28 June 2009

Red Necks and Green Cycle Lanes - Alistair Coe Sets Out to Incite Hatred Against Cyclists

| Horrid
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Liberal TAMS spokesman Alistair Coe clearly believes that inciting hatred against cyclists by complaining about the cost of green paint on cycle lanes (Canberra Sunday Times 28 June p,11- sorry not on-line) is smart politics. After all, given that the average cost per annum is about 36 cents per Canberran, and the massive benefits cycle lanes bring to our city in improving road safety and reducing traffic congestion, pollution and parking shortages, it can’t seriously be about financial management- this is just a pretext.

Coe has clearly learnt nothing from his predecessor Steve Pratt, who adopted similar tactics in attacking cycle lanes and calling for their removal, for purely political reasons based on presumed electoral appeal to the motoring majority.

The tactic was fundamentally flawed; firstly, many drivers appreciate the benefits of cycle lanes even if they still choose to drive; and secondly, the lanes have not created anywhere near the level of inconvenience to drivers that anyone other than hardened bigots would have changed their vote on the issue.

Conversely, many bicycle riders, and their families, voted on this single issue – their lives literally depended on it. The Liberals produced an excellent cycling policy on the eve of the 2008 election, but it was too late- years of attacking cycle lanes had already cost them thousands of cycling votes, and Pratt himself lost his seat by several hundred votes, with Liberal voting cyclists playing a crucial role in his ejection.

Coe should take note of this recent history, set aside the politics of hatred, and concentrate on good sustainable transport policy if he really wants to improve the Liberals chances at the next election- and keep his own seat.

[ED – once more with feeling]

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i’m with you, jakez, let’s make ’em read some aristotle. it’ll do ’em good. and mebbe some russell or quine just for good measure.

i did like the ducks bit of this thread, though…

Anna Key garbled:

Personally, i’m getting sick of footpaths too. The way pedestrians think they have some kind of right to use them, not to mention their overwhelming smugness because they walk. All that money wasted on concrete and then the maintenance. Can’t they be removed and replaced with a road-widening scheme.

Like cyclists, pedestrians who walk rather than drive also benefit from their type of locomotion but I have not heard them raving on about how wonderful they are and how much they benefit the rest of us. And since most of us are pedestrians most of us are not smug about walking.

Nowhere in my comment did I suggest that the cycle paths should be removed, just that they should be constructed properly and used if present. A pedestrian could be charged with jay walking if they were to walk in the road blocking other traffic particularly if there was a place provided for them to walk such as a footpath or pedestrian crossing. Cycle lanes are now provided for cyclists.

I’m so embarassed to be a cyclist right now.

Rednecks? Give me a break. I mean I’m not expecting you all to read Aristotle’s The Art of Rhetoric, but there has to be some minimum standard to debate.

monomania said :

Other than road safety any significant benefit is to the health and wallets of cyclists. The claim that society as a whole benefits to any significant degree is spurious and only in the minds of cyclists, a justification for their feelings of superiority. If properly constructed and cyclists made by law to ride within them if they are present, I support these cycle lanes.

Whether expensive green paint is necessary on parts of the cycle paths is debatable and I guess that is all Coe wants to do.

Personally, i’m getting sick of footpaths too. The way pedestrians think they have some kind of right to use them, not to mention their overwhelming smugness because they walk. All that money wasted on concrete and then the maintenance. Can’t they be removed and replaced with a road-widening scheme.

Horrid said:

After all, given that the average cost per annum is about 36 cents per Canberran, and the massive benefits cycle lanes bring to our city in improving road safety and reducing traffic congestion, pollution and parking shortages, it can’t seriously be about financial management- this is just a pretext.

Other than road safety any significant benefit is to the health and wallets of cyclists. The claim that society as a whole benefits to any significant degree is spurious and only in the minds of cyclists, a justification for their feelings of superiority. If properly constructed and cyclists made by law to ride within them if they are present, I support these cycle lanes. Whether expensive green paint is necessary on parts of the cycle paths is debatable and I guess that is all Coe wants to do.

haha, how’d I do that??

