'Load On, Load Off' sounds like something Mr Miyagi would instruct Daniel to do in The Karate Kid. In this case it is the new loading areas along the street Nørrebrogade. The one that is now in the process of being transformed to a more liveable space, closed off to cars and with bus zones and wider bike lanes. We posted about the bus zones with their cool, graphic red dots.
Since there is no stopping for vehicles along certain stretches, there are loading areas established on side streets for trucks who are delivering goods to shops. Again, cool and untraditional graphic design is in play. The signage is so new you can still see the chalk marks. I think it looks smashing.
We have previously written about The Green Wave for cyclists that started on Nørrebrogade street last year. The idea, in summary, is that if you cycle 20 km/h you'll hit green lights the whole way into the city centre.
The 35,000 cyclists on Nørrebrogade have taken the wave to heart. The average speed on the stretch - and in Copenhagen in general - was 15.5 km/h. It is now 20.3 km/h where the Green Wave carries the cycling crowds.
There are safety advantages in play, as well as general convenience. Cyclists who raced along the route at higher speeds have lowered their pace in order to catch all the lights. Good for safety.
The Green Wave has proved to be such a massive success that it has now been extended to two other main stretches leading to the city centre. The Green Wave will carry 18,000 cyclists a day on Østerbrogade and 17,000 on Amagerbrogade.
The traffic lights are coordinated during the morning rush hour between 06:00 - 10:00/12:00 [depending on the route] and then the wave reverses so the lights are coordinated in the opposite direction between 12:00/15:00 - 18:00 for the trip home.
Anyone cycling to work from Zaandam or Amsterdam Noord, in the Netherlands, in the last week of September, could earn €5.00 a day. This was a special campaign week to draw attention to cycling as an alternative to commuting by car as well as to stimulate people to actually use their bicycles.
Participants could register by means of a website. After registration they would receive a barcode by mail. When cycling to work in the morning between 06.45 and 9.30, people could earn €5.00 a day by having the barcode scanned on the ferries across the IJ.
The bicycle route from Zaandam to the parts of Amsterdam across the IJ is one of the five routes to be tackled and promoted as part of the ‘Fiets filevrij!’ (Cycle without traffic-jams) project.
Plans to reward cyclists exist elsewhere, too. In Nijmegen local authorities intend to provide cyclists with transmitters in order to collect data on the use of the local bridges. Participants may save up for presents. And in Delft there are plans to promote a new high-speed cycle route by offering rewards to cyclists.
A comparable approach is already being used in the Trappers (Pedal) project whereby companies encourage commuting by bicycle. Each commute by bicycle earns an employee of the participating companies a certain number of pedals. This ranges from a set number of pedals a day to a certain number of pedals for each kilometre. An extra bonus, for instance, for cycling in the winter months is also one of the possibilities. Participants in this programme have a special transmitter on their bicycle. The company is provided with a device recording whether employees actually travelled by bicycle. The pedals entitle participants to gifts.
Denmark is one of the most technologically advanced nations on earth. As illustrated by this hi-tech bicycle seen in Copenhagen. Clockwise from left: "Fingerprint scanner" - on the wheel lock. "Theftproof" "GPS Monitoring" "Neighbourhood Watch"
The bike racks near Nørreport Station had been visited by eager advertisers. Brochures for a travel agency on every back rack.
Good News From Edmonton The new Edmonton in Canada, not the old one in England... Our friend and guest photographer Manfred let us in on some local news from the Alberta capital:
"Let's watch what happens in pioneering Montreal, and consider a bike-sharing system for Edmonton. For all the wind about evironmental sustainability generated by the turbine of the human persuasion, any real progress must also begin at home.[...]
For the past few years, some 100 cities - including the likes of Paris, Barcelona and Washington, DC - have hosted bicycle sharing programs. [...] Paris' Velib program has been a massive success, for example, where over 20,000 bikes have been used on 27 million rides.[...]
Montreal is road-testing its own bike-sharing system that could serve as a template for other Canadian cities, including Edmonton.[...] with Montreal leading the way, Edmonton will have an appropriate model to study. The hope is City Hall will be doing just that over the coming year. Bike-sharing could well make sense here, at once improving the city's environment, along with the health of Edmontonians."
