Cadel on Australian drivers

"THERE is nowhere on Earth that Cadel Evans feel less safe on his bike
than here at home."

www.theage.com.au today.

If you're a believer in Karma, then Australian drivers are headed for
a troublesome future.

AndrewJ wrote:

"THERE is nowhere on Earth that Cadel Evans feel less safe on his bike
than here at home."

www.theage.com.au today.

If you're a believer in Karma, then Australian drivers are headed for
a troublesome future.

Fat chance. Here, driving is a right, not a privilege. And until that
changes, we will continue to have people kill themselves and others while
thinking they have enough right to drive.

Changing laws to protect the innocent and penalise the guilty is really easy
to implement, but doesn't actually do anything useful other than make money
for GovCo and perhaps earn brownie points for politicians.

Changing driver attitude is arguably more effective, but impossible to
implement, so let's not do that.


Australian drivers are not headed for a troublesome future, because nothing
will change. They won't even realise they're killing themselves, because
GovCo has over umpteen years conditioned them to think that speeding alone is
the only one reason that anyone dies on the roads.
And since they don't speed, they will NEVER be responsible for any wrongdoing.
--
Linux Registered User # 302622
http://counter.li.org

On Jan 7, 10:27 am, John Tserkezis
wrote:
AndrewJ wrote:
"THERE is nowhere on Earth that Cadel Evans feel less safe on his bike
than here at home."
www.theage.com.au today.
If you're a believer in Karma, then Australian drivers are headed for
a troublesome future.

Fat chance. Here, driving is a right, not a privilege. And until that
changes, we will continue to have people kill themselves and others while
thinking they have enough right to drive.

Changing laws to protect the innocent and penalise the guilty is really easy
to implement, but doesn't actually do anything useful other than make money
for GovCo and perhaps earn brownie points for politicians.

Changing driver attitude is arguably more effective, but impossible to
implement, so let's not do that.

Australian drivers are not headed for a troublesome future, because nothing
will change. They won't even realise they're killing themselves, because
GovCo has over umpteen years conditioned them to think that speeding alone is
the only one reason that anyone dies on the roads.

Their wallets will force them off the road soon enough.
Things *are* changing.

http://www.aboc.com.au/Members/carl/...PriceTrend.gif

On 2008-01-08, Bleve (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
On Jan 7, 10:27 am, John Tserkezis
wrote:
Australian drivers are not headed for a troublesome future, because nothing
will change. They won't even realise they're killing themselves, because
GovCo has over umpteen years conditioned them to think that speeding alone is
the only one reason that anyone dies on the roads.

Their wallets will force them off the road soon enough.
Things *are* changing.

http://www.aboc.com.au/Members/carl/...PriceTrend.gif

I'm a vengeful *******, laughing at this:

http://business.smh.com.au/double-or...0107-1kna.html

I reckon Qantas should charge a staff tax, then they can reduce ticket
prices even further! How 'bout a plane tax? A technician tax?:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/travel...554571356.html

--
TimC
Ken Thompson claims that he started developing Unix so he could play
Space War, but the end product shows he was really much more interested
in cheating at Scrabble. --Steve VanDevender

Bleve wrote:
John Tserkezis wrote:

Australian drivers are not headed for a troublesome future,
because nothing will change. They won't even realise they're
killing themselves, because GovCo has over umpteen years conditioned
them to think that speeding alone is the only one reason that anyone
dies on the roads.

Their wallets will force them off the road soon enough.
Things *are* changing.

http://www.aboc.com.au/Members/carl/...PriceTrend.gif

Nice graph. So how many people were f'orced off the road' in 1979, when the
price of crude went up 170% in six months?

People who don't smoke think that when the price of a packet of fags gets to
$10 people will stop smoking. It passed that point some time ago and people
still smoke. A lot of people spend more on tobacco than on petrol, and let's
not mention beer spending.

Theo

"Theo Bekkers" wrote:

Their wallets will force them off the road soon enough.
Things *are* changing.

http://www.aboc.com.au/Members/carl/...PriceTrend.gif

Nice graph. So how many people were f'orced off the road' in 1979, when
the price of crude went up 170% in six months?

Yes, not too many. But then the 1973 oil crisis was the catalyst for the
Netherlands great move to using bikes for transport, and curtailing car use.

The difference is that bot the 1973 and 1979 oil spikes were caused by a
political action that was relatively short-lived. It motivated a search for
some new supplies (not that much found though really) and had it been a
longer term supply restriction the reduction in auto use would have been
much more significant. Prices dropped back to extremely low levels for most
of the 80s and 90s.

The price hike now? No political crisis that has brought it on. It's simply
a matter of continual growth in demand, and little new supplies (psst....
peak oil!) Just as well, for our atmosphere's sake, too.

