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Bicycling In Your City

56K views 250 replies 85 participants last post by  desertpunk 
#1 · (Edited)
Bicycling In Your City

How is it to bicycle in your city? Does your city accomodate bicycles? Funny anecdotes? Terrible anecdotes? Post 'em here!





Here's a taste of New York:

 
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#204 ·
#207 ·
^^Helmets are for safety.

I'm quite horrified by this culture of "helmets are useless" in the Netherlands. It is like what I read about how people in the 1960s and 1970s disregarded using vehicular seat belts (on cars) as something "for pussies" or "for dorks" or "for stupid people who don't have confidence in their ability to drive" - despite evidence seat belts saved and still save lives.

Helmets make cycling safer, it reduces head injuries on head impacts (reason by which many people working in the open or with moving objects/devices (miners, linesmen, anyone in a construction site) use helmets for protection, reason by which protecting the head is of paramount concern in sports like (american) football or sports racing etc).

Helmet laws should be passed in Netherlands to prevent injuries, considered everyone pays for the extra health costs of irresponsible cyclists.
 
#209 ·
^^Helmets are for safety.

I'm quite horrified by this culture of "helmets are useless" in the Netherlands. It is like what I read about how people in the 1960s and 1970s disregarded using vehicular seat belts (on cars) as something "for pussies" or "for dorks" or "for stupid people who don't have confidence in their ability to drive" - despite evidence seat belts saved and still save lives.
Maybe is because the Netherlands have the infrastructure and is more safe than any other country
 
#221 ·
Well here I bet that 5/5 of the cyclists who die aren't wearing helmets. That doesn't tell you jack though. What proportion of cyclists wear helmets?

But yeah in large car centric heavily trafficked cities, especially those with grid patterns which leads to more crossings, I think helmets are a better idea. No need for them in most of Europe though. Even Rome supposedly one of the European cities with the worst drivers and few cyclists you won't need a helmet at all. Cars are quite considerate even there.
 
#211 ·
^^ It is extensively researched whether helmets could make cycling safer in the Netherlands. General opinion by scientists, government and users is that helmets are not increasing safety. This is also the official viewpoint of the Dutch Cycling Federation, probably one of the most experienced cycling federations in the world.

Reasons (source: Dutch Cycling Federation):
- A helmet doesn't help with accidents with cars because speeds of cars are too high. In a flat country like the Netherlands an one-sided accident without cars always occur at speeds of only 10-15 kmh. There are almost no one-sided accidents like that because of the excellent cycling infrastructure.
- If you use a helmet you take more risks. Using a helmet is fake-security.
- It is expected that bicycle usage will drop by 60% if a helmet is compulsory.
- Health effects: less cycling means less healthy people, that's considered a bigger loss than the gain of safety with a helmet.
- Dutch people have a very negative view about helmets. No problem if you have only a few recreational cyclists every day, but we have 12 million of 16 million people who cycle regularly for school/business/commuting.

So, unthinkable.

By the way: Dutch traffic is one of the safest of the world, according to accident registrations. And car drivers are used to cyclists and most cyclists are quite experienced.
 
#215 ·
^^ It is extensively researched whether helmets could make cycling safer in the Netherlands. General opinion by scientists, government and users is that helmets are not increasing safety. This is also the official viewpoint of the Dutch Cycling Federation, probably one of the most experienced cycling federations in the world.

So, unthinkable.

By the way: Dutch traffic is one of the safest of the world, according to accident registrations. And car drivers are used to cyclists and most cyclists are quite experienced.
A lot of ballooning and not much rebuff to the central, basic point: helmets DO REDUCE the severity injuries on head impact. That is why helmets are a basic industrial safety equipment first place...

I classify these "social justifications" of "helmet laws are bad because people will cycle less if they are required to wear helmets because helmets are perceived as a 'something for losers and dorks'" completely unwarranted.

It is a bogus line of argumentation, a fallacy, and quite outrageous. Wearing a helmet doesn't pose either financial or physical undue burdens on cycling. This "we don't need helmets" is merely pandering to social prejudices.

I compare the whole reasoning that you referred (and that I was familiar with) with that of conservative activists who think condoms should not be sold easily to teenagers because they incentive teenagers to have more sex before marriage.
 
#212 ·
So I guess seatbelts and being sober make car drivers take more risks too?

Why would cycling drop by 60% if helmets were mandatory? Seems crazy, what is the problem and why are they so unpopular?