Thanks for letting us know, Manfred. Good to see some bike-positive news from Canada.
After six months of reading up on not only bike helmets, but the unfortunate consequences of helmet promotion and legislation, I experienced a moment where I felt the need to produce satire. I'm not saying it's good satire, but it is, by all accounts, satire.
Taking the piss out of the scaremongerers here in Denmark who choose to pull the wool over our eyes. Including, but not limited to, The Danish Road Safety Council [Rådet for Større Trafiksikkerhed] and the Danish Cyclists' Federation [Dansk Cyklist forbund].
I found this American programme on youtube, as well. Really interesting stuff. It addresses the problem of a Culture of Fear. This phrase really sums it all up.
Wikipedia has an entry on it, which is most enlightening. Under the heading of Constructed Fear, there are examples of the specific tools and techniques used in order to create fear in the population:
- Careful selection and omission of news (some relevant facts are shown and some are not) - this applies to the two organisations above in the Danish context. They are quick to send out press releases that serve their purpose but neglect the vast majority of scientific studies on bike helmets.
- Distortion of statistics or numbers - A prime example of this is a press release from earlier this year, which was in every newspaper. "Sale of bike helmets has risen by 20% in 2007. Head injuries in bike accidents have fallen from 28% in 1998 to 22% in 2007." What they don't tell you is that cycling has dropped 30% since the 1990's in Denmark and it is expected to drop further because of the current promotion of helmets. And sales of helmets has absolutely nothing to do with head injuries. There are no stats regarding people wearing them. It's all so shockingly silly.
- Transformation of single events into social epidemics (Salem witch trials) - this applies to the sudden media interest in bike accidents - fueled by the two parties above. Hyping them out of proportion and not mentioning that we have the best safety record, together with Netherlands, in the world.
- Corruption and distortion of words or terminology according to specific goals - slogans, catch phrases, the same repetitive mantras found on all the websites involved. Distorting reality and rationality by presenting the public with scary quotes.
- Stigmatization of minorities, especially when associated with criminal acts, degrading behaviour or immigration policies (Yellow Peril, Hispanophobia, Islamophobia, Blood Libel and AIDS, which was originally called "GRIDS" for "Gay-Related Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome") - Dansk Cyklist forbund stigmatizes cyclists who feel secure on the bike lanes by labelling them as "vain" and "stupid".
- Oversimplification of complex and multifaceted situations - When you have dozens and dozens of scientific studies from around the world over the past 20 years, it really isn't acceptable to oversimplify the issue with emotionally-charged slogans that have no basis in reality.
We'll paraphrase the writer Jennie Bristow here: "The culture of fear is not a spontaneous reaction by the public to a truly dangerous world. [...] Our propensity to panic about everything from child abductions to mobile phones does not come from the fact that modern life contains more risks than ever before - on the level of everyday reality, the opposite is the case. The culture of fear comes from the top down. It comes from society's leaders, and their inability to lead."
Marc over at Amsterdamize has a post about these scare tactics and fearmongering, too. When you live in countries like Denmark or Netherlands, helmet promotion is a rather different affair. We don't wish to see our bike culture dismantled.
The European Council of Ministers of Transport issued a statement in 2004 which is rather enlightened: "PROMISING [1], a research project commissioned by the European Union and coordinated by the SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research (2001), suggests that from the point of view of restrictiveness, even the official promotion of helmets may have negative consequences for bicycle use, and that to prevent helmets having a negative effect on the use of bicycles, the best approach is to leave the promotion of helmet wear to manufacturers and shopkeepers. The report entitled 'Head Injuries and Helmet Law for Cyclists' by Dorothy L. Robinson, Bicycle Research report No. 81 (March 1997) shows that the main effect of the introduction of the general helmet law for cyclists in Australia was a drop in bicycle use."
The Danish situation is rather easy to track. Here's the chronological path:
Early 1990's - Denmark experiences a spate of helmet promotion. The number of cyclists drop. In cities like Copenhagen and Odense the numbers rise, but on the national level cycling has dropped by 30% since the early 1990's. A Danish report from 2002 placed focus on how safety campaigns, including those for bike helmets, caused more parents to limit their childrens' cycling habits, choosing instead to drive them to school. Over the past 30 years the number of children driven to school has risen by 200%.
