The Life-Sized City Blog

We like data at Copenhagenize Design Company. It's a major part of our work, not least in our Desire Line Analyses of cyclist behaviour that we have done in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, and planning to do on a global scale. We film an intersection for 10-12 hours and spending a couple hundred hours analysing the behaviour, doing counts of everything we can and producing solutions for modernising intersections to priortise cycling and pedestrians. In association with the current Desire Line Analysis we are working on, on Søtorvet intersection in Copenhagen, we have added some data sets. Including performing a bike helmet count. The reason is simple. There is no reliable data. The numbers we have seen are from the Danish Road Safety Council - Rådet for Sikker Trafik - and we are sceptical about them. They claim that the helmet wearing rate is 26%. Their random counts during rush hour and some telephone surveys do not, however, provide reliable data. Especially considering that...

One of our readers in Australia, Peter, sent us this article written in 1989 by Alan A. Parker. It's an interesting backward glance to the days when Australia were debating mandatory helmet laws. The latter half of the article is interesting. In it, the author discusses motoring helmets and, indeed, calls for them. I found this bit to be enlightening: "There is an embarrassing silence from the police and the police unions about their willingness to enforce bicycle helmet laws but, in the closing days of 1987, they went public with the proposal that motorists should wear helmets which they regard as a worthwhile change in the law that they are prepared to enforce." Hadn't heard that one before. That the police went public backing motoring helmets. A little piece of the puzzle falls into place. Our article from back in May 2009 about Australian motoring helmets - "The World's First" - produced by Davies Craig was greeted with chuckles at first....

Here's an interesting film by Mike Rubbo, documentarist turned bicycle advocate, who traveled north to Darwin, Northern Territory to explore the territory's unique bike helmet excemption law. The Northern Territory mandated helmet use along with the rest of the country in the 1990's. Like the rest of the nation, they saw cycling levels drop. In an attempt to get people to ride again, they repealed - or rather adjusted - the law and allowed for helmet-free cycling on footpaths and bike paths. The result? It's in the film and in Mike's post over at his SitUp-Cycle.com blog . It's been 20-odd years since I was last in Darwin. Maybe I could find a travel agency specialising in Rationality Destinations and get me a ticket to the 'top end's' bicycle paradise.

I had a brilliant week in Melbourne as a guest of the State of Design Festival . Loads of interviews and events that all culminated with my keynote speech on the Saturday. There was, however, an event on the Saturday morning - July 26, 2010 - that was extremely interesting to be a part of. A group of citizens, rallied together by filmmaker and bicycle advocate Mike Rubbo , decided to go for a bicycle ride together on Melbourne's new bike share system bikes. A splendid idea. Melbourne's bike share system is shiny new, although unlike most cities in the world with a bike share programme, only 70-odd people are using them each day. In Dublin, by contrast, there are over 30,000 subscribers. Not to mention the cracking successes in Paris, Barcelona, Seville and most of the over 100 cities with such systems. So, a group of people, many of them Copenhagenize.com readers, fancy a bike ride. Sounds lovely enough. They met up at the bike racks at Melbourne University. Hired the bikes wi...

Copenhagenize has recieved a leaked public service film from behind the fortified borders of North Korea that provides insight into the classic manipulative nature of a well-oiled propaganda machine. Above is a classic Communist propaganda film from North Korea showing the typical use of children in emotional propaganda praising the State and The Great Leader, yada yada. Using children is a classic - and quite regrettable - tactic in such countries. The Soviets were also well versed in using children to promote their ideology , as were most Communist states. Here is the leaked video that Copenhagenize recieved. It hails from the northern province of Northern Yoo Lan, far from the capital. An agricultural area with an adbundance of tractors and a tradition for using vehicles more than in the populated cities. Their dialect is difficult to interpret but we've learned that the propaganda film is the intiative of the People's Committee for Glorious Promotion of Farm Vehicles and Sa...

Here we have a graph from Sweden showing helmet usage and number of cyclists in the 6-15 age group. Erik from Ecoprofile.se blogged about it, in Swedish on his own blog . While helmet usage is up, the number of kids cycling is going down. They passed each other like ships in the night in 2007. Shocking, really, and a lesson to be learned. The graph is from VTI, Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute . I can certainly understand why Swedish MP Camilla Lindberg has proposed a motion in the Swedish parliament to repeal the helmet law in her country. Hey! How about a contest?! Have a look on the graph and answer these two questions: 1. Which year did helmet promotion begin in Sweden? 2. Which year did the country pass a helmet law for under 15's? It's bit tricky with the second question, but hey, it's a quiz. No cheating with Google, just look at the graph. Put your answer in the comments and add your name. The first right answer will recieve this messenger bag...

When it rains, it pours. A little while ago I blogged about how there appears to be a growing resistance against bike helmet laws around the world. Then I got word from my network of a couple more developments. Mexico City repealed their bike helmet law back in February 2010. Let's face it, it wasn't much of a law since there was little enforcement and it was, essentially, unenforceable. Back in 2008 there was a bicycle count including over 26,000 cyclists and 93% of them didn't feel the need to wear a helmet. The main reason for the push to repeal the helmet law was the upcoming implementation of the city's bike share system, Ecobici . The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy [ITDP] were instrumental in getting the law repealed but there was also support from within the city government. Back in December I blogged about how the helmet law in Israel was up for repeal , as well. From what I've heard the lobbying was successful and adults are no longer...

