Are the seaworthiness benefit of mount your bike worth the risk of exposure of an accident ? Lesley Evans Ogden takes a tour of seven city on two wheels to find oneself out .
It was just another morn commute . That is , until a busbar driver run a red Christ Within , turn right , and drove straight into Ann - Doerthe Hass Jensen . The bus knocked the social worker off her bike , trapping her underneath , a wheel pin down and crushing her left foot . It was a schoolhouse bus heading to a Copenhagen kindergarten , and the child alongside were screaming . Ann was rushed to infirmary in excruciating pain , every bone in her foot shattered .
In the six week of hospitalisation that followed , part of Ann ’s foot was cut off . Salvageable finger cymbals were wire back into place and peel grafts were assume from her second joint to supplant the lacerate and missing frame . “ I ’m pretty lucky , ” say Ann . “ mass ordinarily die when this pass off . ”
It was a twelvemonth before she could take the air again . During that year , she had to take a taxi to do work every Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . “ I hated it , ” she read . “ Here , the taxi drivers are a menace , and I was really frightened of accidents . ” She also hat having to wait . Travelling by bike in Copenhagen is often the fastest way to get around , which is the top reasonableness why Copenhageners cps .
Ann ’s physiotherapy was tricky . The missing portion of her ft is a crucial stepping decimal point , and its absence affects her balance . But walk was n’t the only part of her renewal . In Copenhagen – where citizenry own 5.2 wheel for every auto – over a third of residents pedal to work , schooling or college . So rehabilitation often literally mean getting you back in the saddle . The City of Copenhagen helped Ann get a specially conform Nihola hertz : a inflexible , unchanging three - Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler that has allow her to regain independent mobility .
In metropolis across the earth , researchers , planners and policy makers are examining the many potential plus points of cycling . increase the balance of people who cycle or take the air , rather than drive , could not only reduce melodic line befoulment and greenhouse gas emission , but also lower people ’s peril of developing a number of diseases . But at what price ? To what extent does cycling in city expose you to the risk of injury or death ? What take a crap some cities so much safer and attractive for cyclists than others ?
The drastically unlike design and insurance policy approaching taken by large cities in Europe and North America provide some stark comparisons on cycling safety , equity and its impact on public health . To weigh up the risks and benefits of city cycling , and research what can be learned where public health , urban design and transport engineering sports meeting , I did what I had to do : I hopped on a wheel .
In Paris , new bike lane are pervasive . Though many of the streets are C old , sometimes cobbled , and claustrophobically minute , bike lane have been conspicuously marked . There are also some segregated oscillation itinerary , often insanely illogical – disappearing and appear again in a seemingly random fashion . Skinny one - path streets might have bicycle lane on the right field , so you cycle with the focus of the traffic , or on the leftfield , so you ’re in the contraflow .
funnily though , I did n’t feel unsafe cycle these narrow lane . Many are mark 30 kilometers per hour for car . Having parked cars on the right field of the bike lane , so they ’re facing you , can be advantageous : it ’s the rider - side room access that open into wheel dealings , so it ’s less likely you ’ll be take than if it were the driver ’s side exposed . And if you were to cycle into an subject rider threshold , you ’re more probable to close it than open it further .
On some major streets , like Boulevard Saint - Michel , there are special lane shared by bikes and jalopy . Though I felt less rack cycling in these all-encompassing lanes , where dealings was much lighter than the conterminous lane for auto , I did palpate a little intimidated about sharing the lane with charabanc . That say , the Parisian charabanc drivers gave me plenty of space , and did n’t comport aggressively . I did get a sense that traffic here has become accustomed to bicycles . There are some off - street hertz course too . Zooming alongside the Seine on the elevated bike path , totally segregated from mechanise traffic , was virginal delight .
Vélib ’ motorcycle , from Paris ’s bicycle - sharing system , were in purpose everywhere . I saw world in suits , teenager , cleaning lady in chic business attire , pensionary , and female university scholarly person riding side by side on the bikes . Posting celebrity Vélib ’ sightings on social medium has apparently become something of a local interest . The bikes are such a fixture that I saw one young man pick out a break on a parked Vélib ’ , feet on the handlebar , chatting on his mobile phone .
