decided that $250 a month is getting ridiculous and she is instead going to ride a bike to work each day. It seems the fact that I ride a bike to work makes me something of an expert. My friend knows nothing about the garbage I write in this blog -

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-48961693404162664852011-07-09T22:32:00.000-07:002011-07-09T22:32:41.048-07:00

I had yet another whinge the other week about the lack of places for pedestrians to cross on arterial roads in the metro area. It's not just Anzac Highway. I took a bus along North East Road the other day and got off not far from the ABC building at Collinswood. Your chances are generally 50:50 but I drew a short straw and was dumped on the wrong side of the road. Here's a picture of the lonely

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-67993459625027981502011-06-23T20:06:00.000-07:002011-06-23T20:06:14.552-07:00

One of the many great things about Australia is the names we give things. In many cases, no research or further reading is required because the names says it all. Football Park was called Football Park because it is a big park where people play football. The Great Sandy Desert is a great sandy desert. It also applies to some of our roads. Main North Road is a main road travelling north. Main

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-58058739140707981352011-06-10T01:15:00.000-07:002011-06-10T01:15:02.824-07:00

There is an interesting discussion on the Adelaide Cyclists website at the moment. It's generating a good deal of interest. It so far has five pages of comments. It starts by quoting an email to Stephen Yarwood, the Mayor of Adelaide, from a local cyclist saying she is giving up cycling for now because, to summarise, she simply does not feel safe between speeding cars and buses on Pulteney

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-67931849052306537072011-06-05T17:25:00.000-07:002011-06-05T17:25:07.485-07:00

I drove to Norwood the other day. Big mistake. 15 minutes to get there and 20 minutes to find a park. This is despite there being about six big car parks around one block of the parade. Here is one of them choc-a-block as it generally is all day Saturday: And here's one of the many side streets off the Parade with a line of cars queueing near the entrance to one of the car parks: It's all a

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-43617758609702414052011-06-01T22:01:00.000-07:002011-06-01T22:01:44.980-07:00

One of the reasons the Apple iPhone is so popular is its ease of use. When I got mine, I never once looked at the instruction booklet because it is so intuitive. The same seems to go for all of their products. Many people I speak to have the same experience. So it should be with getting on a bike instead of taking a car. It should not require specialist training and nor should it require extra

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-27294394165703382182011-05-26T20:00:00.000-07:002011-05-26T20:00:46.277-07:00

It's difficult to know what the official Australian position is about decent cycling infrastructure. With a few exceptions such as Clover Moore in Sydney, you get the impression the prevailing view is that bikes are vehicles and should therefore be treated and behave the same as all other vehicles. There are some painted lanes dotted about the place for them but in the main, people on bikes are

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-2524163552547562822011-05-13T15:32:00.000-07:002011-05-13T15:32:23.859-07:00

I was having a chat with two colleagues the other day doing my best to brainwash them about the benefits of increasing cycling's modal share and making it safe enough for children to get around. One of them suggested that Adelaide had been built so obviously for the car that it was simply too late to make a change. A bit like when Darth Vader told Luke "it's too late for me, my son" in the Return

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-63722856354173069722011-05-10T19:50:00.000-07:002011-05-10T19:50:30.647-07:00

If you wish to increase the number of trips taken by bike rather than car, you need to make cycling the easiest, most convenient and most pleasant method of transport for those trips. A carrot and stick approach in other words. Simply making it difficult and costly to drive doesn't help. Neither does preaching about how great it is to ride a bike. It's even less helpful if you do your preaching

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-35228089167772762162011-05-05T00:28:00.000-07:002011-05-05T00:28:23.403-07:00

There are lots of things we can learn from other places: car building from the Japanese, cycling infrastructure from the Dutch; health systems from the Scandinavians and so on. Tragically, so often it is the crap ideas that are adopted instead. I was in Queensland not long ago visiting the Gold Coast. Driving along the highway, I noticed that some cycling infrastructure had been added. When I

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-13780036801239794082011-05-03T00:51:00.001-07:002011-05-03T00:51:55.950-07:00

