News items

On Sunday September 2nd Active Christchurch Walks with Graeme Stanley celebrated their 1000th walk with 85 walkers participating in a one hour walk from Mona Vale in RiccartonActive Christchurch Walks with Graeme Stanley are a Christchurch City Council initiative launched on October 4th 1998. Active Christchurch Walks encourage people to get more active for there general health and wellbeing.As well Graeme shares his knowledge of Christchurchs Heritage homes and buildings as well as its notable pioneers.Graeme uses a microphone and stops at various places along the thirtyplus minute Thursday

NZ Herald

Alarming crash rates on some of Auckland's widest and flattest streets have earned Pt England a road-safety trial.

Pedestrians are at particular risk in Tamaki, where 68 were hit by vehicles over the six years, a figure almost three times higher than in most other parts of Auckland.

Read more at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10457366

The August 2007 issue, and previous issues, of Smart Moves, Transport for London's magazine for the promotion of walking and cycling, is available from: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/businessandpartners/publications/1427.aspx. .

Demand is growing rapidly for homes in walkable areas, where it's not a given that a one-ton automobile is required to get one dozen eggs from the store.

The new signals tick, their buttons vibrate when the light changes to "walk," and they broadcast information about the intersection.

Link to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle (21 June 2007)

Walking school buses are being hailed by urban planners as a way of giving city streets back to children. Speakers at a United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) seminar in Waitakere yesterday said children who were driven to school by their parents failed to develop a sense of belonging to their neighbourhood or the independence that came from walking to school.

Crossing central Auckland's main shopping street is a dangerous game at the best of times, but new count-down clocks should allow pedestrians a better chance of escaping harm at one of its busiest intersections.The clocks at the intersection of Queen and Victoria Sts were switched on yesterday for a six-month trial to determine whether the technology should be introduced throughout the country. Pedestrians are given a standard six-second phase in which a green "walking" figure features on the bottom light in each set, before it is replaced by a 20-second count-down clock.

Press Release - Rt Hon Helen Clark A programme that makes travelling to schools in Auckland easier and safer for children was launched today by Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Another link in the walkway chain that will ultimately circumnavigate Timaru is presently being developed and upgraded along South Beach.