for sale: waterproof cycling jacket/invisibility cloak

In two weeks time, Sunday 20 September , is the Torrens Street Party for World Car-Free Day (that’s my street

• The warmth and power of community
• A child-safe and friendly street (official road closure)

• Travelling carfree and carefree

• Lots of fun and learning opportunities (see website)

• Food and drink: something for the barbeque and salad table or anything else you fancy (we have a liquor licence); plates, cutlery, glasses, folding chair
• For swap tables: Urban harvest (fruit, vegies, herbs and seedlings from your garden), clothes, books, kids, spouses … woops that’s next …

• Your family and friends

(from )

WORK has started on a Copenhagen-style bicycle lane running between the footpath and on-street car parks in Sturt St, city.

An artist's impression of the Copenhagen-style bicycle lane in Sturt St.

The lane will be the first in South Australia to be constructed in the style common in Copenhagen, Denmark, where there is a strong cycling culture.

It will run along the northern side of Sturt St, between West Tce and Whitmore Square, and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the month.

Sturt St’s footpaths will be widened, car parking will be retained and traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction under the $300,000 project.

Lord Mayor Michael Harbison said the bike lane was a safer option for cyclists and he expected similar lanes to be built across the metropolitan area once people got used to the idea.

“It’s important to us to break the ice so that we can let everyone know what this type of bike lane is like,” he said.

“Sturt St was a good option because it’s so wide and doesn’t have much traffic.

“We will be looking for opportunities to do this style wherever we can because the distinctive thing about it is that it separates cyclists not only from traffic but also pedestrians, so it’s safer for everyone.”

Mr Harbison said delivering safe walking and cycling networks were among the council’s priorities. “With increasing numbers of cyclists in the city, the Copenhagen-style bike lane in Sturt St will help ensure the safety of cyclists and eliminate possible danger to pedestrians,” he said.

“Providing greater opportunities for cycling through the creation of more bike lanes means more people will choose to ride their bike to work or study in the city, which in turn means reduced carbon emissions and a greener city.”

Bicycle SA chief executive Christian Haag said the Copenhagen-style lane was an important part of the council’s bike action plan. “They are very effective in separating cyclists from motorists,” he said.

“People tend to feel safer and the lane sends a very clear visual message that Adelaide is becoming a cycling-friendly city.”

(from )
Gavin Lower | June 03, 2009

ADELAIDE lawyer Eugene McGee and his older brother Craig pleaded not guilty today to conspiracy to attempt to pervert the course of justice over the fatal hit and run of a cyclist nearly six years ago that sparked a royal commission.

The brothers are accused of agreeing to frustrate, deflect or prevent police from investigating the blood alcohol level or sobriety of Eugene McGee, 54, after he collided with cyclist Ian Humphrey in the Barossa Valley in November 2003.

District Court judge Geoffrey Muecke listed the case for a three week trial in February next year.

Eugene McGee’s lawyer, Sam Abbott, told the court he was still considering whether to ask for the trial to be heard by a judge alone.

Eugene McGee was acquitted of causing the death of Mr Humphrey by dangerous driving but was fined for driving without due care.

In 2005 Premier Mike Rann established a royal commission into the police investigation and Eugene McGee’s trial – the first in South Australia since the Hindmarsh Island royal commission a decade earlier.

Craig McGee, 59, and Eugene McGee have tried to have the charges against them stopped, claiming they cannot receive a fair trial in South Australia because of the publicity surrounding the case.

In February last year District Court judge Malcolm Robertson refused their request for a permanent stay on the charges, saying he was satisfied a fair trial was possible.

They appealed against the refusal to the High Court, which refused to intervene.

(from )

I implore you to read Debra Mayrhofer‘s brilliant and incisive new article at New Matilda. Here’s a taste:

 Reporters should take note that a bicycle rider does not “collide” with a faster-moving motor vehicle that runs over them from behind. They should also be aware that gravely reporting that a dead cyclist “was not wearing a helmet” is completely irrelevant if they died from abdominal injuries when they were hit. And the fact that there was a shared path nearby does not make them reckless risk-takers when they’re still riding on a legitimate cycle lane. 