A while ago, I came home late in the evening after a meeting. I hadn't eaten and couldn't really be bothered making something and so did what any reasonable person would do - went home via Maccas. Rather than locking up my bike and going inside, I just rode through the drive-through and ordered my quarter pounder with cheese there. I'm not the only one. Bizarrely, there are people who have

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-89067492285794164052011-05-01T21:07:00.000-07:002011-05-01T21:07:20.577-07:00

I had to go to the Women's and Children's Hospital the other day. It was late afternoon - a busy visiting time - and so I felt quite lucky to find a spare lamp-post to lock my bike against. It was at the Brougham Place entrance. There used to be a large bike locker there. It was in the middle of the drive-through space you can see in the picture below: It was obviously only for staff because it

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-32160738796409115122011-04-18T18:38:00.000-07:002011-04-18T18:38:29.034-07:00

There is an old song by The Jam called "Down in the tube station at midnight". I used to enjoy putting the record because it begins with the sound of an London Underground train arriving at a station. The song is written from the point of view of a man on his way home to his wife where a curry is waiting. He then gets beaten up and describes the close up view of the ground that he sees. It is not

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-53122262630796370722011-04-18T00:09:00.000-07:002011-04-18T00:09:25.633-07:00

Some time ago, the State Government announced the building of six "super" schools. It is an adjective you hear more often these days - "super" GP Clinic, "Super" Highway, etc. I think the word is intended to give the impression of something bigger and more impressive than you have ever seen before. Occasionally it is not successful, such as with the cycling "super" highways in London: after much

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-33840061437525242702011-04-07T19:52:00.000-07:002011-04-07T19:52:49.723-07:00

If you work for whatever level of Government is in charge of local roads, there is no shortage of information on the Internet about encouraging cycling and walking and increasing their modal share. There is also plenty of material about the benefits of doing so. Some of the material is of high quality and some not so. One example is published by the Commonwealth Government and I had a good moan

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-50059105042978448702011-04-04T22:01:00.000-07:002011-04-04T22:01:01.167-07:00

On the way to work this morning, I saw a couple of cars blocking the pavement. They had little signs on them saying "Traffic Survey". I get concerned when I see that because it could mean a couple of things. First, they could simply be counting cars. The consequence may be that they count a given number of cars passing in a given hour and conclude that more space is required. I really hope not.

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-10308237024503148452011-03-30T16:59:00.000-07:002011-03-30T16:59:18.238-07:00

The current Thinker in Residence is Fred Hansen, who used to be the General Manager of Tri-Met, the public transport operator in Portland, Oregon. One of his ideas is to turn Grenfell Street into a pedestrian and bus only zone. Brilliant. There was an announcement recently with pictures about the extension of the O'Bahn into the city and along Grenfell Street. It looked fairly crappy. It had some

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-30073341994363129402011-03-20T19:49:00.000-07:002011-03-20T19:49:29.520-07:00

In amongst the many helmet-cam videos on YouTube, there are some altogether happier cycling videos such as the great collection from Mark Wagenbuur in the Netherlands. Many people like to film their daily commute and then have it played at a faster speed. I saw this one recently: It is a seven minute commute in Munich which by German standards seems to be a very bike friendly city. It has its

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-59947028403994368872011-03-16T20:17:00.000-07:002011-03-16T20:17:04.241-07:00

Each year, when the Clipsal 500 race is on, quite a few roads around the eastern parklands are closed and all of those motorists coming from the eastern suburbs and beyond have to find an alternative route. It is not a bad time to cycle to work. Not that you want to be all smug while traffic is at a standstill but because it is travelling so slowly, cycling feels much safer and more pleasant than

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-33228792647732579142011-03-08T15:32:00.000-08:002011-03-08T16:02:48.164-08:00

I have ridden my bike to work and back almost every single day since I bought it four years ago. It has been regularly serviced in that time but sooner or later things get worn and need to be replaced. I had to get brand new tyres the other day. I bought the expensive puncture resistant versions because it slowly becomes irritating having to fix a puncture every second week because of sharp thing

