KERRE McIVOR

KERRE PUTS THE BRAKES ON PROTESTING CYCLISTS

Whenever I travel to the Ka¯ piti Coast to visit the family, I’m always struck by how very civilised the place is. I spend most of my time at Waikanae Beach, where the children are renting a home, but having visited Paraparaumu and Raumati and Paeka¯ka¯riki, I can’t help but think how lovely it would be to make a home in one of these coastal townships. All the essentials are there. Great coffee – although, to be fair, name me one town in

New Zealand that doesn’t have great coffee.

There’s at least one good café or restaurant and gorgeous stretch of coastline where you can fish, swim, surf, horse ride or walk for miles – whatever you fancy. Plus, live music, thriving dramatic societies and doctors’ clinics for those who need that extra reassurance. And so many family-friendly playgrounds! It’s a wonderland for young families and retirees, which makes for a great combination.

And another of the pleasures of visiting is seeing so many people on the roads on their bikes. There are no cycle lanes in small towns, although there’s a magnificent cycle trail linking the towns that seems to be a favourite with all kinds of riders. But the towns themselves don’t have lanes marked out specifically for bike riders. There’s a number of reasons for that. The roads are wide and straight for the most part, and it certainly helps that there is room for everybody, but more importantly, there’s a degree of courtesy between motorists and cyclists. Cyclists don’t take liberties as they pedal down to the bakery, the tennis club or the local school, and motorists don’t take offence at cyclists sharing the same stretch of tarmac and therefore don’t try to run them off the road.

It’s quite remarkable to see the two species co-existing so peacefully, especially after the shenanigans between the two and four-wheeled in our cities.

I found myself recently deriding the cyclists who swarmed the Harbour Bridge in Auckland on a Sunday morning. Their invasion resulted in the northbound lanes of the bridge being closed and that, in turn, caused a traffic snarl up for hours, seriously inconveniencing thousands of Aucklanders. The cyclists were unapologetic and likened their protest to those against the Springbok tour. How terribly grand and how terribly misplaced. The Springbok tour protests were all about the rights of others – this protest was all about the protestors’ own individual wants and desires.

I totally understand that it is preferable if you live close to town to bike safely to work. It would be wonderful to see swarms of children biking to school rather than being driven the short distance by their parents. But for many people, cycling is an impossible dream.

Middle-income families have been pushed out of the central city into far-flung suburbs and there’s no way they can pedal into town, even presuming there’s a cycle way close by and that they have a workplace that has showers available for its employee. Because, let’s face it, if you bike to work, you’re going to turn up hot and sweaty or drenched after being caught in a downpour. And where to put the kids who need to be taken to day care? One on the handlebars and one on the back?

The protestors don’t seem to realise that they are truly lucky to have the option of choosing how they will get to work. For many, cycling simply isn’t an option – unless you’re one of the privileged protestors or you have the great good fortune to live in a small coastal town with wide open streets and a civilised community.

‘Where to put the kids who need to be taken to day care? One on the handlebars and one on the back?’