Cheesecutter campaign

[MSTRS:Me]

http://www.cheesecutter.co.nz
Yes it does. Just no direct link to the movie clip.

[sAsLEX]

http://www.cheesecutter.co.nz
Yes it does. Just no direct link to the movie clip.

No the movie doesn't work. Even if you click on the link at the site, gives a 404 error. OR does it work for you?

[MSTRS:Me]

Oooops - you are right. Get onto Sanx if you want.
It is this you mean eh? http://www.nmcu.org/av/rider_no_prot...right_view.mpg

[WelshWizard]

Is it not time for a bit of updateing on the CC site.
cut and paste of page below shows it to be very out of date.
__________________________________________________ _______________

Protest Rides
To demonstrate to those in authority that motorcyclists want to be able to ride New Zealand's roads in safety, protest rides are being organised across the country to raise awareness of the danger wire rope median barriers pose to motorcyclists and other road users.

Levin
Location Railway Station, Levin
Date Saturday 10th November, 2007
Time 3:30 pm

Wellington
Route TSS, Cuba St, Alicetown, Lower Hutt & Carpark outside The Sandbar, Plimmerton to the Parliament Buildings
Date Sunday 11th November, 2007
Time 11am from both departure points
Notes Sunday 11th November is Armistice Day. A minute's silence, in honour of those soldiers who fell in the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts, will be observed immediately prior to the start of the ride. Please remove your helmets and turn off the engine.

To help spread the word about the Wellington protest ride, download a copy of the flier here.

Previous Protest Rides
The Auckland protest ride on November 3rd was a huge success with over 400 bikes taking part. The Cheesecutter Campaign would like to express their gratitude to the New Zealand Police for working with the ride organisers to ensure riders' safety and helping the event proceed without a hitch.

At the end of the ride, with the attendees gathered around the Cenotaph in the Auckland Domain, spokesperson Jen Halliday outlined the aims of the campaign and called for as many people to sign the petition as possible. Felix Tsang, who witnessed Dan Evans' accident, spoke of the effects of the barriers in the event of a collision and pointed out that not only do the barriers pose a significant danger to motorcyclists, but they do not prevent heavy vehicles crossing into oncoming lanes. Just three days after Dan Evans' death, a truck smashed through the wire rope median barrier on State Highway 1 near Papakura, hitting two oncoming cars before crashing into trees on the far side of the road. The accident happened on the same stretch of barrier that claimed Dan Evans' life.

Protest attendees were cheered when a letter from the Hon. Annette King - Minister of Transport, Hon. Harry Duynhoven - Minister for Transport Safety, and Hon. Judith Tizard - Associate Minister for Transport was read out. The letter read:

Hon Annette King, Minister of Transport, Hon Judith Tizard & Hon Harry Duynhaven, Associate Ministers of Transport send a message to the rally for Safe Motorway Barriers.
We are all at the Labour Party Conference and we regret we cannot meet you, here at the Auckland Domain.
We support your campaign for safer roads for all New Zealanders and will work with Transit New Zealand to make sure that the barriers separating opposing lanes on our motorways are not a risk for motorcyclists.
Judith Tizard, for Annette & Harry

The event garnered excellent publicity, with the ride reported on One News and an article in the Sunday Herald.

Important ride information
Some rules and suggestions for taking part in the protest rides:

Please wear a red arm-band. Insulation or adhesive tape is easy to get hold of and effective.
Please adhere to all road rules during the rides. Follow the ride leaders who'll be wearing high-viz vests.
Any anti-social or dangerous behaviour will not be tolerated. Period.
Please register your attendance at the rides. Kiwibiker.co.nz has an online registration system for the Wellington ride. It is useful to the ride organisers to know how many people will be attending.

[Nasty]

Is it not time for a bit of updateing on the CC site.
cut and paste of page below shows it to be very out of date.

Should send them a message through their website contacts option. Might be more effective.

[WelshWizard]

I would but I don't seem to able to access the CC site at the moment, maybe they are doing some updating at the moment, I have sent e-mail through the CC's but never had a reply, I know its volunteers, so if they need help they should shout out.

[sunhuntin]

True so you need to stand in front of the cut area so they pull away from you. It could kill you or take a limb off if you cut it and get hit by the rope. It takes a good clean whack with a heavy sledgehammer to get a clean cut with the guillotine so you will be standing in a safe place.

But it is not the way to stop these CC yet. Lets try the public support and political method first. No luck there then we need to be more proactive........... What ever that means........... So who reads this thread anyway??????

so even standing still the fuckers'll maim ya? bloody hell!

im also up for a ride to deliver the petitions as well.

edit: found this on an american forum i frequent... posted in reply to an article about riding in the wet

Many years ago with quite a bit less experience I went down on a bridge in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was a one lane bridge over my favorite fishing river. It had diamond plate steel wheel strips about 2 feet wide. It had been raining earlier in the day but the pavement leading up to the bridge was dry. I was moving along at a pretty good clip, probably about 45mph and the instant the front tire hit the steel strip things went into slow motion as I knew I was on my way down. I didn't get hurt that time but it scared the beejesus out of me worse than any crash I've ever had. The bridge was about 75 feet above the Stanislaus river (and rocks) with a cheese grater type guardrail and I just slid to a stop right in the middle of the wheel strip while I watched my motorcycle being shredded to pieces in helicopter fashion along that guardrail. Needless to say I did not go fishing that day (broke my damn fishing rod too) and I knew I was lucky to be alive. They say respect is born out of fear so I have had great respect for metal plates in the roadway ever since....

