September 7, 2025 • 31 mins
I have the best news: we already have the solution to all of our problems.
This could save over 8 million lives a year, make us live longer with fewer sick days, save billions of dollars, and make us all a lot happier to be around... I feel like this should be front-page news?
The problem is, it’s boring. Because it’s cycling.
It turns out the issue of cycling is actually far, far more complicated than most of us realise. The health, economic and community implications are massive, but we still don’t have huge swaths of the community cycling in droves.
So why is this, and what can we do to change it?
Well, that’s what this episode is all about.
In this episode let's discuss:
- Why cars are such massive pollution contributors
- Examples of cities that have prioritised cycling and actually reaped the benefits
- How cycling impacts communities
- Cycling’s benefits on physical health
- Cycling’s benefits on mental health
- The surprisingly massive impacts of car parks
- Humans’ inability to assess danger - and why it affects cycling
- Why helmets actually add to the idea that cycling is dangerous
- The societal factors that influence cycling uptake
- The tiny annoyances that throw people off using bikes
- The main reason people don’t cycle
- And the solution to all of it
Thanks for joining me on this episode of Because Why?!
Mā te wā - see you next week.
You can get involved with the podcast online in the meantime, of course.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatwhatsicall.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Guys, I have the best views. We already have the solution to
all of our problems. This is something that will save
over 8 billion lives a year. It will make us live longer with
fewer sick days. It'll save billions of dollars
and make us all happier and morepleasant to be around.
I feel like this should be frontpage news.
But the problem is this solutionhas been around for ages and
it's actually quite boring because it's cycling.
(00:22):
OK, maybe you won't solve all ofour problems.
It probably won't help with the erosion of democracy, but health
issues, climate change, traffic congestion, safety ticks all
those boxes. It legitimately goes further
than that, too. Even if you don't care about
cycling, listen on because this episode is a bit deeper than it
might seem. Welcome back to because why?
(00:42):
I'm Brienne West, and my favorite word is why, which is
why I'm asking today's question.Because why are we ignoring the
simple solutions we already have?
So I'm not a very good cyclist. I actually didn't learn until I
was about nine years old, which is quite a lot older than
everybody else it would seem. And I actually taught myself on
an afternoon when I think my poor parents had given up and
(01:02):
abject frustration. And I never really got into the
cycling thing. I was kind of 1/2 hearted
cyclist. And actually, it wasn't until I
very erroneously passed my motorbike license in Rarotonga,
which I so did not deserve it, that I realized the line.
It's like riding a bike is in fact absolute BS.
And I didn't ride a bike for at least 15 years.
(01:25):
And one day on a whim I was in WA, I thought I'd head over to
Rotten East Island, which is of course where the world famous
smiley quackers are, which are the coolest animals in the
entire world. And they do actually smile.
If you're ever over in Perth, please take your day trip to
Rotten East Island. It was so freaking cool.
But the only way around on the island is by bike.
They don't have cars on there. You can't rent a car or anything
(01:45):
on there. And I remember having to hire a
bike and they they make you do like a lap on the little test
track to a make sure that you can ride a bike and B, that it's
the right size. And nothing is more humiliating
than as a what, I don't know, 30year old woman wobbling around a
kids style test track in front of very fit Australian men
(02:08):
trying to convince them that youhad your shit together, knew
what to do, when really all you wanted was some Crocker selfies.
And incidentally, a Crocker did actually try to get into my
backpack. I did not entice it in with
snacks. I know that you think that I
did. I was tempted.
It's illegal. Don't touch the Crockers.
The problem is they don't know that rule and they will touch
you anyway. Moral of the story, I'm not a
very good cyclist, but you should go to Rodney's Island.
(02:30):
But how is cycling the solution to all of our problems?
Well, one of them's kind of obvious, right?
One of the biggest problems we are currently facing is climate
change. And as you know, because you are
listeners of because why you value evidence.
So we know that climate change is caused by an increasing
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which humans are
contributing to on mess cars areobviously one of the dirtiest
(02:51):
inventions we've ever normalized.
So globally they pump at about 8% of total CO2 emissions and
out zero. It's actually much worse, it's
about 27%. So that's a quarter of
everything we emit just so we can largely sit in traffic and
rant about other idiots also sitting in traffic.
Because isn't it funny how we all think we're above average
(03:13):
drivers? I mean, I am an above average
driver, but we can't all be. And the bit I find most
annoying, and yet I am of coursetotally guilty of also, is that
nearly half of all those car journeys are under 5 KS.
And that's not just here, that'sglobally.
So what's that? 15 minutes on a bike, tops?
And yet we just fire up two tonsof metal to nip down the shops.
(03:34):
If you think about it, it's kindof mad.
And of course, cars don't just emit carbon.
They also release other things like nitrous oxides and fine
particulates, and that's what you breathe in.
And they cause problems. So they're teeny, tiny little
particles that cause asthma, heart disease, strokes and more.
And that's a big part of what kills over 8 million people
every year. But apparently it's more
worrying that we might look stupid with a helmet on.
(03:56):
But I'll get to that bit. If just 10% of people switched
one car trip per day to cycling,it would cut transport CO2
emissions by about 4%. That is a ridiculous amount of
impact for just 10% of people doing one small thing.
That's not really that inconvenient.
Imagine if 20% of people did it.Maybe we could make biking cool
again. Or actually possibly for the
first time, never make Al Tierraa bike again.
(04:20):
I don't think that's campaign worthy yet.
Watch the space. Now, of course, obviously not
everybody can ride a bike for a multitude of reasons.
I mean, I'm probably a good example of someone who
shouldn't, but I reckon at least20% of us can.
And when you look at the changesin places that actually tried, I
mean, in Paris, they built bike lanes, cycling tripled.
Car traffic, of course, failed because traffic in Paris is
horrific. The air got cleaner and people
(04:42):
were actually happier. Bogota closes 120 kilometers of
its streets every Sunday to carsand a million people show up to
ride their bikes, walk or skate together.
And that has really cool benefits well beyond just being
able to breathe. Cycling is one of those things
that stimulates community as well, but I'll get to that too.
But before I get to the next bit, which is about health, if
weight is a tricky subject for you, skip ahead a couple of
(05:03):
minutes now collectively, and don't get mad at me.
This is statistical. We are stiff, tired, tubby, weak
and anxious and it's largely because we just don't move
enough. As a millennial, the running
joke is once you hit 30, although I reckon it was more
like 25, your knees start to creak.
You do the old man groan when you sit down.
(05:24):
But if we normalize something that's really not normal.
The number one killer in the western world is, of course,
heart disease. And as Maha and Wellness
grifters continue to gain momentum, this is actually going
to get worse as they push thingslike beef tallow and the anti
seed oil thing. As our standards of living have
improved, our waistlines of course have expanded.
There's been an increase in things like diabetes.
And again, despite what fucking Maha would tell you, that is due
(05:46):
to the simple fact that we eat too much of the wrong stuff and
we don't move enough. It is not, in fact, a conspiracy
run by big seed oil. Your average American, and sorry
to use US stats but couldn't find anything reliable for New
Zealand. The average American eats 3500
calories a day and they only move for about 20 minutes.
That's not exercise for 20 minutes, that's general
movement. So that's the problem.
(06:07):
It's not processed food. Although let's not eat
exclusively processed food. Everything in moderation.
And we've had the solution to this for decades, right?
Cycling knocks an awful lot of that on the head.
So 1/2 hour ride will burn a couple of 100 calories.
If you do that on the way to andfrom work.
The difference is pretty significant over the course of a
week, but it's far beyond calories.
(06:28):
It's so much more than what you weigh.
It's your cardiovascular health,your body composition in terms
of how much muscle you have, which is of course directly tied
to longevity and health. In the Netherlands, we're
cycling as a whole thing. Obesity rates are around 14%,
but in other Western countries like New Zealand, like the
United States, it can between 30to 60%.
I know we're all about building muscle at the moment, which is
(06:49):
very, very important. And yes, definitely, especially
for women, which sounds like another podcast episode.
But cardio seems to have fallen out of favour.
Which is totally fair, because cardio exercises in the gym are
boring as fuck. But you know what's not boring?
