News

There is a highway code - a set of expected rules, best practices, and behaviors when manipulating your vehicle on those long ribbons of public road. There isn't, as of yet, much of a corresponding city street code - a set of guidelines that help walkers, bikers, scooter, truck, and car drivers - maneuver the streets of a city in a safe and (as important) polite way. New mobility consultant and WorldStreets editor Eric Britton is proposing the street code start with a fairly simple rule.

The biggest vehicle bears the burden of responsibility, and in the case of an accident,...

Increased bicycle riding and brisk walking may be the secret for preventing weight gain, women have been told.

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that cycling or a brisk walk was associated with less weight among pre-menopausal women, particularly those who were already overweight or obese.

The US study calculated that about two-thirds of American adults were overweight or obese, while 16 per cent of children and adolescents were overweight and a further 34 per cent were at risk.

Study authors suggested that this may be...

Thank you to Pat Watson of Community Waitakere for that kind introduction.

I want to firstly share my excitement that when the panui was sent throughout the country, hundreds of people immediately put up their hand and responded to the call.

I'm not at all surprised.  In this room is the heart of Aotearoa - the people who give our nation the reputation of being a country that cares.

Last week was Volunteer Awareness Week; a time to celebrate the mass movement of 1.2 million volunteers aged ten and over; who give so much of your time to health, social services,...

A cycle response unit has been set up by the Devon branch of St John Ambulance to reach isolated incidents.

The cycling team will respond to incidents at locations where casualties would be hard to reach by ambulance.

The bikes will also be used at events like the Devon County Show to transport medical care through crowds.

Medical equipment, including minor treatment kits, has been fitted to the bikes.

'Saving lives'

Cycling co-ordinator Ollie Mulcock said: "At Devon County Show it was very hard to negotiate the crowds of people on foot and carrying...

There used to be a time when culture and cycling were not words you'd expect to use together (way back around the same time coffee was just a hot drink). But, what was once a mode of transport (or an obscure sport for skinny guys with shaved legs) has become a hot culture, with tribes and sub-tribes.

Naturally, each has its own wardrobe. And some even subscribe to a manifesto.

Pippa Coom is the high priestess (she prefers to call herself co-ordinator) of one of the prettier sub-cultures of cycling - Frocks on Bikes - and with a bunch of other style-conscious women is...

by Bevan Woodward

Even a small reduction in speed has huge safety benefits, a recent workshop on speed limit management showed.

The one day workshop was hosted by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), ARRB (an Australian road research group) and Austroads (an association of Australian and New Zealand road transport and
traffic authorities).

Participants learned that a 5% reduction in average speed delivers reductions of 25% in deaths, 15% in serious injuries and 8% in minor injuries. Many towns and cities in Europe have reduced traffic speeds from 50 km/h to 40 or...

It has become a kind of mantra for cities looking to encourage cycling through a widening network of bicycle lanes: Build them, and the riders will come.

And, it turns out, the same might be said of bicycle thieves.

As cyclists from New York to San Francisco take advantage of new commuting infrastructure, thieves appear to be taking a growing interest in two-wheeled travel as well, riders and advocates report. The response by some cities and local law enforcement agencies has been a kind of high-tech cat-and-mouse game, one involving bait bikes and radio trackers as...

Model communities are urban environments where walking or cycling is offered to the community as the easiest transport choice.

Attached is a fact sheet put out by NZTA today with their announcement re the successful bids for the funding.  Plus some information from both NP and Hastings on what is in store for their communities.

Photo: Stuart Gibson$3.7m boost for walking and cycling in New Plymouth and Hastings

The NZ Transport Agency has announced that $3.7 million will be invested over the next two years to help New Plymouth become one of New Zealand’s first walking and cycling model communities.

NZTA Central Regional Director Jenny Chetwynd said the agency had approved the funding through the walking and cycling activity class of the National Land Transport Programme. New Plymouth District Council will...