My Town, originally uploaded by [Zakkaliciousness] View of City Hall Square from the City Hall Tower. The blue pavement are bike lanes. Last week the police in the capital had a campaign against marauding cylists. The good thing is that you hear about it in advance in the press but nevertheless 777 cyclists were stopped and fined for traffic violations.A fine will set you back 250 Danish kroner. About €40. That’s for each infraction. If you forget both front and back lights, for example, it’s double up.The 777 fines were divided up like this:360 were colourblind. The majority of the fines were handed out to cyclists who ran the red light.128 of them rode the wrong way on a one-way street.70 were caught without bike lights on after dark - despite the fact that the sun sets at 22:00 and rises again at around 04:30.71 were nicked for riding on the pavement [US: sidewalk]26 for riding in the zebra crossing.44 were in the wrong place on the lane when they turned.It’s worth mentioning that it’s 777 tickets out of a few hundred thousands cyclists.
Source: Politiken [in Danish]
There is a tendency among many cyclists to interpret the law in a more casual manner. A few ride like morons but when you have half a million bikes on the roads each day, you expect some morons in the crowd.The Danish Cyclist Union has tried to get the police to use dialogue instead of fines and zero tolerance. To which the police commisioner responded, "We've tried dialogue, now it's time for fines".