[ED – once more with feeling]

ED says it all, really…

No point me adding my opinion on cyclists, I’ll just add one on ranters…

they suck. Unless I agree with them, then they rock.

To Northbourne Ultimatum, the intent of the Streeton changes is recognised. Unfortunately the law of unintended consequences is alive and well. It is now dangerous for everyone (including those crossing it from Namatjira). I have given up on it and now go via Hindmarsh at busy times.

Fanatical cyclist, just do not realize that they stink of sweat. I have had to tell blokes at work or ride to work, get a shower.

Painting the cycle lanes green is a waste of money, it doesn’t improve the cycle lane in any way nor does it help in getting drivers to give way to cyclists dawdling along in them. I have no problems with them creating on road cycle lanes to assist those with a death wish, however making the existing car lanes thinner to a point where a truck cannot safely occupy the lane or removing lanes like on Stretton drive is rediculous and is mostly sheer stupidity.

Clown Killer7:17 pm 28 Jun 09

Though if you wanted to attract ducks, a trench filled with water might be better than a strip of green paint.

Don’t even go there. We get enough greif from the cyclists – if you put a trench filled with water in you’ll only encourage kayakers and god knows we don’t want that!

Full Tilt said :

But they are painting them GREEN! Which ducks mistake for GRASS!

Won’t anyone think of the ducks?!?

Relax, ducks are adaptable. Recently I witnessed a duck fight off some seagulls and munch on some fish guts from a fish I had just cleaned.

If a few ducks get squished in a green lane the other ducks will soon clear up the mess, resulting in smarter, stronger ducks.

Though if you wanted to attract ducks, a trench filled with water might be better than a strip of green paint.

Maybe the libs are getting their policies from scrolling through the archives on RiotAct.

Next we’ll see laws cracking down on burnouts, kids starting stupid Facebook sites, rude cafe staff and shops overcharging for pizza.

Oh, and hopefully one outlawing all those ducks!!

Bunnings has the paint on special at the moment, is this going to affect the Lib’s study??

Why don’t we all go paint cycle lanes in the car park outside the assembly building, so they can’t park their cars, that would be just golden to see the looks on their faces.

Admit it, its tempting………

Felix the Cat said :

It would cost more to remove the cycle lanes than it would to mark them with green paint to begin with. They should get rid of the pedestrian crossings while they’re at it, white paint ain’t cheap either.

and while we’re at it… how much do they spend on black paint?! Now think about that! Lets just leave asphalt the colour it should be people, we’d save ourselves, er, well something… I’m sure!

Northbourne Ultimatum5:51 pm 28 Jun 09

Everyone needs to get over the idea that the bike lane at the Streeton/Namatjira intersection was put there for the benefit of cyclists – the fact is, it wasn’t. Recently there have been a number of serious accidents with cars turning across the Southbound lanes of Streeton Drive into and out of Namatjira. To make the intersection safer, Streeton Drive was changed to one lane at the intersection. Only time will tell whether or not this proves to be an effective measure.

Bike lanes appearing and disappearing isn’t a great thing for cyclists either.
Hindmarsh hill is amazingly bad, coming from Woden the rebranded shoulder stops dead (with kerbing!) just before Mugga Lane. The saving grace is it takes an experienced cyclist to dare go that way.

As for blindspots, If I’m coming up on a slow moving car, its my problem; but if they overtake me, I am still there. Their slowing down to turn left on top of me is entirely their fault. Which is the reason for the green lanes, to make it more obvious to people who probably shouldn’t have a licence. Think of the paint we could save by not licensing incompetent drivers!

“its upto the smaller vehicles to be aware of their surroundings and stay safe”
The road rule supporting this statement?

Dvaey, I suspect you are precisely the kind of person that the Liberals are targeting with their tactic of inciting hatred against minority groups. Sadly, in your case,I would say they have been completely successful.

dvaey, there is no excuse for not checking your blind spots before moving. Without fail. It is absolutely your responsibility, and you’re driving negligently if you don’t do it.

caf said :

That’s probably because you’re supposed to CHECK YOUR F.UCKING BLIND SPOTS before you move your bloody vehicle!

