Hayden has lobbied for bike lanes for years. Now he's given up
Key takeaways
- "You can only lovingly explain the obvious to a spineless politician so many times before you realise they aren't confused.
- Perhaps unwittingly, Lavigne had entered an unhealthy relationship with his local council a few years earlier.
- Across Australia, at the junctures of concrete and bitumen, beside the abrupt endings of footpaths and bike lanes and around the ubiquitous parking bay, tense words and turf wars are erupting.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Link copied Share Share article At the rate Australian cities are building cycling networks, a cohesive system is probably decades away. What’s taking so long?
On April 7 Hayden Lavigne officially gave up. "You can only lovingly explain the obvious to a spineless politician so many times before you realise they aren't confused. They're just choosing to uphold the status quo," 27-year-old Lavigne wrote online.
Perhaps unwittingly, Lavigne had entered an unhealthy relationship with his local council a few years earlier. Now he was fed up. "Better accessibility and transport choices are not some fringe hobby for inner-city weirdos," he continued. "They are the basic ingredients of a city that treats everyone as equal. The evidence is there. The benefits are obvious. Other cities have already figured this out. But our politicians become absolute cowards the second someone mentions parking."