New VIC state bike planning guidelines

Apparently things are moving along.
http://www.bv.com.au/change-the-world/42133/

New state guidelines have been issued by the Dept. of Transport in Oct 2010. http://media.bv.com.au:8080/file/file/VTP%20Cycling%20Strategy_Guidelines.pdf

The document is aimed at the major culprits - road builders and managers - and argues for full consideration of bicycle facilities in future road planning and building. Even along major roads, like in Copenhagen.

I don't see anything here about fixing up the crap cycle lanes that are incomplete or dangerous, however. And builders can get out of building new facilities by claiming they are unecessary or unsuitable for the location. So the policy is welcome but needs to be tested.

contact: Department of Transport, Sustainable and Active Transport Policy, walkingandcycling "at" transport.vic.gov.au

BETS - Bicycle Emissions Trading Scheme

Bicycle Based Emissions Trading proposal from Dr Paul Mulvaney, University of Melbourne.

Research corner

• Wearing A Helmet Puts Cyclists At Risk, Suggests Research   ScienceDaily (Sep. 13, 2006). Dr Ian Walker's research in Bath, UK. Wear a helmet and drivers pass you closer. Are you listening, Bicycle Victoria? 

  • See also research on helmets collected here - an interesting range of studies

• ABC radio broadcast on helmet laws on 21 Sept '10
• A Virtuous Cycle: Safety In Numbers For Bicycle Riders ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2008) Dr Chris Rissel, Sydney Uni says "We should create a cycling friendly environment and accentuate cycling's positives rather than stress negatives with 'safety campaigns' that focus on cyclists without addressing drivers and road conditions. Reminding people of injury rates and risks, to wear helmets and reflective visible clothes has the unintended effect of reinforcing fears of cycling which discourages people from cycling." Motorists seem to change their behaviour and drive more safely when they see more cyclists and pedestrians around. 
•  
• Major review article here Pucher J, J Dill and S Handy.2010. Infrastructure, Programs and Policies to Increase Bicycling: An International Review," Preventive Medicine, Vol. 50, No. S1, January 2010, pp S106-S125 Click here for PDF. 

• Cycle Resource Centre from the Australian National Cycling Strategy 2005-10, Australia

 

News from Waltham Forest

Bad infrastructure in the London suburbs
http://crapwalthamforest.blogspot.com/2009/03/absolutely-fabulous.html

Traffic modelling

Actually, traffic modelling is pretty boring for cyclists, since we generally breeze past traffic jams or avoid them. This posting from Youtube and showing www.bicyclecouncil.org (the Dutch Center of expertise on bicycle policy) models of the effects of 10% increases, and 10% decreases, in bike traffic in a city.
On the left, a 10% decline in cycling rates over the next 10 years vis-à-vis, on the right, a 10% increase in cycling.
Check it http://sexify.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/the-bicycle-as-cure-for-traffic/

Queen's Parade, Clifton Hill

Location: Queen's Parade Clifton Hill, between Delbridge and Grant Streets. 
Council: City of Yarra, although this may also involve VicRoads or Dept.Transport. Unsure.
Responsibility: There are a large number of possibilities. Try starting with MD
The Problem: There you are, slogging north-east uphill to escape the city fumes, on a nice wide Queen's Parade cycle lane, up to the the Clifton Hill shops. OK half of the lane becomes unrideable bluestone. Suddenly, the cycle lane disappears. No signage, no explanation. Traffic roars behind you, now with impunity. You can carry straight on, ignoring the bluestong gutter that tales up most of the lane and launching onto the unmarked tarmac ahead - unmarked except for the remnants of the old dashed cycle lane that was once there,  that is. Most cyclists do this.
The others veer left onto the safer access lane, pictured. There, you trundle on, veer right again, until the lane starts up again, 60m further on.You need to do that to get to the traffic lights.
This an extraordinarily crap solution to road sharing.
Solution: All that bluestone gutting and grass could house a lane you could actually ride on. But that would cost more money. So let's just leave it to cyclist's intuition, shall we? How about some signage at least?
View Larger Map

Swanston Street/Faraday Street, Carlton

Location: Corner of Faraday St and Swanston St, Carlton.
Responsibility:

Council: Melbourne City Council

Description: Approaching the busy Swanston Street near the University of Melbourne from the east, travelling down Faraday Street, you encounter this strange bit of green cycle lane just a few metres long. Nobody I know has any idea what you are supposed to do when you reach the end of it, and it seems to serve no purpose (I noticed the photo shows a sign, in the second photo-it has taken me 3 yrs to notice that!). There is a cycle lane on the road, which was painted in a bit later. Had you wanted to turn left, there is a clear marking on the road to do just that. Should you want to progress across Swanston Street to the University, on what is rather unfortunately called "Monash Road", there is a nice wide track to do that, after a large gap and a crossing. You might as well stay on the road to do that, too. So maybe there is a hyperdimensional portal at the end of the green lane. That would explain why you never see anybody using this crap cycle lane.They just disappear.
Solution: Why not just leave it there as a monument to Melburnian infrastructural puzzlement?