Car Friendly Campaign in Copenhagen

It boggles the mind. It really does. These signs appeared on our bike lanes over the past couple of days, when you're approaching a side street. It reads, "Keep your eye on the side streets."

It's the latest car-friendly campaign from auto industry's favourite national traffic safety council - Rådet for Sikkertrafik. They've been protecting the car industry for decades and they're at it again.

Upon seeing the spray-painted sign I rolled up to the side street and looked for a corresponding warning sign for the motorists approaching from this direction.

Nothing. No brightly-coloured signs or posters or painted warning on the street reading, "Watch out for cyclists and pedestrians!"

No in your face billboard warning them of the fact that it's cars, driven by motorists, that kill.

Classic Ignoring the Bull from people who should know better. Here's a previous post about behavourial campaign challenges.

If the warnings on the bike lanes HAD corresponding messages to the motorists on the side streets, it may actually make sense. But they don't. The paradigm shift in this nation is becoming more and more defined. Less bicycle-friendly. More car-centric.

At the very least, here are some bad examples that we all can learn from. Now if only we had a cyclist organisation that could counter the constant attacks on our liveable cities and our bicycle culture. If only.

7550 New Bike Parking Spots at Copenhagen Central Station

For all of Copenhagen's badassness as a bicycle city, there remains one thing that the City still completely sucks at. Bicycle parking at train stations. At Copenhagen Central Station there are only about 1000 bike parking spots. Danish State Railways can't even tell us how many spots they have. They're not sure. Even in Basel they have 800+. In Antwerp they have this . Don't even get me started on the Dutch. 12,500 bike parking spots are on the way in some place called Utrecht . Amsterdam has a multi-story bike parking facility, floating bicycle barges round the back and are planning 7000 more spots underwater . Even at the nation's busiest train station, Nørreport, the recent and fancy redesign failed miserably in providing parking that is adequate for the demand . Architects once again failing to respond to actual urban needs. It is time to remedy that. Here is my design for 7550 bike parking spots behind Copenhagen Central Station. Steve C. Montebello i...

The Race for Lithium for Electric Cars and Bicycles

Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia. Photo: Ezequiel Cabrera/Wikipedia The coming boom in batteries to electric cars and Lazy Bikes (electric-assist bicycles) means a boom in batteries with which to run them. A new race for natural resources has begun. Enter Lithium, the world's lightest metal. For 150 years it's been nickel and lead that have been used in batteries but the advent of lithium technology has allowed for a revolution. Longer battery life, lighter batteries in our laptaps and mobile phones and iPods. Lithium weighs 1/20th of what nickel and lead do. Lithium is also used in anti-depressive medicine, ceramics and nuclear power. With all this talk of electric cars and bicycles, the demand for lithium is on the verge of exploding. Lithium is the new oil. Enter Boliva. This developing country sits on at least half of the world's supply of lithium, most of it in underground salt layers beneath the world's largest salt flats in Salar de Uyuni , in south-west Boliva. Betwee...

Traffic Safety Orgs Speak for Themselves - Not the Rest of Us

Classic traffic safety organisation narrative. "Stop cycling". By Stephanie Patterson With Mikael Colville-Andersen In the diverse world of traffic planning, advocacy and various movements for liveable cities, there is an odd group of outliers who broadcast conflicting messages. While “traffic safety” organisations seem like a natural part of the gallery and of the narrative, upon closer inspection they exist in a communication vacuum populated exclusively by like-minded organisations. There is little correlation with those organisations who advocate cycling, pedestrianism or safer streets. The traffic safety crowd are in a world unto themselves, with little or no accountability for the campaigns they develop or the messaging they broadcast. They are often allied with insurance companies who clearly take comfort in working with others who embrace scaring the population at large through constructed fear . In many ways, they are a classic subculture, with strong hints...

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