In the midst of Paris ’s cycling gyration , it seemed fitting to fill Ari Rabl at Le Procope , a urban center restaurant where some of the leadership of the French Revolution gather . With Audrey de Nazelle , a Lecturer at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London , Rabl , a advisor and retired Senior Scientist at the Centre Energétique et Procédés of the École des Mines in Paris , has looked at the health benefit when people move from railway car to walking or cycling .
Rabl explains that they find that the universe - point costs due to fatal accidents are outbalance at least tenfold by the health benefits of walk or cycling . Monetising the cost and benefits , Rabl and de Nazelle estimated that for a driver who shift from driving to cycle for their 5 klick commute , the overall health benefit from physical action is deserving about 1300 euros per yr . Of course , it ’s important to betoken out that while fatal chance event might be report as small ‘ universe - level costs ’ in public health studies , they have tragical , catastrophic costs for individuals and their loved ones .
Four day earlier , and some 1,000 or so kilometres north - east , I ’m sitting in a group discussion room at theUniversity of Copenhagen ’s Department of Public Health , look across the picturesque Lakes expanse . Around the tabular array are health researchers Astrid Ledgaard Holm , Henning Langberg and Henrik Brønnum - Hansen .
Ledgaard Holm , a doctorial student , hasmodelled the wellness impacts of increase cycling . Accounting for physical activity , photograph to accidents and line pollution , she and colleagues found that the overall burden of disease – including eye disease , stroke , type II diabetes , white meat Crab , colon Crab , cardiopulmonary disease and lung cancer – was reduced in people who cycled . The confirming wellness outcome of increased cycling were more than a third with child than the potential loss of health from bicycle chance event and air pollution .
Other study investigating the health impact of cycling have discover similar positive benefits , although the magnitude varies . Ina unlike studybased in Copenhagen , researchers analysed information from over 13,000 charwoman and 17,000 men to explore the impact of physical activity on mortality . Even after adjusting for other factors , such as physical body process in leisure time , they establish that people who did not cycle to work have a 39 per penny higher mortality charge per unit than those who did . In other run-in , cycling improved longevity .
One of the most interesting perceptivity the Danish researcher partake in is how they ’ve key out that many Dane do n’t conceive cycling exercise . “ multitude here can easily be riding back and away 5 kilometer per day , and if you ask them on a questionnaire if they are physically combat-ready , they will say ‘ No , I do n’t do any exercise ’ , ” say Ledgaard Holm . For many here , she say , it ’s not a choice of activeness , but your mode of transport .
What ’s straightaway strike about cycling in Copenhagen is the incredible diversity of person on bicycles . Embedding myself in the break of day rush - minute traffic on Nørrebrogade , one of Copenhagen ’s busy cycle routes , I see a adult female in a long flowing black jilbab pedalling a cargo wheel with two small children in the basket . I see human race of all age in suit ; cleaning lady in dresses , high - heeled the boot and saucy coats , flowing garments protect from the spokes by metallic element skirt guards on the wheel hub . I see university students and children cycling to school ; tot trounce into youngster seats on the front or back of mum or dad ’s bike ; and basket of children pedalled along in tough Christiana or streamlined Bullit motorcycle . Some kid ride the rhythm paths independently . Others are shepherded by parent cycling aboard , who guide their charge with the occasional gentle hand on the back .
While motorcycle to interviews at the University of Copenhagen one morning , I occur upon a makeshift memorial on the side of the street . At the intersection of Store Kongensgade and Dronningens Tværgade in the urban center centre , a stretch of tarmac the duration of a body is adorned with impertinent flowers and candle jars inscribed with handwritten distinction . I observe later that it ’s where a 20 - year - one-time woman on her bike was light upon and stamp out several weeks earlier by a tourist bus hit a correct - hand turn .
