Auckland - a cyclist's nightmare

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Mon, 28 Sep 2009 7:39p.m.

Is it safe to cycle in our cities? In some cities, like Christchurch, the answer may well be yes.

Bike tracks, widespread bike usage and motorists alert to the fact they're sharing the road makes Christchurch a cycling success story.

Less so, Auckland.

Roads crowded with cars, far fewer bike lanes and far less bike awareness.

On Saturday morning came disaster. A car ploughed into a group of cyclists, on perhaps Auckland's most popular ride.

Is it simply too dangerous to cycle in this city?

Peter Gardner was supposed to be out riding on Saturday morning when four members of his cycling group were hit by a car.

"Decided as it was raining, and the roads were rather damp, having come through a recent accident myself, I thought I'd better give this weekend a miss - and I'm glad I did."

Witnesses say a car ran a stop sign and injured four cyclists from the Pickled Pedallars group - one of them seriously.

The group rides every Saturday and Sunday morning with up to 40 bikers.

"It certainly is a shock to have any form of accident happen, let alone one with the severity of injuries that have occurred in this instance, but we wish our colleagues well and they're getting all the support and help that they can," says Mr Gardner.

Auckland's roads too often become a battle field between motorists and cyclists.

Blogs, talkback radio and websites have come alive with the cycling debate today.

But while the weekend's accident has sent shockwaves through the cycling community, the Pickled Pedallers are determined to stay on the road.

"We'll be out riding next Saturday along Tamaki Dr," says Mr Gardner. "Many of us have already been back out onto the bike again, we rode on Sunday, which was a little bit sombre."

And they hope to see their friends back in the saddle, as soon as they can manage it.

Campbell Live spoke to CEO of Bicycle New South Wales, who has been working closely with the city of Sydney to come up with a bicycle strategy.
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Comments

07 Oct 2009 08:52a.m.

Paul Wilkinson wrote:

Amazing...I live in Stockholm, Sweden. As a Kiwi I am shocked to hear the Harbour Bridge has no cycle lane. What? The city of Stockholm started the rent a bike intiative 2 years ago, and while the bikes are by no means attractive, it's as simple as a $40 annual reg. fee and an sms and you're on your way. Mind you most people have bikes here anyway, as there are absolutely excellent cycle paths where rarely do you need to share a road with cars. The guy from Sydney was spot on. You need separating curbs not just painted lines! I saw a mother of 3 girls on bikes riding yesterday to school in a bike path. That's the norm not unusual at all. Mind you this city also has excellent subway and bus network too! How about this...one parent with a stroller ride the bus for free! That's forward thinking. This country with 480 days of paid maternity leave is light years ahead of Auckland and dare I say it New Zealand. Only thing I have to contend with now is the 6 months of dark winter. Kiwi in Sweden

07 Oct 2009 08:52a.m.

Paul Wilkinson wrote:

Amazing...I live in Stockholm, Sweden. As a Kiwi I am shocked to hear the Harbour Bridge has no cycle lane. What? The city of Stockholm started the rent a bike intiative 2 years ago, and while the bikes are by no means attractive, it's as simple as a $40 annual reg. fee and an sms and you're on your way. Mind you most people have bikes here anyway, as there are absolutely excellent cycle paths where rarely do you need to share a road with cars. The guy from Sydney was spot on. You need separating curbs not just painted lines! I saw a mother of 3 girls on bikes riding yesterday to school in a bike path. That's the norm not unusual at all. Mind you this city also has excellent subway and bus network too! How about this...one parent with a stroller ride the bus for free! That's forward thinking. This country with 480 days of paid maternity leave is light years ahead of Auckland and dare I say it New Zealand. Only thing I have to contend with now is the 6 months of dark winter. Kiwi in Sweden

04 Oct 2009 11:37p.m.

Lazza wrote:

I saw on tv the new initiative where more bikes are being provided in Auckland for easier travelling around the city. A fantastic idea, but after all the uproar regarding cyclists (I believe all users of roads need to be more patient and courteous to others), is this really such a good idea? Sure, Auckland is such a rat-race, but more patience leads to less stress.

04 Oct 2009 11:37p.m.

Lazza wrote:

I saw on tv the new initiative where more bikes are being provided in Auckland for easier travelling around the city. A fantastic idea, but after all the uproar regarding cyclists (I believe all users of roads need to be more patient and courteous to others), is this really such a good idea? Sure, Auckland is such a rat-race, but more patience leads to less stress.

