After flood devastation, graziers face roads to ruin
By Julia André
Thousands of kilometres of outback Queensland roads have been destroyed by floods, forcing cattle trucks on huge detours, doubling freight bills and leaving families on remote properties feeling even more isolated.
After flood devastation, graziers face roads to ruin
By Julia André
Thousands of kilometres of outback Queensland roads have been destroyed by floods, forcing cattle trucks on huge detours, doubling freight bills and leaving families on remote properties feeling even more isolated.
'Common sense': Principal calls for 40kph zone after boys hit by car
By Adam Shirley
A fortnight after two St Edmund's College students were hit by an alleged stolen car on a median strip outside their school, principal Tim Cleary says "common sense" changes like a 40kph school zone must be made.
State by State Pending and recently passed #AntiProtestLaws: #Oregon
HB 2534: Felony penalties for protesters who impede traffic
Would expand the definition of “riot” such that the felony offense could cover demonstrators who peacefully protest in the street. Oregon law defines “riot” as engaging in “tumultuous and violent conduct” with a group of five or more other people in a way that “intentionally or recklessly creates a grave risk of causing public alarm.” The offense is a Class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and $125,000. The bill would define “tumultuous and violent conduct” to include “imped[ing] traffic,” creating a “traffic hazard,” or “block[ing] the normal and reasonable movement of traffic.” As such, a large sidewalk protest that even momentarily overflowed onto a street in a way that could be considered a “traffic hazard” could be deemed a “riot,” and demonstrators could face felony penalties regardless of whether their conduct was “tumultuous” or “violent.”
Full text of bill:
https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Measures/Overview/HB2534
Status: pending
Introduced 13 Jan 2025.
Issue(s): #Riot, #TrafficInterference
HB 2772: Criminalizing Certain Protests as #DomesticTerrorism
**Note: This bill was amended prior to its passage and provisions that would have covered peaceful protest activity were significantly narrowed.** As introduced, the bill would have created a sweeping new crime of "domestic terrorism" that would include if a person intentionally attempted to cause "disruption of daily life" that "severely affects the population, infrastructure, environment, or government functioning of this state." Under this definition, a peaceful protest that blocked traffic in a major commercial district could be defined as domestic terrorism, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Lawmakers substantially amended the bill prior to its enactment, however rights groups argue that it could still cover certain acts of civil disobedience. Under the enacted law, “domestic terrorism” in the first degree is a Class B felony and includes intentionally destroying or substantially damaging “critical infrastructure,” with the intent to disrupt the services provided by critical infrastructure. Attempting to destroy or substantially damage critical infrastructure is a Class C felony, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $125,000. “#CriticalInfrastructure” is broadly defined to include #pipelines and #roads.
Full text of bill:
https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Measures/Overview/HB2772
Status: enacted with improvements
Introduced 9 Jan 2023; Approved by House 8 June 2023; Approved by Senate 23 June 2023; Signed by Governor Kotek 4 August 2023
Issue(s): Infrastructure, Terrorism, Traffic Interference
#FirstAmendment #CriminalizingDissent
#Authoritarianism #Fascism #Clampdown #CriminalizingProtest
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol #AntiProtestLaws #PipelineProtests
#YouTube roads enthusiast Jon of Auto Shenanigans is "confused- or is it conflicted?" about #London's "Absolutely Average £2.2 BILLION #SilvertownTunnel"
#roads
#urbanism
#transport
https://youtube.com/watch?v=r85YruCVMTs&feature=shared
Zenringai (Zen Temple Street) in Hirosaki, Japan
These 33 Zen Buddhist temples were built to protect the nearby castle.#castles #edoperiod #history #buddhism #roads #streetnames #temples #section-Atlas
Zenringai (Zen Temple Street)
$232m spent on 2.4km bypass labelled road 'to nowhere'
By Xanthe Gregory
A stretch of the Great Western Highway that cost almost $100 million per kilometre to build has opened, but some say it is completely pointless without the tunnel it was meant to service.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-10/great-western-highway-section-opens-amid-criticism/105157040
If only there was some way of stopping people demolishing things with their cars. Near me, cars have demolished two lampposts at speed, plus a bollard leaving fuel all over the road.
'Residents in Farnham have spoken out about their frustration after they were left for more than a week without broadband.'