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-3795354221150828382011-02-28T16:28:00.000-08:002011-02-28T16:28:41.112-08:00

Last weekend I had to go to Canberra for meetings. If ever there was a city crying out for better cycling infrastructure, Canberra is it. I stayed at University House which is part of the Australian National University. It is in one of the original parts of Canberra designed by Walter Burley-Griffin and is a textbook example of good urban planning. It is a beautiful area. The houses are

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-21216326123227097272011-02-21T22:54:00.000-08:002011-02-21T22:54:01.632-08:00

In a recent post, David Hembrow described a pedestrianised shopping street that had just been built in his neighbourhood. It is very different from what is built here. It is well worth a read. What is particularly interesting is that despite the ease with which the shops can be accessed by bicycle, cars are not necessarily actively discouraged. Car parking is free. However, as in most cases in

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-72136885123990004732011-02-21T19:41:00.000-08:002011-02-22T15:27:52.177-08:00

Adelaide's current Thinker in Residence, Professor Fred Wegman, gave his second big public lecture a couple of weeks back on 15 February. He gave his first last May and outlined the concept of designing systems that minimise the chances of road accidents. His thesis, as I understood it, was that rather than asking "whose fault is this" we should be asking "how could this happen?" For almost any

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-87637237131052840282011-02-14T19:09:00.000-08:002011-02-14T19:09:31.595-08:00

If you have a spare hour, there is an audio recording of a recent lecture together with slides that is doing the rounds in the blogosphere. It can be seen here and the PowerPoint slides can be downloaded separately here. Its thesis is a simple one - we are far too complacent and tolerant of the incredible damage that motor vehicles do; specifically, the number of people they kill every year. We

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-22279791736844155462011-02-10T22:55:00.000-08:002011-02-10T22:55:16.331-08:00

Like many boys my age who grew up in the pre-internet age, some of my time would be spent dreaming about stuff I was "gonna get". Generally, the stuff would be in Lego or toy catalogs. None of it came true because before long a new catalog would be released with a whole load of new and exciting stuff to dream about. Tragically I still do it. Living in a weird dream world, I ask myself what would

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-91758481073591494872011-02-02T19:54:00.000-08:002011-02-02T19:54:36.222-08:00

It's a funny thing. The older you get, the more beautiful women become. I am always very distracted walking around town. Everywhere I go there are beautiful women all around me. They all look great, some in figure hugging jeans, some in some dresses and some in more formal officewear. Saying all of this makes me sound like a dreadful perve but I try my best not to be. I find different hairstyles

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-76858892586207352582011-01-27T03:43:00.000-08:002011-01-27T03:43:56.093-08:00

Not long ago, I posted about new suburbs and how we could learn from the way the Dutch have planned some of their suburbs. I posted a video of one built in the 1970s. One of the stars of the video kindly sent me a link to a more up-to-date video of the same town. It is amaaaazing:

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-9482883872808192882011-01-24T16:44:00.000-08:002011-01-24T16:44:54.710-08:00

Bike lanes have been making the news recently. Councils have been told not to issue any more fines for parking in bike lanes while a legal issue is resolved. Apparently, the bike lanes are unenforceable because the Road Rules do not allow for bike lanes that are only in use for a few hours a day. It might be because they are a stupid idea. Anyway, Rule 153 of the Road Rules defines what a bike

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-55155269261941740952011-01-20T16:25:00.000-08:002011-01-20T16:25:23.289-08:00

This is a very good video. I pinched it from Copenhagenize who in turn got it from iamnotacyclist on Twitter. It makes the point in a new and clever way. There is some dialogue which you'll only understand if you speak Dutch. It's not necessary for the message though:

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-38121662789527280342011-01-15T17:33:00.000-08:002011-01-15T17:33:40.264-08:00

When I was younger, Santa would sometimes bring me or my brothers a lego set. One year my brother got a couple of pieces of roadway, which was great because we could then properly play with all of the cars we had made. Lego being Danish, the roadway pieces generally match European roads. I could never fully understand why there were so many crossing littered all over them. It was impossible to

