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sgo said..
There is a reason why drivers don't "see" motor bikes, or cyclists, and why a pedestrian can look at you and not register you as scooter.
Something to do with the way our brain works in seeing what we are looking for and filtering out anything else.
The excuse " l didn't see you" is often truer than you think.

Absolutely true. I've lost count of the number of times when riding a motorbike that a car driver looked out their window directly at me before changing lanes straight into me.

I've heard that it happens a lot less to Harley riders since the the car drivers brain rates them higher as a risk.

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FormulaNova said..Perth is lucky as it has a lot of cycleways where you can ride two-abreast and be safe from car traffic as well. Someone put some thought into this.

Unfortunately Sydney has been left behind as they seem to take on cycling infrastructure as an after-thought if at all.

I never realised Perth was so great for cycling till I got here and I think its something only other cyclists can appreciate if they have lived in other Aussie capitals.

Yeah Perth is getting better for cycling. The city has hosted a few experts over the years and they are adopting some of their ideas. I like how in Perth they adopted the red cycle lanes instead of green ones like in the eastern states. I remember hearing that they use red in Holland because it's another visual guide for cars to not go there.

www.ptcconsultants.co/dutch-cycling-experts-offer-advice-road-safety/

This video was just uploaded. Note no one wears a helmet. When you feel totally safe you don't feel the need to wear one. Riding a bike for them is like us walking down a sidewalk.



Helmet laws in Australia are basically a result of not having good enough cycling infrastructure. A polystyrene hat is not great protection against a car. Therefore you need to seperate cars and bikes as much as possible. The general motto of the Dutch cycle infrastructure planners is, "If you don't feel safe enough to cycle without a helmet or a child can't cycle safely then it's not good enough." People on race bikes and MTBers wear helmets because they are cycling at higher speeds with increased risks like in bunched groups. There is an issue that's starting to arise over there and that's the elderly who are buying ebikes in droves. The higher speeds they can get up to is increasing their accident rate.

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Flying Dutchman said..
Yeah Perth is getting better for cycling. The city has hosted a few experts over the years and they are adopting some of their ideas. I like how in Perth they adopted the red cycle lanes instead of green ones like in the eastern states. I remember hearing that they use red in Holland because it's another visual guide for cars to not go there.

www.ptcconsultants.co/dutch-cycling-experts-offer-advice-road-safety/

This video was just uploaded. Note no one wears a helmet. When you feel totally safe you don't feel the need to wear one. Riding a bike for them is like us walking down a sidewalk.

Helmet laws in Australia are basically a result of not having good enough cycling infrastructure. A polystyrene hat is not great protection against a car. Therefore you need to seperate cars and bikes as much as possible. The general motto of the Dutch cycle infrastructure planners is, "If you don't feel safe enough to cycle without a helmet or a child can't cycle safely then it's not good enough." People on race bikes and MTBers wear helmets because they are cycling at higher speeds with increased risks like in bunched groups. There is an issue that's starting to arise over there and that's the elderly who are buying ebikes in droves. The higher speeds they can get up to is increasing their accident rate.

I'd be all for it in, but I feel that if you want cycling to become a ubiquitous form of transport in a city then the solution can't be half-baked, otherwise you only get a minority of dedicated people doing it. I can see that in Perth there is enough room and the city suburbs are not so extensive and densely packed, but in Sydney, would it be possible to achieve this?

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Harrow said..

Flying Dutchman said..
Yeah Perth is getting better for cycling. The city has hosted a few experts over the years and they are adopting some of their ideas. I like how in Perth they adopted the red cycle lanes instead of green ones like in the eastern states. I remember hearing that they use red in Holland because it's another visual guide for cars to not go there.

www.ptcconsultants.co/dutch-cycling-experts-offer-advice-road-safety/

This video was just uploaded. Note no one wears a helmet. When you feel totally safe you don't feel the need to wear one. Riding a bike for them is like us walking down a sidewalk.