Cycling. Surprise, it's actually
genuinely not. I mean, how much fun is it to
cycle down country lanes? Or if you're one of those
absolute lunatic adrenaline seekers, down some crazy
(07:11):
mountain bike track? Not only does cycling improve
things that your VO2 Max, but italso lowers your blood pressure,
it slashes the risk of type 2 diabetes, and it literally makes
your heart stronger because she's a muscle.
After all, there was a massive British Medical Journal study
that looks at 1/4 of a million people and found that people who
biked to work had a 46% lower risk of heart disease and a 45%
(07:32):
lower risk of cancer than peoplewho drove.
If they came in a pill, it wouldbe the most profitable thing in
the history of time. And yes, I did say cancer.
The link between obesity and cancer is largely well known by
now, right? But the link between lack of
movement or sedentary lifestyle and cancer is also significant,
and it's actually independent ofweight.
So if you don't move very much, even if you are within a healthy
(07:54):
weight, you have a significantlyhigher chance of cancer.
And it doesn't matter how you move.
That's kind of the beauty about it.
Yes, obviously this is about cycling.
But if you want to go for a walk, if you want to go run
around with your children, if you want to go, I don't know,
chase cows into the paddock they're supposed to be in, all
of that helps. Find something you love doing
and do that. Nice to just cycling.
And if you wake up sore from a hard night of lying on a soft,
(08:16):
fluffy mattress, you'll be glad to know that cycling actually
helps with something called functional flexibility too.
So it's great that you can do downward dog in the gym, and
it's great that you can do squats with 160 KGS of weight.
But functional flexibility is really important.
And it's a combination of strength and range of motion in
ways that you actually move every day.
Cycling keeps your joints moving.
It builds muscle and of course, it improves balance.
(08:38):
And that in particular matters because falls are one of the
biggest causes of serious injuries.
People age. Almost 50% of elderly people who
break a hip will die within 12 months.
It's pretty sobering. But in the Netherlands, which is
an example that's going to pop up a lot in this episode, you
will see grandparents peddling to the shops.
Here. We expect retirement to be even
more sedentary. We build retirement villages
(08:58):
next to hospitals or even as part of them.
But it doesn't actually have to be that way.
When I bought my lifestyle blockit actually came with like a
lifestyle block keeper slash gardener.
He's in his late 80s and he could probably run rings around
me. Moderate regular exercise also
helps your immune system. Now note, I do not say boost
because that is Wellness grifting nonsense, but people
who ride their bikes, again, studies have proven they get
(09:21):
fewer colds, fewer respiratory infections, and when they do,
they recover faster. There's nothing fancy about it,
it's just our bodies are workingproperly because they're being
used as they should be. Our bodies are actually pretty
freaking amazing. They're endurance machines.
We are built to walk and walk a long way and it is so, so good
for you. I mean, in fact, it is actually
even better than cycling. But for today's episode we're
going to ignore that. And if you're an employer, you
(09:43):
should care too, because people who cycle to work take up to 30%
fewer sick days. And that's shown by data from
the NHS in the UK. So imagine if companies stop
paying for car parks and just, Idon't know, bought everybody
bikes instead. The difference it would make if
that became a accepted mass practice would genuinely be mind
blowing. I used to incentivize people who
biked the etique retail store with a discount on products.
(10:04):
And when I finally launched Incredibles and you know, I
don't know, 2048 or whatever, actually, it's going to be late
January next year. You heard it here first.
I will do something that incentivizes our team to get on
bikes where possible. I really want a retail store
with like cascading Incredibles waterfalls like Willy Wonka, but
maybe not in that first year. Watch this space.
And obviously when I talk about health, it's not only physical.
(10:27):
Your brain is an organ. It's almost bizarre that we talk
about mental health like it's totally separate from physical
health because it clearly isn't.Now, people who cycle report
lower anxiety. They sleep better, They have
higher overall well-being. Interestingly enough, a ride
through side streets on the way home calms you down, so you're
more relaxed. You're more prepared to chill
out for the rest of the evening when you get there.
(10:47):
But you know what? It's not relaxing sitting in
traffic listening to Talkback haulers go on about fucking
fluoride or immigrants. So maybe cycling will actually
help with the erosion of democracy.
And there's even evidence that cycling specifically helps
protect memory and reduces your risk of dementia.
There's literally no downsides to moving more.
(11:07):
I suppose if you're clumsy then there's a risk of injury, but if
you actually make moving part ofyour everyday, injuries are way
less likely too. It's hardly news that moving
makes you feel better, but it might be news to you that the
opposite is true. This is a self rated study to be
this in mind. But for every 10 minutes someone
is stuck in traffic on their daily commute, the self rated
quality of life drops by a point.
I mean, chances are if you're listening to this, you're
(11:30):
probably sitting in traffic right now.
You're having fun, many cyclistswhizzing by looking smug.
On average, drivers in Auckland spend about 80 hours a year
stuck in congestion. That's two full working weeks
that you are not being paid for.And obviously the traffic in
Auckland sucks, but it is so much worse elsewhere if you're
in Dublin. This one surprised me.
Dublin drivers spend 158 hours ayear in traffic.
(11:51):
That's in almost an entire week of just sitting still, and it
cost some over €6000 to do so. The USA is actually a little bit
better, which surprised me. So drivers in Boston spend 149
hours a year in traffic. Chicago 145.
New York, it's 140. But I'm sure the only reason
it's that low is because most people in New York walk or use
the subway. The one and only time I have
(12:13):
been on the subway in New York Iremember so fondly because it
was the first time I'd ever beento New York.
And we got down the stairs and aman very calmly beside me just
started taking off his clothes one by one.
It was a calm and Catalan doing his shirt, folding it out,
putting it on the platform, taking his pants off.
I think he leaves his shoes on, which is wise because you don't
know where you're going to step on in New York.
(12:33):
And he just stood there naked. My business advisor at the time
just look straight ahead and whispered out the corner of your
mouth, don't look at him. It's OK.
Don't panic. I wasn't really panicked, but I
was really curious. I mean, that's yeah.
It's an interesting insight intoa lot of things, actually quite
sad. Anyway, distracted Los Angeles,
otherwise known as one of the literal worst places on earth,
(12:53):
is 103 hours, which does surprise me again.
I once spent three hours in an LA traffic jam once very much
lost the will to live and I almost whit myself.
I was at the point where I was trying to find something I could
actually weigh into. I can't believe I'm saying this
on a podcast. I was in pain.
But when you're in, you know, A5lane freeway, nobody's moving
anywhere. You haven't got a choice.
You've probably seen news stories from China where people
(13:15):
have been stuck in traffic jams for days.
Do you know who isn't? Cyclists.
Not to mention cars are terribleat actually moving people
efficiently. A single Rd. lane where cars
will move maybe 1400 people an hour.
That's not actually very many because a bike lane, which is
obviously a lot smaller in that same space it's more like 4000
people and parking is just as stupid.
One car park takes up the same space as 10 bikes.
(13:38):
Cities are drowning in climate killing, heat emitting concrete
when they can be building housing or parks or literally
anything else. Now, the stats on car parks are
actually quite worth listening to and I had to tone the section
down because man, this is a whole thing.
Car park psychology is a thing. Now in cities where over half a
million people live, 22% of thaturban land is car parking. 22%
(14:01):
of a city is car parking. That is absolutely ridiculous.
And it's so much worse in some places.
In parts of Texas, it's 42%. Yep, 42.
And yet the vast majority of cars obviously spend 95% of
their time sat there doing nothing.
It could go on about this because this is one of those
things that when you know, you can't not know, you know.
But the way we build our cities and I towns to be focused on
(14:22):
moving cars around which are in no way efficient is actually
incredibly stupid. And I say this is someone who
actually really loves cars, which is kind of odd because you
know, the whole environmental thing.
But I actually love the feeling of acceleration more than
anything. I know how to change my oil.
I know how to change my filters courtesy of boy racer boyfriends
way back 158 years ago. Although I suppose it's no
(14:43):
longer relevant as H to drive anEV.
But like, I love cars and I still think our obsession with
them is stupid. I could go on.
The benefits of cycling are weirdly wide, and they go a lot
further than you might think. The start of this episode wasn't
that much of an overstatement. I haven't touched on money
because cycling infrastructure really shows massive cost
benefit ratios of one to five. If you contrast that with
(15:04):
motorway projects, they just cost money and they don't
decrease traffic. Like literally no motorway has
ever resolved a traffic issue and bikes are cheaper, not just
councils. Families should swap a car for a
bike and depending on where you live and your lifestyle that can
absolutely be a thing. But they can save between 10 to
$12,000 a year. And if you look at equity, bikes
are obviously cheaper to buy andmaintain.
And in Alto 1/3 of households and lower income areas don't
(15:28):
actually have access to a car atall.
So a bike can be the difference between getting to work or
school or not. I briefly mentioned community
earlier, but AUS study found that cyclists actually spend
more money locally over time than drivers because they shop
smaller and more often, so they bolster local economies.
Suck it Westfield, I suppose Theresearch on microplastics
continues to get scarier. I've actually submitted my PhD
(15:48):
proposal on whether microplastics are making
pathogens more likely to spread and more virulent too, which is
also a super scary area of scientific development, but I
will keep you updated on that. But about 30% of the
microplastics that end up in waterways comes from mostly
tires and brakes. Bikes don't contribute to that
almost at all, and this is a strange one.
I thought you probably have evennoticed, but engine noise is
(16:08):
actually a stressor to people, so cutting Rd. noise makes
neighborhoods measurably less stressful.
And yet, despite all of that, fewer than 3% of people in New
Zealand commute on their bike. Australia's actually quite a bit
better at 15%, but it's bloody dreadful in the USA, where less
than 1% of people bike to work. Because why?
Well, it's complicated. The biggest reason is because
(16:29):
humans are actually incredibly shit at assessing risk.
We are bizarrely bad at it. A good example is nuclear
energy, right? People freak out about something
like it, and I get why radiationpoisoning looks horrific, but
nuclear energy is the safest energy source we have.
When you contrast that with fossil fuels which kill, as I've
said, 8 million people a year, the amount we worry about
(16:50):
nuclear energy doesn't quite match up.
And typically the same people who hate GMOs, which are proven
safe in so many studies. We don't care about drinking raw
milk. Wellness guru rules will talk
about seed oil as being the literal devil and then drink a
glass of wine which contains a Class 1 carcinogen.
We suck at risk assessment and this is constantly reinforced by
media. So a psychos killed by a truck
is headline news, and understandably so.
(17:11):
But the thousands of people who ride safely every day don't make
the paper. Of course that's how that works
Now. Psychologists call it the
availability heuristic, which isessentially that we remember and
talk about the scary stuff. So even if actual risk is low,
it feels massive. Actually in the Netherlands
cycling per kilometre is safer than walking in the USA.
Do that well you will. The culture of aggression that a
(17:32):
lot of countries have around cycling is a big thing tied to
safety. Of course a lot of drivers get a
bit ranty about cyclists, and certainly the ones I know seem
to be weirdly focused on the lycra.
I guess it does show everything,but when drivers are overtly
aggressive it of course impacts safety.
So roads have a hierarchy. Trucks are at the very top.
You do not fuck with a 16 Wheeler or an SUV.
(17:55):
And of course bikes are the bottom, just underneath pond
scum. So that's when stupid stuff
happens, like people pass unnecessarily closely, they
tailgate people, film people, which is very intimidating.
They shout out the window all sorts of unhinged nonsense.
And what do you know when that happens, people don't feel safe.
And that'd be right. In those environments they are
less safe. But safety comes from numbers.
(18:16):
Research across multiple cities and multiple countries shows
that when cycling numbers double, the risk for each
individual cyclist actually drops by about a third, triple
the number of cyclists, and accidents are cut in half.
The threshold seems to kick in that when 5 to 10% of trips are
done on a bike instead of a car,that's when safety increases
measurably. Anything below that and bikes
(18:37):
kind of feel like an oddity and drivers act accordingly.
Basically like decades. Above that threshold, cars are
just normal traffic, like your typical Suzuki Swift, and
drivers behave differently. I mean probably still like
decades because everybody becomes weirdly aggressive on
the road, but slightly less so. And then of course when you see
people cycling around you're more likely to consider doing it
yourself because the whole you can't be what you can't see
(18:58):
doesn't just work in a career sense.
It's pretty much everything. We are really scared of standing
out and being alone because it absolutely makes you more of a
target. In many ways helmets complicate
this discussion heaps. Yes, obviously helmets reduce
head injury in a crash and if you don't wear one I do wonder
why you think your skull is tougher than concrete, because
it definitely isn't. Which reminds me of the bloke of
(19:21):
my YouTube comments not so long ago who was adamant he wouldn't
wear sunscreen because he wasn'tscared of the sun.
But you're thinking you were tougher than the sun.
It's literal nuclear fusion. Anyway, helmets add to the idea
that cycling is dangerous because you need to wear
protective equipment. We accepted with seatbelts and
cars because we have that protection of a big metal skin
and no one ever gets injured in a car crash, right?
(19:43):
But not on a bike. But because of that safety
equipment, we view cycling as less safe, even though
statistically it's actually safer in a lot of places.
And vanity also comes in with the helmet conversation.
People are weirdly obsessed withnot having helmet here.
And as a proud fringe wearer, fringe wearer, fringe fringe
owner, I get it. Because if you've ever seen a
sweaty fringe when it's been freed from a helmet, or I guess
(20:06):
Americans call them bangs, if you know what I'm talking about,
it's embarrassing. I wake up every morning looking
a little bit like a parakeet andpeople don't like looking silly.
I don't want to stand out. And again, because we are crappy
at risk assessment, we fear looking stupid way more than we
value the health benefits we getfrom the cycling.
Interestingly enough, in places we're wearing helmets is not a
legal requirement. Cycling levels do actually tend
to be higher, which does tell you a lot about species, but you
(20:28):
could also assume that it probably also does take away
some of the visual danger factor.
Like I said, it's actually a very complicated thing and I
could talk about this for a longtime, but there's other parts to
it. Of course.
Going back to worry about being judged.
Cars are a status symbol, eitheras a way to show off to others
or even sometimes there's an internal self validation that
what we're doing is OK, we're doing well, and entire
(20:49):
industries have spent decades and hundreds of millions of
dollars on selling us the idea that driving is independence,
that cars are telling the world around you something about you
branding cars as luxury. And bikes really don't have the
same aura as an Aston Martin. They're toys for children.
They're the more affordable option and a surprising number
of people don't like that. Never underestimate how much the
(21:12):
perception of being judge effects people's behaviour.
Little tiny inconveniences, and I'm using air quotes here,
nibbles away at people's motivation too.
They're a pain to lock. What if someone steals it?
I don't have showers at work so I might smell.
What if I get a flat tire? I have too much stuff to carry.
These tiny little hassles outweigh the massive benefits I
mentioned because again, human circuit assessing stuff.
Those little tiny annoyances arereally just not that big of a
(21:33):
deal. Cars hardly parked themselves,
OK yes some do now, but they candefinitely still get flat tyres
which is way more inconvenient. And they do absolutely still get
stolen. But we just don't think about
it. People assume that cycling will
take heaps longer than driving does, but when you truly
consider the add-ons like finding a carpark, paying for
it, walking to wherever you're going, traffic and so on, trips
under 5 kilometres are actually often faster on a bike.
(21:56):
And the final excuse you'll probably hear the most is
weather. What if it rains guys?
Denmark exists, the Netherlands exists.
Places where about 1/4 of all trips are made on a bike and it
does in fact rain a shit load there.
Waterproof jackets are a thing. Riding in the rain is weirdly
exhilarating. Like you can always run further
and faster. You don't paint as much when
(22:16):
you're running in the rain. And I'm sure there's some
science behind that might do some research, but actually
there is. There is some evidence that
shows that. Spending time in weather safely,
of course it is nice. It refreshes your brain.
To quote my friend Kate Hall, oreffectively Kate as you may know
her, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.
Well, you know what? If you really, really don't like
getting wet, just ride when it'ssunny.
It's still better than not riding at all.