10 after street were first painted with bloodless hybrid to mark fallen cyclists , cycling accidents , although rare , are still not take lightly here . Only one Copenhagen cyclist was killed in 2012 , and no year from 1998 to 2012 has seen more than seven cyclists obliterate in the metropolis , consort to Statistics Denmark . These figures are quite something in a city where the universe cycle an estimated 1.27 million km every day . The jeopardy link up with being a cyclist in Copenhagen “ has dropped by more than 70 per cent over the last 15 years ” according to Niels Torslov , the City of Copenhagen ’s Traffic Director . “ And it ’s a very firm fib about finding the right measures , and designing a route infinite in a way that protects the exploiter , especially those cycling . ”
The function of cycling helmets is growing among Copenhageners , noticeably more than in Amsterdam , where helmet wear is still very much an elision . At the time of her stroke , in 2006 , Ann - Doerthe Hass Jensen was wearing a helmet , though distinctly , as she says herself , a helmet protects your head but not your feet . She says that working at Copenhagen ’s Centre for Rehabilitation of Brain Injury , as she does , makes you fanatic about helmet . “ There is no direction I would not have a helmet on , ” she says . riffle over lid
After several days of explore Copenhagen by bicycle , I run into Ann at the Centre , where she guide me alfresco to see her especially adapt tricycle . Her sense of superbia is palpable . It takes her between 30 and 40 minutes to make the slip from habitation to piece of work . “ The first few metre I got back on a bike again , it was hard . Really , really tough , ” she says . “ There was a lot of crying . ” Now , though , there is no kibosh her .
In her first twelvemonth of recovery , Ann ’s rehabilitation squad felt she take to re - establish both the freedom of mobility and the quality of life that her bicycle had antecedently allowed . It was n’t easy . Beyond the physical challenges of getting Ann back in the saddle , there was another hurdle : her enormous reverence . “ I had to ferment with a psychologist … because I was scared like hell , ” she says . Using cognitive therapy , she and her psychologist figure out through the entire experience , going over the incident write up in agonising particular . Pushing through that reverence was tough . “ It was n’t my perception that was off that day . It was somebody who actually did something wrong . And it take aim me a while to get my self-confidence again , ” she suppose . Ann ’s fear was not unreasonable . Her experience was n’t just ‘ an fortuity ’ . It was the natural action of a negligent driver , whose license was revoke when the case came to royal court two years later .
Research shows that perceived rubber – how good you feel – is at least as critical as evaluate safe to the willingness of citizen to hop on a bike . For me , of all the cities I cycled in , London was the most terrifying .
Cyclists were prevalent in the centre of the city , and what immediately hit me , beyond the dense , fast - moving traffic they were attempting to sail , was the rapid upper they were cycling at . In impromptu interviews with cyclists block at traffic lights , I asked one charwoman why she motorbike . Her solution : “ I hate the Tube [ London ’s cloak-and-dagger string system ] , it ’s really insalubrious and sweaty and overcrowded . ” Asked if she felt safe cycling , she say , “ No . That ’s the true resolution . ” But her sentiments were n’t partake by everyone I asked . A educatee who had just move to London said , “ It ’s about five to ten age ahead of New York , ” lend that she felt quite dependable cycling on London ’s cycle superhighways .
I , on the other hand , did not . I spent some time watching cyclists crossing the Southwark Bridge department of one of the bike superhighways . Riding along CS7 ’s patrician painted bike lane on aBoris bike(the nickname for bikes in London ’s cycle hire scheme , introduced in 2010 under Mayor Boris Johnson ) largely unseparated from mixed , fast - be active traffic , made me anxious and nervous . What ’s more , I have from asthma , making me a bite of a human canary yellow for aura defilement . After the noticeably clean air of Copenhagen , the polluted air of London made for heavy ventilation .
London is beginning to make onward motion on provisions for cyclists , and there are good section of the growing base , but I saw plenty of room for improvement . On both side of Southwark Bridge , which crosses the river Thames , the unretentive , separated duet of blue bike lane , protect by a concrete barrier , fed directly into a autobus plosive speech sound . This draw cyclists to select between two unappealing option : wait like a sitting duck’s egg behind the bus while it intercept , or pull out into traffic to overtake , and risk being in one of the jitney ’s many blind spots when it pulls out from the kerb . Peter Wright is the delivery planner for cycling atTransport for London ( TfL ) , the local government body moderate by Johnson . Wright explains that busbar - stop bypasses are design , “ to sample and avoid conflict so that bicyclist do n’t have to come out into worldwide dealings ” . A similar hazard was delivery fomite parked in motorcycle lane , a vulgar visual sense in London and Paris .
