Comment on Why cyclists should NOT get the same fines as motorists | Car Culture 6 - Motonormativity
Tau@aussie.zone 11 months ago
Seems to be a case of low speed limits are good for other people but not him, which I do find a little amusing. Overly low speed limits are a bugbear of mine so I do sympathise with the feeling but since he’s a ‘huge advocate’ for 30km/h zones in a car it’s pretty ironic. After all the same reasons for 30km/h zones (e.g. people might be on the road and slower moving vehicles means less risk of injury) do also apply to riding a bike over a busy bridge where there’s basically guaranteed to be people in the way. I do like the mention of bicycles being designed to travel at higher speeds considering that’s a common sentiment for those of us in cars and motorbikes as well.
I kind of like the idea of reducing fines based on mass though, us motorbike riders would support that…
Zagorath@aussie.zone 11 months ago
Umm, did we watch the same video? He literally spends a significant amount of time pointing out that the government’s own guidelines explain why the speed limits are inappropriate. Their data says going under 11 km/h can be unstable, and that the comfortable minimum speed should be 16 km/h. And their own guidelines say that enforcement of speed limits is not a viable option.
Tau@aussie.zone 11 months ago
What I found amusing was the bringing up of these ideas:
These are all very familiar to me as a driver and motorbike rider so that’s where the irony comes in - despite being a proponent of low speed limits he’s complaining about a low speed limit using similar arguments as everyone else now it affects him.
For what it’s worth I agree with him that the speed limit there is too low, but I think the better response should be to raise it to something sensible (for what is apparently a busy shared path 20km/h seems a more reasonable limit) rather than either removing the limits or saying you can’t fine riders for exceeding them.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 11 months ago
The first two and last bullet points might apply to motor vehicles, but the third and fourth certainly do not. Anyone claiming that it’s not safe to operate a car at 30 km/h is just lying. There’s just no way to make that argument without deliberately saying something that you yourself know to be completely untrue.
The thing is, the Goodwill Bridge, at the other end of Southbank, is 20 km/h. But it’s very notable that this is still inappropriate there. While 20 km/h is a reasonable speed for someone on an upright dutch-style bike riding on the flat, the Goodwill Bridge has rather steep inclines—and, more pertinently, declines. Staying under 20 km/h on a road bike on a fairly steep downhill is not much less ridiculous than the 10 km/h limit of the Kurilpa Bridge.
But then it comes back to the simple matter of logistics. Cyclists aren’t required to have speedometers, and while some sports cyclists have them anyway, they usually rely on GPS which is much less accurate, especially around the inner city, than the direct-drive speedometers of a car. It doesn’t make any sense to enforce a rule where it’s impossible for the culprit to know they are in violation.
The fact that this conversation is even taking place is a sign of some pretty severe car-brain on the part of people who support the speed limits. Speed limits aren’t in place for cars arbitrarily. They were created because cars are really, really dangerous. Cars kill hundreds of people per year in this country alone. Speed limits make sense, because they’re one of many tools to help keep that number from getting even higher. No evidence exists to support the need for speed limits on bikes. The only argument that is ever made essentially boils down to “cars have them, so bikes should too.”
Tau@aussie.zone 11 months ago
They certainly do. It’s a fact that most cars and motorbikes are designed to be able to travel safely at speeds greater than our highway limits, and it can indeed be awkward to do low speed limits in a motor vehicle. For example my VTR runs faster than 20km/h at idle in first gear, which makes travelling in 20km/h zones annoying because I have to be on the clutch constantly. I could also claim that it’s unsafe to go that slow on a motorcycle due to instability, but really that’s just as true as saying 10km/h is too slow for stability on a bicycle - there is an element of truth in it but we both know it’s perfectly doable for anyone who’s been riding for a while.