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-89685497229264461872011-01-10T16:47:00.000-08:002011-01-10T16:47:26.582-08:00

The other day I took a trip that required me to get across Main North Road. Occasionally you will see someone riding along that road, toe clips spinning. It is only the suicidal though who will try and turn right using one of the turning lanes. Call me old-fashioned, but I have an inate sense of self-preservation so I will use the pedestrian crossing. If you're not close to it, it can be a bit of

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-6166224996807658142011-01-10T15:38:00.000-08:002011-01-10T15:38:05.508-08:00

If you are a railway tragic like me, this type of video is always welcome: It is on the Department of Infrastructure website and shows a video of the new trains the Government is buying for the railway network once it is electrified. The inside of the trains are, as you would expect, light and open and have generous space for wheelchair users and prams and things. Not much bike space though.

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-74867074322440444782010-12-14T18:12:00.000-08:002010-12-15T02:24:18.326-08:00

A recent article on Adelaide Now lifted me a little. It was about the planned O-bahn extension into the city. It described plans for "bus transit zones" on Grenfell and Currie Streets. The Transport Minister says: Buses account for 12 per cent of traffic on Grenfell and Currie streets but serve 75 per cent of the people using the precinct. Well yes, but all this time motorists have had over 75%

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-74736623562611411542010-12-08T22:40:00.000-08:002010-12-08T22:51:18.107-08:00

After the phenomenal success of the Melbourne Bike Share scheme (not), a recent article in the Messenger Press suggested that Adelaide should give it a go. Currently, of the 30,000 bike hires per year, only 30% are local people. but we are told "cycling supporters want to see a share-style program catering more to city workers." Bicycle Institute of South Australia chair Jeremy Miller said in

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-1701081156655927542010-12-08T18:54:00.000-08:002010-12-08T18:54:17.078-08:00

Part of the State's strategic plan is to increase the population of Adelaide. I read somewhere that once the population of a State or province reaches 2 million, it starts to be more self-sustaining economically rather than being reliant on transfers from the central government. Whether that is true or not I don't know but economic activity seems to be one of the reasons for trying to increase

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-77374170643326738662010-12-01T17:05:00.000-08:002010-12-01T17:05:48.890-08:00

On a recent Hamish and Andy show, they were explaining how most people, when they are watching the Ashes and get up to go and get a drink or food, will do a pretend bowl. The bowling action is always perfect and often ends with a quiet shout of "howzat". One listener rang in to say that when he goes between the lounge and kitchen he pretends he is a V8 supercar driver. When he takes the corner

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-19403306439656440982010-11-27T19:13:00.000-08:002010-11-27T19:13:23.706-08:00

David Hembrow has a large collection of videos on his blog many of which were made by Mark Wagenbuur.Anybody familiar with sites like Copenhagenize and Amsterdamize would be familiar with David's site. I had to embed this video on to my blog though if for no other reason than I can watch it each time I log in. It shows an unbroken 10 minutes of Dutch cycling infrastructure. Along the way, it

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-75369331284057491432010-11-23T01:42:00.000-08:002010-11-23T02:08:25.561-08:00

The tireless freedom fighter from Waltham Forest in London makes plain his disappointment with the London Cycling Campaign. It should, you would think, be an advocate for cycling and be doing what it can to get more people out of cars and on to bikes for the better health and wellbeing of all of London. Not so says Freewheeler. The LCC is part of the problem. In any debate, a common difficulty

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-53369606442765182322010-11-11T02:01:00.000-08:002010-11-11T02:01:17.664-08:00

I had a conversation the other day with a couple of family members. One, a woman in her 20s, was asked when she was finally going to get her driver's licence. She reluctantly agreed that she would probably start driving lessons soon but pointed out that she and a number of her friends get around very easily on foot and using the bus. Yes, came the answer, but you need to be independent. She

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-29396090998470766162010-11-04T05:01:00.000-07:002010-11-04T05:01:57.339-07:00

