good cycling article & thread

[Brian Nolan]

Good article and thread in the Guardian today ; http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... 16,00.html

The comment from an Australian cyclist made me laugh ;

-- Police enforcement of cyclists always fails. I worked as a cycle courier in Sydney some years back when the local police, prompted by spurious 'dangerous couriers' stories in the press, flooded the streets with undercover officers dressed as couriers.

Great idea: except that the police were mainly about 45 years old, overweight and squeezed into overtight lycra, making them fairly easy to spot. I cherish the memory of seeing one especially lardy specimen panting up a hill in fruitless pursuit of a colleague, at the time the third-best amateur road racer in New South Wales.

[Dan B]

Nice little articles (including the ACC gem).

I am really getting cheesed off with how easy it is for drivers. Their lobby does everything for them - it's like Ms Williams writes, plans for transport are based around private cars.

Mind you, I am also a driver (legally since I was 15) and an active pedestrian. If I heard bells ringing all bl00dy day I would be tempted to request a personal bell exemption from the bleedin' mayor himself, in no uncertain terms, with fists grabbing a lapel each.

There are so many cars on the road, and so many parked on that same road, that there is no room. People wonder why there is congestion. The solution is simple: make it harder to get a car, and make it easier to access properly run and prioritised public transport.