Promotion of more and safer bicycle traffic produces healthier road
users and helps to create better towns. Collection of Cycle
Concepts presents some ideas on how to increase the use of
bicycles and how to prevent bicycle accidents.
The growth in car traffic is creating environmental problems
and congestion. Compared to other countries in Europe traffic
problems in Denmark are still modest. An important explanation
for this is the development in the course of the last century
of a robust bicycle culture. Today, one trip out of five in
Denmark is by bicycle.
The future role of the bicycle must also be strong in order to create a
sustainable society. It is important to develop and infrastructure that
permits the optimal exploitation of the bicycle's qualities and
possibilities.
A larger share of the short trips in towns can take place by
bicycle. The car is often indispensable on longer trips. The
bicycle can not be alone. Intermodality is important. The right
balance of good roads and paths for pedestrians, cyclists and
motorists can create better towns without losing the interaction
between modes of transport.
The bicycle can more often be used as feeder traffic for coach,
bus, train and plane on longer trips. This calls for safe an
functional access roads and terminals with good
possibilities for interchanges.
Not only road administrations, but also companies, institutions,
schools associations ets, must contribute to changing our attitudes
to transport and making it more acceptable to cycle. The
individual advantages are big. Half an hour's cycling daily
increases our mean life expectancy by 1-2 years and gives
better quality of life, both physically and mentally.
There are many measures that can be taken to improve cyclist
safety. In spite of this, the accident risk for Danish cyclists has
not changed over the past 25 years. It is necessary to approach the
problem more systematically and introduce proposed solutions and
places and among target groups where they will have the greatest
impact.
The main challenge is promoting more and safer bicycle traffic is
the need to implement a wide range of measures simultaneously. I
therefore invite the reader to consider the many ideas contained in
Collection of Cycle Concepts-and be inspired of those ideas,
which apply to local conditions.
This is probably the best bicycle planning guide I've run into so
far. Throroughly recommended for anyone interested in these issues,
and for anyone already involved in bicycle planning or advocacy.
Some of the good stuff: route sweeping, every 2-8 weeks, plus extra
autumn service to deal with leaves and a special service for
weekends to deal with broken glass near nightlife zones (p. 123);
“cycle crossings,” where pavement markings are extended through
an intersection to reduce conflicts with turning motor vehicles
(p. 89); advanced stop lines; cute advertisements (p. 37); signage
(pp. 102-105); effect of distance on mode choice (p. 46);
discussion of the need for small shops (p. 46); graph showing how
age affects cycling speed and distance (p. 12); wheel ramp on
stairs (p. 95); bike parking maps (p. 108), with symbols for
covered/uncovered and number of spaces.