[kb_SF1]

was parked in NP today when harry stopped to look at the toy and mates bike, good discussion and harry is aware of the concern. He metioned 60k plus e-mails and has driven to auckland and said he was not happy about the wire on the left but when asked about the wire in the centre gave the cost v benefit reply. harry is approachable and maybe by-passing the gnomes in wgtn and going directly to the political power, especially with preasure from the nat MP might help progress things.

kb

[MSTRS:Me]

was parked in NP today when harry stopped to look at the toy and mates bike, good discussion and harry is aware of the concern. He metioned 60k plus e-mails and has driven to auckland and said he was not happy about the wire on the left but when asked about the wire in the centre gave the cost v benefit reply. harry is approachable and maybe by-passing the gnomes in wgtn and going directly to the political power, especially with preasure from the nat MP might help progress things.

kb

Face to face is good. BUT Hurry Dunrovin is not a political heavyweight and he could perhaps be described as an apologist. He will not make any difference.
Note his stance here...
Auckland Protest Ride in Nov.2007
Protest attendees were cheered when a letter from the Hon. Annette King - Minister of Transport, Hon. Harry Duynhoven - Minister for Transport Safety, and Hon. Judith Tizard - Associate Minister for Transport was read out. The letter read:

Hon Annette King, Minister of Transport, Hon Judith Tizard & Hon Harry Duynhaven, Associate Ministers of Transport send a message to the rally for Safe Motorway Barriers.
We are all at the Labour Party Conference and we regret we cannot meet you, here at the Auckland Domain.
We support your campaign for safer roads for all New Zealanders and will work with Transit New Zealand to make sure that the barriers separating opposing lanes on our motorways are not a risk for motorcyclists.
Judith Tizard, for Annette & Harry

And then note it here...
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...31&postcount=1

[WelshWizard]

Another bit of video info, left to me to post up by a mate who was over from Holland for the Puke Classic, Simon is now doing a tour further south before going back to Holland. he is better known to some as Ratbags on this iste, I hope he keeps posting info once back in Holland.
any way the link he gave me before leaving this morning.

http://www.safermotorways.co.uk/feature31_video_003.htm

not sure what they are saying as my computer does not have a sound card installed. But he reckons its good.

[RiderInBlack]

any way the link he gave me before leaving this morning.

http://www.safermotorways.co.uk/feature31_video_003.htm

not sure what they are saying as my computer does not have a sound card installed. But he reckons its good.

Same vid as it this http://www.concretebarrier.org.uk/
link ya gave earlier, but still a good idea.

[discotex]

not sure what they are saying as my computer does not have a sound card installed. But he reckons its good.

That is gold. Aimed at steel armco style barriers rather than cheesecutters but those things are just as bad if not worse.

The bit where it shows the bus hitting the concrete barrier shows the clear difference between WRB and armco style barriers. The barrier hardly even notices.

Interesting to see Vicki fronting it. Very slick marketing that pushes the cage safety angle far more than the biker one (while she looks hot in her leather jacket).

If we want change in NZ there are some lessons for how to get the message across in this vid.

[WelshWizard]

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere but the PDF has some good points about cost of the WRB's when they put two runs as they have on the southern motorway just before the Autoban turn to Puke.

http://www.network.mag-uk.org/barriers/WRB-reportV9.pdf
As its makes reference to Australian cost it has some interesting figures
$150+ Concrete per metre
$120+ Steel W-Beam per metre
$130+ Wire Rope Barrierper metre

So by double running these things they change the cost to
$260+ for Wire rope barriers, against $150+ for Concrete which as the video on step barriers show will only need one run not two.
Where the hell is the costsaving argument here

[MSTRS:Me]

Yungatart and I both did a mass mail to all MPs about our concerns.
Collectively, only some have replied but the responses have been 'interesting'...

* Supportive - National 12, Labour 3, Greens 2, NZ1 2, Act 0, United Future 2, Maori 0
* Negative - National 0, Labour 1, Greens 0, NZ1 0, Act 0, UF 0, Maori 0
* Non-committal - National 8, Labour 17, Greens 4, NZ1 3, Act 2, UF 0, Maori 0

The supportive MPs said things such as 'Not convinced these barriers are so great. Will be asking Transit for answers."
The sole Negative said 'They seem to work well on the Hamilton-Auckland highway' (oh, really?) It was Dianne Yates...perhaps she needs to be educated, like the email I sent back to her complete with info and photos.
The Non-committal were mainly 'Not my department, have passed on to Min.of Transport' but did include one that said 'Thankfully there are none in my electorate' (watch this space, eh?)
Most telling is the total lack of response from the Maori party...

[discotex]

I was hoping with all the work on the northern they'd be replacing them but from what I saw today they're being spruced up even though the verge has shrunk.