You can get a serious head injury just from a crash at 10kmh and smashing your head on the path, why not try to mitigate that?
 
#213 ·
When I went to Amsterdam we did not get given helmets when we rented out a bicycle, and I must say I was shocked with the cycle culture in 'The Netherlands'. It was fantastic, I really wish my city took on this same style of transport, although I guess the hills are a problem over here.
 
#224 ·
desertpunk said:
Bicycling In Your City

How is it to bicycle in your city? Does your city accomodate bicycles? Funny anecdotes? Terrible anecdotes? Post 'em here!

Here's a taste of New York:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=">YouTube Link</a>
I have been nearly hit a number of times by crazed cyclists ignoring red lights and other cyclists. It is beyond me how they can get away with it. London city living?
 
#226 ·
:banana:The World Road Cycling championships are coming here in 2015. So excited:banana:
 
#228 · (Edited)
Net find..

This $9 Cardboard Bike Can Support Riders Up To 485lbs


Photo By BAZ RATNER/REUTERS Mon, Oct 15, 2012.

Izhar Gafni has designed award winning industrial machines for peeling pomegranates and sewing shoes. He’s also a bike enthusiast who’s designed a lot of carbon fiber rigs. But one day, he’d heard about someone who’d built a cardboard canoe. The idea drilled its way into his consciousness, and ultimately, led him to create a cardboard bike called the Alfa.

The Alfa weighs 20lbs, yet supports riders up to 24 times its weight. It’s mostly cardboard and 100% recycled materials, yet uses a belt-driven pedal system that makes it maintenance free. And, maybe best of all, it’s project designed to be manufactured at about $9 to $12 per unit (and just $5 for a kids version), making it not only one of the most sustainable bikes you could imagine, but amongst the cheapest, depending on the markup.

At the moment, Gafni is working with a company to raise the funds to finalize manufacturing processes for his adult and child bikes and then actually put them into production. And if they’re able to pull this off, and the Alfa is everything it’s promised to be, it could be an absolutely paradigm-shifting idea in the transportation industry.
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670753/this-9-cardboard-bike-can-support-riders-up-to-485lbs

 
#229 · (Edited)
A police officer is trying to catch a cyclist who is dangerously speeding and weaving through traffic:
The driver tries to block the cyclist, but fails. The crazy cyclist speeds around a corner, with the cop in close pursuit. Was the cyclist caught?




The video is an example of new police efforts to stop dangerous cycling in Japan:


http://www.japanprobe.com/2012/10/18/video-bicycle-police-chase-in-japan/
 
#234 ·
Heated bicycle paths for the winter periods

DEVENTER-Netherlands may get heated bike paths, allowing more cyclists will have no charge of slippery by snowfall and icing. As a result, many thousands injured annually will bicycle paths safer and less.

Soon a test taken with pieces heated bike paths in the municipality of Zutphen and in the province of Utrecht. Safe Traffic Netherlands (VVN) and cyclists association are excited and hope that it ultimately results in hundreds of kilometers of ice-free bike paths.

The cost of such a system for the society be lower than the current way of working with salt. "Accidents bring lots of extra costs. Statistics show that 5 to 10 percent of bicycle accidents is due to slippery. The construction of such a path is estimate at about 30.000 to 40.000 euro per kilometre, the same amount that resurfacing also about cost. "

Translate: google
Source: http://www.telegraaf.nl/reiskrant/fietsenenwandelen/13107833/__Fietspaden_worden_verwarmd__.html
 
#236 ·
Its November now in Minnesota, soon ice will fly then actual snow. By December 1st the cyclists who will cycle through the winter will have their winter gear ready and will start getting back into the winter cycling routine.

Idiot cyclists are done for the year. Motorists are aware of the seasonal differences and start to actually share the road.

I will retire this MTB beast at the end of winter. Hopefully by then one of my two vintage frames will be ready for the road.

Nothing beats a sunny January day, freshly plowed bike trail and watching winter wildlife. A full moon at night on a bike trail with some descent snow accumulation comes in a competitive second.

Oh Lord I love winter.
 
#239 · (Edited)
Bicycling in the USA. The movement is growing and I am apart of it. I bike all over Austin and carry it on the bus for longer distances. I am seeing more and more people using bicycles to get around.



Portland, OR







Washington D.C.




San Francisco




New York




Chicago
 
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