Yes, we just have sheep tracks, cattle tracks and footpaths through ponga forests: <Is it true that New Zealand doesn't have highways?>? But maybe you mean by highways, divided direction multi-lane motorways, of which we have about 100 kilometres in the country. Cities pretending to Big Smoke status sometimes put in a bit of dual carriageway to make it look good, a bit like an African dictator putting on one of those swishy braided military hats to make themselves look good.
You are right though that the main reason for bicycle deaths being fewer proportionately than motorcycle is that motorcyclists like to zoom along and high speed then slide through cheese cutters, into bridge abutments, over banks or into oncoming vehicles [some of which are not on the right side of the road which is the wrong side, so to speak].
Apparently motor cyclists are sometimes referred to in medical circles as "organ donors". I think murderous criminals should be called organ donors, but that's another story.
People on bicycles are frequently hit from behind by incompetent and inattentive motorists. Modern vehicles put people in a trance so they are barely aware of the interaction of 0.5mv2, mv and ma [kinetic energy, momentum, force - m = mass, v = velocity, a = acceleration [and deceleration]. Some people, even when stationary don't put much time into thinking about those equations.
Mqurice |