03 Oct 2009 06:20p.m.

Jan Gemmell wrote:

I am a cyclist and have been for 20 years now. I am also the owner of a vhicle. I would like to see the law pronounced to ALL vehicle owners that cyclists are allowed by ride 2 abreast. Why is this info not being released to the news media. I would like to see Tamaki Drive closed every Sunday morn from, say until 11am. Surely anyone that wants to do breakfast etc could use one of the many side streets that run adjacent to Tamaki Drive. There are also many teams from our schools that run events early Sun morns. Just look at the medals NZ cyclists received for our country and how proud we were of them.

30 Sep 2009 07:19p.m.

Larry wrote:

The more I read of this, the more it interests me. I keep analysing the points of view and my own experiences as a cyclist and a motorist. Every time I come to the same conclusion, the conclusion that NZ motorists are anti anything that may slow them down. It doesn't seem to matter whether it's roadworks, traffic jams, cyclists or even other motorists. (Just ask a roadworker how often they get abuse!) In fact they are more aggressive toward other motorists than they are cyclists! The only difference between being aggressive toward a car who slows you and a cyclist is that a nudge between cars is much less likely to cause damage than hitting a cyclist. How on earth can we get drivers to cool down and stop abusing everyone that slows them?

29 Sep 2009 07:41p.m.

nigel wrote:

You've got it wrong Auckland, Chch is NOT much better at providing for cyclists.

29 Sep 2009 07:34p.m.

Nigel wrote:

Other countries such as Germany, Holland, Denmark and Japan have suffered from the same problems of dangerous driving by incompetent motorists. They all solved the problem by changing the laws in favour of the most vunerable people - pedestrians and cyclists. Now drivers there are much more courteous and respectful. It is the thing you expect in a truly civilised society. Unfortunately I fear our politicians are too gutless to act.

29 Sep 2009 05:22p.m.

Jay-Z wrote:

Well, interesting reading. I see Auckland suffers from the same perennially bigoted drivers as Sydney.

accsux; 29 Sep 2009 6:37a.m, Billy; 28 Sep 2009 10:09p.m and kevin; 28 Sep 2009 9:27p.m.: yes, yes...all rhetoric we've ALL heard before. Except your road based taxes dont pay for roads alone. Get to readin' and you might be surprised what you're actually funding with your dollars. You're not paying $250 a year just to "use the roads". Its far deeper than that. You're paying for other motorists who crash and injure themselves and others. You're not paving roads.

You'll get where you're going two minutes later if you take your time to pass safely, and a cyclist will get to their destination ALIVE.

I agree with one thing Kevin, there's a time and a place. A main highway in morning peak IS NOT the time.

29 Sep 2009 02:01p.m.

Graeme wrote:

A car driver ignores a stop sign, doesn't look where they are driving (or perhaps does?), ploughs into 4? cyclists, injuring 1 severely, and this is the excuse NZ motorists were waiting for to berate all cyclists. Says a lot about petrol head, not so clean n green, NZ.

Change the law. Only allow cyclists to pass each other, not ride 2 abreast continuously.

One cyclist, one less car driver does reduce your road traffic congestion and your competition for car parks. Motorists need to look past their selfish noses and work out who is doing it to them. Their local council. Councils decided decades ago to massively increase road traffic congestion in all NZ cities by adopting the arterial roading design, as opposed to the interconnected grid design. They deliberately close off as many streets as possible to through traffic. They have done such a good job of destroying the city's transport infrastructure that they have had to create bus only lanes. Why do you think they deliberately remove as much convenient, low cost, on street parking from CBD areas? Its not just because they own most of the parking buildings. They want you to use PT. Rather than taking your anger out on the few cyclists using the few congested main arterials in your city, why don't you go into your local council office and bang their desk?

When cycling near a road works area, I watched a courier driver drive thru an unnecessary red light (the intersection had been barriered due to the road works). This did not upset me.
The next day I rode my cycle through the same red light to get out of the way of the narrowed single lane and to make a right turn at the next intersection. The following car diver wound down his window and gave me a verbal about breaking the law. Would he still have abused me if I had waited at the lights & ended up blocking the lane to his car thru the road works area? Car drivers, where does all this anger come from? Get a life or get committed to a mental hospital!