Late 2007/early 2008: The Accident Investigation Board - Havarikommissionen for Vejtrafikulykker publish a report about their investigation of intersection accidents between cyclists and motor vehicles, 30 in all. Their scientific methods are kosher, but they do not mention at any point where they got their scientific background for their assessment of bike helmets. A layman with just a bit of knowledge about the capabilities of bike helmets can see that they have grossly overestimated the bike helmet's ability in collisions. They conclude - without really knowing why - that promotion of bike helmets should commence and leglislation should be considered. The AIB are heavy hitters so people listen.
Early 2008: As a result of this report, The Danish Road Safety Council and the Danish Cyclists' Federation start an expensive national campaign promoting bike helmets. One that yanks hard at the emotional heartstrings but that is very vague on the science. They only quote a couple of Norwegian studies as the scientific foundation for their campaign, completing ignoring the science that many other cyclist federations in the EU use in their own assessment of helmet promotion.
2008: The promotion continues throughout the year. It is quite easy for them to gain a foothold when you consider The Culture of Fear. It's easier to say "Boo!" and scare people than to present the public with a wealth of options and ask them to make up their own mind. This is, after all, a Headline Society. When these public orgs speak, people in Denmark take it for granted. They read the headlines but not the article.
(The funny thing is that all the public service campaigns for eating healthy are largely ignored. It's just not as intutitive as the bike helmet issue.)
Late 2008: The Road Safety Council will be publishing the current figures for percentage of cyclists with bike helmets in the next couple of months. They will undoutably claim victory. But the numbers that are most important are the ones that show percentage of trips by bike. Sadly, by all accounts and based on experiences in other regions of the world, this will fall.
Which is why our website like www.cykelhjelm.org is an important factor in the fight against this Culture of Fear and for increased cycling in Denmark.
Ladies and Gentleman. Live from Copenhagen. It's the inaugural Copenhagenize Bicycle Battle.
In the Blue Corner: Origin unknown but we're guessing North America. The Bitchcruiser. Marrying, at long last, unnaturally high testosterone levels, a misogynist world-view and good old-fashioned sexism with... The Bicycle.
In the Pink Corner: From Helsinki, Finland. The Giant Vulva Bicycle Taxi, created by the artist [pictured] Mimosa Pale, who feels the world is too penis-centric. She calles it a Mobile Female Monument.
You just crawl inside and are cycled around the city. You get to feel like the star of a film by Pedro Almodovar. Put some windows in it and the title would be 'A Womb With a View'.
So... here's the question. If you HAD to ride down the main street of your town or city on one of these - let's assume you had to ride the bike pulling the vagina and not hidden inside... too easy - which one would you choose?
New York City has now announced the ten finalists in their bike rack competition. Thanks to Tom in Tucson for sending us the link. The competition recieved over 200 entries from 26 countries. Above is one of the finalist designs by Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve of Copenhagen.
Looking at the photos of the designs, it wasn't hard to spot the Danish entry. Simple, sleek and elegant. I like that they chose a classic bike in the illustration. Sit up straight like your mother taught you. There are many cool designs in the Final 10. Many elegant forms and shapes. Apart from my biased love of the Copenhagen entry, I fancy the simple racks like Middle Row, Left and Bottom Row, Left. Personal taste.
I'm wondering, however, if a bike rack competition is the right way to go. Sure, it is a positive, visual way to brand cycling in the urban landscape. Bike racks on the sidewalks are seen by all. Even better if bikes are actually attached to them.
New York wishes to double the number of cyclists in the city by 2015. By all accounts they are actually doing something about it by building bike lanes and what have you. Bicycling has a high profile in the city.
I don't know if chucking a lot of time and effort at bike racks is the wise thing to do at this stage. Wouldn't traffic calming initatives, more effective bike lanes, positive branding of cycling, among other things, be a better place to start? Get people to ride their bikes, achieve a certain level of success with that before the rest of it.
Fair enough, a bike rack competition is a low budget affair. Installing the racks is easy and inexpensive. It gets lots of press and the results are seen by everyone on the streets. Pedestrians and motorists see them and realise that bicyling is gaining ground. That's positive.
