The Groundhog Has Landed

Hello and welcome to the blog and yet another attempt to sum up whilst up-dating issues raised thus far this year and covering other stuff to boot...and rather than just churn out 'Groundhog Day in a Fishbowl' Parts I, then II, then III, etc, I'm going to embrace modified literary classics...today's?...The Eagle Has Landed...tomorrow, A Tale of Two Groundhogs, and Sunday, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Groundhog...

Clarification: in my recent post re City Council's meeting 17th December 2013 I put the boot into the local bicycling group for lobbing into that meeting to hear the bit about bike lanes, and then just leaving. This does not mean I'm opposed to bike lanes, or bikes, or bicyclists...I'm just really peeved by people who show up to Council meetings to hear their one little thing and then leave...an exasperated ahhhhh.

Furthermore, the plans as presented for the Bike Lanes along Penola Rd/Bay Rd will cause chaos. The plan shows (from left to right) the footpath, a bike lane just over a metre wide, one lane for vehicular traffic, a 2m wide painted traffic island, vehicle lane, bike lane, and back onto the footpath...again, when the bike lane times lapse and there are cars parked there, traffic will be pushed out to the centre of the road and will be forced to drive on the traffic island...where pedestrians will be standing...it's very dangerous.

Putting a bike lane through the Main Corner is an unworkable nonsense...(it's already bad enough with 2 lanes randomly merging into each other, particularly with the ridiculous parking spaces to service the Main Corner/Town Hall facilities only 40feet from the lights-Ed)...good point Ed...as much as it pains me to agree with City Council, I also think that this is a plan conjured from the mind of an Adelaide bureaucrat who possibly hasn't actually seen that section of road or the Main Corner intersection.

Why not utilise Ferrers St and the path at the back of Frew Pk Oval, etc, as permanent bike corridors with saturation signage, road markings, etc, that naturally carry far less traffic than the Penola/Bay Rd and provide access from Jubilee Hwy straight up the hill to the Blue Lake, etc?...and why has the Easement simply not been utilised in it's entirety as a perfect East/West bike/pedestrian corridor completely sans traffic?...why move the Rail Easement through the Old Rail Lands instead of just turning it into a bikeway?


Penola Rd/Wireless Rd Intersection: I disagree with Liberal candidate Troy Bell's TV ad (just on again during the cricket) in that rather than traffic lights, I still believe that this should be a Round-about, because a round-about allows smooth traffic flow along the main drag (Penola Rd) but still provides safe access from the side road (Wireless Rd)...it works at Penola Rd/Jubilee Hwy, so why not here? And appropriately timed pedestrian lights would provide safe passage...(hang on...lights or a round-about...you can't have both-Ed)...yeah you can...

By placing pedestrian activated lights for their use at the intersection, traffic can flow freely through the round-about until someone needs to try and get across either Penola Rd or Wireless Rd...'default delays' as per other lights will reduce the occurrence of traffic getting held up by constant pedestrian access...(it couldn't be that simple, could it? surely you've missed something-Ed)...don't think so...this would also be far cheaper than traffic activated lights.

Lady Nelson Bus Shelter Access: is a whole different kettle of fish shot through with both barrels by issues of appalling planning, nepotism, and Council dysfunction...I have covered all of these issues in previous posts, ie, it all stems from Council's quite rabid obsession with the Rail Lands Retail Agenda...but regardless of why the Bus Shelter is at the Lady Nelson site rather than at a central renovated Old Rail Station, access to/from there requires pedestrians to get across Jubilee Hwy...(get on with it-Ed)...

North Headed South: current bike lanes on Crouch St North just disappear 200m short of Jubilee Hwy then don't reappear at all on Crouch St South where there's just the occasional 'Scenic Bikeway' sign on a post...and because that staggered intersection is located right on a sharp bend, it has dangerously short fields of view re oncoming traffic...there is no safe place there to cross Jubilee Hwy and the authorities have dealt with this problem by just not having bike lanes for that section...ludicrous...'here's some bike lanes in the nice wide bit, but when it gets crowded and dangerous, you're on your own'...

The only solution I can see would be to install a pedestrian crossing appox 130m from the intersection, where the Bowling Club is, roughly 1/3 way between Crouch St and the Penola Rd roundabout, therefore providing relatively good vision in either direction and a safe corridor from the Crouch St bike lanes that doesn't clog up the roundabout or Crouch St intersections.

By taking the bike lane from Wireless Rd, along Crouch St Nth, down North Tce and across Jubilee Hwy on through Ferris St up to the Blue Lake, and combining that with the bikelanes along Suttontown Rd and Pinehall Ave, and what should already be a bikeway...(should have already been for about 7 years-Ed)...quite...along the entire Rail Easement through Mt Gambier, there are some workable options for making travel safer for cyclists whilst providing good options for getting from one side of town to the other.

It is not a criticism of anyone involved to suggest that everything should be done to keep bicycles away from cars and vice versa for the safety of the cyclist, only recently there was a terrible collision out on Bay Rd where a child was badly hurt...and Penola/Bay Rd through town is such a busy and relatively narrow road...simply by default, in any sort of collision, the cyclist is guaranteed to come off worse, so everything should be done to support safe cycling, but I don't think Penola/Bay Rd bikelanes are the solution. 

Voting Reform: was a hot topic this year following the rather odd results in some seats in the Senate at the September Federal Election...just heard Senator Nick Xenophon quoting the primary and preference figures from Western Australia and Victoria that saw seats go to the Sports Party and the Motoring Enthusiasts Party after major party candidates received the vast majority of First Preference votes.

Changes to Eligibility Criteria do not address the mess with the preference distribution or stop micro-parties as above from running...to formally register a party (I believe) you still need roughly the same number of people as members, and it will just cost slightly more...all these changes do is effectively rub-out genuinely Independent candidates like myself...

I agree with Mr Xenophon that the simplest, most effective reform to cancel out micro-party machinations with preference deals, is to allow any number of votes 'below the line' with say a minimum of 6 (from 75+) candidates to make it a valid vote...you wanna' do more? knock yourself out, but you only have to do at least 6...this allows anyone to run but completely negates the 'Preference Swappers'. 

Since the federal election I've heard/seen Mr Xenophon throughout the media across a range of topics, but there's one thing I haven't seen or heard...(let me take a wild guess, the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up Issue-Ed)...precisely...not a word...haven't heard from him or anything about this through the media, and as I've previously stated, not one single word about the Lutherans from anybody...(well, except the Local ABC Radio and The Border Watch praising them up-Ed)...quite.

Obviously it is incumbent of me to contact him yet again but I cannot believe that he's simply forgotten, and I remind readers that he specifically asked me to 'drop it until after the election' when I spoke to him back in August at a local car dealership (previous post)...when I do write, readers will be the second to know (after Mr Xenophon of course).

Enough for today...hope I didn't bore you with the bike lanes stuff, but I like to try and proffer options or even actual solutions not just critique. 

Tomorrow: The Old Man and The Groundhog

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters.