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The peak body for walking in Greater Sydney
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Walking Sightless – an Experience

954 likes poppitheguidedog Warning this post is triggering and involves the near death or injury of Poppi and myself. I have been left feeling shaken, helpless and a like Poppi and I don't matter. Poppi was guiding me through the main street in our home city of Parramatta. We were on the foot path (or so we thought) when suddenly I heard heavy breaking and discovered Poppi and I were in the middle of the road. Poppi tried to get me off the road and we ended up in another road. Before this, we had also crossed a busy street with NO idea. How did this happen? Our state has introduced a new design of major cities with light rails running through them. They have created a "boulevard" look that makes everything from the tram lines, roads and surrounds look like one giant foot path. There is no difference between the road and foot path from looks, levels, materials. NOTHING. Why did they do this? It looks pretty and gives a sense pedestrians can walk for miles. Poppi who is a great guide dog no longer has any clue where the footpath ends and a road begins and nor do I. The state designers say this is ok beause they have put down dots that are meant to tell me there is a hazzard. Now I have to find the dots, then guess what they mean. To be honest I'm not very good at ths game. I also have a wide walking gait and can easily walk straight over them. I can also barely feel them and well.... Suprise but I CAN'T SEE THEM. I feel so sad that I literally can not go into my main city independantly. Worse still, they love this design and don't want to change so I won't be able to go to many major cities anymore. Sydney CBD included. I've never felt more disabled. This is a picture of Poppi looking really sad and confused as industry professionals (blindness, council and project leads) try to test if Poppi and I can recognise the new dots to tell us there is a road. We failed. (Or perhaps, the designers failed.) #GuideDog #GuidedogsAustralia #Dog #Labrador #Parramatta #ParramattaLlghtRail #Disability #Death #Cruelty #TransportNSW #PawGust2022 view all 88 comments
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This a repost from Instagram with permissionpoppitheguidedog 954 likespoppitheguidedog Warning this post is triggering and involves the near […]

Regina Haertsch August 1, 2022 Disability, Dogs, Parramatta, Shared Space, Sydney

GreenWay from Iron Cove to the Cooks River

GreenWay from Iron Cove to the Cooks River
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WalkSydney Members Event: GreenWay from Iron Cove to the Cooks River Presentation by the Inner West Council GreenWay […]

David M Levinson July 13, 2022 Events

Better Transport for Sydney

Darling Harbour
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We asked our Twitter readership what they would do to make transport in Sydney better. Below we synthesise […]

David M Levinson June 30, 2022 30please, Cycling, Futurism, Public Transport, Sydney, Tactical Urbanism, Traffic Signals, Walks

Walking and cycling should lead mobility post-social distancing

Notts Ave now has a 10 km/h speed limit
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The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has shown us that we need to look differently at the way we go […]

Federico Marcantognini June 23, 2022 Sydney, Tactical Urbanism

WalkSydney Gets Results: Whose turn? The strange case of Golden Grove Street and Darlington Road — Resolved

In March 2020 we wrote “Whose turn? The strange case of Golden Grove Street and Darlington Road“. (You […]

David M Levinson June 1, 2022 Sydney

International Energy Agency calls for more walking, and car-free Sundays

Car-free Sunday Singapore
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The conflict in the Ukraine has led to huge price spikes for oil, devastating many people across the […]

Anna Harvey March 24, 2022 Car-Free, Energy, Sydney

Pedestrian fatality in Ashfield

Image shows missing barrier along pavement under the railway underpass on Frederick St, taken 3/3/21.
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The news that a pedestrian was struck and killed by a driver in a vehicle while on a […]

Anna Harvey March 18, 2022 Sydney

Peter Norton: Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving

Autonorama by Peter Norton (book cover)
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On March 12, 2022, (March 11, 2022 where Peter was speaking) Peter Norton talked to WalkSydney, EcoTransit, and […]

David M Levinson March 13, 2022 Sydney

A grand bargain

Cleveland Street at City Road crash (across the street from the discussed island, adjacent to another refugee island, for free lefts from City Road to Cleveland Street). Fortunately there was guardrail, I guess. Speed limit, 50 km/h. The police officer was not pleased by the photographers documenting the failure of traffic engineering.
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We know that lowering vehicle speeds on residential streets increases safety, reduces traffic, and that low traffic neighbourhoods […]

David M Levinson February 23, 2022 Planning, Speeding

Open Streets in Greater Sydney

Open Streets Hurstville 2022
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It’s always good when people take to the streets. Below are some official street festivals, markets, and the […]

David M Levinson February 19, 2022 Open Streets, Sydney

Who can ride on footpaths and shared pathways and what are the rules?

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Footpaths Unless there are signs that specifically prohibit them, bicycles may be ridden on the footpath by: Children […]

Janet Wahlquist February 15, 2022 Cycling, Road Rules, Safety

Australian children score low on mental and physical wellbeing

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There is a perception that Australia is a great country for children to grow up in. While certainly, […]

Lena Huda February 14, 2022 30please, Schools, Sydney

UK Highway Code Commences

New Hierarchy of Road Users
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On 29 January 2022 changes to The UK Highway Code came into effect. The Highway Code is the […]

Regina Haertsch February 14, 2022 Road Rules, Sydney

Summer Streets Series Sydney

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If you have time and are in the area today, go check out car-free Redfern Street (Sunday 23 […]

Yvonne January 23, 2022 Redfern, Sydney

Sydney Walking Tracks

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This map (click link for Zoomable Google Map) may of interest to anyone looking for a long walk. […]

David M Levinson January 23, 2022 Walks

Secrets of Successful High Streets

Glebe Point Road
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Committee for Sydney has mapped 120 of Sydney’s high streets On analysis it was found that these attributes […]

Regina Haertsch December 4, 2021 Sydney

Big four Dutch cities want lower speed limits to cut road deaths

amsterdam architecture bikes buildings
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DutchNews.nl has reported the following on 1 December 2021: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht have written to […]

Regina Haertsch December 2, 2021 Sydney

Crosswalks are pedestrian crossings and some need zebra crossings

Equus zebra hartmannae - Etosha 2015.jpg Hartmann's mountain zebra in Etosha National Park. Yathin S Krishnappa Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
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When a road crossing is an extension of a footpath our road rules sometimes give right of way […]

Regina Haertsch November 23, 2021 Sydney

Local Government Election Survey

Walk Sydney WordCloud
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Local Government Elections take place on 4th December 2021. Local Government plays a crucial role to improve walkability […]

Lena Huda November 16, 2021 Sydney

Road Safety Joint Select Committee

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The Joint Select Committee on Road Safety, the second of the 46th Parliament, was established by a resolution […]

Regina Haertsch October 26, 2021 Submissions, Sydney

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