It’s worth noting that in Germany few cyclists wear helmets. The reason being that their cycle methods are secure and are taken for granted in each town and metropolis in Germany.
Bicycle safety campaigners here advocate helmets and excessive-visibility gear but might a more Continental strategy make cycling safer and get extra individuals on their bikes? Cian Ginty studies
AS CLUNKY HELMETS, yellow reflective gear, reflective material and Lycra might be used as a stereotype for Irish cyclists, it might come as a shock that ladies carrying excessive heels are a standard sight on bicycles in Copenhagen.
The overall picture of cycling here is vastly completely different to so-known as bicycle cultures where cycling is normalised and there is speak of a “gradual bicycle movement”.
“Among thousands and hundreds of cyclists on my daily routes, I believe I see one or two reflective vests every week, if that,” says Mikael Colville-Andersen, a cycling advocate living in Copenhagen.With Denmark, reflective material the Netherlands and Germany – the place bicycle utilization is excessive – the helmets and reflective clothing we consider as “a should” for cyclists are removed from customary.
Colville-Andersen runs two bike advocacy blogs – the more severe http://www.copenhagenize.com/ , and the fashion-centred Copenhagen Cycle Chic ( http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/ ). Not solely is he a bicycle advocate, but he’s a campaigner for what he calls “the sluggish bicycle movement”.
“The main level with my blogs is that if cycling is to be an on a regular basis exercise then it might simply be finished in everyday clothes, like tens of millions of Europeans do every day. Actually, according to the European Cyclists’ Federation, there are one hundred million Europeans who ride every day,” he says.
On Copenhagen Cycle Chic – largely a photographic documentation of the bicycle tradition in Copenhagen – 1000’s of images show how normalised cycling is within the Danish capital. The images of cyclists in on a regular basis clothes – and with out helmets – reflect what has turn into normal behaviour for bike cultures: “This is the norm, yes. That is the norm for all cities and nations with established bike tradition.
“If you’ll be able to show people that cycling is easy, would not require ‘gear’ and is healthy – and also you build them infrastructure to encourage them, then they’ll ride. Just take a look at Paris . . . Massive development in cycling due to Velib. And now bike sales are rising as a result of the Velibistas are graduating to their very own bikes,” says Colville-Andersen.
“If [individuals] see normal people on normal bikes in normal clothes, they are going to be much closer to creating the leap to cycling than in the event that they see fancy bikes, gear and all that.”
IN PARIS, CYCLING has boomed only a year after the introduction of Velib, an on-avenue bike rental scheme with 20,000 bicycles. Automated stations are on many Parisian street corners. Set-up and maintenance prices are paid for in a billboards-for-bikes deal with advert firm JC Decaux. An identical system being launched by Dublin City Council and the same firm has been criticised for its low quantity, just 450 bikes.
It is hoped these 450 bikes will help add a essential mass to the number of cyclists in Dublin. The most recent annual site visitors survey by Dublin City Council showed a 17 per cent enhance in cycling previously year – a pattern largely put right down to the removal of heavy items vehicles from the town’s roads for the reason that opening of the Port Tunnel. But, because of a decline previously decade, cycling is up only one per cent in 10 years.
“Cycling does not have a very good picture in Ireland, but perhaps that is changing as more individuals come here from other European countries the place cycling is extra common,” says Muireann O’Dea, membership secretary on the Dublin Cycling Campaign (DCC).
“We positively have to focus on the positive features of cycling – it has huge well being benefits, it provides you freedom, it’s the fastest and cheapest approach to get round, and it is higher for the atmosphere. Cycling just isn’t as dangerous as individuals suppose – the variety of cycling fatalities is way lower than it was 20 years ago.”
There are various positives to concentrate on – from tackling obesity to serving to the surroundings. In addition, offering cycling infrastructure prices lower than different transport provisions, and bike parking takes up less space than automobile parking.The DCC additionally needs a poster and Tv campaign, with posters positioned prominently on commuter routes highlighting that “It’s better by bike”.
BICYCLES HAVE A distinct image in numerous countries. Colville-Andersen says cycling was hijacked by the sports activities trade and he highlights how manufacturers sell bicycles worlds apart within the totally different European markets, pointing to raleighbikes.dk and raleigh.co.uk as a visible instance of this.
“They sell ‘gear'”, he says of manufacturers right here. “They’ve even brainwashed the population into worrying about the weight of their bikes. For those who have virtually any concerns concerning exactly where along with how to work with reflective sheet fabric – instapaper.com,, you are able to e-mail us on our own page. It’s just foolish. They’ve stripped away chain guards, skirt guards, kickstands, fenders, you title it. All normal options on new and old bikes in Denmark and the Netherlands . . . I have a daily reader from Dublin who laments the truth that she cannot find any decent ‘granny bikes’ there, not to mention baskets or chain guards.”