(22:37):
But really, none, none of that is why people don't cycle.
We don't cycle because the worldisn't built for cyclists.
Our towns, our laws, our daily routines, they are often built
around the car. And I imagine a lot of people
thinking what? No, they're not.
I don't even think about my car.No, you don't.
And that's kind of the point. Things like free parking at
work, free parking at the mall, the internal thought that so
(22:59):
many of us have that if I can't get a car park close by, I won't
go. They're all kind of evidence of
of the car world we live in. I've missed exams at university
years ago because I couldn't geta park and I got so wound up
that I ran away. Although it might have been done
a bit deeper going on there too.There are statistics that show
that businesses with car parks out the front do a lot better
than the same business that doesn't.
(23:19):
Schools have massive drop off zones for cars that are the size
of bloody sports fields, but they ban bikes from the gate
because they are a risk. I have seen that sign a
multitude of times. Supermarkets are masses of
asphalt and no Safeway to arriveon two wheels.
And good luck finding a place tolock your bike up outside
hospitals. Definitely somewhere you think
they would promote health. But they have loads of car
(23:40):
parks, maybe one or two bike racks.
Our tax systems reward company cars and fuel cars.
Bikes get nothing. Every signal says driving is
normal. Cycling is weird and annoying.
I don't want to belabour this point, but this is actually the
point about this episode. And whilst it's about cycling,
it's about so much more than cycling.
If you think about all the ways that our society nudges us away
(24:02):
from better choices, it's a bit crazy.
Trains and buses. They don't allow bikes on board.
Or they make you book it in advance and you have to log it
into a tiny compartment and everyone stares at you and your
social anxiety goes to the roof.If you live in an apartment, do
you have bike parking? Probably not, but you almost
certainly have a car park. Local bylaws force businesses to
provide car parks for customers,but not bike racks.
Councils cut ribbons on new motorways, but they argue for
(24:23):
freaking years over a single cycle lane despite evidence of
it solving the traffic problem. Urban design codes talk about
traffic flow and parking minimums.
They never talk about walkability.
We have made cities that are perfect for cars, not for
people. They are not the same thing.
Even advertising is dominated bycars.
(24:43):
Again, subtly, sort of in a way that you don't notice.
Bikes just appear as part of sportswear catalogues or maybe a
charity fun ride, but the peopleriding them are still covered
because they're often wearing lycra.
They look like cyclists, a smallclosed group that you can't
join. It's not often that someone
wearing a dress or shorts and just having a casual ride and
every single one of these signals and many more reinforces
(25:05):
that cars are normal, Bikes are the outlier.
And this is what makes the idea of people having choices kind of
feel a bit hollow because you are not choosing between equally
supported options. And yeah, I'm again talking
about beyond cycling. We are all reacting to an
environment that makes one thingeasy and the other thing weird,
hard, sometimes humiliating. So despite of all these
(25:27):
amazingly good things that outweigh the small
inconveniences, it's really no wonder that fewer than 3% of New
Zealanders commute on a bike. Because the world doesn't want
you to make that choice. Because why?
Because of oil? OK, fine, not really, but would
you be surprised if it was? But this isn't really an
accident either, because there is history here.
Decades ago in the USA. Companies like General Motors
(25:48):
and Standard Oil and Standard Oil are sort of up there with
Nestle for level of evil. They bought up tram and
streetcar public transport networks and they replaced them
with roads. They actually went to court for
it in 1949. Rd.
Building has really powerful friends like asphalt companies,
engineering firms, construction giants who make billions of
dollars off motorways. Imagine making billions of
(26:09):
dollars off something that doesn't even solve the problem.
Actually, that's corporate life for you, I suppose.
Motoring associations lobbied for mandatory parking
requirements, city planning codes, because they knew that
would mean that cars became normalized and this forced
businesses and apartments to build car parks.
But again, bike storage car companies spend billions of
dollars on advertising every year, creating car culture.
(26:30):
A car equals adulthood, freedom,success, independence.
So it's not really the case thatthere's one evil executive
cackling in the background that's paid for by big Car, but
it is decades of lobbying. It's profit chasing and kind of
inertia that has locked us into a wheel built for cars.
Some cities are so bad that theyare actually considered
unwalkable because there are places you quite literally
(26:52):
cannot cross the road as a pedestrian.
I spent a lot of time in the USAover the last few years and I
have seen this. You simply cannot cross the road
to the shops on the other side for say in a lot of places in
LA, in Florida, you have to drive.
It's almost like we have car overlords that are pulling our
little puppet strings. We haven't even noticed.
So this episode has been about bikes.
But it's not really about bikes.It's about why do we ignore the
(27:17):
great solutions that we had in front of us and have had for
ages, and yet we continue to champ at the bit for this new
shiny thing. Cycling is just one example.
It's one choice that would make a massive dent in things like
climate change and equality, stress levels, fitness, safety,
local economies, even education.But we don't do it because our
brains love the shiny new thing,the complicated thing, the thing
with a press release and a pretty ribbon and some freaking
(27:38):
tech bro cackling magle in the background.
And that's why the weight loss industry is massive, for
example. Everybody wants a quick fix,
even if it's unproven and makes you miserable.
We don't want the slow process of making long lasting lifestyle
changes. It's actually why the Wellness
industry is 4 times bigger than so-called big pharma.
Because we want to drink our health supplements and then
spend the rest of the day eatingchocolate and wine.
Which actually does kind of sound freaking ideal, doesn't
(28:00):
it? And when you start thinking like
this, it gets more frustrating because there are so many
examples. Educating girls is one of the
biggest solutions we have, again, for so many problems.
You've probably never thought about it.
It's one of the strongest climate and development levers
there is. Every extra year of education
reduces early marriage. It increases family income and
improves child survival and lowers the number of children
(28:22):
per mother, which means healthier families and fewer
people pushed into poverty. But we still want to pour money
into carbon capture technology, which will never, ever, ever
work. It really won't.
It doesn't matter what the shinycompany brochure says.
It will never work from a sheer volume point.
But let's talk about that in another episode.
Instead, we could fund teachers and school buses.
That does work. And along that same line of
(28:43):
contraceptives, they are the best solution to uncontrolled
fertility and high maternal mortality because they let
people decide when and whether to have children.
Contraception reduces poverty. It increases years in school and
lifts women's earnings. And women who earn more spread
that into the community more so than men do.
That's not a dig at me, and that's a statistical fact.
That slows population growth, which of course lowers long run
(29:04):
emissions more effectively than bloody carbon offsets.
And yet we still cut family planning vaccination, which is
currently under so much threat Idon't even want to talk about
it. And yet it's one of the best
solutions to infectious disease because it prevents illness
before it starts, which means fewer hospitalizations, fewer
antibiotics, fewer days off work, higher productivity, less
pressure on the health service, and all of that has global
(29:27):
impact. Instead, we cut funding for
vaccination programs, lie about them causing autism, and pretend
we've made people healthier by making companies take out a
perfectly safe food. Colorant, clean water and
sanitation are the best solutions to diseases which
still kill millions of people around the world.
Which are simple things like pipes and pumps and toilets and
hygiene campaigns. But we would still rather build
a new hospital wing instead of maintaining wells that would
(29:49):
stop patients arriving in the 1st place.
Diet shifts. The single biggest lever for a
lot of people for health and emissions from food, eating more
plants is far and away one of the best things you can do for
your health and the planet. But no, we can't talk about it
because people get really wound up about it.
And of course, pills are easier to market than beans.
People don't get so wound up about pills.
(30:10):
I keep saying it. We have so many of the
solutions, the problems we face,and we just won't use them.
They are simple, they are long term.
Most of them are free or certainly cheaper than paying
the tech genius, but they are politically boring.
The benefits are spread across election terms, so there is no
one minister that gets the full credit and a lot of them don't
love that. Truly farsighted people in
leadership are rare and that comes through in the decisions
(30:31):
that the general public make. And then of course, the other
piece is that these solutions often ask us to change habits,
which is way, way harder than investing our hope in the next
tech breakthrough. I promise you that tech is not
coming to save us. Maybe fusion will help, but it's
always 10 years away, right? Cycling is the contraceptive,
the vaccine, the maintenance of the well.