Yes, I'm having a conversation with myself.
Parking for bikes is a big issue in Copenhagen. Ironically, the City of Copenhagen is now planning rackless bike racks in congested areas of the city centre. Painted zones for parking - you just use your kickstand and wheel lock - and no space-consuming racks.
One of the most talked about intiatives in Copenhagen is now underway. Nørrebrogade is a main street running through a densely populated neighbourhood and it has had problems thriving for many years. Many of the side streets are lovely, cosy shopping streets but the main drag is dreary.
It is the busiest bike stretch in the nation, with 30,000 cyclists each day. 10,000 cars a day make their way down the street towards the city centre, despite the fact that only about 35% of the locals own cars.
Vice-Mayor Klaus Bondam secured a majority at City Hall for a radical project. Closing off the street to cars. It was meant to be a permanent project but he had to compromise and make it a 'test' for a period of three months. Here's a previous post about, after it was announced. This is also the stretch that features the Green Wave - cycle 20 km/h and hit green lights all the way.
Anyway, the work has begun. I got a text message the other day from a friend who uses the route. He said that overnight the bike lanes were doubled in width, with the new half occupying a former car lane, as seen above. He was thrilled. Often in the morning rush hour you'll wait for a red light to change with hundreds of other cyclists. This widened bike lane will improve the flow of bike traffic towards the city centre.
The city has chosen funky street markings to alert everyone to the new system. The red dots pictured are funky and functional, letting people know that this is a bus stop zone. At the moment cars still drive down the street, until everything is set up, and I stood there watching the traffic. Cars slowed and let busses go first - always a bit of a rarity. It was petrol poetry in motion.
Other markings are on the way and I'll post them as I see them show up. There are signs on the streets telling people about the new system. There will be the red dots, which denotes Busses. Then there are cool stripes that denote a FlexZone - where car lanes are reconquered in order to create space for cafés or restaurants to place outdoor tables or for shops to place displays of the goods they sell. All in order to create a dynamic shopping area and a liveable space for everyone.
Lastly there are Loading Zones on side streets for goods that are to be delivered to shops or homes. They feature the word Laes af/Laes paa - Load off/Load on, painted on the asphalt.
It's all very exciting. I'll post more as it happens.
While in the waiting room at the doctor's office I picked up this classic childrens' book - Egon The Cycling Mosquito - Cykelmyggen Egon. Written in 1967, it is still a popular book.
"When all the baby mosquitos hatched, they flew out of the water, but Egon rode his bike."
Egon loves to ride his bike, everywhere. And above he helps the bees transport honey on... what else... a Danish Long John cargo bike.
But it is worth remembering that Egon loved racing, too. The text above reads, "But Egon loved a hard sprint more than anything else..."
As does Matti Breschel - who won a bronze medal in the World Championships yesterday, which has thrilled the pants of the nation.
There are so many books and songs for kids featuring bikes in Danish literature and music. The mere thought of starting to catalogue them for inclusion on the blog makes my ears bleed.
While people discussing bikes is generally a good thing, I think that there are maybe more important issues for both the American president as well as the Danish prime minister to be dealing with.
The Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and George Bush met up a few days ago. The meeting should have been all about the Iraq War but it ended up being mostly about bikes.
The formal reason for the meeting was a extremely private reception for the 'coalition' partners behind the Iraq War, hosted by George Bush and the Iraqi president Jalal Talabani.
"President Talabani thanked the countries involved for the liberation and the stabilisation of Iraq under difficult circumstances. He expressed, on behalf of the Iraqi people, gratitude for those who undertook such a project", said Fogh Rasmussen at a press conference at the Danish Consulate General in New York today.
The Iraq War was far from the most important subject during Fogh Rasmussen's short meeting with the president.
"I can tell you that Bush and I mostly talked about cycling. I filled him in about my ride up Alpe d'Huez last summer and he told me that he had recently acquired a new mountain bike", said Fogh Rasmussen.
Earlier this year the prime minister visited the president's ranch near Crawford, Texas where the two men raced against each other on their bikes. Bush praised Fogh Rasmussen for being in 'indescribably good shape'.
When the president steps down in January, there may be time for a new race in Crawford.
"If I can find the time, he will try to do the same after January", said Fogh Rasmussen in New York. Source.