It’s just as likely you’ll run into another car as a cyclist if you don’t.

Except that a bike lane is about 18 inches wide and they seem to come and go as they please, as opposed to traffic lanes which are about 4m wide. When a new traffic lane appears, you also get a lot more notice, bike lanes just pop in from the side of the road, follow along for a few hundred metres then disappear into the bushland again.

As for blind spots, isnt that the reason why pedestrians and cyclists need to be cautious around vehicles? Any vehicle for that matterm whether a car, motorbike, truck or a train, its upto the smaller vehicles to be aware of their surroundings and stay safe. I imagine the cyclists who complain about cars not seeing them until the last minute, are the same cyclists who buzz past a pedestrian and leaving the pedestrian feel like their space was just enroached upon. The only difference, if you see a car break the law you can report it with a glimmer of confidence it might be checked up on.

Maybe the government should take all the millions theyre pouring into making on-road cycle paths, and spend that money to fix up the off-road paths instead. That way the cyclists still get their tracks (which are more direct than the road network), cars are no longer impeded, and we’d be able to stop whinging about cyclists on RA all the time.

Felix the Cat3:48 pm 28 Jun 09

It would cost more to remove the cycle lanes than it would to mark them with green paint to begin with. They should get rid of the pedestrian crossings while they’re at it, white paint ain’t cheap either.

When petrol is $3 a lt PLUS then you wingeing rednecks will be thinking about cycling too. We have just past Peak Oil people!! “Bio-fuel vs Food ya right?”

Any way since I started cycle everywhere now I have lost 10Kg and my cholesterol is in check, Now I have to watch out for you bloody dumb red necks thinking you own the whole road, as you are a possible greater heath risk. Its about time they started locking you idiots up and throwing away the key, “A dose of your own Justice”

“Save your selves ride a bike”

I love how green paint comes up in ACT politics every few years!

Clown Killer2:39 pm 28 Jun 09

I don’t have any problem with the cycle lanes generally and certainly not with the ones on Streeton Drive.

This smacks of a desperate attempt to gain traction – any sort of traction on any sort of issue it doesn’t matter, so long as it grabs some press coverage. It’s a telling point really, that the Liberals have to troll like this to get some column inches even against Standope, Simply Simon, Incompetent Katie and Drunk Hargraves.

Why doesn’t this moron take on TAMS or whoever over the stupid bike lane on Streeton Dr. No self respecting cyclist would ride in the lane because they would end up with a car/truck/taxi driving up their proverbial. They have also f##ked up the entry onto Streeton from near St Judes by herding all teh traffic into one lane. The rest of the lanes aint too bad.

That’s probably because you’re supposed to CHECK YOUR F.UCKING BLIND SPOTS before you move your bloody vehicle!

It’s just as likely you’ll run into another car as a cyclist if you don’t.

stonedwookie1:42 pm 28 Jun 09

cycle lanes are stupid they hardly reduce congestion you only ever see a few people riding in them this isnt china. we dont have a huge amount of people riding bikes 2 work.
plus there normally built next to bike paths.riders will ride in your blind spot then get all aggressive and wonder why you almost just ran them over.

But they are painting them GREEN! Which ducks mistake for GRASS!

Won’t anyone think of the ducks?!?

The article ends with

The Opposition says the discovery is proof the Liberals are not wasting taxpayer’s money with a flood of questions on notice to the Government.

Mr Coe said the Opposition believed some cycle lanes should be relocated for the safety of cyclists

But after reading the article, he is just trying to make the news & wants a comparison between the cost of the green paint for bike lanes & the white paint for pedestrian crossings

Clown Killer11:06 am 28 Jun 09

Can I be the first to say that I once saw a duck using a cycle lane.

It’s about time this was raised on Riotact. It’s been nearly three weeks – THREE WEEKS! – since the last anti-cyclist spray delivered it’s load of bile-filled foamy goodness all over the page. Get your act together people! We have standards to uphold!

aren’t they the same thing?

clearly the man is still on training wheels and needs to get out a bit more…

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