Kia ora koutou, this is a great time of the year. If it wasn’t for the virus it’d be near perfect. Peaches are falling off the tree, ditto cooking apples, strawberries are still ripening, cucumbers and tomatoes going strong, these last two not from my garden but bestowed on me by generous friends.
However, it seems that whatever the season, the ongoing saga of bikes and other wheeled transport on footpaths continues. There’s no need for any of this. The solution is so very simple. If you’re on a bike and you want to go on the footpath, get off and walk. That’s right, get off the bike and walk.
My solution for Otaki is even simpler. Shut off Main Street to all motor and cycle traffic, let them go round the two parallel streets, park and walk to Main Street.
Pedestrians could then not only walk along footpaths without fear, we could walk on the road in perfect safety because it would be pedestrian traffic only. If cyclists want to shop or buy a pie or fish and chips, they could park their bikes in designated places and walk.
If the reason for promoting bikes on footpaths is because of the danger of them being hit by a car or a bus on the road, then move the cause of the problem, cars and buses, don’t go for something that will harm and alarm and possibly hurt pedestrians who include the physically disabled and sight impaired of all ages from toddlers to old people.
Most of those on mobility scooters can walk short or medium distances, so there could be a park for these as well, their drivers could walk to a shop, the butcher say or the supermarket or pharmacy and then go back to their mobility scooter and zoom off around the parallel streets. I use that word zoom advisedly. Some drivers of mobility scooter seem to be back in the day of Stirling Moss forgetting he drove fast on a designated track, not on a public footpath.
Closing off Main Street is such a simple solution that I’m amazed it hasn’t been thought of before. It would solve all the problems. It would take say, an extra minute, to walk from the side streets and would make us pedestrians safer, less fearful and much happier.
The beauty of this solution is that it could be applied to all towns and cities in Aotearoa.
Do pedestrians make cyclists feel unsafe? Really? Do pedestrians make buses and cars swerve to avoid them? Only if they’re already on a pedestrian crossing and the drivers are thinking of something else instead of concentrating on driving.
I’ll say it again – if buses, cars, and other motorised traffic are making cyclists feel unsafe, move them – don’t punish totally innocent pedestrians when its not them causing the problem and definitely not them creating the danger.
Renée