Helmet laws in Australia are basically a result of not having good enough cycling infrastructure. A polystyrene hat is not great protection against a car. Therefore you need to seperate cars and bikes as much as possible. The general motto of the Dutch cycle infrastructure planners is, "If you don't feel safe enough to cycle without a helmet or a child can't cycle safely then it's not good enough." People on race bikes and MTBers wear helmets because they are cycling at higher speeds with increased risks like in bunched groups. There is an issue that's starting to arise over there and that's the elderly who are buying ebikes in droves. The higher speeds they can get up to is increasing their accident rate.

I'd be all for it in, but I feel that if you want cycling to become a ubiquitous form of transport in a city, then the solution can't be half-baked, otherwise you only get a minority of dedicated people doing it. I can see that in Perth there is enough room and the city suburbs are not so extensive and densely packed, but in Sydney, would it be possible to achieve this?

In Sydney it could work for people doing a long commute if they were willing to go mixed mode. Ride your bike or 2 wheeled EV a few km to a train station and leave it there for the 20-30km ride the rest of the way to the city or other major transport hub where you could pick up another 2 wheels to get another couple of km to your workplace.

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Mr Milk said..
In Sydney it could work for people doing a long commute if they were willing to go mixed mode. Ride your bike or 2 wheeled EV a few km to a train station and leave it there for the 20-30km ride the rest of the way to the city or other major transport hub where you could pick up another 2 wheels to get another couple of km to your workplace.

We seem to be going through a trial of escooters over here, at least as far as I can tell. I think I was in Sydney for the trial of the rental bikes (or were they e-bikes?) that ended up with bikes all over the place dumped where the last person left them or the next person threw them.

I wonder if it will work just as badly with the escooters? I have seen people riding them but I wonder if it would ever get to the level where you could jump on one to the train station and back again. I think to be sure you got one you would have to take your own.

In south perth I have seen people pull up in their cars and then jump on escooters or e-bikes and then do the last few kms into the city. In this case they are using free parking as close as they can get, so I am not sure these same people would ditch their cars for the commute.

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Flying Dutchman said..
There is an issue that's starting to arise over there and that's the elderly who are buying ebikes in droves. The higher speeds they can get up to is increasing their accident rate.

I think we are going to see this in Perth, but probably as much from younger people going flat out hitting older people or pedestrians. I have seen older people riding ebikes but not that fast and notice more the idiots on the cycleways using non-pedal-assist bikes and riding them at at least 30kph amongst people doing 15kph.

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Harrow said..
I'd be all for it in, but I feel that if you want cycling to become a ubiquitous form of transport in a city then the solution can't be half-baked, otherwise you only get a minority of dedicated people doing it. I can see that in Perth there is enough room and the city suburbs are not so extensive and densely packed, but in Sydney, would it be possible to achieve this?

Yeah that's the thing Harrow you need to go all in to really make it work mainstream. Do we have the leadership and voter intelligence to ever see that happen? You can achieve it in any city with the right planning. Sydney originally didn't have any cars, they retrofitted it starting the early 1900s.

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Mr Milk said..
In Sydney it could work for people doing a long commute if they were willing to go mixed mode. Ride your bike or 2 wheeled EV a few km to a train station and leave it there for the 20-30km ride the rest of the way to the city or other major transport hub where you could pick up another 2 wheels to get another couple of km to your workplace.

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FormulaNova said..
I think we are going to see this in Perth, but probably as much from younger people going flat out hitting older people or pedestrians. I have seen older people riding ebikes but not that fast and notice more the idiots on the cycleways using non-pedal-assist bikes and riding them at at least 30kph amongst people doing 15kph.

Yeah the non-pedal electric assist bikes are technically illegal so I guess it comes down to enforcement.

Reported in The Guardian today

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/09/entrenched-car-culture-leaves-millions-of-britons-in-transport-poverty