As part of the State Government's $2b investment in public transport, the railway lines are to be electrified. From what I understand, tenders have already been invited to build the new electric trains. My own view is that the benefits of electrification are limited. Trains will be newer and shinier and they will require less maintenance. Local pollution will also be reduced although that

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-20306850361962043362010-10-18T03:42:00.000-07:002010-10-18T03:44:12.660-07:00

In any conversation about cycling, the benefits it can bring and the need for decent infrastructure, the cities of Copenhagen and Amsterdam rear their cycling friendly heads. Someone for whom all of this is not necessarily an issue will inevitably say, not unreasonable, that Adelaide is not Copenhagen. While Adelaide might not be Copenhagen, it does have some similarities. Contrary to popular

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-11977990302183247932010-10-12T16:58:00.000-07:002010-10-12T16:58:50.514-07:00

The Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations require employers to provide a dining area to their employees. In some offices, employees have a large room with tables and chairs, kitchen facilities and a flat screen tv. Alternatively, you might want to go outside to a cafe and buy your lunch. Some of us bring their own lunchboxes though and might want to go outside and sit in the

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-34426817562451602212010-10-11T02:40:00.000-07:002010-10-11T02:40:52.248-07:00

I love this website: Gruntworks.com. I post the odd picture of a crap bike lane but this guy Grant has gone to town. It's brilliant. He has done it for cycle lanes and footpaths. Worth a look and a vote I reckon.

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-82311473639153423552010-10-10T03:50:00.000-07:002010-10-10T03:50:36.833-07:00

Walkerville is a lovely suburb. It has geographically one of the smallest councils in the State and is full of tree-lined streets and beautiful historic houses. Like some suburbs in the east, it retains a village like feel. In its Strategic Plan, the council's Goal 10 is "Accessible local services that support social interaction and promote physical activity". Strategy 10.4 achieves that by "[

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-48785842106111458292010-10-02T17:29:00.000-07:002010-10-02T17:29:00.077-07:00

If you are interested in transport and how it is planned around cities, one of the best websites I know of is Human Transit. It is the blog of Jarrett Walker who is an international consultant in public transit network design and policy. He is based in Sydney so totally gets the issues that you come across when designing transit systems in Australian cities. I follow the blog because it

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-84843881414688372662010-09-30T02:59:00.000-07:002010-09-30T02:59:15.616-07:00

Somewhere in Canberra, a copy of the Australian National Cycling Strategy 2005-2010 has been gathering dust on a shelf for the past five years. You can still get a shiny pdf version on the Australia Bicycle Council website. It has just been replaced by the Australian National Cycling Strategy 2011-2015. Both documents are on the same website. The new cycling strategy aims to double the number

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-32516424946340491062010-09-29T18:46:00.000-07:002010-09-29T18:46:00.117-07:00

Love this woman. She was the mother who allowed her son to travel home on the New York subway - something anyone who is 40 or older would have done when they were young, along with going to the swimming pool by themselves, or to the park, or to their soccer training, crossing the road, etc, etc. She was labelled "America's worst mum". She is worthwhile googling because there is tons of stuff on

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-87689240651361083172010-09-29T16:21:00.000-07:002010-09-29T16:21:38.786-07:00

National Walk to Work Day is coming up on 1 October. It's the one day of the year when something appears to be done to encourage people not to get in their cars to drive the short distance to their office but instead to walk. The website says that the scheme is now in its 12th year. It's a bit like Walk Safely to School Day which is in May. That's the one day of the year when parents are

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-53503225746606777012010-09-20T03:12:00.000-07:002010-09-20T03:12:08.877-07:00

The State Government is slowly filling the gaps in its world-class cycling infrastructure. The latest street to benefit is Victoria Drive next to Adelaide University. As you approach Frome Road, and after you have passed all of the diagonally parked cars, each of which can pull out half a car length before they finally see you, you are greeted with this: Some lines painted on the road. As we

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-60305510378551810722010-09-19T02:32:00.000-07:002010-09-19T02:32:38.590-07:00