In other news involving Danish civil servants, the Danish ambassador to Australia has signed up to be an ... ambassador... for Bicycle Victoria's National Ride to Work Day on October 15, 2008. Bicycle Victoria reports: The Ambassador of Denmark, Mrs Susanne Shine, has announced the Danish Embassy and Consulate will take part in National Ride to Work Day this year.
Mrs Shine will be our first National Ride to Work Day Ambassador who actually will be an Ambassador. Official diplomatic participation in the event is a first.
Denmark has a powerful bicycle culture and Mrs Shine hopes to demonstrate this by committing her staff to the Ride to Work event.
Her nation sets an outstanding example for Australia to follow: everyday one in three in Copenhagen gets on their bike to go to work. This adds up to 1.2 million kilometres on bikes each day.
Australian cities are now utilising Danish expertise to "Copenhagenize" Australia's urban landscapes.
One of our readers, Ellen, is Project Manager for Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation and we were excited to hear how GIPEC is 'Copenhagenizing' Governors Island, off the southern tip of Manhattan.
We’re 'Copenhagenizing' a 172-acre island in the middle of New York Harbor by banning private cars, being super welcoming to cyclists and letting people borrow bikes for free. By “we”, I mean GIPEC, the state agency responsible for planning and operations on this former military base. Our official mission really isn’t to Copenhagenize Governors Island, but a huge increase in our bike numbers has been a very cool by-product of our efforts to bring the Island back to life. So, far it’s working. We’ve doubled the number of visitors over last year and quadrupled over the year before. The New York Times had a great piece about us recently.
On an average day here, more than 20% of our visitors are riding bikes, and on a Friday, when our bikes are free, 36% of our visitors ride bikes. The folks who ride here are mostly normal people (for New Yorkers anyway), riding cruisers in their street clothes.
They come for our arts programs, concerts, festivals and views. We have a great program called “Free Bike Fridays,” sponsored by Transportation Alternatives, which lets people borrow a bike from a Bike and Roll bike rental station for free, for up to one hour. After the first hour, the bikes are $5 for ½ hour, $10 up to two and $15 all day. It’s been hugely popular and we’re expanding it this weekend (9/19-9/21) so more people have a chance to ride bikes on our car-free streets.
Thanks to Ellen for letting us know about this great initiative in NYC. If any of our readers get to the island, please take some photos and mail them to Copenhagenize.com.
We think he's the guy in the middle, betwen the flags. The NYC Parks Commissioner, Adrian Benepe, has just been in Copenhagen to get inspiration for more bicycle traffic in New York. Adrian Benepe intends to use a part of the city’s one billion budget to bring the bicycle traffic in his town on the same level as in Copenhagen.
He has just visited Copenhagen invited by the Forest and Landscape unit at the University of Copenhagen with the aim of exchanging experiences within public and private park management.
"My goal is to create as good conditions for cyclists in my town as those you have here in Copenhagen. It will not be easy because although the New Yorkers are beginning to consider the bicycle as a mean of transport there is still much to wish for with regard to our bike culture.", says Benepe.
Read more about his visit and observations on the Copenhagen Capacity website. And keep us posted on whether or not he is on track towards his stated goals, as above.
I Heart NYC.
Nothing to do with NYC, but here's a little youtube advert for Cykeltaxa - cycle taxi - in Copenhagen.
My first reaction was to look for signs of photoshopping. Then I looked at the signs and buildings to see what city it REALLY was. Nope. Michael assures me that it is Manhattan. Quite remarkable. The green bike lane looks like French bike lanes, especially in Nice. While the scene above is progressive and admirable, Michael says that it is far from perfect in New York. "The problem is that, while it might be part of a larger longer term plan - for the moment, there are just islands of little bicycle lanes - which barely connect to one another. So you can ride very safely for a few blocks and then suddenly it stops and you're thrown out into 5 lanes of traffic and no bicycle lane for 20 blocks until you get to the next nice little corner like this..."
Fair enough, but just the mere fact that the above scene exists and isn't a futuristic photoshopped 'artist's rendition' is good news.
