[sustran] EU laws to put brake on bikers(motorcyclists) BUT BUT BUT

[Eric Britton]

Todd Edelman wrote on this date with ref to the letter of our
knowledgeable Greek colleague K. Tsourlakis and his pertinent comments
on motorcycles (see below) as follows:
 
>> I suggest we move this discussion off the Carfree Cities as it is my
understanding that carfree definately means motorcycle-free in the view
of the owner of the Carfree Cities list, with no discussion possible.<<
 
Fair enough Mr. Owner. But I just want my colleagues here in our fine
Sustran group and in the New Mobility Agenda that I really like the "no
discussion possible" bit. It tells us a great deal about the real world
relevance of this point of view and I must conclude the forum itself.
But what is great about the web of course is that there is plenty of
space out here for utopian thinking, and it is only right that they set
their own agendas. What is apparently most important in this case is not
the untidy world in which we live and have to work with, but the
pristine ones that some of us have in our heads.  Life is sweet.
 
Okay, why do I bother you all with this? It is more than just an
opportunity to share a wry grin with you.  To the contrary, it is to
encourage more critical discussion and idea mongering on both these fora
of precisely the motorcycles in cities dilemma.  It's a huge reality
(you know, reality).  For those of us who have lived and worked in Asia,
we can only see that this is a situation which is profoundly out of
control and which, as it happens. Deal with phenomena and practices
which have entirely escaped both planners and policy makers.  To take
just one point of the untidy real world: there is a growing population
of people for whom two wheels bangers are cheaper and "better" than even
the cheapest bus.  Well, what do we do then?
 
So if the "no discussion possible" comments do nothing other than to
activate further discussions and work on this here, well they would have
made a real contribution.
 
Eric Britton 
 
 
 
 
Motorcycles may be "little guy" in Czechia, but Czechia (or perhaps
North
America) is not the whole world. In many South European and Asian cities
(and in
an ever growing number of African countries) motorcycle traffic is an
important
part of motorised traffic (and in many cases - e.g China or Vietnam- a
first
step towards car motorisation).
 
In Athens for instance, 1 million motorcycles pollute freely the city,
besides 2
million automobiles - without any (unlike cars) exhaust gas and noise
controls.
Motorcycling is deliberately promoted (instead of biking - Athens lacks
even 1
km of bike lane) in order to maximize motorised traffic. The corrupt
administration favours motorcycling because they don't compete cars, but
use
mostly pedestrian spaces and other free spaces (parks, squares etc) -
they have
also recently granted them legally free access to dedicated bus lanes.
They use
under police immunity sidewalks and other pedestrian spaces and act more
aggressively than cars, being a major component of the violence and
oppression
pedestrians experience in Athens in everyday life, and an important
(although
unrecognised) part of the pollution of the most polluted capital in
Europe.
 
You are not right: they don't only cause damage to the motorcyclists
themselves,
but they also kill pedestrians and bicyclists. Even the damage they
bring about
to themselves shouldn't be confronted with indifference, given the
efforts the
motorcycle lobby makes to lure inexperienced and aggression inclined
people to
the motorcycle ideology. However I agree with you that fines and efforts
should
concentrate more to the damage they cause to others (like speeding or
pedestrian
rights violations) than the harm they cause to themselves (like helmet
use -
advising rather than penalties are more appropriate in this case).
 
Although carfree cities is a worthy prospect, perhaps a completely
carfree world
is still far away, but a motorcycle free world is already feasible (and
may
become a first step towards the carfree vision). For a more thorough
discussion
about motorcycles look at
 
http://www.geocities.com/pezosgr/motocbust.rtf
or
http://www.geocities.com/pezosgr/motocbust.htm
 
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