Fun going from riding

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33219, 8 May 1973, Page 15

Fun going from riding

I “Cycling has become increasingly unpleasant and hazardous,” a subcommittee of the Heathcote County Council says in a report passed on to the Christchurch Metropolitan Road Safety Committee. The committee’s acting secretary (Mr J. A. Cross) said [the report was presented by |Cr R. H. T. Thompson and

> was the result of a letter sent to the council expressing concern at the lack of pro- ’ vision of cycle tracks in the ' city. 1 The committee decided to i send copies of the report to the councils represented on the committee. 10,000 IN 1971 In the report the council : said there had been a decline I in the number of cycles in ' Christchurch in recent years. I The Christchurch Regional Planning Authority’s second transport study showed that in 1971 2200 cycles were parked in an area bounded by Fitzgerald and Bealey Avenues, Hagley Park and Brougham Street. In 1959 it was estimated that 10,000 were parked in the same area. When the rest of the university and Teachers College moved to Ham a further sub-

stantial reduction in the num- ; ber parked in the area seemed inevitable, said the report, but ' this might be just as well. “Cyclists are blocked by traffic lights in one-way streets geared to the speed of cars, terrorised by the thunder of heavy vehicles approaching from behind, and choked by fumes from trucks.” Their safety was endangered by columns of fastmoving traffic, by the sudden, opening of car doors and by truck trailers. “It is long past the time when some consideration was given to the needs of cyclists in this city.” HILL CYCLE TRACKS The Christchurch Regional Planning Authority's master transportation plan was designed exclusively for motor traffic and the problem of pedestrians and cyclists was, in the authority’s view, “essentially one for local authorities.” In the Heathcote County it was suggested that a cycle track on the road along the base of the hills would be of great use—it could be used by pony club members too, whose activities had been endangered by heavy traffic. The Summit Road was designed exclusively for motor traffic—“there is not even a walking track, much less a cycle path.” Cycle paths could be put on footpaths or between footpaths and the parking lane. “It would appear that only in the latter case would cycle paths be eligible for National Roads Board subsidy,” said the report.