But it is boring, might be a little bit annoying and you
(30:52):
might even get a sticky uppy fringe.
But it also solves a whole lot of our problems.
So why are we ignoring the simplest solution we already
have? That's because we are basically
all that dog from up. It gets distracted by the
squirrel. Food for thought, TuneIn.
Next week for an episode I'm weirdly excited about, despite
not being a fan of this subject.It's inspired by one of my
philosophy papers at uni. It's about horoscopes and
astrology and why on earth are they a thing?
(31:15):
We shall find out. Ma Taiwa, see you next time.
Guys, I have the best views. We already have the solution to
all of our problems. This is something that will save
over 8 billion lives a year. It will make us live longer with
fewer sick days. It'll save billions of dollars
and make us all happier and morepleasant to be around.
I feel like this should be frontpage news.
But the problem is this solutionhas been around for ages and
it's actually quite boring because it's cycling.
(00:22):
OK, maybe you won't solve all ofour problems.
It probably won't help with the erosion of democracy, but health
issues, climate change, traffic congestion, safety ticks all
those boxes. It legitimately goes further
than that, too. Even if you don't care about
cycling, listen on because this episode is a bit deeper than it
might seem. Welcome back to because why?
(00:42):
I'm Brienne West, and my favorite word is why, which is
why I'm asking today's question.Because why are we ignoring the
simple solutions we already have?
So I'm not a very good cyclist. I actually didn't learn until I
was about nine years old, which is quite a lot older than
everybody else it would seem. And I actually taught myself on
an afternoon when I think my poor parents had given up and
(01:02):
abject frustration. And I never really got into the
cycling thing. I was kind of 1/2 hearted
cyclist. And actually, it wasn't until I
very erroneously passed my motorbike license in Rarotonga,
which I so did not deserve it, that I realized the line.
It's like riding a bike is in fact absolute BS.
And I didn't ride a bike for at least 15 years.
(01:25):
And one day on a whim I was in WA, I thought I'd head over to
Rotten East Island, which is of course where the world famous
smiley quackers are, which are the coolest animals in the
entire world. And they do actually smile.
If you're ever over in Perth, please take your day trip to
Rotten East Island. It was so freaking cool.
But the only way around on the island is by bike.
They don't have cars on there. You can't rent a car or anything
(01:45):
on there. And I remember having to hire a
bike and they they make you do like a lap on the little test
track to a make sure that you can ride a bike and B, that it's
the right size. And nothing is more humiliating
than as a what, I don't know, 30year old woman wobbling around a
kids style test track in front of very fit Australian men
(02:08):
trying to convince them that youhad your shit together, knew
what to do, when really all you wanted was some Crocker selfies.
And incidentally, a Crocker did actually try to get into my
backpack. I did not entice it in with
snacks. I know that you think that I
did. I was tempted.
It's illegal. Don't touch the Crockers.
The problem is they don't know that rule and they will touch
you anyway. Moral of the story, I'm not a
very good cyclist, but you should go to Rodney's Island.
(02:30):
But how is cycling the solution to all of our problems?
Well, one of them's kind of obvious, right?
One of the biggest problems we are currently facing is climate
change. And as you know, because you are
listeners of because why you value evidence.
So we know that climate change is caused by an increasing
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which humans are
contributing to on mess cars areobviously one of the dirtiest
(02:51):
inventions we've ever normalized.
So globally they pump at about 8% of total CO2 emissions and
out zero. It's actually much worse, it's
about 27%. So that's a quarter of
everything we emit just so we can largely sit in traffic and
rant about other idiots also sitting in traffic.
Because isn't it funny how we all think we're above average
(03:13):
drivers? I mean, I am an above average
driver, but we can't all be. And the bit I find most
annoying, and yet I am of coursetotally guilty of also, is that
nearly half of all those car journeys are under 5 KS.
And that's not just here, that'sglobally.
So what's that? 15 minutes on a bike, tops?
And yet we just fire up two tonsof metal to nip down the shops.
(03:34):
If you think about it, it's kindof mad.
And of course, cars don't just emit carbon.
They also release other things like nitrous oxides and fine
particulates, and that's what you breathe in.
And they cause problems. So they're teeny, tiny little
particles that cause asthma, heart disease, strokes and more.
And that's a big part of what kills over 8 million people
every year. But apparently it's more
worrying that we might look stupid with a helmet on.
(03:56):
But I'll get to that bit. If just 10% of people switched
one car trip per day to cycling,it would cut transport CO2
emissions by about 4%. That is a ridiculous amount of
impact for just 10% of people doing one small thing.
That's not really that inconvenient.
Imagine if 20% of people did it.Maybe we could make biking cool
again. Or actually possibly for the
first time, never make Al Tierraa bike again.
(04:20):
I don't think that's campaign worthy yet.
Watch the space. Now, of course, obviously not
everybody can ride a bike for a multitude of reasons.
I mean, I'm probably a good example of someone who
shouldn't, but I reckon at least20% of us can.
And when you look at the changesin places that actually tried, I
mean, in Paris, they built bike lanes, cycling tripled.
Car traffic, of course, failed because traffic in Paris is
horrific. The air got cleaner and people
(04:42):
were actually happier. Bogota closes 120 kilometers of
its streets every Sunday to carsand a million people show up to
ride their bikes, walk or skate together.
And that has really cool benefits well beyond just being
able to breathe. Cycling is one of those things
that stimulates community as well, but I'll get to that too.
But before I get to the next bit, which is about health, if
weight is a tricky subject for you, skip ahead a couple of
(05:03):
minutes now collectively, and don't get mad at me.
This is statistical. We are stiff, tired, tubby, weak
and anxious and it's largely because we just don't move
enough. As a millennial, the running
joke is once you hit 30, although I reckon it was more
like 25, your knees start to creak.
You do the old man groan when you sit down.
(05:24):
But if we normalize something that's really not normal.
The number one killer in the western world is, of course,
heart disease. And as Maha and Wellness
grifters continue to gain momentum, this is actually going
to get worse as they push thingslike beef tallow and the anti
seed oil thing. As our standards of living have
improved, our waistlines of course have expanded.
There's been an increase in things like diabetes.
And again, despite what fucking Maha would tell you, that is due
(05:46):
to the simple fact that we eat too much of the wrong stuff and
we don't move enough. It is not, in fact, a conspiracy
run by big seed oil. Your average American, and sorry
to use US stats but couldn't find anything reliable for New
Zealand. The average American eats 3500
calories a day and they only move for about 20 minutes.
That's not exercise for 20 minutes, that's general
movement. So that's the problem.
(06:07):
It's not processed food. Although let's not eat
exclusively processed food. Everything in moderation.
And we've had the solution to this for decades, right?
Cycling knocks an awful lot of that on the head.
So 1/2 hour ride will burn a couple of 100 calories.
If you do that on the way to andfrom work.
The difference is pretty significant over the course of a
week, but it's far beyond calories.
(06:28):
It's so much more than what you weigh.
It's your cardiovascular health,your body composition in terms
of how much muscle you have, which is of course directly tied
to longevity and health. In the Netherlands, we're
cycling as a whole thing. Obesity rates are around 14%,
but in other Western countries like New Zealand, like the
United States, it can between 30to 60%.
I know we're all about building muscle at the moment, which is
(06:49):
very, very important. And yes, definitely, especially
for women, which sounds like another podcast episode.
But cardio seems to have fallen out of favour.
Which is totally fair, because cardio exercises in the gym are
boring as fuck. But you know what's not boring?
Cycling. Surprise, it's actually
genuinely not. I mean, how much fun is it to
cycle down country lanes? Or if you're one of those
absolute lunatic adrenaline seekers, down some crazy
(07:11):
mountain bike track? Not only does cycling improve
things that your VO2 Max, but italso lowers your blood pressure,
it slashes the risk of type 2 diabetes, and it literally makes
your heart stronger because she's a muscle.
After all, there was a massive British Medical Journal study
that looks at 1/4 of a million people and found that people who
biked to work had a 46% lower risk of heart disease and a 45%
(07:32):
lower risk of cancer than peoplewho drove.