In November 2013 , when ask about the spate of cycling deaths , Johnson told theGuardianthat if cyclists did not follow the rules , “ there ’s no amount of traffic engine room that we invest in that is going to salvage mass ’s life ” . Growing grounds suggest that statement is untenable , not to mention that it find fault the dupe . I requested an audience with Johnson . His press office did not reply .
To be fair , though , London ’s Mayor – a cyclist himself – is lay down gradual progress . In 2013 , TfL announced itsSafe street for Londonplan , which direct to reduce the phone number of people killed or seriously injured by 40 per cent by 2020 . Ben Plowden from TfL Surface Transport said : “ In 2015 , we will be spend £ 145 m a year on cycling , or roughly £ 18 a head , up with the best in Germany and almost on a equation with the Netherlands . This represents around 2 per cent of TfL ’s overall spending and is rough proportionate to the current 2 per centime fashion share of cycling . ” He added that rhythm spending would total £ 913 m during the next ten year , more than double previously contrive levels .
It is not altogether clear how and why fortuity rates change as the number of cyclists varies , but a ‘ refuge in numbers ’ consequence seems to occur : safety machine improves in a city as the total routine of cyclists increase . This upshot has been seen in discipline in Denmark , the Netherlands , 14 other European country , Australia and 68 city in California .
“ It is likely that causation runs in both direction : safe cycling encourages more cycling , and more cycling encourage expectant condom , ” writes John Pucher , Professor of Urban Planning at Rutgers University , in his 2012 bookCity Cycling , written with Ralph Buehler . automobilist behaviour probably chip in to this phenomenon . In place like Copenhagen – where four out of five individuals have access to a cycle – most drivers are also cyclists , and so are habitual to share public space with bicycles .
It can be hard to liken safety between cities because of the want of body in data compendium and because of the need to frame injuries and deaths within the linguistic context of ‘ photo ’ – the overall numbers of trips , total distance or time drop cycling . Under - reportage of cycling smash is also a well - documented job . Nevertheless , Pucher and Buehler ’s Christian Bible listed public figure for annual human death per 10,000 bike commuters :
Copenhagen 0.3
Amsterdam 0.4
Vancouver 0.9
Toronto 1.3
Portland 1.9
Montréal 2.0
They listed these figures for one-year fatalities per 100,000 daily wheeler ( 2009 figure ):
Paris 8.2
London 11.0
New York 37.6 .
Unless you are travelling at breakneck speed , though , there is nothing inherently life-threatening about cycling – it ’s the environment you ’re in that make peril . Ian Roberts , Professor in the Nutrition and Public Health Intervention Research Unit at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , get down his life history as a pediatric trauma doc . “ I control tons of children hit by gondola , ” he articulate , “ and it really is awful . ” He delineate these last as “ kinetic energy disease ” – a extension to the idea of uneven peck in motion . When one of those plenty is protect by metal case , but the other is n’t , it ’s well-defined who is more likely to be hurt .
One of the trend Roberts has puzzled over is the foresightful - term decline in the death charge per unit of British pedestrians , despite an increase in motorisation . “ Road safe people would point to it as an illustration of how roads are getting safer . But I was a little bit questioning … because [ the ] volume of energising vitality on the road was going up . ” An alternative hypothesis was that in industrialise countries , there were fewer people walking , something investigated in research he conducted while working in New Zealand . “ Over the years it became obvious that people were walk and cycling less than ever before in the history of humans on the planet , ” enunciate Roberts . “ The world was not getting safer , it was acquire more hostile , and mass were voting with their feet by flummox out of the way . ”
In North America in the seventies , cyclists – or at least the most outspoken advocacy groups purport to represent them – did not want to get out of the way . So - called vehicular cycling was emerge , a philosophy that has influence transport policy in both North America and Britain . Fathered by Californian industrial engineer and cycling activistJohn Forester , vehicular cycling encourages wheeler to travel on the route in motley traffic . On his internet site , Forester writes : “ Vehicular cycling , so named because you are act as the driver of a vehicle , just as the traffic laws necessitate , is fast and more enjoyable , so that the spare joy of cycling override the annoyance of even heavy traffic . ”
In 1970s California , lots of athletic wheeler were forming touring groups for ride fast on road , explains Anne Lusk , a Research Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health . Back then , she says , such group may have legitimately feared that US adoption of Dutch - style cps path would restrict cycle access to road . “ At the clock time , paths were becoming crowded by joggers , walkers , in - line skaters and baby - bearing pushers , ” says Lusk , so cycling advocates contend forcefully against proposals for Hz paths .
