Regarding ungrateful dickheads

Yeah, some cyclists are ungrateful dickheads—which is entirely consistent with the population at large. [twitterer]

When I am [benign] dictator, no one will be allowed to make comments about cycling until they can prove that they have watched this at least twice and understood it.

Congestion calculations

Forget induced demand, adding road capacity to the network can increase your travelling times without changing the number of vehicles in the system. Yes, the Braess Paradox is counterintuitive but once you get the basic idea (which is all I have) it makes a lot of sense.

Consulting the Big Book of Risk

Strict Liability - an idiot's guide:

That is what strict liability is about. Not an erosion of some fundamental principle of guilty or not guilty, not an automatic cash cow for every cyclist on the road; simply a statement that if your search for convenience ups the stakes for everyone around you when you travel, you should expect your insurers to have to pay proportionately more for the priviledge. Your premiums will go up as a result.

[twitterer]

I have a cunning plan

Ten reasons why reducing automobile dependency makes sense:

…traffic engineers were the urban designers of the twentieth century. Instead of town centre high streets built for walking and transit, we have built big boxes of shops surrounded by car parks and often called them town centres. Instead of grids for walkability and transit, we have built vast swathes of suburbs featuring curvilinear streets and culs de sac, which make it much harder to find your way, and a longer distance to get there.

[twitterer]

Ugly truth in advertising

@JMcEwanDLC:

Awful ad on a #Burnaby bike rack. A city working hard to encourage active transport countered by @Ford's jab/threat.

Nice attitude

Is that sarcasm or intimidation or both? Whatever, "nice attitude" Ford.

Grappling with growth

In a dazzling display of wit, the Sunshine Coast Daily says Careful of those cyclists, they're multiplying:

Ever grow frustrated with the amount of lyrca-clad road-warriors on the bitumen? Bad news: their numbers are growing fast.

So if "their" numbers are growing fast, doesn't it suggest that a sizeable proportion of the Sunshine Coast Daily's readership is actually…umm…"them"? Or at least knows and cares about one of "them"? [twitterer]

And here's another thing about growth: bikes often mean tourist dollars, that is unless you're in NSW.

Contra-dicting the objectors

cycle.org.au:

Sometimes, letters to the editor can surprise you. In this case we have the residents of Tyler St in Preston telling the council that they disagree with other residents and want the contra-flow lanes that were so strongly argued against in the previous weeks newspaper.

Are we at peak idiot yet?

Get rid of your car, you don't need it, says Jeremy Clarkson.

No, now we're at peak idiot

New York Post says Citi Bike is putting your head at risk. [twitterer]

Meanwhile Sir Bradley Wiggins urges London cyclists to wear a plastic hat, even though

Helmets offer no protection from the most common cause of death for the capital's cyclists — being crushed under a turning HGV. All five cyclists killed in London this year are believed to have suffered such injuries.

And then Star Wars villain Darth Vader promotes bicycle helmet safety on billboards across Germany but, as others have noted, clearly he's not pushing hi-viz. [twitterer]

"I find your lack of headgear disturbing."

If you're going to go over to the Dark Side, I suggest you not go for the airbag helmet. [twitterer]

Beyond peak idiot

Speaking of idiots, let's talk about Duncan Gay:

[NSW] Roads minister Duncan Gay wants to curb the dangerous and illegal lunatics who put pedestrians and other road users at risk and make the streets safer for everyone.

Sounds serious. So, that would be irresponsible and dangerous motor vehicle drivers, like this murderous cretin, yes?

Ah, no…

Mr Gay said he was "increasingly persuaded" that a bike licence scheme - potentially involving cyclists paying a fee to register their bikes - was needed in NSW following a series of horrific accidents involving riders, cars and pedestrians, including two fatalities.

Ah, Duncan Gay…you ol' jokester, you!

Meanwhile astroturfer Jai Martinkovits (spokesman for the incredibly popular #SaveOurStreet "campaign") got a column in The Daily Telegraph in which he opined: Stop the Castelreagh St cycleway or we'll be riding a pushbike down the road to ruin.

Ruin, I tell you, ruin:

There is a multi-million dollar north-south cycleway, going up Kent St. If you have some spare time, go and look at it. You can spend half an hour looking at it in the middle of the day and you'd be lucky to see one cyclist.

Umm, it's the middle of the day, dickhead. Nothing is happening in Kent St in the middle of the day.

Quax not a #quaxing convert

NZ Herald reports that the now world-famous Auckland Councillor, Dick Quax, still doesn't understand this whole quaxing concept:

"Shall I be flattered?" Mr Quax asked when told about the trend yesterday.

"I do it myself sometimes, I take a backpack and buy small items, but you can't do your weekly shop on a bike, and that's what I was talking about."

Erm, I'd have thought the whole point of the #quaxing trend is to point out that you can do your weekly shop on a bike and plenty of people do. Just because Dick can't imagine doing something himself doesn't mean it's not possible and practical.

And back to Duncan Gay:

"I'm yet to see a freight train back into a shop in Newtown, or someone hitch a ride on light rail with their newly purchased ... fridge," he said.

Once again some middle-aged white guy reckons something can't and isn't being done on public transport, just because he can't imagine doing it himself. OK, challenge accepted.

So, if taking your shopping home by bike or public transport is #quaxing, does that mean hauling white goods and furniture on public transport is #gaying?

Fail

Cycling Weekly presents its top ten cycling fan fails.

Another "solution" in search of a problem

Boing Boing reckons LED turn signal cycling gloves "could be a lifesaver".

Yet another step in trying to turn cyclists into cars

Or it could just be another pointless gimmick.

The wheels of justice turn slowly

Illawarra Mercury reports:

A green P-plater who took off after hitting a cyclist near Helensburgh, leaving her victim "for dead" by the side of the road, has been jailed for a minimum of nine months.

Let's get a bit more perspective on this from an earlier report in the Sydney Morning Herald:

In the seconds that followed [the collision], green P-plater Talia Jade Van-Rysewyk fled the scene, already concocting a cover story for the smashed windscreen, passenger-side mirror and indicator.

And if that's not sickening enough:

the court heard of Van-Rysewyk's clumsy attempts to conceal the crime by enlisting her friend's help to change a punctured tyre, remove the damaged side mirror and clean the front of her car

Despite Police collecting convincing evidence against her, "she had repeatedly denied hitting Mr Braid or seeing him lying injured by the road" and "Police have not witnessed any signs of remorse from the accused".

What a nasty piece of work. No doubt she feels that the justice system has dealt with her harshly—as it should.

Active transport vs obesity

Regarding this article in the Hun, @cubbieberry is "Wondering if there a correlation of the absence of #bicycle infra in outer #melbwest w/ highest levels of obesity".

Streets are a "battleground". Again.

Streets have turned into battleground for older pedestrians

"Older people are dying because we have created unsafe road networks and drivers either don't understand the road rules or don't care about them," he said.

"There have to be real consequences for drivers who kill and injure people who are walking, not a slap on the wrist. Crashes seem to be palmed off as an unfortunate accident, particularly where seniors are concerned."

When are we going to stop trading some people's safety for other people's convenience? [twitterer]

We ♥ UCI

"Noticed some interesting signage on my morning ride today!"

I'm happy to share my half-baked thoughts about the Richie Porte/Simon Clark thing, but if you want some informed comments, the Cycling Central panellists make some great points.