Sobering news: in August, New Zealand’s road fatality toll stands at 214 people killed on our roads so far this year, including 3 people who were just out riding their bikes, 15 pedestrians,10 children; 50 in Auckland alone… any way you slice the data, it’s still too many. And that’s not accounting for life-changing injury. What is an acceptable fatality rate, in a country our size? Think of a number – and then watch this. Vision Zero, an approach that began in Sweden and is being adopted around the world, flips the script. Instead of assuming a certain number of road deaths are inevitable, we could insist on none. We could refuse to accept the ‘road toll’ as some sort of fixed tax – or indeed, ‘toll’ – in exchange …
Bike Auckland
Please help us achieve traffic speeds that put New Zealanders’ safety first – make a quick submission by 5pm Friday, June 16! In this guest post, Bevan Woodward of Skypath Trust explains the catch in the proposed speed-limit setting rule, and how to fix it… NZTA is updating the speed-limit setting rule… but it is unwilling to put New Zealanders’ safety first. This is a missed opportunity to make our roads safer, more liveable, more vibrant and more efficient. Instead NZTA continues to require that speed limits be ‘safe and appropriate’. This initially sounds good – who doesn’t want safe streets? And it’s appropriate for traffic to go more slowly on streets where we live, shop, and …
Simon Wilson at The Spinoff has written a cracker of a piece about the East-West Link, the Onehunga roading project currently facing a Board of Inquiry at the Environment Court to see if it will be allowed to be fast-tracked. Of the extremely large number of public submissions (you can see the analysis here), the vast majority (85%) oppose the plan. Simon’s article is a pretty great round-up of why. Among other things, the projected $1.85bn budget could go a long way towards all sorts of other transport projects that would help Auckland, including the rail and bus network. Or imagine, for example, investing that same sum in a cogent network of connected cycleways, protected bike lanes, wide smooth footpaths, and traffic-calmed safer streets in …
It’s crunch time for Onehunga. The Environment Protection Agency is holding a Board of Inquiry on the proposed East-West Link from SH1 to Onehunga along the inlet foreshore. Public feedback is open until 5pm on Wednesday 22 March 2017, and there’s a handy link for online submissions on this page. We’ve written before about our doubts about the project (here, here, and here), which have grown as the estimated cost has ballooned – and we’re not alone in being unconvinced, with the wider community and some at Council also expressing concern. Even though some aspects of the proposal will be great for cycling (among other things), and we generally have a good working relationship with NZTA, our concerns are such that we can’t support …
The responses to the quick SeaPath feedback form we’re running with Generation Zero continue to flood in. A couple of thousand of you have already spoken up via our form, and we know even more have used NZTA’s online form and even the good old postal service. A quick reminder: there’s an info session TONIGHT, Thursday 14 April, from 6 – 8pm at the Northcote War Memorial Hall, 2 Rodney Road, Northcote Point. And there’s two whole weeks left – feedback closes April 29 – to really make clear how much Auckland wants and needs this wonderful connection! So we’re asking you to pass the word on to anyone you know who might want to walk …
What a fabulous finish to our year! The southern Te Atatu underpass is officially open, with direct access to McCormick Green open for holiday riding! On Monday I rode out to Te Atatu from the city to help celebrate the opening of the Te Atatu Underpass. Sorry to confess I was distracted by pressure to finish Bike Auckland jobs and the challenge of moving my chickens and gear to Waiheke where we’ve hosting twenty people on Christmas day. My mindset improved as soon as I got onto the new Nelson St route and saw loads of people riding it with me. My heart was singing by the time I reached the Upper …
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