Having recently visited Denmark, Sweden, and Holland, and cycled a
fair old distance in both town and country I set down my
observations, mostly good but with a few exceptions.
Bike lane, Copenhagen
As far as cities go Copenhagen must come out tops as it is cycling
heaven. This has been achieved, in my estimation, by about 100 years
of building roads and cities with enough width between property
boundaries for a road, two cycle lanes, and two footways. This width
amounts to typically 20 metres on busier suburban streets. In the UK
that width in equivalent circumstances of post-1950 building is 11
metres. So, no, we simply cannot magically get Danish infrastructure
even with unlimited funds for building cycle infrastructure.
Bike lane by Irma supermarket, Copenhagen
There are, however some good things to note that we can adopt, and
some not so good things:
- 1. In Denmark, drivers of motor vehicles are extremely
respectful and courteous to cyclists and pedestrians. At any road
junction or crossing point cyclists and pedestrians are given
absolute priority. I am not 100% sure of this but I believe this
must be based in law.
- 2. In suburban areas, road junctions are being modified so that
they are being built, not just marked, to give pedestrians and
cyclists priority - see photo.
- 3. Pedestrians are extremely careful not to stand or walk in
cycle lanes where they have separate facilities.
- 4. We do have an obsession with cycle helmets and I include
myself in this. With good infrastructure, the need and desire for
helmets lessens as people think cycling is the same as walking.
- 5. Even fully kitted-out sport cyclists use cycleways rather
than the road. Some were probably going too fast for safety, and
didn't always respect the rules of the road.
- 6. Mopeds and low-powered motor cycles can also use cycleways
and the speed differential can cause a problem.
- 7. On occasions we had to ride where there was no cycleway and
frankly the drivers' attitude and care passing cyclists was not
good. Motorists simply have no experience of overtaking cyclists
because there are so many cycleways.
Sweden and Holland are also very good for cycling but it is
possible to see that they didn’t start as early as Denmark. They
grapple with limited space problems and adapting the existing street
scene. In Malmo, they are trying hard and there were quite a lot of
good facilities. In these countries there is far more building cycle
facilities in parks and green spaces because they can’t fit them
into the streets.
If we would go back anywhere just for the joy of traffic free
cycling it would be Denmark - a delight!
All photos by Martin Weeks