As you imply, that will continue. And prices are bound to rise much more. At
what point will drivers abandon their fixation with the car? When they can't
feed the family? When their mortgages are foreclosed? Who knows, but I'm
virtually down to using just one car for the family now, loving the freedom
in congested traffic, and getting fitter all the time )

--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

PeteSig wrote:
"Theo Bekkers" wrote:

http://www.aboc.com.au/Members/carl/...PriceTrend.gif

Nice graph. So how many people were f'orced off the road' in 1979,
when the price of crude went up 170% in six months?

Yes, not too many. But then the 1973 oil crisis was the catalyst for
the Netherlands great move to using bikes for transport, and
curtailing car use.

The Netherlands were pretty much a bike transport place when I left as a kid
in 1953. I remember riding in the -bak. Are you saying they moved away from
that and then back again in 1973? Good for them.

The difference is that bot the 1973 and 1979 oil spikes were caused
by a political action that was relatively short-lived. It motivated a
search for some new supplies (not that much found though really) and
had it been a longer term supply restriction the reduction in auto
use would have been much more significant. Prices dropped back to
extremely low levels for most of the 80s and 90s.

Yes.

The price hike now? No political crisis that has brought it on. It's
simply a matter of continual growth in demand, and little new
supplies (psst.... peak oil!)

And some considerable input from the greed in the stockmarket.

Just as well, for our atmosphere's sake, too.

Come on Peter, it's pretty well established that oil burned by infernal
combustion engines accounts for less than 7% of Australia's pollution. It's
the coal use you need to attack. You know, that black stuff we use to heat
our water, cool our houses, cook our dinners, and see at night.

As you imply, that will continue. And prices are bound to rise much
more. At what point will drivers abandon their fixation with the car?
When they can't feed the family? When their mortgages are foreclosed?
Who knows, but I'm virtually down to using just one car for the
family now, loving the freedom in congested traffic, and getting
fitter all the time )

Good for you. I haven't used a car for a week now, but can't say the same
about the motorcycle. I do get 20 kms from a litre of petrol though.

Theo

AndrewJ Wrote:
"THERE is nowhere on Earth that Cadel Evans feel less safe on his bike
than here at home."

www.theage.com.au today.

If you're a believer in Karma, then Australian drivers are headed for
a troublesome future.

Gawd! Haven't you seen the Mad Max trilogy?

BTW, correct url linkie to article:
http://tinyurl.com/2tskmu


--
cfsmtb

AndrewJ wrote:
"THERE is nowhere on Earth that Cadel Evans feel less safe on his bike
than here at home."

www.theage.com.au today.

If you're a believer in Karma, then Australian drivers are headed for
a troublesome future.


I saw the article. Doors deliberately opened (including a bus door),
objects thrown, morons waving hammers, umpteen near misses, and being
shot at less than 50 km from where I sit writing this. Tell us about it.
This is why I ride with a rear vision mirror on my glasses, first line
of defence, see the stupid *******s coming.
By the way, I've also been a licenced driver for 27 years, and see as
many arseholes when on four wheels as on two. The only difference is
vulnerability.
Cheers,
Ray

ray writes:

AndrewJ wrote:
"THERE is nowhere on Earth that Cadel Evans feel less safe on his bike
than here at home."

www.theage.com.au today.

If you're a believer in Karma, then Australian drivers are headed for
a troublesome future.

I saw the article. Doors deliberately opened (including a bus door),
objects thrown, morons waving hammers, umpteen near misses, and being
shot at less than 50 km from where I sit writing this. Tell us about
it. This is why I ride with a rear vision mirror on my glasses, first
line of defence, see the stupid *******s coming. By the way, I've
also been a licenced driver for 27 years, and see as many arseholes
when on four wheels as on two. The only difference is vulnerability.
Cheers, Ray

Two incidents stick in my mind from yesterday and the Amy's ride. One
before, one after.

The second was on the ride back around the bay from the finish to where
I'd parked the car. A massive blast on the horn as an old Ford passed,
four yobs hanging out the window, waving arms and fists like mad and
screaming abuse.

It was the first one that takes the cake though

Heading in to Geelong in the morning; close to eight a.m., increasing
traffic, nearly every car seemed to contain one or two bikes and riders.
As the traffic slowed from an 80 to 70km/hr section and slowed further
for some traffic lights I saw an idiot approach from the rear. Swerving
through the three lanes of traffic he was obviously very important and
on a very urgent mission. As he passed I saw that not only was the
idiot on the phone, steering with one hand and zig-zagging through
traffic, but that the bike was on the rear seat, he was in his lycra and
he was on his way to the start of the ride.... Approaching the lights
he must have received last minute phone instructions as he served from
the right-most lane, across three lanes of traffic, over the start of
the traffic island and made it, tyres screeching, around the left turn
and towards Corio bay.

Adrian