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(Francis & Justason, 2010)

  • “With the agency in place, British Columbia looked to Sweden for a model. Sweden had a 35 year history of injury prevention programs and in that time has reduced injury deaths to half the Canadian rate. The Swedish model is based on a three-pronged approach: injury surveillance and prevention research; providing a safer environment for children through legislation and regulation; and (coalitions to promote) a broad-based safety awareness and education campaign.”
  • Major Recommendations:
    • Mandatory Helmet Legislations (Enacted in 1996)
    • Education and Awareness Programs in Conjunction with Helmet Legislation
      • Include focus on safety and protection of pedestrians from cyclists
      • Stress that many injuries are due to inattention or negligence
      • Include dangers of stereo headphone use while cycling
      • Visibility of cyclists at night/low-light situations
      • Specific focus on truck driver trainings + truck mirror configurations
      • Reserved bike lanes
      • Laws enforcing property owners to maintain clear sight lines at sidewalks/driveways
      • Determine age at which children are mature enough to understand rules to follow rules à therefore can traverse busy traffic conditions, etc.
      • Conduct pilot study over several years, investigating all motor vehicle bicycle-related accidents with a view to developing a better understanding of their causation à this will allow you to be in a better position to develop safe driving and safe cycling programs and educational materials

(J. Pucher & Buelher, 2007) – World Transport Policy and Practice
Introduction    


  • Only about a fourth of bike trips in these three countries are for purely recreational purposes, compared to three three-fourths of bike trips in the USA (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2003).
  • Women make 45% of all bike trips in Denmark, 49% in Germany, and 55% in the Netherlands.
  • Children and adolescents have the highest rates of cycling in almost every country.
  • Finally, rates of cycling are similar among different income classes in these three countries, with the number of bike trips per day falling only slightly with increasing income. In short, cycling in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany is for women as well as men, all age groups, all income classes, and all trip purposes.
  • The phenomenon of ‘safety in numbers’ has been consistently found to hold over time and across cities and countries
  • On the contrary, in the Netherlands, with the safest cycling of any country, less than one percent of adult cyclists wear helmets, and even among children, only 3-5% wear helmets (Dutch Bicycling Council, 2006; Netherlands Ministry of Transport, 2006).

Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • By comparison, car use is difficult in the central city. There are few car parking spaces, and many cul-de-sacs and one way streets hinder car travel.
  • Fifty percent of Amsterdam’s inhabitants made daily use of their bikes (City of Amsterdam, 2003a). Over 85% of Amsterdam’s residents rode their bike at least once a week in 2003.
  • First, the affluent cycle more than the poor in Amsterdam.
  • Bike planners in Amsterdam speculate that lower income groups see the car as an important status symbol, while they view the bicycle as a “poor man’s” vehicle. Consequently, they prefer to drive instead of cycle.
  • Recent immigrants and their children also cycle less than the average resident of Amsterdam.
  • Finally in 1978, a newly elected city council focused on bicycling as an integral tool for solving the city’s transport problems.
  • Amsterdam is used for all trip purposes: for 34% of work trips, 33% of shopping trips and 27% of leisure trips in 2003.
  • Dutch traffic laws protect young cyclists and put the responsibility for an accident on the car driver.
  • Amsterdam had about 775 km of traffic calmed streets in 2000.
  • During peak hours on workdays, up to 10,000 bikes were parked at Amsterdam Central Station in 2006.
  • The bike rental fee is included in the price of the car parking ticket.
  • Similar to Germany, Dutch school children go through bicycle training in school.
    • Bicycles are made available to schools by the city government for free so that children who do not own a bicycle can learn at school how to cycle safely in Amsterdam.

Groningen, Netherlands

  • The compactness of Groningen is not an accident but resulted from strict land use plans that limited the type of sprawled, low-density development that would have greatly increased trip distances and required more car use.
  • For local trips within Groningen, the bike share of trips is 59%,
  • It is now possible to cycle from several outlying residential areas directly to the city centre without having to stop at even one traffic signal, greatly speeding up bike travel between outlying residential areas and work, shopping, and the university in the centre.
  • There are separate traffic signals for cyclists, and cyclists usually get advance green lights.
  • Cyclists are also allowed to make right turns at intersections when the traffic signal is red, while car drivers cannot.
  • Cyclists are permitted to make right or left turns at many intersections where they are – prohibited for cars. That gives cyclists greater flexibility in the routing of their travel.
  • Cyclists and pedestrians have absolute priority in the city centre
  • Much of Groningen’s city centre is off limits to cars. It is not possible for cars to pass through the city centre from one end to the other.
    • Speed limits are reduced to 30km/hr or less.
  • The main way that Groningen promotes cycling is not through any special marketing immicks but rather by providing superb cycling facilities and restrictions on car travel.

Copenhagen, Denmark

  • Indeed, a third of Copenhagen’s road transport budget is earmarked for cycling facilities and programs
  • The city’s focus now is on improving safety at intersections, since that is where most serious crashes occur. Increasingly, the city is installing advance stop lines for cyclists, priority traffic signals, and bright blue marking of bike lanes crossing roads.
  • Copenhagen bike planners have a strong preference for separate paths over on-street lanes on major roads.
  • Another innovative program in Copenhagen is the Bicycle Account, a bi-annual survey of cyclists (City of Copenhagen, 2004 and 2006). Every two years cyclists themselves evaluate the actual performance of the bicycling system in the city, and provide suggestions for its improvement.