The vehicular cycling philosophy became incorporated into US guidepost for transport plan , and its influence was felt for 10 , limiting the building of physically separated cycle tracks and putting wheeler on the route with cars . “ It ’s something that really adhere in North America , ” pronounce Meghan Winters , Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University , Canada . Asked if the doctrine of vehicular cycling is evidence - based , she says no . “ But it ’s something that was sticky and was adopted very broadly for very , very many year , ” she adds .
Forester ’s education included how to lock as a motor vehicle , with skill like not riding in the door zona ( the area next to a park car where an opened door could hit a moving cyclist ) . They were useful , say Lusk , in that they did instruct people how to bike with motorcar if they had to . But she does not endorse Forester ’s view that there should be no cycle lanes painted on the road , no separate cycle per second tracks and no cycle symbols .
Lusk , and other researchers who have canvass the particular indigence of sure groups of cyclist – such as women , children , elderly people and parent transporting kid – point out that many of these riders can not operate as a fomite as confidently as , say , a fit young man on a racing or touring bike . useful cycling , with motorcycle - specific transport infrastructure , is about being inclusive , address the want of cyclists young and old , manly and female . The need for speed is not universal among cyclists , nor is feel comfortable cycling in big , motorise dealings .
It ’s precisely the recognition that cyclists come in all shapes and sizes , and with all kinds of needs , that has driven the last several decennium of cycling infrastructure and insurance in Denmark and the Netherlands . Tom Godefrooij of the Dutch Cycling Embassy writes : “ Cycling is too authoritative as a modality of transport to leave it only to the defy helmeted Hz warrior in blazing cap . Cycling should not be elitist , but for all . ”Transport tribalism
Outside Amsterdam ’s Schiphol drome , I see a worker giving his colleague a lift to the aeroplane on the back of his cycle , an instance of just how profoundly engraft cycling is in Dutch culture .
A cycle is by far the serious and quickest way of life to get around Amsterdam , local journalist Bennie Mols tells me . One young hazard he laments is tourists on bikes , who lack the understanding of how and where to ride . His description stirs a guilty pang . I learn quickly ( but too late ) that the hand signal for ‘ stop ’ is crucial in busy cycle dealings . fail to use it as I slow down to navigate , I cause a good - collision as a ruck of bicycles behind me screeches to a stop , one womanhood hollo “ Seriously ? ” at me multiple clock time as she skids to a full point on the grassy verge . Wishing I could unfreeze into the bike path , I sheepishly look back the deal signals in my guidebook . It ’s a misapprehension I do n’t make again .
Amsterdam and Copenhagen were n’t always the cycle - well-disposed cities they are today . In the Netherlands , as railroad car - purchasing riches grew in the postwar geological era , cycling rates drop precipitously from about 85 per cent of all trips in the 1950s to about 20 per penny in the early seventies . As the act of cyclist decrease , discontentment grow over the increase numbers of cyclists and pedestrians wipe out in traffic accidents . A journalist whose girl had been killed in dealings launched the ‘ Stop Kindermoord ’ ( stop the tiddler murder ) movement . There were widespread street protest .
Danish ecstasy policy reached a tipping percentage point in the 1970s and 1980s , when the state veered aside from urban preparation dominated by provisions for mechanize vehicles , towards the organisation of cycling - specific substructure and dealings calming . As Stop Kindermoord emerge in the Netherlands , a coincident move grew in Denmark . The public rose up against a proposal to make a major motorway alongside a picturesque area of Copenhagen known as the Lakes . monumental demonstrations ensued . It was during this earned run average that contestant start paint white crosses on the streets where bicyclist had been killed in dealings .
So while most other germinate nations continued through the eighties and beyond with road transport designing that prioritise the penury of motorised vehicles , a spectacular change was train property in northerly Europe . The shift in thinking catalyse by public protest was that , rather than requiring youngster and bicycler to accommodate to motorised traffic , dealings should adapt to fry and cyclists . Northern Europe ’s shift towards a safer , more commodious infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians created an unintentional natural experimentation – albeit one fraught with uncontrolled variables include car revenue enhancement , climate , topography , political difference and dependence on the car industry for employment . Nevertheless , in cities oriented towards motor vehicle , the limited provision of transport route that safely accommodate bike and a nonpayment assumption that rider will take over vehicular cycling have lead in stagnantly low turn of ( mostly male ) cyclists , for the expert part of three decades .
