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Reckless riders in cycle capital Copenhagen could jeopardise plans to get more people on bikes

Politicians being urged to rethink policy of 50% commutes by bike by 2015

Politicians in Copenhagen are facing demands to cut back on plans to increase cyclist numbers following fears that the large number of riders there are behaving recklessly.

In the city where more than a third of residents use a bike to get to work, police say that riders are weaving between people on pedestrianised streets and terrorising them.

"The cyclists aren't very good at sticking to the rules. They typically go into pedestrian areas," Mogens Knudsen, operations leader of the Copenhagen police's traffic unit, told the Global Post.

"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.

There has also been a rise in the number of fatal collisions in the cycling capital, leading to concerns that the stated aim of 50 per cent of all work and study related trips to be by bike by 2015.

Plans to roll out facilities for more cyclists include building thousands more bike parking spaces, and, most controversial for drivers, where cycle lanes are too narrow, converting entire roads to cycle paths.

In the run up to last month’s local elections, the centre-right Liberal Alliance party campaigned under the slogan: "A city for all -- motorists too” - saying that pro-cyclist road policies were unfair.

The German magazine, Der Spiegel, says that cycling has become a victim of its own success in Copenhagen, writing: “Cycling has been heavily promoted, and more and more people are taking to the pedal -- but eventually cycling paths, bike racks and other parking areas have begun to run out of space.

"The bike boom -- long seen as the universal solution to roads jammed with parked cars, dead inner cities and other urban maladies like noise, smog and lack of exercise -- threatens to choke on its own success.”

Two years ago we reported how cyclists on some of the busiest routes in the city said it had become overcrowded.

One cyclist, 22-year-old university student Lea Bresell, said things can sometimes get physical: "You have to elbow your way in to go forward and some cyclists aren't always thoughtful."

Danish Cyclist Federation spokesman Frits Bredal said that the creation of higher volume cycle highways is now a necessity to deal with the huge volume of two-wheeled traffic.

"Copenhagen's roads are overloaded with people who want to ride their bicycles in all kinds of weather," he said.

"It's a mode of transportation used by all social classes, even politicians ride bikes,"

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16 comments

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Skylark | 11 years ago
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Many European states have a liberated policy towards cycling. Even more so than UK. It quite a strange story to hear as most European cyclists are actually quite well behaved.

Maybe a sickness from the UK has caught hold in Coppenhagen?

Frankly looks disdainful of those individuals who think they're experts at the steering wheel or a bicycle to afford Recklessness.

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shay cycles | 11 years ago
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I think this is a reasonably fair story, I may not like all of the content but I wouldn't shoot the messenger. I don't think Road CC is sensationalising here in the headline as demonstrated by the following content;

"The cyclists aren't very good at sticking to the rules. They typically go into pedestrian areas," Mogens Knudsen, operations leader of the Copenhagen police's traffic unit, told the Global Post.
"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.

The headline does its job of getting you to read the story andwhen you read the story you decide what you think.

That isn't sensationalist Daily Mail type reporting (where the headline does its job and the story then tells you what to think!)

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lakeland bimbler | 11 years ago
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They just need to do cycling infrastructure like the Spanish!


P9271664.jpg by Jamie_MacDonald, on Flickr


P9271659.jpg by Jamie_MacDonald, on Flickr
 4

(Slight shame that after 5km it ended abruptly at a ravine!)

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durrin | 11 years ago
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We see these articles all the time in the Danish press... Lots of motorists feel victimized here because of the space that is dedicated to bicyclists. And on some level, I sympathize, driving a car in Copenhagen is awful! That is why so many people ride, not because they are political cyclists, but because it's easier/more convenient.

But the fact is that while a lot of space is dedicated to cycling, it is still a smaller percentage than space dedicated to motorized traffic, especially wrt. parking. Cycle parking in Copenhagen is a nightmare! Even worse if you want to lock your bike to something and not just to itself.

but if you want positive ideas about urban utility bicycling, see here: http://www.copenhagenize.com/

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Yorkshie Whippet | 11 years ago
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Come on people,

It's the off season, no-one racing, falling off, winning , loosing or doing drugs. News is always slow at this time of year.

Yes the site has to make money, but if they don't post new stuff then we all will get bored and wander off.

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dave atkinson | 11 years ago
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We just thought you'd like to know that these things are being said. you know, because it's news about cycling. and we do news about cycling. We try to be fairly neutral about it, I wouldn't say we're perfect at that. You don't have to agree with everything that's written here. I don't.

