The NSW Premier is a just another grubby politician

The other day she said that she had never had any incidents whilst riding
to work. Wonder why?

"On a bike riding behind her was ''Paul'', the beefy NSW policeman who
provides protection. A specialist in don't-argue hand signals and stay-
where- you-are stares, he can stop any car from getting too close,
ensuring the Premier gets to work looking as relaxed as she did at the
start of the ride."

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/dream-ride...-faces-uphill-
battle-20100319-qma9.html?skin=text-only

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:33:28 +0000 (UTC)
terryc wrote:
The other day she said that she had never had any incidents whilst riding
to work. Wonder why?

"On a bike riding behind her was ''Paul'', the beefy NSW policeman who
provides protection. A specialist in don't-argue hand signals and stay-
where- you-are stares, he can stop any car from getting too close,
ensuring the Premier gets to work looking as relaxed as she did at the
start of the ride."


On the bright side... THis shows that it's possible, that being
monstered by traffic isn't inevitable.

That people can damn well see bikes, and damn well behave properly
around them, they just need incentive.

The real trick is to internalise the incentive. Punishment only means
'you get hurt if you get caught', the only way you get real safety is
for people to be brought up to think behaving properly around bikes is
just what you do.

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone wrote:

On the bright side... THis shows that it's possible, that being
monstered by traffic isn't inevitable.

That people can damn well see bikes, and damn well behave properly
around them, they just need incentive.

The real trick is to internalise the incentive. Punishment only means
'you get hurt if you get caught', the only way you get real safety is
for people to be brought up to think behaving properly around bikes is
just what you do.

That's nice, but we're not going to see the effects of that for a very
bloody long time. I'd like to not be killed right now if at all possible.

My theory of "perception of threat" still holds: If your sleeve sports
a logo that sells some product and or service, you're going to have
trouble. If your sleeve sports a logo that implies "I can **** you more
than you can **** me", you're not.

In aus.bicycle on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 09:19:36 +1100
John Tserkezis wrote:
Zebee Johnstone wrote:
The real trick is to internalise the incentive. Punishment only means
'you get hurt if you get caught', the only way you get real safety is
for people to be brought up to think behaving properly around bikes is
just what you do.

That's nice, but we're not going to see the effects of that for a very
bloody long time. I'd like to not be killed right now if at all possible.

My theory of "perception of threat" still holds: If your sleeve sports
a logo that sells some product and or service, you're going to have
trouble. If your sleeve sports a logo that implies "I can **** you more
than you can **** me", you're not.

My motorcycle experience seems to be the same as the pushbike
experience: be menacing or cute/interesting and you get good
behaviour.

The most visible motorcycle I ever had was the 'Orrible 'Onda Chop
which was a fairly full on badguy sortof motorcycle. The next was the
Baby Beemer an unbearably cute 250cc from 1952. The least visible
were all the "normal" ones although the one with the big white
fairling apparently looked rather like a cop bike in a rear vision
mirror...

The 'bent seems to fall in the interesting category and so gets good
behaviour most of the time.

There are times I think the state government should raise money by
renting out cameras. You pay $200 for 4 hours of carrying their
camera around, and you are guaranteed that every illegal act you
film gets the perpertrator hauled up before a magistrate.

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone wrote:
In aus.bicycle on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 09:19:36 +1100

My motorcycle experience seems to be the same as the pushbike
experience: be menacing or cute/interesting and you get good
behaviour.

Zebee


There's one more issue to consider. Don't ride in close proximity to an
attractive distraction.

Two days ago I was in traffic in Melbourne. In front, at the head of a
queue, was a middle aged guy and a twenty-something woman, both
cyclists. The girl was to the left of the lane and the guy out further
so he was straight in front of the driver behind. When they took off at
about 20 - 25km/h the driver collided with the rear wheel of the man. It
all happened in slow motion. He got closer and closer the the surprised
cyclist was tumbling to the ground.

I can only assume that (a) the driver was looking at the woman or (b)
Victoria issues drivers licences to blind people.