Whatever, last night, about 6.30, at a well lit round-about intersection near Williamstown, a car from my left, who should have given way to me, decided not to. I make it a rule to establish eye contact with cars in that situation, and no question he saw me. I've got good lights, reflective thingeys on my ankles, I'm wearing regulation fluro. He saw me, but I think he thought, "I'm big, you are little, get out of my way", and drove straight through. The adrenaline surge got me the rest of the way home, and hey, I managed to get out of the way. I try to avoid the cyclist paranoia about cars, but sometimes ....
Makes you think. A friend has recently returned from Finland, and has been telling me about the wonders of Finnish bike paths - wide, clearly marked, lots of them, and as a result lots of people use them. From the
| FINNISH ROAD ADMINISTRATION site you can get an idea of what they are doing: |
Some 4,945 kilometres of cycling lanes and pedestrian ways have been constructed along highways and the network has in recent years expanded by about 100-200 kilometres annually.
Special attention is paid to the quality of these lanes to ensure maximum riding comfort and to make cycling more attractive. Finland has a total of 16,000 kilometres of bicycle and pedestrian ways.
Cycling is an important means of transport both in terms of mobility and exercise; consequently, cycling lanes are termed the country's most important venue for physical exercise. In addition, biking is heavily endorsed in the Ministry's programme on cycling 2001, setting the goal of doubling bicycle traffic by the year 2020.
Hard not to contrast that with the piece in The Age on Saturday:
"Despite evidence that cycling was a far cheaper and faster alternative, the State Government's investment in transport infrastructure was still skewed towards the provision of roads and public transport.
The Department of Infrastructure spent more than $450 million on public transport franchises in 2004-05 and $289 million on arterial road networks. Less than $10 million was committed to bike routes. As a result, Melbourne has about 30,000 kilometres of roads, 380 kilometres of train line, 500 kilometres of tram tracks and only 1500 kilometres of bike paths."
Election coming up - I wonder if there is a Fedral bike infrastructure funding scheme coming from any of the major parties? Instead of throwing money at filters that don't work, and advertisements that just waste our tax dollars, treat us like idiots and annoy the heck out of everyone, why not do something useful?
