Melbourne's Age - Drive section

flyingdutch said:

Im in print!
was sitting here last week spitting foam over the stupidity of one letter-to-the=drive-editor so fired off a missive. Pity they had to edit it so brutally.
the original letter i sent follows...

"In reply to Julian Siuksta's wonderful advertisement of his ignorance it should be pointed out that:
1 Those strange white lines are not koori decoration on St Kilda Rd, but a BIKE lane/s.
Couriers are most welcome to vague off in their own lanes whilst looking for an address, and not double park
2 Since when is Dandenong Rd a Highway? Although truth to be known riding it on a bike does seem a tad impractical
3 The few cyclists who do run red lights are not sanctioned by the greater number of cyclists.
I often tell them off as funnily enough I usually catch up to them at the next set!
Riding a bike is not being a 'pilot of the green movement'. I drive too. Its all about getting from A-to-B.
For me its quicker than driving and public transport in most commutes, and far, far cheaper ( i guesstimate approx $10K per year).
And can i just blow a few other myths drivers love throwing our way.
We do pay taxes, and we use up far less of them than drivers do.
Society's biggest financial cost is our health system. The second biggest is Roads.
Ever wondered how much one contributes to the need of the other? The vast majority of trips in Australia are under 2km.
getting a litre of milk or the school run. We are in the grips of an obesity epidemic in our young and most parents insist on driving junior to school.
Now think what a difference peak hour would be (to you too Julian) if most of those ferrying school-cars walked or rode to school.
According to Vicroads statistics, 20% of these cars getting in your way are simply going to school and then returning straight home (not onto the workplace). Its all about A-to-B, Julian. I sympathise with your stressed out working scenario but dont blame us as we are more likely the solution, not the problem. PS bring back the 'torrie'!"

jeez. i dont harf ramble 🙄

Yes - good on ya! - I saw it, but a day late, and was thinking about launching into it. The behaviour of van couriers/taxidrivers on St Kilda Rd. has to be seen to be believed - snap-decision double-parks being one of their favourite manouevers, followed by taxidrivers lounging against their cabs at the ranks, sticking their feet way out into the bikelane!

The standard arguments work OK - but what we see in the letters page is just the tip of the iceberg of the prejudice that a harried and hurried workforce exhibits when they're being pressured to perform, secretly don't like it, and see all this cycling freedom whizzing by them. Perhaps we need to secretly put a BV freebie bike in the back of his van when he isn't looking, and he might, in a moment of defeat, take it out and make his next 3 or 4 deliveries on it! Pipedreams . . .

M "ex-courier (bike, ret'd)" H

"flyingdutch" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message news:[email hidden]

[...]

Quoted message said:

2 Since when is Dandenong Rd a Highway?

Since forever. It's part of the Princes Highway - Highway #1, the longest
highway in Australia.

Quoted message said:

3 The few cyclists who do run red lights are not sanctioned by the
greater number of cyclists.

I'd love someone to do a proper survey of this. I reckon a lot of cyclists
run red lights.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

DRS said:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

3 The few cyclists who do run red lights are not sanctioned by the
greater number of cyclists.

I'd love someone to do a proper survey of this. I reckon a lot of cyclists
run red lights.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

A lot of cyclists run red lights, but there are a lot of cyclists that don't. I think we want to know about the proportion of cyclists that run red lights.

While we're at it, I'd love to know the proportion of motorists that exceed the speed limit (ie, >60 (not just >70) in a 60 zone).

FWIW, I think FD's letter was a Good Thing. The original letter could not go unchallenged!

Ritch

On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 at 02:38 GMT, ritcho (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

A lot of cyclists run red lights, but there are a lot of cyclists that
don't. I think we want to know about the proportion of cyclists that
run red lights.

While we're at it, I'd love to know the proportion of motorists that
exceed the speed limit (ie, >60 (not just >70) in a 60 zone).

~25% on a road near us, according to the local paper. It's a 50 zone,
and people have a hard time grasping the concept of a brake (it is
downhill). RACV are naturally really upset by the figures, because it
proves how money making those greedy communist [censored] Police are.

My own street, I doubt anyone does 50 down. Except for around the
roundabouts, where a few of them might slow down to 49 or so. Maybe.

Quoted message said:

FWIW, I think FD's letter was a Good Thing. The original letter could
not go unchallenged!

Does anyone have a link to the actual text that made it to the Age?

What did they lose when the edited it?

