Cycling in Melbourne Australia
Can Melbourne Cyclist run a Stop at Red campaign?
Stopatred is a campaign to improve the status of cycling in the eyes of the public and policy-makers alike, and to tackle the attitudes of those cyclists whose behaviour perpetuates the image of cyclists as a low-status social 'out-group' on wheels.
Its specific focus is on the disregard of traffic signals.
It also has two general aims:
* To encourage cyclists to show courtesy towards other road users and pedestrians.
* To encourage greater compliance with the laws of the road.
visit: http://www.stopatred.org/
Its specific focus is on the disregard of traffic signals.
It also has two general aims:
* To encourage cyclists to show courtesy towards other road users and pedestrians.
* To encourage greater compliance with the laws of the road.
visit: http://www.stopatred.org/
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by ChrisS on -
Was wondering, in what way can MC support this campaign?
Like for instance, getting members to distribute and sign the electronic petition or give the campaign a local focus like media and talking with cycling groups.
I can send out a broadcast message to this Ning network if you would like people to be aware of the campaign or any further input/ideas.
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Permalink Reply by Mark Donnellan on -
Hi Chris,
I think it's a good initiative which ought to be followed in OZ - the UK experience and car culture is similar there, but getting Australian cyclists to pledge to obey traffic rules in the UK isn't too helpful.
If I had time (kids, work, study committments) I'd follow it up personally - is this the sort of thing BV (or other cycle advocacy groups) could do through existing networks?
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Permalink Reply by Adrian Tritschler on -
Why be so exclusive and focus only on cyclists? How about starting up http://www.dontparkinclearways.org, http://www.dontjaywalk.com, http://www.dontexceedthespeedlimit.org http://www.stopatstopsigns.org, http://www.stopatlevelcrossings.org, http://www.dontcheatonyourtaxreturn.org and umpteen others for the rest of the Australian population.
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Permalink Reply by Mark Donnellan on
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Aren't those campaigns are already happening at "Melbourne Driver", "Melbourne Pedestrian" and "Melbourne Taxpayer"?
Most people who visit here also drive cars, walk and pay tax. The point is that not everybody rides a bike - more's the pity. People who don't ride a bike (and some that do) see cyclists disobeying traffic signals and we all get tarred with the same brush. Just ask some of the letter writers in our newspapers - http://www.theage.com.au/letters/?page=fullpage#contentSwap2 - (Raymond Brooks, Carlton North & Peter Hamilton, Glen Waverley in today's Age).
Read the following from a blog (http://www.battewell.freeserve.co.uk/bike.html)
It is easy to get into a frame of mind where the car is the enemy .......... don't. Most drivers are reasonable people, but just don't appreciate the problems that cyclists have. With a few exceptions, they cause you grief through ignorance rather than design......
There is an attitude thing here. Bikes are tolerated on the road, but only just. Cyclists don't pay road tax (at least for the bike they are currently riding) so they don't deserve much space or consideration. On the continent they have savage traffic laws that sentence motorists to public castration by means of a blunt screwdriver if they drive within a foot of a bike. Actually that's not true, but they do have severe penalties for motorists who are involved in an accident with a cyclist or pedestrian. Notice the use of the word "involved". They are assumed guilty in such circumstances, and the onus is on the driver to prove that he is innocent. The result of this is that motorists give cyclists a very wide berth. Further, many more people cycle in Northern mainland Europe than in the UK, including many motorists, so they understand the problems that cyclists face. It all adds up to a different culture on the roads. We need to adopt much of this thinking if we want to make urban roads safe for cyclists in the UK. N....
Riding (and driving) would be better for everyone if there was a bit more mutual respect and understanding - riding through red lights undermines it for all cyclist, whether or not it's fair.
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Permalink Reply by Adrian Tritschler on
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> Riding (and driving) would be better for everyone if there was a bit more mutual respect and
> understanding - riding through red lights undermines it for all cyclist, whether or not it's fair.
Agreed, however I agree *more* with the point of view put forward by Euan, and expressed far better than I, in the BV forums - http://www.bv.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8741 - that people on bikes focusing on bad things that some people on bikes do serves to reinforce a victim mentality and reinforce the idea in 'anti-bike people' that all cyclists are bad.
By all means indulge in a "Stop at red" campaign if it makes you happy, but please ensure that it applies equally to people on foot, people riding bikes, people driving cars, buses, trucks and trams -- I've had to take evasive action at green lights for all of the above and I can assure you that the biggest threat to my health are the people not stopping at red lights in cars (due to their numbers) and on foot (due to the erraticness)
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Permalink Reply by Mark Donnellan on
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Must admit that pledging to stop at the red is a bit like those poor US kids pledging to hang on to their virginity. And I take your point about it entrenching the victim mentality, and understand Euan's point about this stuff being small beer compared to other stuff...but, as a park (read 'shared trail') manager and a cyclist that only uses the roads (unless with kids or doing park inspections), it really sh#ts me when cyclists f#ck it up by travelling too close to peds, too fast along shared trails, run red lights etc. they do it because they can without being identified, or because they are thoughtless about other people's space/comfort/feelings/amenity/safety. after a similar fashion, motorists do stupid things for the same reasons. The point of the campaign is to make cyclists think about their behaviour in terms of their impact on other road users.
Apropos peds - It's nobody's fault that they're plugged into phones, i-pods or vagueness - perhaps they're just too tired after a hard day at the office to look after themselves. If they go under a car or a bike, the driver or rider has to take some responsibility for not taking them into account. It is always foreseeable that one of these poor saps are going to wander into your path - how many peds cross your road/path without looking because they can't hear you? what do you do? ring your bell, click your brake levers, say hi, yell? Probably all of the above - they can't hear you. But YOU KNOW they'll keep doing it.
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Permalink Reply by Crowlie on -
It would be easier to promote respecting of road laws by cyclists if someone started writing road laws inclusive of the presence of cyclists on the road... Other than some retard "you must wear a piece of foam on your head or we'll fine your arse" crap law thrown in as an afterthought to some media hysterics.
If we're going to run a "stop at red" campaign it really does need to be in the midst of a whole road law education effort bashing it in to the heads of car culture maniacs that bicycles are legal road traffic.
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Permalink Reply by ChrisS on
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Exactly, but most riders who people see running reds aren't usually within the reach or scope of the usual bicycle advocacy or media stuff. Most are utility riders pootling around the suburbs, who wouldn't know a BUG, cycling club or the Grand Pooh Barber from a bar of soap.
How do we (reasonably knowledgeable, compliant riders) get the message across to these people. Or should we collectively stop worrying about riders who scribble in the margins and ignore the media dummy spits that spin around every 3-4 months?
I do a lot of media monitoring and haven't seen any decrease in the ranting anti-cycling bollox even in places where cycling is accepted better than Australia
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