Random thought.
The country is having a surge in heart disease and type 2 diabetes, arising from obesity.
Cycling helps to prevent that, so cuts the cost on the health budget. That must at least cut the cost placed on the acc budget through medical costs.
It's the bigger philosophy. If you banned all sports where someone might get injured, you'd blow the heart disease problem out huge time.
Like I said, random. But related.
Valid point too ratuscat!
I wave to cyclists![]()
Nunquam Non Paratus
Very bloody simple solution,BAN ipods etc from pedestrians and cyclists.How many accidents and deaths are caused by the victim wearing earphones and can't hear the traffic,how many times does the coroner say as much.
Also when you walk,ride or drive on the road the onus is on the indiviual to be aware,and here again it comes back to no phone in cars whilst driving,loud stereos etc which mean you aren't aware,sure stereo is fine,but as long as you can hear sirens,and vehicles.
But basically the rider/driver needs to look out for hazzards,and it's easy to pass a single cyclist on most roads,the difficulty arises when cyclists are 2-3 abreast on narrow country roads.
The thing is many car drivers can't identify their left side of the car,thereby misjudge the distance a cyclist is to their left side of car with disasterous results.
Hello officer put it on my tab
Don't steal the government hates competition.
people saying cyclists pay plenty of ACC already need to get fucked. guess what, those levies are to cover the cost of car accidents / bike accidents / trailer accidents / whatever
Education not Legislation
Cyclists piss me off with their self righteous attitude, always taking the moral high ground, like "they" are doing "the country" a favour!![]()
ACC levies= rego - covers road crashes,paye - covers non work,sport,home accidents,employers - covers workers injuries whilst working.
Only way cyclists pay their share is through paye levies.Not the same as saying we pay via regos etc,as they pay these costs for their vehicles,not for bike.Sure they can say they pay but a motor rego goes towards motor accidents now,or am I misinformed.
Hello officer put it on my tab
Don't steal the government hates competition.
You are correct. The problem is simply exacerbated by those very same dipshit drivers getting out on their treadlies.
They either don't care enough to pay attention, or have a notion that they can do whatever they want and are invulnerable in their cars...and they take that attitude with them on their treadlies.
Also correct. Regos cover ALL injuries for anyone involved in a road vehicle crash.
In some ways, we motorcyclists have a valid gripe about cyclists not paying to use the road. Afterall, we are often using the road in exactly the same way as them. For recreation. But we get to pay twice for the privilege. From earnings AND rego.
Argue that we can use our bikes for 'legitimate transport' ? - same applies to treadlies.
Do you realise how many holes there could be if people would just take the time to take the dirt out of them?
Just an observation, not sure if anyone else has mentioned it...
Cyclists killed in the last week = 5. With at least 2 more in hospitals on the critical list.
The chief coroner is about to start a investigation into the reasons for all those deaths, with a view to seeing what can be done, if anything, to make sure it never happens again. Laudable, I'm sure, but...
Total cyclists killed year to date = 10. 2009 was 8 and 2008 similar.
So - a week ago, someone was no doubt congratulating themselves on the low toll (5).
And they say that a week in politics is a long time...
Do you realise how many holes there could be if people would just take the time to take the dirt out of them?
I think Noel was saying that a lot of cyclists seem to have an arrogant attitude - more so than motorcyclists. Cyclists are more likely to just ride through a red light whereas a motorcyclist will filter to the front and wait for the green (knowing he/she can leave the cars behind easily). Cyclists will ride 2 abreast while travelling at 30kph in a 100kph zone - motorcyclists tend to ride 100 - 110 in the 100 zone and don't have cars coming up behind them with a 70-80kph speed differential.
We already have the message out there that we need to avoid arrogance and that it will get us killed (thanks katman). We are constantly being told to not trust the car drivers and look for escape routes for when they do the unexpected. I am wondering if there is a bicycle version of katman out there warning the other bicyclists that show the suicidal arrogance that they need to change their attitude?
I used to cycle (I even raced for a couple of years) but I live in Auckland now* - no way I want to ride a bicycle here! I would never trust the car drivers to pass me safely - I like keeping up with the traffic and not riding within a metre of parked cars. Generally I ride the right wheel track, cyclists are too slow to do the same - keeping to the left near the parked cars was a big factor in the death of the young woman on Tamaki drive. I personally feel MUCH safe riding at the same speed as the cars than bicycling a lot slower and being passed all the time.
* The scary thing is that I used to ride & race around Morrinsville, including on the road that 3 bicyclists were killed on last week. *shudder*
You're kidding right? U want the already nanny state to tell people that if they go out for a run, they're not allowed to listen to music?? Can you imagine the outcry? I guess they'd also have to ban bluetooth headsets and earplugs for motorcyclists. They'd have to limit volumes for car stereos. They'd have to remove some of the sound proofing from flash european cars. The ban on phones while driving was because it meant people weren't paying attention not because the phones were too loud.
The bloody simple solution of banning iPods etc seems much akin to saying we'll fix the issue of people dying on motorbikes by banning motorbikes. Not gonna happen
It was a sad and pointless death caused by inattention, but there was a cycle lane she could have used.
The three that where killed?
Well, probably been about the same number of deaths if it had been a car that was hit instead of some pushbikes.
Cyclists strung out across the road around blind corners, up hill at 30kph?
Dunno what to do about that one, surly they must be able to hear us coming?
And I’m not dropping to walking pace on every corner as then I will be killed by the car behind me.
Take ACC off rego and put it on fuel?
Kinda like that, pure user pays, but pedleys don’t drink gas.
Put it on GST? Na, people would riot.
Why not have a “free” transport? Walking, cycling etc?
Why not join forces with the self powered two wheel brigade, as many of the goals are the same and we may, just may, get heard?
I know I’m safe, I scratched some bit of card and now I have a licence.
We all have our little obsessions...
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