A good friend of mine has gone on a trip to Europe to find himself. He is young and a bit silly and claims he has gone there in search of the biggest hangover known to man. In fact, judging by his emails, he is learning about art, culture and European history. The latest city he visited was Amsterdam. I heard a lot about the Van Gogh museum, canals and Irish tourists he met. He also had what

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-76383452712415305262010-09-14T22:32:00.000-07:002010-09-15T01:05:41.806-07:00

Yet another cool video from the masters:

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-50715330564905459832010-09-12T18:05:00.000-07:002010-09-12T18:05:24.023-07:00

A common complaint from cyclists in Adelaide is that the few bike lanes that exist (and I use the term "bike lane" in a broad sense to include the joke bike lanes we have that are in fact just white lines in gutters) just disappear when the road narrows or you approach a junction. It is at junctions where they are needed the most. Not just lanes are needed at junctions but a proper design that

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-76305448257880536572010-09-07T19:59:00.000-07:002010-09-07T19:59:03.289-07:00

Pick any article in the news about, shock horror, actually spending a bit of money on infrastructure to encourage people to get out of their cars and maybe once in a while take a short trip on foot or on a bicycle and you will see the same tired and dull old comments. In short, the argument is this - motorists pay for roads through rego and petrol taxes, cyclists don't so the roads belong to cars

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-51538070545915278522010-09-01T23:55:00.000-07:002010-09-01T23:55:14.363-07:00

For a little while I lived in a small city in northern Germany. It only had a population of about 250,000 but it had a great railway station next to which was a proper bus terminal. They couldn't have been better situated because on the other side of the road was the main shopping centre. The bus station was on both sides of the road to cater for buses going in both directions. I found a recent

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-24996038561971760352010-08-31T22:22:00.000-07:002010-08-31T22:22:17.396-07:00

There are roadworks on King William Street in the city opposite the Commonwealth bank building. Why they are there I do not know. At the moment, the equivalent of a lane of traffic has been closed. A bus stop is also out of action. The interesting thing is that, certainly on my biased observations, it has made no difference at all to traffic during our 15 minute rush hour. Just as extending the

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-4027334296111472212010-08-31T16:26:00.001-07:002010-12-08T22:52:32.991-08:00

I was waiting to turn left this morning from War Memorial Drive on to Frome Road before going over the bridge, past the zoo and then on to Adelaide CBD's only proper bike lane. In front of me was a driver in a gold coloured Mazda 3. I felt her pain because she had been sitting there a fair while and there was just no break in the traffic. I don't think my bright light flashing in her back window

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-33477339016900069832010-08-26T00:49:00.000-07:002010-08-26T00:49:34.890-07:00

If, like me, you subscribe to the view that a brief surf of the web mid-morning actually increases productivity because it gives you a little break and allows your brain to refresh, it is a great time to come across new sites, blogs and videos. This one I found on a blog about cycling in Munich. It's made by a Spanish student, hence the Ricky Martin accent, and is all about proper inner city

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-9947751775014722342010-08-19T19:43:00.000-07:002010-08-19T19:43:17.506-07:00

My all time favourite comment that has been shouted at me more than once while I am riding is "get a car". I love it because of its originality and its logic. It is logical that if you are on a bicycle, you are a loser and plainly cannot afford a car. There is a famous quote, often falsely attributed to Margaret Thatcher, that, "A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-74709911886405732372010-08-12T19:05:00.000-07:002010-08-12T19:05:11.104-07:00

Mike Rubbo has made some great cycling films. He is on a mission to bring back the old style sit up cycle into Australia. This film I think is one of his best. It is his suggestion to Tony Abbott to show a bit of leadership and help transform our cities. It's well worth a look:

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7168389039373323640.post-42372152175069360842010-08-11T00:53:00.000-07:002010-08-11T00:53:04.416-07:00

One of my favourite things about people is their varying interests and how passionate they can be about them. I used to love watching the medieval fighting club at university in orientation week. Some of them travel around the world with their cardboard swords and shields for meetups. The internet has made pursuing your interests much easier and more rewarding. You can get to know people from

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03412247742128741823noreply@blogger.com1