Originally Posted by
Rowan
Bicycle Victoria is virtually impotent unless it's organising rides in other States or countries. VicRoads used to try (at least when I had some association with bicycling advocacy), but it's brief was more for on-road facilities. There is no co-ordination or cohesion amongst cyclists and cycling organisations, much less an interest by those groups in creating meaningful, working partnerships with various levels of community (including the RACV) and government; in other words, if there isn't confrontation, there's nothing
The problem comes back to the people involved and their own agendas. As far as I can see, most "advocacy" groups are a prime example of the worst aspects of trade unions. They offer potential members a "voice" and "representation", but once you've joined, once they have your money and your name on a piece of paper, they don't care about you. The only real difference is that trade unions generally do more for their members.
How many "advocacy" organisations regularly consult with any more than a few core members? How many of them consult with the people currently riding for transport? Not very many. I remember at one meeting being told that I didn't know what I was talking about because I was "an experienced cyclist". I'm still waiting for someone to explain that one to me. I would have thought an experienced cyclist who is out there dealing with road conditions in the real world day after day would have some insight into a particular problem or whether or not a particular solution is going to work, but apparently not.
It seems to me that most "advocacy" groups are only interested in a few core members having their own little place to ride on Saturday morning without cars, never mind the fact that they'll probably all drive to get there. This is why they promote the "cycling is dangerous" message that only serves to scare people away. That, and the people who want to hang onto their titles like "Bicycle Queensland Manager" or whatever else because they like the sound of it. There are few people there with any real interest in promoting or increasing bicycle use, and those that have such interests are often shouted down repeatedly until they give up through sheer frustration.
The facts are that people will only consider cycling as a transport option if they have some desire to do it already, or if the other options become less desireable. Unfortunately, most cycling "promotion" seems to focus only on the second part of the equation (i.e, "driving is bad"), which is something advocates have little or no control over. What advocates should be doing is concentrating on the first part, which means waiting until the desire naturally arises (or even, God forbid, promoting the desire by actually saying something positive about cycling), and encouraging those who want to give cycling a try with training courses and support. Instead, all we have is the "trade union" scenario described above, but no real support for the newbie.
__________________
I am clinically insane. I am proud of it.
That is all.