Tel Aviv Cyclists, by Thomas Schlijper. Last year Israel implemented an all ages helmet law for it's citizens, despite the fact that helmet laws appear to becoming less popular over the past couple of years. The Ministerial Committee for Legislation has now decided to support a bill that would modify the law to exclude adults cycling in urban areas from being forced to wear a helmet, The Jerusalem Post reports. Israeli Coalition to support helmet-less bike riding within cities The Ministerial Committee for Legislation threw its support on Sunday behind a bill which would remove the requirement for adults to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle in the city. The bill, sponsored by MK Sheli Yehimovich (Labor) repeals part of the Helmet Law which was passed last year. Instead of requiring a helmet for intra-city riding, Yehimovich's bill would leave that decision up to the adult rider. Children, those riding off-road or those biking between cities would still be required to wear a ...

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 i...

Third installment by sociologist Dave Horton, from Lancaster University, as a guest writer. Dave has written a brilliant assessment of Fear of Cycling in an essay and we're well pleased that he fancies the idea of a collaboration. We'll be presenting Dave's essay in five parts. Fear of Cycling - Helmet Promotion Campaigns - by Dave Horton - Part 03 of 05 Like road safety education, campaigns to promote the wearing of cycle helmets effectively construct cycling as a dangerous practice about which to be fearful. Such campaigns, and calls for legislation to make cycle helmets compulsory, have increased over the last decade. In 2004, a Private Members’ Bill was tabled in the UK Parliament, to make it an offence for adults to allow children under the age of 16 to cycle unless wearing a helmet. Also in 2004, the influential British Medical Association, in a policy turnaround , voted to campaign for helmets to be made compulsory for all cyclists (for comprehensive detail on these ...

Australian cyclist goes to court to fight ticket for cycling without a helmet. Cyclists have been fighting for their rights for more than a century. It has largely been an uphill battle but in some countries, like Denmark and the Netherlands, political lobbying has paid off and the bicycle is a main feature on the urban landscape. Much of the battle has been waged from the grassroots angle. In Australia there is a woman named Sue. She has always cycled and when Australia passed mandatory, all-ages bike helmet laws in the 1990's, Sue kept on cycling while many Australians parked their bikes in the garage. Despite the helmet laws, Sue continued to cycle without a helmet and she has never felt as though she needed one. It took the better part of 15 years before Sue was finally stopped by the Austalian police earlier this year and ticketed for not wearing a helmet. After the formalities, Sue struck up a conversation with the policemen: "One of the policemen expressed interest in w...

My son is no longer at risk of being labelled a criminal! This slipped under my radar while I was out travelling - ironically out promoting cycling positively . A Danish political party - The Socialist People's Party proposed a bike helmet law for children under 12. And right here in the world's safest cycling nation where it has never been so safe to cycle. I posted about this party's position previously here on Copenhagenize.com and their four Safety Fetishists; Pia Olsen Dyhr , Anne Baastrup , Karina Lorentzen Dehnhardt and Ole Sohn [with Morten Østergaard from Radikale Venstre providing extra Orwellian Newspeak]- put the law proposal through the political machinery, ending with a vote on May 28th, 2009. The Socialist People's Party, together with a small party called Radikale Venstre [they're probably just happy someone asked them out to play] voted For and the rest of the Folketing [Danish Parliament] voted soundly Against. For: 21 Against: 90 Abstained: ...

This is one of the most important books about cycling I've ever read. Like another important book about cycling - Traffic - Why We Drive the Way We Do (and what it says about us) which I reviewed a while back - Culture of Fear Revisited isn't even about bicycles or cycling. The book, by Frank Furedi , Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, is a blunt, fascinating and alarming book about how The Culture of Fear has overrun our societies. It maps out the evolution of this fear culture, enabling us to see how on earth we ended up where we are today. “What we have is a more promiscuous, pluralistic form of fearing. The very important implication to this is that while my parents feared together, you and I have a more isolated, private experience. We fear on our own.” I have an earlier post about how Denmark risks developing a culture of fear , but reading Furedi's book was an eye-opener. Now I'm crap at book reviews - I read two books a week but I've never b...

In a perfect world, an individual who chooses to promote everyday cycling, and who has dedicated a great deal of time, energy and personal resources to do so, would be set high atop a pedestral to be respected by the local and global community. Instead, Matthew Modine, actor and founder of Bicycle for a Day , is subject to a cyber witchhunt these days. Instead of focusing on the good this guy is doing, all the focus is on his personal choice of whether he wishes to wear a helmet or not. Which he doesn't. Ironically, the man is more well-informed about helmets than the pundits who seek to hunt him down. It started in an interview by Tim Murphy in New York Magazine , which was picked up by Ecorazzi and then Treehugger. The witchhunt was off to a cracking start in NY Mag with the title: 154 Minutes With Matthew Modine - The actor and activist wants to make the world a greener place. But why won’t he wear the helmet his wife bought him? Already right there we're not talking about ...