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 →

New Lynn to Avondale Pathway St Jude Street crossing death trap

Rode the new’ish New Lynn to Avondale Pathway today and saw how an inadequate road crossing is going to injure/kill people. It was this “crossing” (red on map) at St Jude Street, close to a road intersection and near to the rail crossing. St Jude Street is the connector between Great North Rd and New North Road with additional traffic from Blockhouse Bay Rd. All of these are major urban corridors and can be very busy. If not the nature of the road leads to reasonable speeds as people ‘race the railway crossing’. The crossing was slightly changed, for the... Read more →

Cycling further afield in the Auckland Regional Lockdown | Time Out 2021-22 October L3.1 to Christmas

On 20 October, the COVID lockdown in Auckland & Waikato moved to Level 3.1 which allowed regional travel but no access to the rest of the country (still at Level 2). Overnight trips, staying in rented accommodation or camping, were still not permitted but not really a problem for my day ride plans. A look at Strava history was useful to remind me of some gaps in Auckland riding, although not all my ride history is on Strava. I circled some parts of the map between the dashed lines (which approximate the Covid Region) I hadn’t ridden and started tackling... Read more →

Cycling local in the Auckland Regional Lockdown | Time Out 2021-22 September October L3

Being stuck in the Auckland Regional COVID Lockdown, from September to December 3, meant only local rides. I didn’t ride at all in the Level 4 lockdown as was still working and cycling around the block doesn’t appeal. On 22nd September Auckland & Northland relaxed to Level 3, just in time as 25th September was my last day of work. It meant I could ride within ‘walking home’ distance of home. For me, a self-imposed ~5km radius still offered quite a variety of riding. Most of my local rides take in the nearby Waitakere Ranges Regional Park. My favourite Titirangi... Read more →

Just because you are on a crossing, keep watching…

Red lights, cars stopped, green pedestrian and cycle crossing, all good, right? No! It doesn't look so dramatic on the front camera (due to field of view). I let this run a bit longer so you can see the cars queuing across the bike lane trying to enter a gridlocked parking area. The second white one was actually trying to push into a space which wasn't there and looked mad a me for crossing their path! But the rear view better represents what happened at the crossing and how close this near hit was. Read more →

Triangle Road, Massey, Auckland Chicken Run

It is astonishing how many cars are doing a head on "’chicken run’ down Triangle Road passing stationary traffic, on the wrong side of a double yellow ‘no passing’ line, crossing a two lane bridge with no means of escape. They must have a good job to be that desperate to get there… Just to show this isn't a one-off here is a repeat performance from today. * I don't use the bike lane down there unless there is traffic approaching from behind as it is rough, has a lip to the road and often covered in road debris. Read more →

Found the perfect Bravo HGT replacement

The end of this “Long Term Test” video shows the Ferrari FF (or similar GTC4Lusso which recently replaced it) is a viable replacement for my Bravo as shares all these attributes: Italian 4 seats which fit actual people Acceptable performance Acceptable economy (given performance) Practical hatchback, fits a bike in the back! Just a matter of finding the funding… Even used still not exactly ‘affordable’… (TradeMe December 2018) Read more →

Map your aggregate Strava activity

Thanks to @AlecTang for the tip about this awesome site which maps aggregated Strava activity www.jonathanokeeffe.com/strava/map This is my most recent 100 Auckland region rides. The purple are less travelled, to yellow most travelled. Read more →

Traffic Light Thought–Spooky sights in Waikumete Cemetery

Normally a dusk dog walk in the cemetery would not worry me but I saw something rather spooky tonight. It wasn't supernatural but I did wonder what about a dozen cars cruising slowly around, seemingly following sat nav maps, was about until one went past close enough to work it out. Spooky to see, in 2018, there are still adults chasing Pokémon.. * It wasn’t at the lights but is car related so made the TLT category. Read more →

Carless One Tree Hill so nice

First cycle ride up Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill since the road was closed to cars. So nice and packed with humans and dogs enjoying the walk without traffic. Much more peaceful on the summit without the constant carpark shuffle, and for once no drones! Read more →