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  Women and walking in New Zealand

New Zealand women love to walk. At least that is what the data shows. Walking is good for physical and mental health, for getting out as part of the community, and for our planet. However, in the last few months media stories have suggested the opposite. Walking (or wheel-chairing) is the usual way people get around and is part of every trip, so what’s going on?

Talking, walking, seeing fall colours and catching up with friends and family - what's not to like about a visit to North America in September?
 

We started with the grand official opening of the Banff Commonwealth Walkway. It physically links several paths around this Rocky Mountain City. Virtually there is a link to other Commonwealth countries including our own capital where the markers were finished last year. I was moved by the indigenous welcome from Siksika Nation elder Tom Crane Bear.  
 

My name is Murray Darroch and since the beginning of the 21st century I have been living in Tawa, Wellington.   During the period 1973-1989 I lived in Hataitai at 14 Hepara Street.

New Zealand’s road toll is too high. On a per capita basis it is double that of the UK, and among the highest in the world - alongside Cambodia, Malaysia, Lithuania and Slovenia.

We have recently released the report Benchmarking Cycling and Walking in Six New Zealand Cities. This report compares Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin for important inputs (e.g. funding, policies, infrastructure)  and outputs (e.g. extent of walking and cycling, population health and safety) with regards to active transport.  The report and supplementary material are available here:  http://sustainablecities.org.nz/resilient-urban-futures/benchmarking/

Meanwhile, this just in from the "New Zealand history and natural heritage" Facebook page.

Line down the centre of the footpath.
From 1923 until the 1970s there was a bylaw requiring pedestrians to keep left on the major throughfares of the inner city.
The footpaths were painted with lines to facilitate this until the bylaw wasabolished in the early 1970s.
The elimination of the bylaw was due to the dramatic drop in the number of pedestrians in the inner city becuase so many daytime shoppers were favouring suburban malls.

There have been a few such reports circulating around the Tweet sphere which starts to make it seem like a real problem.

Streetsblog have done a good job on some arguments against it - one 'survey' was done that used spurious data.

http://www.streetsblog.org/2016/03/31/inside-the-latest-distracted-pedestrians-con/#.Vv88AfVoMHk.twitter

Living Streets Wellington is a group that really walks its talk, with a group out on the Grafton to Maidavale Road steps last Sunday giving them a good clean up. These steps are one of the many walkways that are iconic Wellington thoroughfares, and the group was highlighting the need for more maintenance on these routes to keep them safe for walkers to enjoy the great views. Many houses only have access from these steps so its important they are easy to use.

Andy Smith and Ellen Blake from the LSA exec have committed themselves to a week of meetings. Monday started with an LSA strategy meeting with Mike Mellor at the railway station.

Then it was off to the NZ Police and Superintendent Steve Greally who is the Manager Road Policing. We talked about our yellow feet, proposed law change and Vision Zero for road deaths.