Read the full article here.

(from )

by Jessica Whiting

Ted Jennings (left), with Edward Sellen, has set up a site calling for a bike rack trial on buses.

CYCLIST Ted Jennings wants bike racks installed on the back of buses when the Belair rail line closes in April.

Mr Jennings, of Glenside, is using the social networking site Facebook to lobby the Government for a trial of bike racks on the replacement buses.

His Facebook group, “Get bike racks on the back of all Adelaide buses”, has 221 members and he hopes to have 500 by the time the work on the line starts.

“When they said, ‘we are going to shut down the train line’ … I thought ‘it is a perfect time to set up a trial’,” he said.

Earlier this month, the Hills and Valley Messenger reported the Belair line would be closed for four months from April while the track was re-sleepered, leaving cyclists stranded.

Mr Jennings, 30, a member of the Australian National Mountain Biking Association, uses the Belair line once a fortnight to access bike tracks at the former Lynton dump and depot sites, Sleeps Hill Reserve and O’Deas Reserve.

“We go up there to train on the weekend and during the week, and it’s not always convenient to get a truck to take us up and then ride down, and take us up again,” he said.

“It’s not just the mountain bikers, it’s also the people that work in the city who ride to work and catch the train home.”

Mr Jennings said if the bike rack trial was implemented and successful, some buses should have bike racks installed permanently. “Not all buses need to have the bike racks – it’s just buses that go on specific routes (such as the Hills).”

Coromandel Valley mountain biker Lachlan Morse, 15, said he was “annoyed” at the rail closure because it would mean he could not access bike tracks.

“The bike tracks have just been put in – last week I probably used (them) four times,” he said.

“We can’t really use (the tracks) unless you have parents driving you around.”

Transport Department spokesman Ross Stargatt said the department was still investigating installing bike racks on some of the replacement buses.

The number of people cycling to work in Adelaide has increased by almost 50% in a five-year period, particularly among well-educated professionals, according to a University of Adelaide study.

Transport expert Dr Jennifer Bonham says the most recent Census statistics show that 41.9% more people (6498 in total) are cycling to work in Adelaide’s urban areas, with increasing numbers of women living near the city opting for the bicycle over other methods of transport.

Dr Bonham will present her findings at the Australian Cycling Conference at the University of Adelaide next Monday 19 January.

The conference, scheduled on the rest day of the Tour Down Under, will include cycling researchers and transport planners from Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Key topics under discussion include community bike fleets, reducing the number of cycling accidents, strategies to encourage cycling as a preferred mode of transport, “pedalling hatred” and gender cycling trends.

Case studies will also be presented on an Aboriginal bike fleet project in Sydney, a workplace cycle challenge in England which involved 38 organisations, and a study of Brisbane’s network of bike lanes.

Macquarie University PhD candidate Adrian Emilsen will discuss motorists’ attitudes to cyclists, highlighting an incident in Sydney last May when a training group of 50 road cyclists were brought down in a collision with a car that was considered an unprovoked act of road rage.

Researchers from Monash University will also present their findings on behavioural patterns of commuter cyclists in Melbourne.

Dr Bonham says the resurgent interest in cycling for urban transport is putting pressure on planners and governments to improve bike networks and understand the factors which influence cyclists.

“Cycling has an important role to play in short to medium distance journeys in a carbon-constrained world and transport, health and census statistics show that cycling is on the increase in Australia,” Dr Bonham says.

The conference is being supported by Unley and Adelaide City Councils, Office of Cycling and Walking, Bicycle Institute of South Australia, HUB Traffic and Transport and the University of Adelaide.

Full details of the conference program can be found at www.hubtt.com.au/australiancyclingconference