Drag racing on Missenden Road - car v bicycle

(Images: google maps screen capture of Missenden Road and Campbell Street, Newtown)


I'm totally gobsmacked by this afternoon's dickhead driving episode.

So here's what happened...I was cycling along Missenden Road this arvo, indicating that I was about to turn right into Campbell Street (pretty much in the position of the white car in image above) when unbelievably BLI 86X hooned up from behind on the wrong side of Missenden Road, came alongside me still on the wrong side of Missenden Road and took the right hand turn into Campbell Street before I did - yes, still on the wrong side of Missenden Road...

...in the quest to beat me to that right hand turn, BLI 86X was prepared to, and did, cross the zebra crossing from that wrong side of the road...

...what a frigging loser

Anyhoo armed with number plate details, I dropped into Newtown Police Station but they informed me very sweetly that unless they (the police) witness such an event the event is basically a non-event.

'No worries,' I said 'I understand.'

I do, I really do - if you're on a bicycle in Australia, you count for fucking nought.

OMFG...way way too close today

Side effects of bicycle helmet law are poorly reported

(Photos: latest yummy gateaux I've eaten)


There is more substance in the above birthday cake than there is in bicycle helmet law which instead is comprised of a high proportion of spin and bias, showing no real benefit of improved safety to cyclists.

Preposterously compulsory helmet requirements focus on less important outcomes in order to mask actual road safety statistics so as to make them look better than they are, and over and over again we note bias in the way adverse effects of helmet laws are reported.

You have to wonder whether there isn't some subtle pressure on academics at UNSW to publish studies that will be noticed rather than record the 'here & now' reality of cycling safety in Australia...

So let me state it for you on behalf of 'bottomless-cup' publicly funded academics :

$$$ cycling safety in Australia is a load of old rubbish,

$$$ helmet laws are a load of old rubbish, and

$$$ the ACCC should step in now and declare, 'enough is enough: helmets and their mandatory compulsion are not fit for purpose - we're recalling the regulations effective immediately.'

...sigh if only!

Thoughts from a bicycle activist

Armed with new 'media' skills, I've tried my hand at soundslides!!!!

- somewhat weirdly though there's too much blackness in the border at the bottom of the slide show - I think it's something to do with firefox - maybe I missed that lecture?! - maybe you're actually not seeing it!

- oh dear, so much to learn...

Anyhoo, it's been hours of life and hours of fun - and...I can only get better

The silliness of helmet laws

No helmet necessary for ridge-running


...tramping


...mustering


...perching


...or clambering through drift wood

BUT


...mosey on down to local cafe


...to get latest on 'Fonterra' or whatever...sigh

...and you'll find New Zealand is just as stupid as Australia

One set of stats, 2 different readings

(Images: screen captures from ACCC Regulation Impact Statement 2009)




Just for the record again on page 4:

"Nearly one third of all male cyclists...killed in road crashes were not wearing a helmet. Similarly, nearly one third of all female cyclists...killed in road crashes were not wearing a helmet."

This means according to these excitable statistics that:

OVER TWO THIRDS OF MALES CYCLISTS KILLED RIDING BICYCLES WERE WEARING A HELMET AND OVER TWO THIRDS OF FEMALES KILLED RIDING BICYCLES WERE ALSO WEARING A HELMET!

Why are the stats never reported this way round? - it's pretty obvious that they're shouting out 'not wearing a helmet' is a much safer option!

So to all Australian politicians, answer me this:

Why do you let us:

$$$ smoke,

$$$ overeat,

$$$ consume alcohol, and even

$$$ not vaccinate our children ...yet insist that we ride bicycles with helmets on?

They're utterly senseless and we want you to:

$$$ repeal mandatory helmet laws ASAP, and

$$$ tell all helmet-promoters looking to make a quick buck outside the military & oil industries, that the sweaty little helmet laws included in their sweaty little marketing package no longer can apply

Do something we can be proud of just for once...do it soon

Enough is enough

It is reasonable for me not to attend breast cancer screening with mammography

(Image: BreastScreen New South Wales bumpf)


Dear BreastScreen New South Wales & NSW Electoral Roll,

Ever since I have turned 50, I have been bombarded (thanks a lot, NSW Electoral Roll, for allowing access to my data!) with advice to get myself down to your nearest mobile mammogram van for screening purposes - and resolutely I have refused.

No, no, no, and I've been saying this for over 3 years now.

Of course as is customary in Australia, my wishes have been completely ignored due to an expectation that I will comply with your jolly summons. However as is customary with me, I invoke my right to express my informed refusal and therefore I continue to decline your services.

I have both ignored you and written to you in an attempt to unsubscribe from your mailing list but to no avail. I am still getting your spam - endless reminders and invitations, even missives of concern inquiring whether I didn't receive your last one or perhaps overlooked your first letter way back in the day when I toasted my arrival into my 6th decade!

No I haven't been 'overlooking' and I don't need 'reminding' - I just don't want your mail or mammogram period

Moreover I feel quite reassured that my current position of refusal is informed when I read Dr Peter Gøtzsche's reflections especially where he says, "it is getting more and more difficult to argue that it is reasonable to attend for breast screening."

There we have it - so please please please...desist telling me that it only takes a short time and may save my life, I TRULY DON'T WANT TO BE COMMUNICATED WITH...OR SCREENED.

Kind regards,
Sue Abbott
@freedomcycliste

'The Conversation' dribbles with excitement at thought of MHLs in UK

(Images: Amsterdamize, Flickr "PS 'helmut' is not a typo, but slang for plastic placebo")


La la la - fingers in eyes, not reading...

...seriously, Britain, don't read The Conversation and don't listen to the latest roll-over by the BMA!

Surely the entire membership base of UK doctors hasn't done a complete turn about too on their prior admirable position?!

I feel I should send a word of warning...

Word of warning; remember that we, Australians, have been the guinea-pigs in an in-depth global observational case study and as such no-one in the world can fail but notice what an unmitigated disaster this legislation has been in terms of public health, traffic congestion, the environment, and unnecessary policing.

In all honesty, no community on this planet can afford the huge drain that bicycle helmet laws have on the public purse. We certainly never could and we still cannot.

So, to all UK doctors as you face the siege of helmet promotion, stay strong, be sceptical, say 'NO' to helmet pushers, and a massive 'NO' to the oil lobby, whose interests it's in to see mandatory helmet laws enacted.