RobiNZ Personal Blog

Modern 'cars' aren't safer for those outside them

A mention in David Slack's (brilliant) More than Feilding Substack led me to an opinion piece by Auckland (National) List MP Paul Goldsmith opposing reducing speed limits 'because cars are safer' and he included the Auckland CBD in his argument. I wrote to him... Sent: Saturday, 6 May 2023 16:19 To: [email protected] Subject: Cars are not safer, for pedestrians Hi Paul, Take issue with your 'cars are safer' and citing reducing CBD speed limits in Auckland as an example of poor policing in this recent NZ Herald article: "Auckland Transport has proposed the entire area of the CBD inside... Read more →

Vale to my Samsung Active 2 Smart Watch

Vale to my Samsung Active 2 smart watch which finally died today while I was doing housework. Technically is it still alive... I thought the strap had broken but it was the entire watch face dangling off the case, hanging by a ribbon connector! Has been a great device (does most of my ride/walk tracking) and lasted far longer than I thought it would after the 'hare incident' in Roxburgh in February 2022... After finishing cycling a leg of the Clutha Gold Trail I was riding slowly around a park paying more attention to possible 'framing' for a photo of... Read more →

Going green: Electric, Hybrid or...?

"Big Car" (currently a Tesla owner) wonders if pure electric cars are a fad and if there is a better answer.... I wonder if the current technology pure electric is transitional but also don't think hybrid is the answer either. If you so rarely need the ICE component just buy an electric and rent an ICE car when you need range rather than carry the complication and mass of a generator? But I also wonder about the ecological impact of scrappage replacing ICE for electric. NZ power is pretty green, ~80% renewable, so if you can grid charge source isn't... Read more →