Alans Letters: Preconditions
What needs to happen first to get New Zealanders to choose to use bicycles for everyday transport?
August 25th, 2009
Cycle 'Super-Highways' in Copenhagen
http://can.org.nz/article/they-are-building-bicycle-superhighways-in-copenhagen#comment-2677
Yes, this is what we ( who ride bicycles) would love to have here in New Zealand too but...
Democracy is a numbers game so it's never going to happen here with our elected politicians steadfastly maintaining the status quo by serving the interests of the auto-petro corporates and the vast car-driving majority who refuse en-masse to endure the risks that complying with existing laws compels cyclists to take.
Our laws, which deem bicycles to be 'vehicles',force all cyclists to share 'the combat zone' with motorised traffic and to endure wearing helmets:
By limiting our right to choose what we deem to be the safest route,they suppress demand for cycling among the risk averse 'vulnerable user' demographics( i.e. most 'ordinary' kiwis).
It won't be until we change these laws that we'll start to see a growth in interest in cycling by a much broader section of society and a consequent growth in demand for the kinds of bicycles (i.e the ones that are prevalent in the European and Japanese cycletopias) that make cycling practicable and convenient by 'ordinary' folks, the elderly, women, children, the unathletic etc...
When that happens, we'll have the numbers, and the political credibility , like they have now ( but haven't always had) in Denmark, to get bicycle superhighways built in New Zealand cities and towns.
So what has to happen first ?
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Alan Preston in Mangawhai, Northland.