If they came in a pill, it wouldbe the most profitable thing in
the history of time. And yes, I did say cancer.
The link between obesity and cancer is largely well known by
now, right? But the link between lack of
movement or sedentary lifestyle and cancer is also significant,
and it's actually independent ofweight.
So if you don't move very much, even if you are within a healthy
(07:54):
weight, you have a significantlyhigher chance of cancer.
And it doesn't matter how you move.
That's kind of the beauty about it.
Yes, obviously this is about cycling.
But if you want to go for a walk, if you want to go run
around with your children, if you want to go, I don't know,
chase cows into the paddock they're supposed to be in, all
of that helps. Find something you love doing
and do that. Nice to just cycling.
And if you wake up sore from a hard night of lying on a soft,
(08:16):
fluffy mattress, you'll be glad to know that cycling actually
helps with something called functional flexibility too.
So it's great that you can do downward dog in the gym, and
it's great that you can do squats with 160 KGS of weight.
But functional flexibility is really important.
And it's a combination of strength and range of motion in
ways that you actually move every day.
Cycling keeps your joints moving.
It builds muscle and of course, it improves balance.
(08:38):
And that in particular matters because falls are one of the
biggest causes of serious injuries.
People age. Almost 50% of elderly people who
break a hip will die within 12 months.
It's pretty sobering. But in the Netherlands, which is
an example that's going to pop up a lot in this episode, you
will see grandparents peddling to the shops.
Here. We expect retirement to be even
more sedentary. We build retirement villages
(08:58):
next to hospitals or even as part of them.
But it doesn't actually have to be that way.
When I bought my lifestyle blockit actually came with like a
lifestyle block keeper slash gardener.
He's in his late 80s and he could probably run rings around
me. Moderate regular exercise also
helps your immune system. Now note, I do not say boost
because that is Wellness grifting nonsense, but people
who ride their bikes, again, studies have proven they get
(09:21):
fewer colds, fewer respiratory infections, and when they do,
they recover faster. There's nothing fancy about it,
it's just our bodies are workingproperly because they're being
used as they should be. Our bodies are actually pretty
freaking amazing. They're endurance machines.
We are built to walk and walk a long way and it is so, so good
for you. I mean, in fact, it is actually
even better than cycling. But for today's episode we're
going to ignore that. And if you're an employer, you
(09:43):
should care too, because people who cycle to work take up to 30%
fewer sick days. And that's shown by data from
the NHS in the UK. So imagine if companies stop
paying for car parks and just, Idon't know, bought everybody
bikes instead. The difference it would make if
that became a accepted mass practice would genuinely be mind
blowing. I used to incentivize people who
biked the etique retail store with a discount on products.
(10:04):
And when I finally launched Incredibles and you know, I
don't know, 2048 or whatever, actually, it's going to be late
January next year. You heard it here first.
I will do something that incentivizes our team to get on
bikes where possible. I really want a retail store
with like cascading Incredibles waterfalls like Willy Wonka, but
maybe not in that first year. Watch this space.
And obviously when I talk about health, it's not only physical.
(10:27):
Your brain is an organ. It's almost bizarre that we talk
about mental health like it's totally separate from physical
health because it clearly isn't.Now, people who cycle report
lower anxiety. They sleep better, They have
higher overall well-being. Interestingly enough, a ride
through side streets on the way home calms you down, so you're
more relaxed. You're more prepared to chill
out for the rest of the evening when you get there.
(10:47):
But you know what? It's not relaxing sitting in
traffic listening to Talkback haulers go on about fucking
fluoride or immigrants. So maybe cycling will actually
help with the erosion of democracy.
And there's even evidence that cycling specifically helps
protect memory and reduces your risk of dementia.
There's literally no downsides to moving more.
(11:07):
I suppose if you're clumsy then there's a risk of injury, but if
you actually make moving part ofyour everyday, injuries are way
less likely too. It's hardly news that moving
makes you feel better, but it might be news to you that the
opposite is true. This is a self rated study to be
this in mind. But for every 10 minutes someone
is stuck in traffic on their daily commute, the self rated
quality of life drops by a point.
I mean, chances are if you're listening to this, you're
(11:30):
probably sitting in traffic right now.
You're having fun, many cyclistswhizzing by looking smug.
On average, drivers in Auckland spend about 80 hours a year
stuck in congestion. That's two full working weeks
that you are not being paid for.And obviously the traffic in
Auckland sucks, but it is so much worse elsewhere if you're
in Dublin. This one surprised me.
Dublin drivers spend 158 hours ayear in traffic.
(11:51):
That's in almost an entire week of just sitting still, and it
cost some over €6000 to do so. The USA is actually a little bit
better, which surprised me. So drivers in Boston spend 149
hours a year in traffic. Chicago 145.
New York, it's 140. But I'm sure the only reason
it's that low is because most people in New York walk or use
the subway. The one and only time I have
(12:13):
been on the subway in New York Iremember so fondly because it
was the first time I'd ever beento New York.
And we got down the stairs and aman very calmly beside me just
started taking off his clothes one by one.
It was a calm and Catalan doing his shirt, folding it out,
putting it on the platform, taking his pants off.
I think he leaves his shoes on, which is wise because you don't
know where you're going to step on in New York.
(12:33):
And he just stood there naked. My business advisor at the time
just look straight ahead and whispered out the corner of your
mouth, don't look at him. It's OK.
Don't panic. I wasn't really panicked, but I
was really curious. I mean, that's yeah.
It's an interesting insight intoa lot of things, actually quite
sad. Anyway, distracted Los Angeles,
otherwise known as one of the literal worst places on earth,
(12:53):
is 103 hours, which does surprise me again.
I once spent three hours in an LA traffic jam once very much
lost the will to live and I almost whit myself.
I was at the point where I was trying to find something I could
actually weigh into. I can't believe I'm saying this
on a podcast. I was in pain.
But when you're in, you know, A5lane freeway, nobody's moving
anywhere. You haven't got a choice.
You've probably seen news stories from China where people
(13:15):
have been stuck in traffic jams for days.
Do you know who isn't? Cyclists.
Not to mention cars are terribleat actually moving people
efficiently. A single Rd. lane where cars
will move maybe 1400 people an hour.
That's not actually very many because a bike lane, which is
obviously a lot smaller in that same space it's more like 4000
people and parking is just as stupid.
One car park takes up the same space as 10 bikes.
(13:38):
Cities are drowning in climate killing, heat emitting concrete
when they can be building housing or parks or literally
anything else. Now, the stats on car parks are
actually quite worth listening to and I had to tone the section
down because man, this is a whole thing.
Car park psychology is a thing. Now in cities where over half a
million people live, 22% of thaturban land is car parking. 22%
(14:01):
of a city is car parking. That is absolutely ridiculous.
And it's so much worse in some places.
In parts of Texas, it's 42%. Yep, 42.
And yet the vast majority of cars obviously spend 95% of
their time sat there doing nothing.
It could go on about this because this is one of those
things that when you know, you can't not know, you know.
But the way we build our cities and I towns to be focused on
(14:22):
moving cars around which are in no way efficient is actually
incredibly stupid. And I say this is someone who
actually really loves cars, which is kind of odd because you
know, the whole environmental thing.
But I actually love the feeling of acceleration more than
anything. I know how to change my oil.
I know how to change my filters courtesy of boy racer boyfriends
way back 158 years ago. Although I suppose it's no
(14:43):
longer relevant as H to drive anEV.
But like, I love cars and I still think our obsession with
them is stupid. I could go on.
The benefits of cycling are weirdly wide, and they go a lot
further than you might think. The start of this episode wasn't
that much of an overstatement. I haven't touched on money
because cycling infrastructure really shows massive cost
benefit ratios of one to five. If you contrast that with
(15:04):
motorway projects, they just cost money and they don't
decrease traffic. Like literally no motorway has
ever resolved a traffic issue and bikes are cheaper, not just
councils. Families should swap a car for a
bike and depending on where you live and your lifestyle that can
absolutely be a thing. But they can save between 10 to
$12,000 a year. And if you look at equity, bikes
are obviously cheaper to buy andmaintain.
