I’ll preface this with the opinion that I have a lot of respect for truck drivers. Well, most of the professional ones I’ve encountered and had the opportunity to have a chat and peacefully exchange views.
However there are cowboys & fkwts out on the roads, but they’re probably cowboys & fkwts to virtually every other road user.
Massive B-triple trucks eight times the length of a family car would be allowed to run on CityLink and many other main commuter routes, under a secret Department of Transport plan leaked to the State Opposition.
‘Secret’ plan
Transport strategy
Restrictions lifted
The leaked document shows the routes B-triples – prime movers towing three trailers that can weigh up to 82 tonnes and are up to 36 metres long – would take through Melbourne, and around Victoria. B-triples weigh 74 times more than a family car, and overtaking one is the equivalent of passing eight motor vehicles, according to NSW motoring organisation the NRMA.
I’ll circumvent a long rant by simply mentioning that if these monsters are allowed on more roads, then at the very least a major road user education program and complusory side guards should be enacted immediately.
Although, as usual, don’t hold your breath waiting for the revelant authorities to do the right thing. Will it take someone or something, akin to the shock of Darren Millane’s accident, to speed up any changes, such as what happened with rear impact guards in the early 1990′s?
cfsmtb management is obviously quite busy, so here’s some recent pix we took of the Dreams on Wheels Exhibition at Fred Square. If you wait around a bit, no doubt there’s lots of other bicycle-themed snapshots in this display for your viewing pleasure.
August 12, 2008 at 1:28 am · Filed under Now Seriously
Yes, you are correct in picking the image on the right as the cover of Godley & Cremes Consequences. And if you know of a copy in Australia, at a reasonable price, the cfsmtb management would love to hear from you
Remember those geological ages you learnt at school? Earlier this year, a new geological age was quietly accepted, the Anthropocene, and here’s reasons why you should be cogniscent of that fact.
For those who didn’t happen to notice, perhaps because it wasn’t exactly front-page news in most of the country, NASA’s James Hansen, the man who first alerted Congress to the dangers of global warming 20 years ago, returned to testify before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming this week. This time around, he was essentially offering a final warning on the subject. Unless the U.S. begins to act soon, he pointed out, “it will become impractical to constrain atmospheric carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas produced in burning fossil fuels, to a level that prevents the climate system from passing tipping points that lead to disastrous climate changes that spiral dynamically out of humanity’s control.”
For the “elements of a ‘perfect storm,’ a global cataclysm” being assembled, he placed special blame on the “CEOs of fossil energy companies [who] know what they are doing and are aware of [the] long-term consequences of continued business as usual.” He added that they should, in his opinion, “be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature… I anticipate testifying against relevant CEOs in future public trials.” That’s a novel thought in our nation’s capital. Oh, and while he was at it, he probably should have thrown in George W., Dick C., and crew. What they haven’t done (and what they’ve blocked from being done) over these last eight years may turn out to be their greatest crime of all. Talk about smoking guns… or is it melting ice?
In cheerier news, may we introduce the Slow Bicycle Movement, which is just dandy for plodding, early middle-aged CGAF types such as yours truly. And in even cheerier news, the Dreams on Wheels Exhibition kicks off at Fred Square tomorrow. In future news I should get around to typing more than a few words about the long-planned YarraBUG radio show program on 3CR, which is growing little wings for it’s on-air debut, and the Vast Bicycle Consortium of Great Wonder that will be opening it’s doors up the road from Beer Can Hill. Heady days indeed.
Now in a valiant attempt to lift the mood somewhat from Mike Davis’ piece above, here’s a wicked Cassetteboy vs David Attenborough mashup that clearly demonstrates what munted creatures that some humans have de-evolved into. Warning: audio NSFW. Very, very NSFW
They’re fecking huge
Yes, you are correct in picking the image on the right as the cover of Godley & Cremes Consequences. And if you know of a copy in Australia, at a reasonable price, the cfsmtb management would love to hear from you