“ There are spectacular differences in terminal figure of cycling rate and cycling safety between those two place [ northerly Europe and North America ] , ” enjoin Meghan Winters . “ So I think the grounds clearly illustrates which one of these strategies is effective if your goal is to get big segment of the population cycling , and cycling safely … In a common sense , this is a world experimentation on that , and I suppose North America may be come around now , ” she says . Perhaps . But there ’s a long road in front .
It ’s the summer of 2013 , and Toronto traffic is a mess . In the thick of major street reconstruction and resurfacing , dealings queues bumper - to - bumper gallery south on Bay Street , near City Hall . There are a few delimit bike lane , and only one separated bike path ( not including the entirely off - street route like the largely recreational route along the lakeshore ) . Taxis weave in and out of lanes , sometimes come very near to the curbing – the space divvy up with bicycles . It feel like a uncongenial surroundings for wheeler , and I do not feel much tolerance of bike from motorist .
One of the bicyclist I talk to in an impromptu audience says that it ’s pedestrians rather than vehicles that he worry about most . Other hazards for Toronto cyclist let in trolley car . Their tracks , which can trap a wheel wheel if traverse in parallel , are particularly nerve - wracking . Toronto is not an unfamiliar metropolis to me – I lived there for more than a decade – but returning to cycle downtown is not a pleasant experience .
In Vancouver , however , there ’s a shift in Department of Transportation thinking . I note a growing number of bike lane , segregate bike paths , and paint wheel boxes at junctions , which give cyclist a safe place to expect a green light and become safely , ahead of motorists .
Though recreational cycling in places like Stanley Park has been potential for decades , it ’s cycling as exile that is the focal point of the Vancouver City Council and Mayor Gregor Robertson , who cycles to operate . Some of the new separated bike way of life feel very good and well-to-do to utilize . But there are still stead where lane end in a fairly hazardous way , such as one adjunction where the bike lane ends abruptly only to reappear a few metres later in the centre of two lane of car traffic . Cycling along Dunsmuir and over the bridge viaduct on the fully segregated bike lane feels incredibly liberating . Perhaps I ’m pushing my circumstances riding a wheel around downtown Vancouver on Friday the 13th , but where the bike route are check , or traffic is calmed , I feel relatively safe .
The scientific discipline of urban cycling is messy , but the case for separated cycle lane combine with traffic - calming measuring rod ( to contract vehicle upper ) is mounting . A2009 paperthat examine finding from 23 studies from across the world suggested that “ design - built bicycle - specific facilities come down crashes and injuries among cyclists” . Recent research in Vancouver and Torontoby a coaction of 14 researchers , include Winters , found that “ at local street overlap , traditional stops are safe than traffic lap [ roundabouts ] , and at non - intersections , cycle track alongside major streets and dealings deflexion from local street are safer than no bicycle infrastructure ” . Many more study are forthcoming from the Canadian Cycling in Cities research chemical group .
Montréal is the most cycle - well-disposed Canadian metropolis I jaw . Even where bike lanes are not explicitly mark , motorist are mostly patient and considerate in terms of sharing space with cyclists . Though definitely more hilly than Amsterdam and Copenhagen , the undulating topography does n’t seem to be an balk to Montréalers . Montréal means ‘ Mount Royal ’ , referring to the exorbitant – if not entirely mountainous – mound and parkland near the centre of town . The Plateau area , an rising rise from the urban center substance , is one of the most intemperately bike persona of the city . It host the city ’s old major motorcycle way , along Rue de Brébeuf , a itinerary that spans the full island of Montréal . During daybreak rush minute , I see a steady stream of bikes along Boulevard de Maisonneuve , one of several bi - directional , in full segregated bike paths with bike - specific dealings light . motorcycle are also give up in Montréal ’s parks , many of which have trails for recreational or commuting usance .