In the Blue Corner... Here's a new ad for, I assume, some kind of all-round supermarket store called Target [am i right, readers abroad?] wherein they feature a cyclist in this It's a New Day advert. At the beginning, anyway. Great he's wearing a suit but he looks a little too corny for my liking. Why not a suave, cool guy looking at ease with himself and his place in the world instead of that geeky, "Gee whiz! I haven't ridden a bike for 25 years [giggle]!" look on his face. But hey. Isn't it a step in the right direction? Towards promoting cycling?
In the Red Corner: [SPEAKERS OFF FOR AMERICAN WORKPLACES! TURN SPEAKERS UP AND GET YOUR COLLEAGUES OVER FOR EUROPEAN WORKPLACES! :-)] This is an excerpt from a German feature film called "Mädchen, Mädchen". It's a teen comedy about some girlfriends who haven't yet experienced an orgasm. The older lady in the car, with her husband, says something like "Next time we're taking our bikes...". Sure, it's not an advert but it does feature a cyclist that looks like any other on this side of the pond and she is enjoying the ride. Promoting cycling?
We wrote a piece in the Bikes We Like category a while back about the bespoke bicycles of Søren Sögreni. I was riding past his shop the other day and popped in for a coffee and a chat. If you write about bicycles and Copenhagenizing and suchlike pandemonium, a visit with Søren is a must.
He's been referred to as the Grandfather of Modern Danish Bicycle Design. With 28 years of experience in his back pocket, it's a fair description. It's hard to figure out where the emphasis is - on Bicycle or on Design. Bicycle Light by Søren Sögreni. Copper/Alloy/Brass: €100.00 Looking at his bikes and accessories you find yourself feeling giddy at the simplicity, the smooth lines, the attention to detail. The very essence of Danish design can be summed up like this: simplicity, functionality, informal elegance and a respect for materials and resources. The design products of Sögreni fit this description to a T. There is little surprise that his designs are often copied by other bike brands. They are, however, never matched. There is too much thought gone into them. Each object has been on a long, creative journey from idea to final product. Not everyone possesses this dedication so it's easier to 'borrow'. Brass Bicycle Bell on Handlebars by Søren Sögreni. Stainless Steel/Zink Finish/Brass/Copper: €30.00 I thought I'd do a piece about his accessories, after having covered the bikes in the earlier piece. Søren comes across as passionate and welcoming but with a gruff edge. It is clear that he loves the creative design aspect of his work. He is constantly playing around with designs and prototypes and new ideas. His bike shop is dimly lit and messy in an eccentric mad scientist sort of way - except for the fact that the bikes on sale in the shop are design icons with hefty pricetags. Bicycle Rack by Søren Sögreni. Brass & Alloy: €180.00 We bang on about how the bicycle is demystified in Copenhagen. How the average Copenhagener has little regard for 'gear'. It's all true, of course, but we do have a long history of design excellence and this passion for design is a part of most of us over here. Bicycle Rack Strap by Søren Sögreni. So that's why the simple, gorgeous accessories that Sögreni produces are an exception to the 'no gear' rule. They are design pieces - 'objets d'art' - and for that reason they are worth saving up for. Bicycle Chain Guard by Søren Sögreni. Alloy: €52.50. Brass: €60.00. And if you look at these accessories through 'bicycle gear glasses', they may not make sense. Looking at them as aesthetic additions to the bicycle, however, they fall into place in the grand scheme of things. Let's demystify the bicycle, but let's keep on making it gorgeous. Nothing wrong with that. Bicycle Pedal in Brass by Søren Sögreni. Brass: €79.00. Copper: €79.00. Aluminium: €66.00 Trouser Clip by Søren Sögreni. €30.00 Back end of a Bicycle by Søren Sögreni. Brass fenders: €144.00
If you're ever in Copenhagen, pop into the shop for a sensory experience. There's a shop in Malmø, Sweden as well. Sögreni's website is in English and if you live in the States, the good people at The Dutch Bicycle Company distributes Sögreni and other fine Danish bicycle products.
Carlton Reid over at Quickrelease.tv recommended it and I promptly ordered it from Amazon. I'm glad I did. It may not have been the author's intention, but I'm left with the sense that this is the greatest bicycle advocacy book ever written.
