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Aussie soap Neighbours runs guerilla bike lane plotlinebike lane

Aussie soap Neighbours runs guerilla bike lane plotline

Doctor in long-running Aussie soap paints his own bike lanes and broadcasts to social media after a hit-and-run involving a child cyclist
by Laura Laker
Sun, Aug 07, 2016 09:46
0

Guerrilla cycling activism became a plotline in a TV soap for possibly the first time when a character in Neighbours painted a bike lane himself following a hit-and-run collision with a child cyclist.

The character Dr Karl Kennedy, a doctor played by Alan Fletcher in the long-running Aussie TV drama, Neighbours, broadcast a live video message to social media brandishing a paint brush.

In a scenario mirrored by real life in Seattle and Nottingham, the action was taken after pleas for safe cycling infrastructure was ignored by local politicians.

Kennedy said in his broadcast: “Normally I would not condone guerrilla action, but the cyclists of Erinsborough – both old and young – deserve to be safe.”

According to BikeBiz, Kennedy was petitioning fictional Erinsborough Mayor, Sonya Rebecchi about the lanes but she says councillors don’t support them.

Neighbours asked followers on social media their opinions on the bike lanes, with a mixed response.

Meanwhile they are trying to track down the perpetrator of the hit-and-run. 

Of course, in Australia, dangerous infrastructure and bad attitudes to cycling aren't the only risks people on bikes face on the roads. 

 

Coming up on @neighbours some #ramsaystreet residents find out how dangerous suburban life can be!

A photo posted by Alan Fletcher (@fletchy1) on

 

Needless to say, tensions are running high. 

Australia
Neighbours
guerilla bike lane
Laura Laker

Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.

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