And in Alto 1/3 of households and lower income areas don't
(15:28):
actually have access to a car atall.
So a bike can be the difference between getting to work or
school or not. I briefly mentioned community
earlier, but AUS study found that cyclists actually spend
more money locally over time than drivers because they shop
smaller and more often, so they bolster local economies.
Suck it Westfield, I suppose Theresearch on microplastics
continues to get scarier. I've actually submitted my PhD
(15:48):
proposal on whether microplastics are making
pathogens more likely to spread and more virulent too, which is
also a super scary area of scientific development, but I
will keep you updated on that. But about 30% of the
microplastics that end up in waterways comes from mostly
tires and brakes. Bikes don't contribute to that
almost at all, and this is a strange one.
I thought you probably have evennoticed, but engine noise is
(16:08):
actually a stressor to people, so cutting Rd. noise makes
neighborhoods measurably less stressful.
And yet, despite all of that, fewer than 3% of people in New
Zealand commute on their bike. Australia's actually quite a bit
better at 15%, but it's bloody dreadful in the USA, where less
than 1% of people bike to work. Because why?
Well, it's complicated. The biggest reason is because
(16:29):
humans are actually incredibly shit at assessing risk.
We are bizarrely bad at it. A good example is nuclear
energy, right? People freak out about something
like it, and I get why radiationpoisoning looks horrific, but
nuclear energy is the safest energy source we have.
When you contrast that with fossil fuels which kill, as I've
said, 8 million people a year, the amount we worry about
(16:50):
nuclear energy doesn't quite match up.
And typically the same people who hate GMOs, which are proven
safe in so many studies. We don't care about drinking raw
milk. Wellness guru rules will talk
about seed oil as being the literal devil and then drink a
glass of wine which contains a Class 1 carcinogen.
We suck at risk assessment and this is constantly reinforced by
media. So a psychos killed by a truck
is headline news, and understandably so.
(17:11):
But the thousands of people who ride safely every day don't make
the paper. Of course that's how that works
Now. Psychologists call it the
availability heuristic, which isessentially that we remember and
talk about the scary stuff. So even if actual risk is low,
it feels massive. Actually in the Netherlands
cycling per kilometre is safer than walking in the USA.
Do that well you will. The culture of aggression that a
(17:32):
lot of countries have around cycling is a big thing tied to
safety. Of course a lot of drivers get a
bit ranty about cyclists, and certainly the ones I know seem
to be weirdly focused on the lycra.
I guess it does show everything,but when drivers are overtly
aggressive it of course impacts safety.
So roads have a hierarchy. Trucks are at the very top.
You do not fuck with a 16 Wheeler or an SUV.
(17:55):
And of course bikes are the bottom, just underneath pond
scum. So that's when stupid stuff
happens, like people pass unnecessarily closely, they
tailgate people, film people, which is very intimidating.
They shout out the window all sorts of unhinged nonsense.
And what do you know when that happens, people don't feel safe.
And that'd be right. In those environments they are
less safe. But safety comes from numbers.
(18:16):
Research across multiple cities and multiple countries shows
that when cycling numbers double, the risk for each
individual cyclist actually drops by about a third, triple
the number of cyclists, and accidents are cut in half.
The threshold seems to kick in that when 5 to 10% of trips are
done on a bike instead of a car,that's when safety increases
measurably. Anything below that and bikes
(18:37):
kind of feel like an oddity and drivers act accordingly.
Basically like decades. Above that threshold, cars are
just normal traffic, like your typical Suzuki Swift, and
drivers behave differently. I mean probably still like
decades because everybody becomes weirdly aggressive on
the road, but slightly less so. And then of course when you see
people cycling around you're more likely to consider doing it
yourself because the whole you can't be what you can't see
(18:58):
doesn't just work in a career sense.
It's pretty much everything. We are really scared of standing
out and being alone because it absolutely makes you more of a
target. In many ways helmets complicate
this discussion heaps. Yes, obviously helmets reduce
head injury in a crash and if you don't wear one I do wonder
why you think your skull is tougher than concrete, because
it definitely isn't. Which reminds me of the bloke of
(19:21):
my YouTube comments not so long ago who was adamant he wouldn't
wear sunscreen because he wasn'tscared of the sun.
But you're thinking you were tougher than the sun.
It's literal nuclear fusion. Anyway, helmets add to the idea
that cycling is dangerous because you need to wear
protective equipment. We accepted with seatbelts and
cars because we have that protection of a big metal skin
and no one ever gets injured in a car crash, right?
(19:43):
But not on a bike. But because of that safety
equipment, we view cycling as less safe, even though
statistically it's actually safer in a lot of places.
And vanity also comes in with the helmet conversation.
People are weirdly obsessed withnot having helmet here.
And as a proud fringe wearer, fringe wearer, fringe fringe
owner, I get it. Because if you've ever seen a
sweaty fringe when it's been freed from a helmet, or I guess
(20:06):
Americans call them bangs, if you know what I'm talking about,
it's embarrassing. I wake up every morning looking
a little bit like a parakeet andpeople don't like looking silly.
I don't want to stand out. And again, because we are crappy
at risk assessment, we fear looking stupid way more than we
value the health benefits we getfrom the cycling.
Interestingly enough, in places we're wearing helmets is not a
legal requirement. Cycling levels do actually tend
to be higher, which does tell you a lot about species, but you
(20:28):
could also assume that it probably also does take away
some of the visual danger factor.
Like I said, it's actually a very complicated thing and I
could talk about this for a longtime, but there's other parts to
it. Of course.
Going back to worry about being judged.
Cars are a status symbol, eitheras a way to show off to others
or even sometimes there's an internal self validation that
what we're doing is OK, we're doing well, and entire
(20:49):
industries have spent decades and hundreds of millions of
dollars on selling us the idea that driving is independence,
that cars are telling the world around you something about you
branding cars as luxury. And bikes really don't have the
same aura as an Aston Martin. They're toys for children.
They're the more affordable option and a surprising number
of people don't like that. Never underestimate how much the
(21:12):
perception of being judge effects people's behaviour.
Little tiny inconveniences, and I'm using air quotes here,
nibbles away at people's motivation too.
They're a pain to lock. What if someone steals it?
I don't have showers at work so I might smell.
What if I get a flat tire? I have too much stuff to carry.
These tiny little hassles outweigh the massive benefits I
mentioned because again, human circuit assessing stuff.
Those little tiny annoyances arereally just not that big of a
(21:33):
deal. Cars hardly parked themselves,
OK yes some do now, but they candefinitely still get flat tyres
which is way more inconvenient. And they do absolutely still get
stolen. But we just don't think about
it. People assume that cycling will
take heaps longer than driving does, but when you truly
consider the add-ons like finding a carpark, paying for
it, walking to wherever you're going, traffic and so on, trips
under 5 kilometres are actually often faster on a bike.
(21:56):
And the final excuse you'll probably hear the most is
weather. What if it rains guys?
Denmark exists, the Netherlands exists.
Places where about 1/4 of all trips are made on a bike and it
does in fact rain a shit load there.
Waterproof jackets are a thing. Riding in the rain is weirdly
exhilarating. Like you can always run further
and faster. You don't paint as much when
(22:16):
you're running in the rain. And I'm sure there's some
science behind that might do some research, but actually
there is. There is some evidence that
shows that. Spending time in weather safely,
of course it is nice. It refreshes your brain.
To quote my friend Kate Hall, oreffectively Kate as you may know
her, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.
Well, you know what? If you really, really don't like
getting wet, just ride when it'ssunny.
It's still better than not riding at all.
(22:37):
But really, none, none of that is why people don't cycle.
We don't cycle because the worldisn't built for cyclists.
Our towns, our laws, our daily routines, they are often built
around the car. And I imagine a lot of people
thinking what? No, they're not.
I don't even think about my car.No, you don't.
And that's kind of the point. Things like free parking at
work, free parking at the mall, the internal thought that so
(22:59):
many of us have that if I can't get a car park close by, I won't
go. They're all kind of evidence of
of the car world we live in. I've missed exams at university
years ago because I couldn't geta park and I got so wound up
that I ran away. Although it might have been done
a bit deeper going on there too.There are statistics that show
that businesses with car parks out the front do a lot better
than the same business that doesn't.
