Cycling is Part of the Solution

Friday night bicycle traffic in Copenhagen.

The European Cyclists Federation [ECF], present here in Copenhagen for the conference, sent a letter to all the members of European Parliament's delegation to the Climate Conference. It is short and sweet and to the point.

Dear Member of the European Parliament’s Delegation to Copenhagen Summit,

Urban traffic is responsible for 40% of CO2 emissions.

Transport is part of the problem.

Cycling is part of the solution.

A tripling of cycling (*) in Europe at the expense of individual motorized trips,
would save 49.1 million tons of CO2 or 5% of CO2 transport emissions.

[*] See The Charter of Brussels.

You can read the letter to the MEPs here, as a pdf.
Brilliant. The European Cyclists’ Federation was founded in 1983 by 12 bicycle user associations. It has now 60 member organizations in 37 countries.

In another recent newsletter email from the ECF they announced the work of the ECF's Helmet Working Group.

The ECF Helmet Working Group is building this page to help ECF member organisations stop the dangerisation of cycling through helmet promotions and the threat of mandatory cycle helmet laws. Shock-horror helmet promotions are countering the good work of ECF members to promote cycling as a healthy and safe way to travel.

They're still building their webpage, which can be found here.

In addition, the ECF has started a Scientists for Cycling network
As cycling has many different aspects it should be an issue for many different sciences. In any case scientists who cycle themselves, who believe that people should cycle and who want to contribute to the promotion of cycling and to the improvement of cycling policy and the bicycle as a vehicle should be interested in the exchange of ideas, articles, research projects, reports etc. via a network of scientists for cycling.

Overcomplicating Winter Cycling - Why It's Bad

One of the main focuses of this blog has always been on how Copenhagen and other cities have succeeded in increasing cycling levels by approaching the subject using mainstream marketing techniques. Tried and tested marketing that has existed since homo sapiens first started selling or trading stuff to each other. Modern bicycle advocacy, by and large, is flawed. It is firmly inspired by environmentalism which, in turn, is the greatest marketing flop in the history of humankind. Four decades of sub-cultural finger-wagging, guilt trips and preaching have given few results among the general population. When sub-cultural groups start trying to indoctrinate and convert the public, it rarely ever succeeds. For the better part of a century, people all over the planet rode bicycles because they were quick, easy, convenient and enjoyable. In hilly cities. In hot cities. In snowy cities. After the bicycle largely disappeared from the urban landscape because urban planning s...

A Walking Helmet is a Good Helmet

At long last logic prevails. A new campaign has hit the streets of Denmark, thanks to the visionaries at The Danish Road Safety Council [Sikker Trafik] and Trygfonden [an insurance company]. Intense promotion of walking helmets for pedestrians has begun. This logic has been sorely missed. These two organisations have happily promoted bike helmets but pedestrians suffer just as many head injuries, if not more. This Danish campaign poster reads: "A walking helmet is a good helmet" "Traffic safety isn't just for cyclists. The pedestrians of Denmark actually have a higher risk of head injury. The Danish Road Safety Council recommends walking helmets for pedestrians and other good folk in high risk groups." The slogan is catchy in Danish since it kind of rhymes. All in all it's a brilliant project. Let's save some lives. The new walking helmets will be available in the Danish Cyclists Union's [Dansk cyklist forbund] shop. Although, as the...

Driving Kills - Health Warnings

I think it's safe to say that we have a pressing need for marketing cycling positively if we're to encourage people to ride bicycles and begin the transformation of our cities into more liveable places. Instead of scare campaigns about cycling [a life-extending, healthy, sustainable transport form], wouldn't it be more appropriate to begin campaigns about the dangers of automobiles? Many people in car-centric countries no longer regard cars as dangerous. Maybe they realise it, but the car is such an ingrained part of the culture that the perception of danger rarely rises to the surface of peoples consciousness. Sure, there are scare campaigns for cars out there, but what if we just cut to the chase? Much like smoking. Only a couple of decades ago, cigarettes were an integral part of life, whether you smoked or not. That has changed radically. We think that we could borrow freely from the health warnings now found on cigarette packs around the world. In order to be tho...

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