Image, after all, will not be the one drawback. Infrastructure is superior in European countries with excessive bike utilization – in Copenhagen, the first kerb-separated bike lanes had been installed 25 years ago this yr, while bicycles are allowed on the metro and regional trains, and taxis must be able to carry two bikes.
Meanwhile, in Ireland, cyclists need to cope with lanes merely painted on to roads or footpaths, or being bunched into bus lanes – hardly inspiring to would-be cyclists who are wary of buses. Bike parking at practice stations, if available, amounts to the one integration with city or regional public transport.
Here, bike-security promotion appears to overshadow bike promotion. The federal government promotes helmets for cyclists, but these on the opposite side say using protective head gear, outdoors racing and mountain biking, is disproportionate security obsession pushed on cyclists. They argue that the safety campaign damages the image of cycling by making it seem extra dangerous than it is.
“Bike helmets are a private situation and customarily government our bodies shouldn’t advocate helmet utilization because it risks labelling cycling as a harmful activity. The statistics don’t replicate this. In case you advocate bike helmets then you should, by following the logic, advocate pedestrian helmets since extra pedestrians suffer head injuries than cyclists,” says Colville-Andersen.
The view of the DCC – which is in the technique of being merged into a national marketing campaign group – is broadly the identical. A DCC position paper on helmets highlights studies in Sheffield and Australia that show necessary helmets for motorists would save more lives: “Hence any try to pigeonhole cyclists into compulsory protecting headgear is unbalanced as a safety initiative.”
Mandatory HELMET-Wearing laws have been introduced in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, and elements of the US. It has been proven, at least in Australia and New Zealand, that this led to a drop in the numbers of people cycling ; none of these nations is understood for its excessive ranges of cycling. The federal government right here continues to focus on security.
“Within the context of Ireland and the state of affairs here, [helmets, and reflective sheeting vests] should be worn in the pursuits of street safety,” says Christine Hegarty, a spokeswoman for the Road Safety Authority (RSA).
The agency rejects any claim that helmets and reflective vests injury the image of cycling by making it look extra harmful than it really is: “Cyclists are weak street-users. The duty of the RSA is to advertise cycle safety so as to prevent injury.”
The British Medical Association agrees with the RSA’s stance. However, Dr Ian Walker, a site visitors psychologist on the University of Bath, discovered “sporting a helmet puts cyclists at risk” as motorists drive nearer to those sporting helmets. He used an ultrasonic distance sensor to file information that confirmed drivers handed a mean of 3.33 inches closer when the cyclist wore a helmet than with out. “Some folks loathe my findings, normally as a result of they are starting with the ‘common sense’ position that bicycle helmets should be a good factor,” Walker says on his blog.
Meanwhile, analysis revealed by the British Medical Journal , in its Injury Prevention Journal , supports the concept of safety in numbers. It reveals that efficiently promoting cycling can itself improve safety because, when extra people start cycling, other highway-users get used to them and fewer accidents happen. “This result’s unexpected,” in accordance with the research. “It seems that motorists alter their behaviour within the presence of individuals walking and bicycling.”
However, there are conflicting views within the medical field, as among the many cycling fraternity. But, if there’s an sincere curiosity in selling cycling as a green and wholesome mode of transport, instead of following automobile-dominated nations, ought to we not look to the instance set by nations the place cycling is normalised?
Peddling cycling how it really works
With half of kids being pushed to highschool, selling cycling, walking and public transport use is the goal of the Green Schools environmental initiative. Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey not too long ago mentioned the pilot scheme resulted in a ten per cent drop in car use, with an eight per cent improve in strolling or cycling.
But is there political will for actual improvement? Girls-only faculties all have a uniform coverage that requires the carrying of skirts. This is the primary reason why girls do not cycle. So, policy change required straight away there. The Department of Education will have to deal with a change in uniform-sporting policy.”
Muireann O’Dea, membership secretary at the DCC, echoes this: “Wearing helmets and hi-vis jackets is certainly a disincentive for kids, notably ladies, who’re image-acutely aware.”
But others, together with the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) – who have run the journey part of the pilot Green Schools scheme – aren’t so certain how image acutely aware ladies are.
“The DTO would agree that a big problem in cycling promotion exists relating to post-main kids, however would not discriminate based on gender, and would not venture to recommend what the explanations for this is perhaps with out undertaking analysis,” said spokeswoman Sara Morris. The company points out how the initiative “helps achieve growth in cycling numbers in taking part faculties”.