I've read through it a couple of times to try and find the reactionary bit, but it just seems to be a report about some stuff that was said in the press over the water. Next week someone might unveil a grand plan to massively increase the capacity of the cycle network in Copenhagen to give cycling there a further boost. And if they do, we'll report on that too.

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harrybav replied to dave atkinson | 11 years ago
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Dave Atkinson wrote:

You don't have to agree with everything that's written here.

Yes - many of us do not agree, hence the multiple comments saying so.

Dave Atkinson wrote:

I've read through it a couple of times to try and find the reactionary bit, but it just seems to be a report about some stuff that was said

Dave, the headline, along with loose wording in bits of the story, suggests the rightwing party is arguing for a shift towards car-focused planning in reaction to cyclist bad behaviour rather than (as the facts of the story have it) in reaction to cycling's growing popularity and increasing space demands.

It's a well-trodden line in the more backward debates in the UK, that safe transport infrastructure is an optionally-provided reward for blanket "good behaviour". Obviously, it makes us angry. Your story tries to outrage us by suggesting the same is happening in Copenhagen.

I'm genuinely surprised, a bit disappointed, that you don't see how you've bent the story here. Or why we'd have any problem with this ongoing strain of coverage.

You're chewing through goodwill here, Dave. What can I say? Please try and improve things. The old Kelvin MacKenzie adage about Entertain, Amuse or Outrage is a pretty low bar to aim at and you can do better than outraging us, I know you can.

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congokid | 11 years ago
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Road rage has never been used as a stick with which to beat motorists, so I don't know why road.cc is trying to fan flames with this kind of reactionary reporting...

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MrGear | 11 years ago
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Bully Pedestrians in Kingston Upon Thames!

Ever since Clarence Street was closed to motorised vehicles, there has been a worrying increase in pedestrians on the now pedestrianized street.

“It used to be that just a few hundred people walked down this street, now there are thousands!” One idiot was quoted.

“This pedestrianized street programme has been a victim of its own success. Lots of people are now walking on a street that is designed to be walked on. But some people walk too slowly, some people get in the way, and who benefits? THE SHOPS. Big business is cashing in while the motorist loses out AGAIN.” Another halfwit said.

/Satire

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solkanofastera | 11 years ago
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I think this is the last time I will visit this web site, it has become nothing but rubbish reporting. Goodbye Road CC, and goodbye to all your advertisers too.

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unsliced | 11 years ago
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And how long before this kind of report "see, cyclists are boorish even when they mostly get their own way" is used as a reason for not making improvements in this country?

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JeevesBath replied to unsliced | 11 years ago
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unsliced wrote:

And how long before this kind of report "see, cyclists are boorish even when they mostly get their own way" is used as a reason for not making improvements in this country?

Surely that is the importance of reporting this type of issue, so that we can see problems coming in advance and take action to avoid them? Getting what you want isn't always a good thing, as some of the cyclists in Copenhagen seem to be discovering.

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Stumps replied to JeevesBath | 11 years ago
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JeevesBath wrote:
unsliced wrote:

And how long before this kind of report "see, cyclists are boorish even when they mostly get their own way" is used as a reason for not making improvements in this country?

Surely that is the importance of reporting this type of issue, so that we can see problems coming in advance and take action to avoid them? Getting what you want isn't always a good thing, as some of the cyclists in Copenhagen seem to be discovering.

Totally agree, we need this sort of article to show its not always hunky dory in the foreign cities often mentioned on this forum as cycling mecca's.

A note to road.cc - can you find a happy story ? it is starting to get like the bbc / sky news with nothing but doom and gloom.

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sean1 | 11 years ago
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Is road.cc turning into the Daily Mail of cycling?

Another minor news item with a nice headline grabbing "Reckless cyclists..."

To summarise ;

1. Copenhagen has seen massive cycle growth
2. Copenhagen Cycle capacity needs to be increased
3. Some people are sometimes not nice to other people
4. One man, aged 22, makes amazing revelation "some cyclists aren't thoughtful"
5. Police note increase in cycling related incidents (see 1.)

Pull your socks up road.cc, these articles are getting a bit tedious.

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William Black replied to sean1 | 11 years ago
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seanbolton wrote:

Pull your socks up road.cc, these articles are getting a bit tedious.

Numbers of clicks impress the advertisers  11

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Username | 11 years ago
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The crowds of pedestrians on Oxford Street often annoy me. I find them bullying obstructive and aggressive.

Maybe we could ban them too?

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