Ouch!

I'm glad this isn't me but you do have to laugh at a decent face plant. Failblog have posted a video, check it out, it's funny!

A bit harsh

The age has posted a story involving a motorist stopping to help a cyclist and then setting his dog on him. It's seems like such a pretty far-fetched story but who knows what goes on in regional Victortia. It's a bit rough but I'd like to think it's just a drunken tale. I mean honestly, who sets a dog on someone to mug them? At 1 in the morning!

Police Blitz

Reading the news over at the age and they have an article about a Police blitz on cyclists and pedestrians in the CBD. Bike Boy will be on his best behaviour for the rest of the week and would suggest that anyone cycling in and around the CBD do the same. Of course Bike Boy would like to say that he is on his best behaviour most days. He'd like to ;)

The news report highlights some key points and number one is always a debatable issue. Check them out below:

- Cyclists must not ride their bike on the footpath unless aged under 12. The only exception is if the footpath is a designated bike path.

- Cyclists cannot ride their bike across a pedestrian crossing. To cross the road at a pedestrian crossing they must get off their bike and push it across the road.

- Cyclists must stop at red lights.

- If there is a no-through road such as Bourke Street Mall, cyclists are not allowed to enter. To enter the area cyclists are required to get off their bike and push it.

- Cyclists must wear a helmet at all times.

- Cyclists cannot ride their bike on a tram track.

- Cyclists must obey all speed limits.

- Cyclists must have a bell on their bike at all times.

- Cyclists must stop and give way to pedestrians getting on and off a tram.

They will also be targeting j-walkers so to anyone who works in the CBD maybe cross at the lights this week instead of running across the street.

Helmets

Would you wear one if the law said they weren't compulsory? I've been debating this point in my head more recently. I know helmets reduce the risk of severe head injuries but lets face it, if a car (or worse) does clean you up then head injuries will be the least of your worries. There are valid arguements on both sides of the fence and even those that agree with wearing a helmet don't necessarily believe it should be compulsory. I'm actually thinking of researching this proplerly other than just throwing up a few random comments but for now I've asked Bicycle Victoria what their stance is on compulsory helmets.

Would Bike Boy wear a helmet if he didn't have to? In short, not all the time. Bike Boy would probably still wear a helmet on his daily commute. Every motorist on the road in Australia is too busy focussed on themselves and their little insulated world inside of their vehicle to consider any other motorist on the road. As such, it creates too many situations where a vehicle will ignore common sense and courtesy and almost cause an accident, be it ignoring a pedestrian crossing (Montague Street on-ramp) or trying to squeeze into the bicycle lane to turn left (happened this morning, and the boat head had the nerve to toot the cyclist in the cycle lane *shakes head*). Because of these situations it's crazy to not consider wearing as much protection as conditions will allow. On larger group rides such as Around The Bay or any other sponsored event I think it should be a must but even then it's more to do with the speeds reached down hills and the mix of experienced and novice riders.

As a motorcyclist Bike Boy would never consider going for a ride without a helmet and jacket, but then that has everything to do with being able to reach 100km/h in first gear more than protection from other motorists. Your average speed is that much higher when you aren't relying on pedal power and as such it is a lot more likely that you'll come off at higher speeds. Off road it's a different story, and more about protecting yourself from the environment and that's why full-face helmets are so prolific (along with body-armor and then some). No one likes a tree in the teeth no matter who they are or what type of bike they're riding.

In the end I guess it would be a case of common sense, education, and every road user being a little more patient with each other, but then that's why laws are introduced in the first place. Someone once told me that "laws are introduced when a societies ethos has failed." Perhaps that is a starting point, finding out why compulsory helmet laws were introduced in the first place. I'll keep you posted on further developments but please feel free to leave your own comments. For any BV members who want to read more on the discussion head on over to the forums here.

The Common Bike - Part 2

More details have just come through on the age's website so I thought I best update. The Common Bike trial runs for three weeks from today. You can join at commonbike.com or six bike hubs around the city at Rentabike (Federation Square), Abbotsford Cycles and Lentil as Anything (Abbotsford), Crumpler (Fitzroy), Commuter Cycles (Brunswick) and Human Powered Cycles (Thornbury). Apparently you have to be over 18 to register though.
Registration is $5 and members pay $1 per trip, with an additional dollar charged after three hours and every hour thereafter. Bikes come with a lock and helmet and can be returned at any of the hubs. At the end of the trial the bike sharing scheme will be assessed at a forum on June 15 at Docklands.

Around The Bay In A Day

Entries for this years ATB ride are now open to the general public with the 250 and 210km rides from Queenscliff sold out! ATB opens registration early to all Bicycle Victoria members and it looks like they've gotten on board already. Bike Boy is considering the ride again but thinks Team PedalMonkey isn't really interested this year. The ATB site is here.

In your dreams!

A little video is fooling a lot of people over at YouTube about a cyclist out-running police in a highway chase. It's a decent video editing experiment but for most of us it's obviously a hoax. I know some fast cyclists but they certainly couldn't out-run a car at highway speeds. Check it out, it's worth the laugh ;)

The Common Bike - Part 1

Reports this week over at The Age say Melbourne is trialing a public Bike Hire scheme based on a few already set-up in Europe. Both articles raise very valid points about the positive and negative sides of public bicycle hire schemes but in the end I think it's a winner. It will be interesteing to see what the State Government comes up with in its budget announcement later in the week (The Common Bike isn't part of the governments scheme as yet) and if they include a hire scheme similar to Paris'.
However, Australia will have a hassle with helmet laws in that we have compulsory helmet laws in the first place. Our cycling brothers and sisters over in Europe enjoy being able to cycle without a daggy helmet and Copenhagen in particular enjoys the title of safest cycling city in the world without a compulsory helmet law. Actually the more I think about it the more I want to research helmets. I know they can save you from severe head injuries but how safe are they?
Anyway, the public bike hire argument hinges on whether or not people use the bikes (or steal/vandalise them) and how often. If you're discouraged from hiring a bike because you don't want to carry a helmet around (or wear a hired helemt) then it will fall over in Melbourne. I would like to see more people cycling more often but I think there are better ways to encourage the people that already cycle along with getting new people involved. Bike Boy is certainly down with the Italian governments plan.