Hard to beat the car
Toughen bike rules
THE network of separated cycleways through Hobart CBD and dedicated bicycle lanes is an excellent proposal, even to the point of having to narrow some streets by removing some car spaces ( Mercury, April 10). Where safety is concerned, every aspect must be examined and measures implemented, even if it is inconvenient to motorists.
However, road rules appear to be oneway traffic (no pun intended) and until the following rules are in place good ideas will be wasted: All cyclists to be registered and numbers displayed front and back on high-vis vests; riding on cycle lanes and others fined like jaywalkers; riding more than two abreast in the lane illegal; where there are no bike lanes, single-file mandatory except on highways with a limit of 80km/h or more, where riding prohibited; riding on pavements, against the traffic in a one-way street, through red lights, across pedestrian crossings at lights, etc, are subject to fines. How can safety outcomes be achieved? By education and hitting miscreants in their hip-pockets.
Break down barriers
HOBART expansion is strangled by natural barriers. Time to break out and lessen the constraints. Consider an extension to the north-south highway to the Grove strait at Huonville from Bridgewater to traverse behind Mt Faulkner and Mt Wellington, which would cost about $200 million. The cable car could be constructed on the western side of Mt Wellington. More Airbnb info to flow to Hobart City Council At last!! Accountability — and even better — valid insurance for those using the system will now be standard once this bill is passed. Cannot happen soon enough. I HAVE seen the RACT plans which favour public transport and bicycles. The thing about getting older is that you have seen it all before. When the Bannon Labor government took over in South Australia it abandoned attempts to build a northsouth freeway, even selling off properties that had been acquired. This was a result of reports almost identical to the one from the RACT but without ferries. Adelaide is a more natural city for bikes because it is a coastal plain whereas Hobart only has the banks of the Derwent. Everything else is hilly. Adelaide installed one of the best answers to public transport, the O-Bahn. The result? Both political parties have recognised they do need a north-south corridor and work is under way on the “new” idea.
You have to admire the persistence of the public transport and bicycle lobbies but until they come up with a solution that suits people and has the flexibility of the car they are doomed to failure and waste of taxpayers’ money.
Mad as hell
COME on Bill Shorten, I’m as mad as hell — stop pussyfooting around (“Shorten turns up heat on Coalition”, Mercury, April 19)! Time to unleash both the “zingers” and the “kraken”!
Neglected Lyons corner
HAVING driven down the East Coast and back this week I can only conclude the Labor Party has decided the northeast section of Lyons is not worth bothering about. From south of Scamander to the second Tasman Highway turnoff to Richmond there are no election posters for Brian Mitchell. Don’t we count on the East Coast?