In Christchurch New Zealand. Put it here and not the safety forum as he is a commuter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8RTXrMHt2A

unrelated quote form cycling safety in New Zealand:

"A June 2007 study has found a third of New Zealand cyclists were involved in at least one accident in the previous year. As stated in the story, "Previous studies by Dr Thornley have found that New Zealand has relatively high rates of cyclist injuries compared with other countries. He believed this to be largely down to cycling being a more common practice elsewhere. In other countries where cycling is much more common, and a more integrated and accepted form of transport, the risk of injury is much, much lower."

They had the guy, (the teacher who took the vid), on TV he was a little crap to be honest I expected a lot more from him. He was too laid back.

Jeez. I watched the video without sound and so I don't know what, if any, narration went along with it. I couldn't help thinking, though, that that sequence is an excellent argument for "taking the lane." If I was riding that route in that way, I think I'd be more likely to get crunched because of sneaking peaks into parked cars to prevent getting doored rather than watching traffic.

It was odd to watch--but I have to say that I felt a lot less uneasy when the rider actually "got out there" instead of skulking along the edge...

+1

A few of the incidents could have been prevented by defensive cycling (or even VC) rather than kerb hugging and assuming that the bike lane is there to help.

There was no sound; the clips are made up of different days of his commute over a couple of weeks. As for "taking the lane" I rarely do, but then the routes I choose rarely have the risk of being doored. NZ has really wide roads, even in the cities, which the film does not do justice to so I don't see a lot of others taking the lane, as most drivers would think "WTF is that cyclist doing!?"

The journey itself is very familiar to anyone who regularly cycles in New Zealand - The land of the idiot driver. Very wide roads, (probably the same as the USA as they both have a similar car culture), poor road surfaces such as potholes which might be due to a lot of earthquake activity or more likely the lack of money to put into roads. Poor driving skills were everybody drives everywhere, if they could get away with it they would give the family dog a drivers license. Street lighting is abysmal also. I don't know why driving is so poor. People just don't get "cycling" here.

I don't want to come off as some kind of VC zealot. It just seems to me that if one rides like one belongs on the road, most motorists will react accordingly. If you're in the middle of the lane, they don't really have a choice. To me it's just a practical thing (and not a matter of politcal activism, or the taking on of the mantle of educating the motoring public); I just want to get there safely. If I have a good shoulder to ride on or a good alternate route at peak traffic times, that's where I'll be. But if I do have to take the lane, and can do so without causing a major tie up, I do it.

BTW, some of Christchurch looks a lot like some parts of DC--from the other side of the road of course .

Not quite! I live in Wellington. With a few exceptions, the roads here in Wellington/Hutt Valley area are generally narrow. Which makes it somewhat dangerous for cyclists. Because many roads here are narrow, there is little or no room to add dedicated cycling lanes.

See my comment above.

Many roads here are not good for cycling due to potholes, uneven surfaces, and prolific use of ####### metal (small stones or gravel; while good for traction, it causes substantial resistance to cycling (slows you down) and causes unpleasant vibration even when using carbon based bike components to dampen felt vibration)!

Lack of funds for proper road surfacing may be part of the problem. But I suspect lack of skill/experience by roading contractors may also be a factor.

At least they signal.

The roads are really wide for me compared to what I cycled on in the UK. Ferguson Drive Upper Hutt or Taranaki street in town - huge. Although I know there are roads that go from wide such as Mana Esplanade to silly and narrow when you get to that bit before Palmers garden centre, just after Plimmerton and that road to Paekakariki can you even cycle on that? But I'm sure you could roll off a few other narrow roads as well

Agree totally about the state of roads. McKays crossing anyone? Poor car drivers...

Nice to see someone else living in/from NZ here.