Mr Purple wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 1:24 pm
It's all attitude. We may have larger cars than Europe, but we also have more modern, wider roads and less traffic.
That was kinda my point, try touring by bicycle in any country well away from the main cities and you get a good barometer of what that country is like for cycling. It is more how the way people live with and around bicycles in our time zones in Asia vs. Europe in both the cities and country that is important.
People across SE Asia still use motor scooters and Honda cubs as the main family vehicle. Two people plus a kiddie (with bags of food hanging off the handlebars) has been a common site for more than 25 years – yes more cars are on the roads now, but most of the population will still use the scooter as they work in road can remain narrow and in terms of cost and convenience.
People who drive cars know how to use the roads which they have plenty of scooters about.
People who use scooters know how to use the roads which have plenty of bicycles about.
Aust now is now all about multi car households and often with one large SUV that is used as a single occupant transport vehicle. We could be a nation have an ideal climate for scooters in the main cities and urban areas.
I feel safer now touring in SE and South Asia than in Aust due to what some would call the Asian road “chaos”. I gave up on the long commutes in Aust as it was no longer fun, safe or even the easy option to do, so now just bike the small “incidental“ local stuff but for a “bike ride” it will be off the main roads and tar and on gravel back roads for longer distances with fewer cars.
Even if the MH laws did change, it is hard to see that growth of gravel bikes away from all types of on roads bikes is going to slow or many young teenage girls saying “Oh, yes that old alpha male bloke was right, vehicular cycling is so much fun!!”.
Looking all misty eyed towards Europe is kinda nice but Aust is not Europe, so time to change our focus and if biking in Asia still works, why not look at how and why it does.
Aust could also use this sort of thing – think Poland has had these for a while and Spain and France are taking them on
Steal This Idea: In Québec, A New Traffic Light Only Turns Green for Safe Drivers
The light is red by default, but turns green when an attached speed camera detects an approaching motor vehicle that’s driving under the speed limit.
https://mass.streetsblog.org/2023/05/05 ... e-drivers/
(AND... glad someone did highlight India, if I could be bothered, could list out a dozen towns and cities that are much like Australian towns and cities, and then at least ten or so major roads and highways that are similar and even better than what we have in Aust.
Tasmania is around 65% larger than the Netherlands and Tassie has next to no chance of getting to even a low level Dutch standard, but hey, if you have crossed a road in India, I must be wrong as have only been doing road trips to visit clients across India twice a year for the past 30 years so what would I know......
If some people here could be bothered to get out of the major Australian cities and onto our country roads - which do make up most of the nations roads, it is easy to see now how worse it is has become to bike on our roads in terms of the volume of speed and the size, weights and number of trucks and then the overall road conditions as they keep getting worse because of this.
Meantime the roads in India keep getting better. )
I'm surprised he hasn't already, he must be getting soft as he gets older.