'The broadband went down at the end of March after a car collided with an exchange on Weydon Lane.'
https://www.farnhamherald.com/news/farnham-residents-frustrated-by-week-long-broadband-outage-782135
PM brings funding pledge to far north to bridge gap with Coalition
By Christopher Testa and Sophie McManus
Mr Albanese promises $245 million to upgrade a crumbling 62-year-old bridge at Kuranda if he's re-elected but some locals say only an alternative highway over the mountains will ease housing and economic pressure on Cairns.
Tree-Lined Road Places. The Way Forward.
#blackandwhite #photography #roads #trees
April school holiday season in NSW is also koala breeding season.
Car crash stats from the Northern Rivers:
"From May 2023 to May 2024, 71 koalas were hit by vehicles, of which just 13 were rehabilitated and released back to the wild. Unfortunately, 80% of koalas hit by vehicles last year did not survive the impact. Our statistics show that there has been a 15% increase in the number of koalas admitted to our Northern Rivers Koala Hospital as a result of car strikes than the previous year. In a single week in 2023 six koalas died from vehicle strikes and from June to December 2022, Friends of the Koala, were called to 42 car strikes across the Northern Rivers region. This is devastating."
"Urban environments are stressful and disorienting for koalas. They experience both acute and chronic stress trying to find sufficient food and negotiating roads, domestic dogs, pools and fences."
>>
https://friendsofthekoala.org/koalas-and-cars/
#mobility #koalas #wildlife #roads #cars #speeding #RoadTrauma #pets #dogs #holidays #Bellingen #NSW #biodiversity
Regional Queensland mystifies politicians, but voters 'just want the basics'
By Lucy Sweeney and Nathan Morris
In Queensland, more people live outside the capital city than in it. Come on a 3,000km trip into deep Katter country to see what's really behind the regional divide.
Valley Cars
Following car movement on valley road
Drone: DJI Flip
Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/locran/amber-day
Global impoverishment of natural vegetation revealed by dark diversity - and humans are the reason
"Our activities have become a planet-shaping force, from changing the climate through our emissions to farming 44% of all habitable land. As our footprint has expanded, other species have been pushed to extinction."
>>
https://theconversation.com/invisible-losses-thousands-of-plant-species-are-missing-from-places-they-could-thrive-and-humans-are-the-reason-252378
#biodiversity #loss #destruction #ecosystems #impoverishment #flora #sprawl #roads #infrastructure #graziers #livestock #LoggingImpacts #pollution #DarkDiversity #extinction
Seized Maserati turned into police car in road safety stunt
By Lily Kristanto
WA Police are hoping a Maserati Quattroporte seized under WA's anti-hoon laws will send a strong road safety message.
Koala habitat
"A lone koala walking through a three-lane tunnel, right in the path of a semi-trailer. The image is a grim sign of the times as Australia’s koala habitat continues to be destroyed. "
"We're moving into their habitat and their corridors, and they're being forced into suburbia... A lot of them are being hit by cars and there are a lot of dog attacks."
"Koalas are listed as endangered across NSW, ACT and Queensland."
>>
https://au.news.yahoo.com/grim-reality-behind-image-of-lost-koala-the-saddest-photo-ive-seen-in-a-long-time-051430371.html
#biodiversity #koalas #habitat #destruction #suburbia #sprawl #roads #cars #dogs #extinction
Dreams of environmental redemption: Reanimate the thylacine
"Perhaps we want an iconic marsupial we can walk on a lead to our local brunch spot."
"Certainly we are not up to the job: we have no experience in making thylacines happy. We have restructured the habitat where the tiger lived, decimated its prey, destroyed its culture. We have built a lot of roads: if everything goes very well and thylacines become as common as pademelons, we can look forward to seeing one on our morning commute, smeared across the highway by a logging truck."
"More likely we are hoping for something to erase our guilt, not just for the extinction of this animal (we could blame someone else for that) but for all the extinctions to come. More likely we want to feel that the damage we do isn’t permanent, that we can travel back in time." Jane Rawson
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/31/can-we-recreate-a-lost-world-in-tasmania-anything-could-happen
#Biodiversity #restoration #thylacines #extinction #marsupials #roads #LoggingIndustry #destruction #wildlife #science #creation #ecology #restoration #MAGA #Australia #writing