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
HANDLE WITH EXTREME CARE: This Product Contains Minute Electrically
Charged Particles Moving at Velocities in Excess of Five Hundred
Million Miles Per Hour. --unk

"flyingdutch" <[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Im in print!

Mad reply! :-)

If only I could get all that message across when I
flip someone off... ;-)

tax payin' hippy using his share of the road

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>> "DRS" == drs <[email hidden]> writes:

DRS> I'd love someone to do a proper survey of this. I reckon a lot
DRS> of cyclists run red lights.

Without a doubt. My experience has been that I see more infractions on
St Kilda Road than anywhere else.
--
Regards
Euan

In article <[email hidden]>,

DRS said:

I'd love someone to do a proper survey of this. I reckon a lot of cyclists
run red lights.

They could also do a survey on what percentage of couriers regularly do
illegal U-turns.

--
Shane Stanley

DRS said:

Quoted message said:

2 Since when is Dandenong Rd a Highway?

Since forever. It's part of the Princes Highway - Highway #1, the longest
highway in Australia.

So is this just poor naming?
Seems strange that Princes Highway is listed as starting at Dandenong heading east and Dandenong black bitumen thingy has that word 'Road' in its name.
According to vicroads D Rd is a 'suburban link road' for the P Hwy 🙄

"ritcho" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

DRS said:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

3 The few cyclists who do run red lights are not sanctioned by the
greater number of cyclists.

I'd love someone to do a proper survey of this. I reckon a lot of
cyclists
run red lights.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

A lot of cyclists run red lights, but there are a lot of cyclists that
don't. I think we want to know about the proportion of cyclists that
run red lights.

<snip>

I love red lights. I get to practice my track stand, and when they go
green, my sprint.

P

flyingdutch said:

Im in print!
was sitting here last week spitting foam over the stupidity of one letter-to-the=drive-editor so fired off a missive. Pity they had to edit it so brutally.
the original letter i sent follows...

"In reply to Julian Siuksta's wonderful advertisement of his ignorance it should be pointed out that:
1 Those strange white lines are not koori decoration on St Kilda Rd, but a BIKE lane/s.
Couriers are most welcome to vague off in their own lanes whilst looking for an address, and not double park
2 Since when is Dandenong Rd a Highway? Although truth to be known riding it on a bike does seem a tad impractical
3 The few cyclists who do run red lights are not sanctioned by the greater number of cyclists.
I often tell them off as funnily enough I usually catch up to them at the next set!
Riding a bike is not being a 'pilot of the green movement'. I drive too. Its all about getting from A-to-B.
For me its quicker than driving and public transport in most commutes, and far, far cheaper ( i guesstimate approx $10K per year).
And can i just blow a few other myths drivers love throwing our way.
We do pay taxes, and we use up far less of them than drivers do.
Society's biggest financial cost is our health system. The second biggest is Roads.
Ever wondered how much one contributes to the need of the other? The vast majority of trips in Australia are under 2km.
getting a litre of milk or the school run. We are in the grips of an obesity epidemic in our young and most parents insist on driving junior to school.
Now think what a difference peak hour would be (to you too Julian) if most of those ferrying school-cars walked or rode to school.
According to Vicroads statistics, 20% of these cars getting in your way are simply going to school and then returning straight home (not onto the workplace). Its all about A-to-B, Julian. I sympathise with your stressed out working scenario but dont blame us as we are more likely the solution, not the problem. PS bring back the 'torrie'!"

jeez. i dont harf ramble 🙄

wooaahh! savage editing by The Age!

Paulus said:

"ritcho" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

DRS said:

[snip]
> 3 The few cyclists who do run red lights are not sanctioned by the
> greater number of cyclists.

I'd love someone to do a proper survey of this. I reckon a lot of
cyclists
run red lights.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

A lot of cyclists run red lights, but there are a lot of cyclists that
don't. I think we want to know about the proportion of cyclists that
run red lights.

<snip>

I love red lights. I get to practice my track stand, and when they go
green, my sprint.

P

I love red lights. I get to rest, especially after big hills.

T

Tamyka Bell said:

I love red lights. I get to rest, especially after big hills.

T

Yes.
I recon they are a good excuse to cath my breath and have a drink.

Ted.
==============================================================
| Ted Linnell <[email hidden]> |
| |
| Nunawading, Victoria , Australia |
==============================================================

ProfTournesol said:

wooaahh! savage editing by The Age!

savage but fair.
drive.com.auarticle.aspOpen ↗