Odense, Denmark

  • Since 43% of children reach school by bike. Recently, Odense introduced the world’s first interactive cycling trainer for children to help them improve their cycling skills in traffic (www.b-game.dk/demo.php).
  • Finally, bike lanes and paths are promptly cleared of ice and snow with a special vehicle that sprays a salt solution onto the riding surface. That facilitates winter cycling.
  • There are no direct routes for cars to pass through Odense’s city centre from one side to the other. In effect, that restricts traffic to vehicles with destinations in the city centre instead of just passing through
  • Above all, cyclists strongly endorsed priority traffic signals for cyclists at intersections and synchronised green wave lights adjusted to cyclist speeds; improved and better maintained surfaces of the existing cycle paths and lanes; and expanded and improved bike parking facilities.

Berlin, Germany

  • Germany is especially interesting for this examination of cycling policies precisely because the country does not have a long tradition of cycling, certainly nothing even approaching the bicycling culture of the Netherlands. Moreover, Germany has a much higher level of car ownership and use than the Netherlands and Denmark
    • Germany is home to some of the world’s most important car manufacturers (Volkswagen, Daimler-Benz, Audi, Porsche, BMW), which together represent a very strong lobby for highways and cars.
  • Today’s share of all trips made by bike is 10%, which can be considered high given the cold winters, the automobile oriented transport policies implemented in the past, and the population size of the city.
  • The main driving forces for promoting bicycling in Berlin were environmental pollution and air quality considerations, but also the city’s worsening financial crises. Promoting bicycling and expanding cycling infrastructure is relatively cheap compared to building roads or rail transport infrastructure.
  • In 2000, the city established a dedicated annual funding source for bicycling infrastructure by introducing a special bicycling budget of €1.5 million per year. In 2006 the bike budget increased to €2.5 million per year and is expected to increase even further to €3 million in 2008.
  • As in most German cities, school children have to take part in cycling training and pass a test with real police between 3rd and 4th grade.
  • Separate facilities for bikes are only deemed necessary at roads with a speed limit of 50km/h or more and with automobile traffic volume of at least 10,000 cars per day. Overall, more than half of all heavily trafficked roads in Berlin have bike facilities (750km out of 1450km).

Muenster, Germany

  • Perhaps even more important, police ticket motorists who endanger bicyclists or otherwise disobey traffic laws intended to promote pedestrian and cyclist safety.
  • 12 streets are officially designated as bicycling streets (Fahrradstrassen), where the entire width of the street is intended for cycling, but where motor vehicles are usually permitted provide they travel at cyclist speeds and do not endanger cyclists,
  • Of particular note is the famous bike/walk Promenade, a 4.5-km car-free beltway that encircles the old town of the city and serves as connector and distributor for 16 bike paths radiating outward toward the suburbs and 26 routes leading to the city centre and Cathedral Square
  • Many non-arterial residential streets – especially in new residential areas – are yet further traffic calmed, with speed limits of 7 km/hr. They are designated as “Spielstrassen” (play streets), which are equivalent to the Dutch “Woonerf” and the British “Home Zone.” Traffic signs clearly notify motorists that they must share the street with pedestrians, cyclists, and playing children, who have traffic priority over cars on such streets.
  • Many intersections also have advance stop positions for cyclists, in front of waiting cars, thus giving them a head start in crossing the intersection, increasing both the speed and safety of cycling.
  • …car travel is often detoured by artificial dead-ends and deliberate street blockages of various sorts, reducing the speed and convenience of car travel.
  • It is not possible for cars to pass from one end of the city to the other through the town centre. That forces car traffic to take circumferential routes and helps mitigate the congestion, environmental, and safety problems that the additional through-traffic would cause in the city centre.
    • New car parks have been built near the edge of the city centre, with motorists encouraged to park their cars there and then to walk, bike, or take a bus to the centre.
    • On-street parking is usually restricted in duration and its price rises sharply with proximity to the city centre. The restricted supply and high price of parking obviously discourage car use and increase the relative convenience of cycling.
  • Cycling promotion initiatives in Muenster:
    • Annual bicycling festivals that promote the environmental advantages of bicycling
    • Annual awards to firms that do the most to increase bicycling among their employees
    • the bicycle was chosen as the official symbol of the city during the celebrations marking 1200 year anniversary of the founding of Muenster in 793
  • Bicycling is the dominant transport mode for women as well as men and among all age groups, professions, and income classes.

Conclusions and Policy Implications

  • Bicycling is the dominant transport mode for women as well as men and among all age groups, professions, and income classes.
  • Europe’s best bicycling cities strive constantly to make things even better for cyclists and thus to raise yet further their already very impressive cycling levels.
  • ” At least one advantage of its financial distress is the stark realisation that cycling is the most economical mode of transport, in addition to being environmentally and socially sustainable.”

(Wardlaw, 2002) – Asessing the actual risks faced by cyclists

  • A cycling culture exists in France. There is mutual respect and toleration between cyclists and drivers. Perceived danger when cycling is low, since drivers may be relied on to compensate near cyclists.