(23:19):
Schools have massive drop off zones for cars that are the size
of bloody sports fields, but they ban bikes from the gate
because they are a risk. I have seen that sign a
multitude of times. Supermarkets are masses of
asphalt and no Safeway to arriveon two wheels.
And good luck finding a place tolock your bike up outside
hospitals. Definitely somewhere you think
they would promote health. But they have loads of car
(23:40):
parks, maybe one or two bike racks.
Our tax systems reward company cars and fuel cars.
Bikes get nothing. Every signal says driving is
normal. Cycling is weird and annoying.
I don't want to belabour this point, but this is actually the
point about this episode. And whilst it's about cycling,
it's about so much more than cycling.
If you think about all the ways that our society nudges us away
(24:02):
from better choices, it's a bit crazy.
Trains and buses. They don't allow bikes on board.
Or they make you book it in advance and you have to log it
into a tiny compartment and everyone stares at you and your
social anxiety goes to the roof.If you live in an apartment, do
you have bike parking? Probably not, but you almost
certainly have a car park. Local bylaws force businesses to
provide car parks for customers,but not bike racks.
Councils cut ribbons on new motorways, but they argue for
(24:23):
freaking years over a single cycle lane despite evidence of
it solving the traffic problem. Urban design codes talk about
traffic flow and parking minimums.
They never talk about walkability.
We have made cities that are perfect for cars, not for
people. They are not the same thing.
Even advertising is dominated bycars.
(24:43):
Again, subtly, sort of in a way that you don't notice.
Bikes just appear as part of sportswear catalogues or maybe a
charity fun ride, but the peopleriding them are still covered
because they're often wearing lycra.
They look like cyclists, a smallclosed group that you can't
join. It's not often that someone
wearing a dress or shorts and just having a casual ride and
every single one of these signals and many more reinforces
(25:05):
that cars are normal, Bikes are the outlier.
And this is what makes the idea of people having choices kind of
feel a bit hollow because you are not choosing between equally
supported options. And yeah, I'm again talking
about beyond cycling. We are all reacting to an
environment that makes one thingeasy and the other thing weird,
hard, sometimes humiliating. So despite of all these
(25:27):
amazingly good things that outweigh the small
inconveniences, it's really no wonder that fewer than 3% of New
Zealanders commute on a bike. Because the world doesn't want
you to make that choice. Because why?
Because of oil? OK, fine, not really, but would
you be surprised if it was? But this isn't really an
accident either, because there is history here.
Decades ago in the USA. Companies like General Motors
(25:48):
and Standard Oil and Standard Oil are sort of up there with
Nestle for level of evil. They bought up tram and
streetcar public transport networks and they replaced them
with roads. They actually went to court for
it in 1949. Rd.
Building has really powerful friends like asphalt companies,
engineering firms, construction giants who make billions of
dollars off motorways. Imagine making billions of
(26:09):
dollars off something that doesn't even solve the problem.
Actually, that's corporate life for you, I suppose.
Motoring associations lobbied for mandatory parking
requirements, city planning codes, because they knew that
would mean that cars became normalized and this forced
businesses and apartments to build car parks.
But again, bike storage car companies spend billions of
dollars on advertising every year, creating car culture.
(26:30):
A car equals adulthood, freedom,success, independence.
So it's not really the case thatthere's one evil executive
cackling in the background that's paid for by big Car, but
it is decades of lobbying. It's profit chasing and kind of
inertia that has locked us into a wheel built for cars.
Some cities are so bad that theyare actually considered
unwalkable because there are places you quite literally
(26:52):
cannot cross the road as a pedestrian.
I spent a lot of time in the USAover the last few years and I
have seen this. You simply cannot cross the road
to the shops on the other side for say in a lot of places in
LA, in Florida, you have to drive.
It's almost like we have car overlords that are pulling our
little puppet strings. We haven't even noticed.
So this episode has been about bikes.
But it's not really about bikes.It's about why do we ignore the
(27:17):
great solutions that we had in front of us and have had for
ages, and yet we continue to champ at the bit for this new
shiny thing. Cycling is just one example.
It's one choice that would make a massive dent in things like
climate change and equality, stress levels, fitness, safety,
local economies, even education.But we don't do it because our
brains love the shiny new thing,the complicated thing, the thing
with a press release and a pretty ribbon and some freaking
(27:38):
tech bro cackling magle in the background.
And that's why the weight loss industry is massive, for
example. Everybody wants a quick fix,
even if it's unproven and makes you miserable.
We don't want the slow process of making long lasting lifestyle
changes. It's actually why the Wellness
industry is 4 times bigger than so-called big pharma.
Because we want to drink our health supplements and then
spend the rest of the day eatingchocolate and wine.
Which actually does kind of sound freaking ideal, doesn't
(28:00):
it? And when you start thinking like
this, it gets more frustrating because there are so many
examples. Educating girls is one of the
biggest solutions we have, again, for so many problems.
You've probably never thought about it.
It's one of the strongest climate and development levers
there is. Every extra year of education
reduces early marriage. It increases family income and
improves child survival and lowers the number of children
(28:22):
per mother, which means healthier families and fewer
people pushed into poverty. But we still want to pour money
into carbon capture technology, which will never, ever, ever
work. It really won't.
It doesn't matter what the shinycompany brochure says.
It will never work from a sheer volume point.
But let's talk about that in another episode.
Instead, we could fund teachers and school buses.
That does work. And along that same line of
(28:43):
contraceptives, they are the best solution to uncontrolled
fertility and high maternal mortality because they let
people decide when and whether to have children.
Contraception reduces poverty. It increases years in school and
lifts women's earnings. And women who earn more spread
that into the community more so than men do.
That's not a dig at me, and that's a statistical fact.
That slows population growth, which of course lowers long run
(29:04):
emissions more effectively than bloody carbon offsets.
And yet we still cut family planning vaccination, which is
currently under so much threat Idon't even want to talk about
it. And yet it's one of the best
solutions to infectious disease because it prevents illness
before it starts, which means fewer hospitalizations, fewer
antibiotics, fewer days off work, higher productivity, less
pressure on the health service, and all of that has global
(29:27):
impact. Instead, we cut funding for
vaccination programs, lie about them causing autism, and pretend
we've made people healthier by making companies take out a
perfectly safe food. Colorant, clean water and
sanitation are the best solutions to diseases which
still kill millions of people around the world.
Which are simple things like pipes and pumps and toilets and
hygiene campaigns. But we would still rather build
a new hospital wing instead of maintaining wells that would
(29:49):
stop patients arriving in the 1st place.
Diet shifts. The single biggest lever for a
lot of people for health and emissions from food, eating more
plants is far and away one of the best things you can do for
your health and the planet. But no, we can't talk about it
because people get really wound up about it.
And of course, pills are easier to market than beans.
People don't get so wound up about pills.
(30:10):
I keep saying it. We have so many of the
solutions, the problems we face,and we just won't use them.
They are simple, they are long term.
Most of them are free or certainly cheaper than paying
the tech genius, but they are politically boring.
The benefits are spread across election terms, so there is no
one minister that gets the full credit and a lot of them don't
love that. Truly farsighted people in
leadership are rare and that comes through in the decisions
(30:31):
that the general public make. And then of course, the other
piece is that these solutions often ask us to change habits,
which is way, way harder than investing our hope in the next
tech breakthrough. I promise you that tech is not
coming to save us. Maybe fusion will help, but it's
always 10 years away, right? Cycling is the contraceptive,
the vaccine, the maintenance of the well.
But it is boring, might be a little bit annoying and you
(30:52):
might even get a sticky uppy fringe.
But it also solves a whole lot of our problems.
So why are we ignoring the simplest solution we already
have? That's because we are basically
all that dog from up. It gets distracted by the
squirrel. Food for thought, TuneIn.
Next week for an episode I'm weirdly excited about, despite
not being a fan of this subject.It's inspired by one of my
philosophy papers at uni. It's about horoscopes and
astrology and why on earth are they a thing?
(31:15):
We shall find out. Ma Taiwa, see you next time.
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