It's all about cars and how motor vechicles affect those who drive them - or those who walk/ride next to them. Filled with references to countless studies and research, Traffic will make you think differently the next time you hop into a car. It also helps cyclists and pedestrian understand the intricate happenings in the heads of motorists. I've had a driving licence for about 25 years and enjoy driving. I don't do much of it now that I live in Copenhagen but on every single page of the book I found myself muttering an inner 'wow' or 'hmm'.
So many people take driving for granted and they don't take it seriously enough. Not good ideas considering how taxing the task of driving is on the human brain.
After finishing the book I found myself looking at the traffic in a different light. A more sympathetic light. Stupid driver does stupid move? Hey... driving is hard. A sea of signals and signs and other moving vehicles are distracting.
There is a great chapter on Shared Space and many references to cyclists and pedestrians and how they interact with the traffic.
At the end of the day I think that everyone who drives and/or bikes should read it, especially those who work in traffic departments. Bike advocates should definately have a read, in order to understand not only how or why cars are such an integral part of our culture but also to stripmine the book for good reasons to get more people onto bikes.
What's more, Tom Vanderbilt has a great blog called How We Drive.
You can hear a radio broadcast with Tom on this website, along with another review of the book. The radio link is at the top of the page.
On occasion we're hopelessly out of the loop. Legendary long-distance cyclist Ian Hibell died on 23 August 23, 2008, hit by a car in Greece. I read his book back in the 1980's - Into the Remote Places - and have always been amazed at his love of riding his bike - from the Arctic Ocean to Cape Horn, from Nordkap to Cape of Good Hope, from Bangkok to Vladivostok. And so on.
I learned of his death by motorised traffic in The Economist and their obituary is moving. ... he described his bike as a companion, a crutch and a friend. Setting off in the morning light with “the quiet hum of the wheels, the creak of strap against load, the clink of something in the pannier”, was “delicious”.
...on a good smooth downhill run, the wind in his face, the landscape pelting past, he felt “oneness with everything”, like “a god almost”.
He should have been a guest blogger over at Copenhagen Cycle Chic. I hope that wherever he is he has a good, smooth downhill run.
What is it with beer and bicycles? Okay, some may argue that Guiness is more tar than beer, but all the same? I suppose since beer companies can't use images of happy motorists - or any other operators of motorised vehicles - and associate it with beer, bikes are a good option.
Normal man, normal bike. Enjoying the ride. And the adrenaline of riding away from rabid canines... which doesn't hurt.
It's hard to gauge this 'Safe for Work' concept prevalent in North America. Here it's 'anything goes - anywhere' so I don't know if this German bicycle advert is considered rude, offensive or pinko commie subversive by your Employment Lords. The 'shocking' bit is at the end, anyway and speakers are fine.
It's a funny German advert for a bicycle sales website called Bikie.de. The text at the end reads:
"A wheel for each and every arse." Wheel being the slang for bike in German.
I recall reading an article recently about a Danish company that bought subscriptions to the porn website of their employees choice as one of the company's perks and in order to stop virus attacks and spam from unreliable porn sites that the employees wandered into during the course of the day. A rather different approach.
Copenhagen Cycle Chic and Copenhagenize.com were, surprisingly, nominated for the Copenhagen Environment Award 2008. One of our readers in Copenhagen surprised us by sending in a nomination. Thanks, Claus! We didn't win - a small environmental intiative called Vestergror did, but the jury had only nice things to say. They wished they could have seen stats about whether or not the blogs have encouraged more people to ride their bikes in urban settings.
So, here's a poll, so we can win the facker next year:
With this blog we hope to bring Copenhagen Bicycle Culture to the world. In city councils around the world they speak of 'Copenhagenizing' their streets to accomodate bikes. Here in the Danish capital, it's just a way of life, as the photos and blog entries will highlight.
Copenhagen is already regarded as the best cycling city in the world and Denmark is the second safest place to cycle, after Netherlands, and those of you out there who need inspiration for cycle advocacy in your towns and cities can find a wealth of info here.
For a more tongue-in-cheek approach to Copenhagen bike culture, be sure to drop by our sister site: COPENHAGEN CYCLE CHIC
Comments? Links worth sharing? If you have anything worthy of inclusion feel free to let us know . Thanks in advance for taking the time to write.
by Tom Vanderbilt.
