Bells, bicycles & BIKE-SHARE!
Q. Why has the latter flopped in Melbourne?
...in a nutshell...
A. Bicycle helmet law!
Ignore shrill protestations trotted out by car clubs & bicycle clubs!!! - this is the reason...
...& Australians are not happy!
This Saturday 30th July 2011, 'Punk Commuters' are taking to the Melbourne streets to peacefully protest about our crippling helmet regulation.
Starting at Federation Square (12:30pm sharp), the bicycle plan is to cycle in a peaceful 'protesterly' manner along most of Swanston Street, along the Bourke Street Mall & then up the rest of Bourke Street to Parliament House and the Treasury Building.
There'll be megaphones & speeches, & of course there'll be plenty of 'ringing of bells' peacefully.
Finally the Bike-share bikes are going to get the love they deserve ♥ ♥ ♥
...& needless to mention, everyone will decide their hat-wear options!
Our democracy, our rules - let's get Australian politicians to 'once-again' recognise cyclists' right to choose whether we helmet or not!!
...& let's give Melbourne Bike-Share a chance!
Hi Sue,
ReplyDeleteMy theme for the week is "respect and irony"
respect to Cadel for a marvelous achievement
irony that Australia can produce a Le Tour winner, but can't organise a successful public bike share, or get more than 1% of the population to use a bike as transport.
Give me a call later today if you want to co-ordinate media contact.
I LOVE YOUR THEME!! x
ReplyDelete...chat soon
Sure, the bike share program has not worked as well as in other cities. But that’s no reason to give up a tired and true law that helps make riding safer for all of us.
ReplyDeleteSure you can cite all the spurious studies you like that claim helmet laws actually stop people riding. There’s no shortage of research that shows this is not true. And the claims that helmets don’t make people safer? Also patently false as any study of emergency room admissions and crash stats will tell you. Finally, to everyone who whinges about ‘the nanny state’: get over yourself. We have lots of laws that protect us from ourselves. I’m generally a libertarian, but if you don’t want the government forcing you to protect your noggin, don’t expect the government to pay for your healthcare when you suffer a potentially life changing injury either.
I don’t expect you to agree with me, but I’m tired of the smug self-righteousness of fringe dwellers who think they know better than the rest of us.
(And incidentally, I ride every day, actively campaign to get better infrastructure for bikes, and like you want to see more people on bikes. I also support your right to protest even though I disagree with your cause.)
Thanks for dropping by, Jin, and like you respecting my right to protest even though you disagree with my cause, I respect your right to freedom of expression even though I disagree with your opinion.
ReplyDelete