On The Panel this week there was a man who was intending to protest about cycle lanes this weekend. He sounded like a lawyer, just applying his arguments to the earlobe test. He seemed to be obsessed with the fact that cyclists break the law all the time. One of panellists said that she was confused by his case. I decided that he was as well. He came across as an “own goal” specialist.
It is so easy to rubbish cycleways. This week there was an excellent article on Stuff about the fear’s cycleways engender in the community. The article started by saying…
“Bikelash” is the phrase used to describe outbreaks of anger across the country when communities are faced by new cycleways. The article continued saying:
Ratepayers lash out at the extra cost for what they say is an undeserving minority of transport users.
A cycleways researcher, Dr Kirsty Wild said:
New Zealand’s approach of negotiating the construction of cycleways on a case-by-case basis dragged out the process and made it worse. “They are a core bit of safety infrastructure for a road, but we are treating them differently. It’s a bit divisive. It’s more likely to create conflict.
“A better way is by having some decent consistent street guidelines that treat cycleways the way we treat railways and roads. We shouldn’t be designing safety street infrastructure piece by piece.”
The case-by-case approach also often didn’t take into account the overall citywide benefits of having a cycleway network Wild said claims that completed cycleways were empty and therefore a waste of time and money were common. But she said it was hard to make a case for cyclists who didn’t exist yet.
“When the networks are in place and cyclists can ride safely and easily around the city, then the big numbers will come.”
Keep it up CCC. Build them and they will come. Here’s the article: https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/inspire-me/102454365/cycleway-fears-fanned-by-stress-of-change-expert.
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