Bicycle Backlash
In one of the world’s best cities for bicycles, Copenhagen cyclists are earning a reputation for recklessness and arrogance, prompting calls for politicians to back-pedal plans to further boost bike traffic. Copenhagen has been long considered one of Europe’s two “bicycle capitals.” Copenhagen counts more bicycles than people, and 36 percent of those who work or study in the Danish city use a bike for their daily commute. But as cycling has increased, so has the number of cyclists barreling down the city’s pavements, car-free streets and even train platforms, to the dismay of spooked pedestrians. “The cyclists aren’t very good at sticking to the rules. They typically go into pedestrian areas,” said Mogens Knudsen, of Copenhagen police’s traffic unit.“If you walk down pedestrian shopping street Stroeget, you will see cyclists zigzagging between the people, and they do so at a high speed,” he added. For years city officials have prided themselves on Copenhagen’s many cyclists, receiving politicians and journalists from around the world to study the city’s infrastructure and its plans for an even more ambitious network of “cycle superhighways.” The current goal is to increase the number of work- and study-related trips taken by bike to more than 50 percent of all journeys by 2015.
While a growing awareness of the need to reduce carbon emissions has made it unpopular to criticize the ever-growing number of bicycles on the roads, some are beginning to speak out. The backlash has been fueled by a sharp rise in deadly cycling accidents this year, following a decline over several years. “I think cyclists believe they are above general traffic rules,” said Kjeld Koplev, a journalist and author whose ankle and shinbone were crushed in a cycling accident with a car 11 years ago. “I think you are more careful in a car, because you know you are the stronger party. Others put it more bluntly.
Tom Joergensen, an art critic, irked Danish cycling enthusiasts last year when he claimed they were “Copenhagen’s number one traffic problem.” In an op-ed, Joergensen claimed that people who cycle tend to vote for leftist parties, but once they get on their bikes, they become raging individualists, caring little about fellow road users. “It’s nearing anarchy,” Joergensen told AFP. “We pedestrians have completely disappeared from public debate on the issue. You talk about cyclists and you talk about motorists, but nobody is interested in those of us who walk on the streets,” he said. “If you ask elderly people, I’m sure they will agree with what I say: That the biggest problem in Copenhagen isn’t the drivers, it’s the cyclists, who are extremely aggressive.”
The left-wing Red-Green Alliance responded with posters displaying the back of a bus and the text: “Cars to the back.” The party’s top candidate, Morten Kabell, won the powerful position of “mayor for technical and environmental affairs” — putting him in charge of traffic and urban planning. Although something of an anti-car crusader, Kabell admitted that some cyclists needed to change their ways. “It’s true that many cyclists forget their manners, and that’s a cultural problem,” he said. “I think a lot of it comes down to there not being enough room in traffic for the number of cyclists there should be. If we get more and wider cycling lanes, we can also solve this problem with ruthlessness.”
Bicycle abundance
My girlfriend, Ruth, fell off the back of my bike.
I rode on, ruthlessly.
I keep getting hit by the same bike, at the same time and place, day after day…
It’s a vicious cycle.
What’s The Difference Between a Hobo On a Unicycle And a Man In a Suit On a Bike?
Attire.
There was this one bike trail I took and I swear, at every turn it tried to kill me.
I hope I never see that cycle path ever again.
Birthdays on May 26th
1948 – Stevie Nicks, 1951- Sally Ride, 1991 – Juliana Rose Mauriello, 2000 – Kerry Ingram
1939 – Brent Musberger, 1907 – John Wayne, 1962 – Bob Goldthwaith, 1923 – James Arness,