Categories
driving transport

Hey Google, tell me where to go

My car has a spot in the central console area thingy that looks like it has been designed to store your mobile phone so you can kind of see the screen while driving, for navigational purposes. At least, the manual doesn’t seem to document its purpose, and I can’t figure out what else it could  ... [More]

Categories
driving transport

The desire to drive, and how we must counter it

I am discovering that there’s some powerful psychology going on when you get a new car. Playing into this for me is that my old car was wearing out, and was getting difficult to drive, plus the change from manual to automatic. This means the new car seems like a breeze to drive. The “new  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism driving Toxic Custard newsletter

Retail therapy

Just a quick few points while I work on a more complicated post that’s (inevitably) transport related… Shopping bags Many major retailers are phasing out single-use plastic bags. Or to be precise, they’re phasing-out free bags. Woolworths: 20/6/2018 Coles, Target, Big W: 1/7/2018 Aldi never gave away bags. K-Mart is phasing out free bags during  ... [More]

Categories
driving transport

Cyclists on the footpath

I described this on Twitter the other day, but I’ll expand on it here. I was heading out in the car on Saturday afternoon. Got in, beeped, looked behind me, slowly backed-out of my driveway. BANG! A cyclist riding along the footpath with his dog (roughly at running pace) collided with my car. I stopped,  ... [More]

Categories
Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Four minutes? Impossible!

I can’t help noticing that when traffic is relatively light, this sign on Kings Way always it’s 4 minutes to Williamstown Road. This seems as optimistically unlikely as those old Citylink travel time promises. Google Maps reckons it’s 7.7 kilometres, and estimates a travel time without traffic of 6 minutes. The speed limit along the  ... [More]

Categories
driving

Keep clear: Pedestrians walking!

I was pleased to see a couple of articles on page 5 of the May 2014 City of Glen Eira council newsletter, about the rights of pedestrians on footpaths. The first notes the rules around keeping footpaths clear: Clearing the way for walking During community consultation for Glen Eira City Council’s Walking Strategy, various concerns  ... [More]

Categories
driving

Rego stickers are *so* last year

Lots of cars still seem to have rego stickers on them, even though they are being phased-out — you haven’t needed to have one on your car since the end of last year. …from 1 January 2014, Victoria will abolish registration labels for light vehicles, including passenger cars. … How will people know when they  ... [More]

Categories
transport

How many “bus lane” signs can you ignore? Better enforcement needed?

If you frequent the area, you might have noticed that the Ballarat Road has a lot more buses than usual. Not for the first time, the Regional Rail Link project has closed part of the Sunbury line, with buses ferrying passengers between Albion and Flemington Racecourse, resulting in convoys of buses doing train impersonations: Sensibly,  ... [More]