Being a role model is a tough assignment.
You look young for your age and exude health and well being. Your colleague makes the connection. It’s all about the bicycle.
After careful deliberation and consultation with experts and loved ones, your colleague decides to cycle the short trip to the office.
But it just doesn’t work out. In the first week, your colleague has been abused by motorists and almost hit. He did everything expected of him. Helmet: check. Hi-Viz: check. Claim the lane: check. Hand signals: check. Rode rules: check.
The damage is done. Your colleague parks up his bicycle in the shed and vows never to cycle again. But it’s much worse than that. It has just been confirmed to your office colleagues and their circle of friends that cycling is in fact, too dangerous.
Cycling like a vehicle is for the hard-core. They are out there doing it now. There is no cavalry.
The rules are made for vehicularists. Auckland will undoubtedly be a haven for moving about on a bicycle in the future. Separated cycling paths will criss-cross the isthmus. Speed limits will be reduced. Moving people will be given priority over moving motor vehicles.
In the meanwhile, it would be a shame to miss the great opportunities that exist in Auckland for using your bicycle as a transport tool.
Enjoy it as a Wheeled Pedestrian. No special expertise is required although a comfortable bicycle with mudguards and capacity to carry things would be useful.
Cycling. It’s as easy as walking, but faster….
"He did everything expected of him. Helmet: check. Hi-Viz: check. Claim the lane: check. Hand signals: check. Rode rules: check."
What a shame s/he stopped riding. Responsible cyclists are few and far between in Auckland, we really do need every last one (I've been in the CBD daily for three yrs, and can count on one hand the number of cyclists I've seen wait at ped lights).
Alan, in my view the prime responsibility of any road user is to operate safely and not cause a crash,
as the road rules are purely focused on using a car and if I feel I'm safer on my bike by using a bit of road without two tonne speeding hunks of metal on it then I'll use it, even if that means "cheating" a little on red lights
SteveC – the majority of people on bikes that I see disobyeing red lights seem to do so out of sheer "I can't be bothered to wait here" feeling. Sorry, but they do it in all traffic conditions, and they cause me pain as a cycling advocate, because they perpetuate stereotypes of cyclists as "holier-than-thou" people who need obey no rules.
I have no problems with people riding carefully across intersections on pedestrian green lights, or who decide that riding on Great North Road is stupid in heavy traffic, and decide to ride, carefully, on the wide footpaths. That is not a problem for me (though, legally, also rule-breaking, but I am willing to let that slide, because we aren't giving them better facilities yet on most roads).
But we should not blind ourselves to the fact that there's a significant minority of cyclists who ride like it's an extreme sport with no rules and no other participants. If you want respect, you need to give respect. The fact that some others do not respect YOU is no reason to set your default respect to "off".
We need more women, children and families on bikes to combat the perceptions that cyclists are just 20-50 year old testosterone warriors.
"I've been in the CBD daily for three yrs, and can count on one hand the number of cyclists I've seen wait at ped lights"
I'm not entirely sure what legal ground I am on here, but does the recent law change allowing cyclists to go through intersections on ped phase (at low speed) also allow them to proceed through ped crossings at low speed and with due care? I confess I do sometimes come to a stop or near stop at a ped crossing, then continue slowly through once all the peds are safely across.
Sam F – that "law change" actually changed nothing. The New Zealand Herald misunderstood the rule change which clarified the rule for people on mobility scooters, and skate boards etc… cyclists legally did not fall under the rule change at all.
It is still illegal to cross on a bike at a ped phase or over a ped crossing (such as a zebra) unless dismounted. It is a very sad law, and one of those I admit I often ignore, but it remains.