[bikeqld] RE: bikeqld Digest, Vol 41, Issue 15

[Aaron Wray]

My two cents. I do not support any moves to relax helmet laws even if it means less people riding. There is way too much evidence to show they are effective at reducing the chance of brain injury in an accident. It only takes a gumby low speed accident to hit your head on a pavement and kill or injure yourself. And my taxes will pay for their stupidity. 

Any idea of a speed limit on paths I also object to. Part of the benefit of riding is getting somewhere faster than a car. I want free flowing paths not artificially reduced speeds because of poor design or laziness on behalf of the government. I would prefer to see seperation or provide on and off road facilities than reduce speeds. I know how to ride safely in heavy pedestrian and cyclist traffic putting a speed limit in will not help. I read a quote from a person from a queensland cycling peak body that said 30kmh was too fast on a shared path. Twaddle what is that based on? If i'm riding at 9pm I can't do 30 down corro drive bikeway? If we had decent express ways in for cyclists like cars to that would go part of the way to making cycling more attractive alternative to being a cager. 

Anyway that's my two cents for now.
Aaron

> 
> 
> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. Re: free Citibikes in Brisbane (kim)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:15:42 +1000
> From: kim <kim at teegee.com.au>
> Subject: Re: [bikeqld] free Citibikes in Brisbane
> To: BikeQld <bikeqld at bikeqld.org.au>
> Message-ID: <4978F00E.9090505 at teegee.com.au>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> The helmet issue will be interesting. Perhaps an amendment to allow no 
> helmet on shared paths and footpaths with a commensurate speed limit 
> (warning at least). We have no requirement for pedestrians or other 
> recreational vehicles which typically use these paths to wear helmets. I 
> notice that in Byron Bay there is a high use of bicycles for short haul 
> commutes and 99% of the riders do not wear helmets either on the road or 
> when they ride (illegally) on the footpaths. Police seem to turn a blind 
> eye to this and I have watched as several cyclists rode past a well 
> resourced RBT without helmets and did barely attract a glance from the 
> NSW police. I think that if the helmet law was rigidly enforced that 
> there would be far less cycle usage in Byron. Byron is the ideal place 
> for a low speed limit too, although this is not in place, I do see a lot 
> of road being claimed back by pedestrians, skaters and boarders in an 
> apparently ad-hoc manner that seems to be a metaphor for what Byron is 
> about. I think the Brisbane CBD would be much more pleasant to ride in 
> and thru if it was more like Byron.
> I can see these hire bikes as being a great way for QUT students who 
> travel in by train to get down to the campus. I can remember the long 
> walk every day for 4 years as a kid from St Bris station to the then 
> QIT. You still see a big precession going to/from Central or St Bris 
> stations. I guess it could account for a large number of bikes on that 
> route alone and I wonder if the numbers will be adjusted to match the 
> demand in both directions.
> I think the clunker design is fine. Hopefully they are easily adjusted 
> to suit the rider. Should have just gone for an ungeared design to keep 
> them simple and cheap as they will probably only ever be for flatlander use.
> 
> 
> 
>  Ian Lister wrote:
> > Thanks to Richard and Seb for posting the links to the articles. There 
> > are still a lot of details missing though, and nothing on the BCC web 
> > site yet. Is there any more comprehensive information available out 
> > there?
> >
> > Over the last year one of the big questions has been how the scheme 
> > will deal with helmets. From the articles Seb linked to it's not clear 
> > but it sounds like they'll sell you one for $20 and, other than that, 
> > it's up to you to bring your own. If so, surely that will cut down the 
> > opportunities for using the bikes - people will need to plan ahead and 
> > carry a helmet around with them if they're intending to use one of the 
> > bikes.
> >
> > Or people might just ignore the law. Perhaps this will result in a 
> > higher level of disregard for the law. There had been speculation that 
> > BCC could pressure the state government to amend the law. That doesn't 
> > seem to have happened, but perhaps in the longer run some pressure 
> > will build. It'll need the federal government to be on board too 
> > though, I think, and, frankly, I can't see any level of government in 
> > Australia leaning that way any time soon.
> >
> > Ian
> >
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> > http://www.bikeqld.org.au/
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> > This list has NO affiliation with Bicycle Queensland.
> >
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> End of bikeqld Digest, Vol 41, Issue 15
> ***************************************

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