It was in Montréal , the only large North American urban center to have cycling substructure date back to the 1980s , that Anne Lusk and colleaguestested the safety of separated cycling infrastructureversus road cycling . They find that separated cycle tracks have depleted crash and injury rates ( or at least no high ) than the street , and have seen a similar trend in the USA . And enquiry by Winters and workfellow lend to the evidence , finding that bicycle - specific infrastructure that contract fundamental interaction between cyclists and motor vehicles can trim down the occurrence of injuries , potentially by more than 50 per penny .
So , how do we make our city well for wheeler ? Safe - cycling city , policy and legislation already subsist , and can prompt others . In Oregon , Portland ’s ‘ vulnerable user law ’ , for example , is mold on a European safety concept , says Portland attorney Ray Thomas , a partner at Swanson , Thomas , Coon and Newton who differentiate in cycling law . In Copenhagen , in one of many chance interview with cyclists on metropolis street , I find upon a young American student – Mike Milan , from Greenville , South Carolina – who is study architecture there . “ As I ’ve learned in my urban design socio-economic class here , Copenhagen has tried to slacken down the metropolis to a human step , and a human scale , ” he says . His thoughts conceptually crystallise the city ’s transport philosophy , and are equally applicable to Amsterdam .
“ make citizenry sense safer on bicycle should not mean equipping them with high gear - vis and broody helmet , ” says Jack Harris , owner of London ’s Tally Ho ! Cycle Tours . “ We need infrastructure that permit a encompassing cross - section of bon ton to get onto a bicycle . ” The blank space that are serious about boost cycling as a safe , accessible and pleasant style of transport have some ruffianly determination to make about vulnerable users , including cyclists , in the apportioning of urban place .
At the Copenhagen reclamation centre where Ann - Doerthe Hass Jensen works , her physiotherapist co-worker Daniel Thue Bech - Pedersen sound out : “ Our main end of rehabilitation is to allow any individual to be more participating again . ” This can mean being active for employment , for leisure time , for getting yourself around . “ When you may transport yourself and ensure you depress your hazard of give birth another stroke or whatever , ” he says , “ then one plus one equalise three . ”
Ann suffer chronic pain from her foot , wears special orthopaedic skid and walk with a cane , so getting back to cycling made a massive difference to her mobility . It also gave her back her independence . On her lading trike , she can take her two - class - old niece out on excursions , something that would be impossible on foot or by bus . take how she feels at this distributor point along her recovery and about riding to study each day , she replies confidently and without hesitation : “ I know it . ” Her trike has given her much more than just a mean of make about . Being mobile means being sovereign , but even more , it means being free .
Credits
Research for this article was supported in part by a news media laurels to Lesley Evans Ogden from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research .
Fact chequer : Francine Almash
Illustrator : Sarah Maycock
Copyeditor : Tom Freeman
principal references
Ari Rabl and Audrey de Nazelleexplore the health outcomes of a duty period from driving to walk and cycling .
Astrid Ledgaard Holm and colleagueslook at the health effects of cycling in Copenhagen .
John Pucher and Ralph Buehlerhave written a book on urban cycling .
A literature inspection byMeghan Winters and colleagueslooking at the shock of transportation infrastructure on bicycling harm and wreck .
A report of thehealth impact of mandatory bicycle helmet law .
Theblog of Dr Rachel Aldred , Senior Lecturer in Transport at the University of Westminster , who is postulate in various projects essay carrefour between societal and environmental DoJ with regard to cycling .
Extras
ecstasy tribalism : How do we get more women cycle ?
flip over lids : Inside the debate about mandatory cycling helmets .
This articlefirst appear on Mosaicand is republished here under Creative Commons permit . Mosaic is dedicated to explore the science of living . Each workweek , it publish a feature on an aspect of biology or medicine that affects our lives , our wellness or our beau monde ; it tells stories with real astuteness about the idea , trends and people that labour modern-day liveliness sciences . Mosaicis release by the Wellcome Trust , a global charitable origination that seeks to drive over-the-top improvement in human and animal wellness . It cover field that fit with the Trust ’s mission and imagination , but is n’t throttle to the research the Trust funds .
Top image bymizarluca / Shutterstock , Paris image byslimmer_jimmer , London prototype byJack999 , Copenhagen image byMikael Colville - Andersen , California image byhuskyte77 , Amsterdam mental image byearcos , Montreal image byVelo Quebec .
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