The Life-Sized City Blog

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you'll know all too well about what we call " Ignoring the Bull ". How in this car-centric society, non-motorised victim blaming is the norm. The status quo. You may also know the media tendency - mostly in non-cycling countries - to report about cyclists killed or injured in collisions with motorised traffic. "Hit by a truck/fast moving vehicle.... wasn't wearing a helmet." Written by journalists who are hopelessly uninformed (and perhaps uninterested) about a helmet's limited industrial design capability in collisions with vehicles . They never seem to write "Man fell from 3rd floor. Wasn't wearing a helmet." You get the point. What we're seeing lately is how the everpresent Culture of Fear is encroaching on our lives in a new(ish) way. The safety nannies and their lackies are now desperately trying to dictate what you, the citizen, wears. They are trying to make fashion choices fo...

Earlier this year, Mary Hudson Embry wrote about the cycle track addition on Gothersgade . Another "missing link" in the Inner City's bicycle network was just completed, this time on Bremerholm: a small one-way street near Christiansborg (the Parliament and other governmental functions building), Holmen Canal, and Magasin de partment store. The road leads towards other focal points in the Inner City such as the famous pedestrian street ca lled St r øget. Now that Knippels Bridge is the most biked street in Copenhagen according to the newest 2012 Bicycle Accounts, the new cycle track will allow bicycle users to continue on a straight path from the bridge into the inner city. Before, one would have to risk going against the grain of  car traffic  or turn either left or right and take a more circuitous route. Other highlights: fresh bump-free pavement, a separate traffic light for bicycles, and two lanes-- one for those going straight or turning left and another to t...

Copenhagen's Lord Mayor, Frank "Le Corbusier" Jensen continues his fight for a car-centric Copenhagen that would make the 1950s proud. What makes matters worse is that the Robert Moses Fan Club that is the Danish Congestion Commission (Trængselskommission) are also using a time machine to travel back to the congested past at the moment. A colleague told us very recently that they are seriously discussing widening the motorways leading into Copenhagen because of the traffic jams. Can you believe that? With all the available knowledge, with all the moves away from motorways around the world, these clowns are tying us to their back bumpers and dragging us into that previous century that exists in their heads. The subject of 30 km/h zones was brought up at the Congestion Commissions discussions. According to Jens Loft Rasmussen, head of the Danish Cycling Federation (DCF) , the room went kind of quiet. Nobody knew quite what to say. In a flash, the proposal was wip...

I've been quietly looking into noise recently. There was an article back in November in a Danish newspaper about the negative effect traffic noise has on the population. A good, informative article stating that 800,000 Danes are exposed to harmful levels of traffic pollution in the form of noise alone. That's about 15% of the population. The article goes on about how very little is being done in Danish cities about reducing traffic noise. 400 million kroner were earmarked by the current government for noise reduction in 2009 but the government only manages the national roads. They have spent money on reducing noise on motorways but it's the municipalities that manage the city streets - along which most people live, 90% of them in fact - and here there is little being done. Shockingly so. What didn't really surprise me was that the article didn't mention anything about speed reduction. It was all about windows. Classic ' ignoring the bull ' talk onc...

There was a record low number of traffic fatalities in Copenhagen in 2009. Five people lost their lives, compared to 16 in 2008. Right off the bat I'll say that apart from being wonderful news, such stats are tricky. 2006 was the best year ever for fewest traffic fatalities in Denmark but there was nothing special about that year. These stats rise and fall seemingly without logic. There are, however, many good things that can be done. The current municipal government, including the Mayor in charge of the traffic department, Bo Asmus Kjeldgaard , has bounced around the idea about lowering the speed limit to 40 km/h in Copenhagen. ( It's a great step in the right direction, but I don't actually understand why the 30 km/h zones we're seeing all over Europe aren't on the table. There are amazing safety results from all the cities that have implemented them. I guess Bo Asmus didn't see my Christmas wish list from last year. ) But hey... let's just concentrate on...

Ignoring the bull in society's china shop is nothing new. The Danish Road Safety Council have been protecting car culture since at least 1957. Above is their magazine called Watch Out! Inside the magazine there is even an advert for reflective clothing. "Cyclist and Pedestrian! Protect yourself and your children! Buy Pasma traffic safety clothing with reflective strips. These strips will warn cars and motorcycles of your presence at a distance of several hundred metres. Pasma clothes are available across the country. See demonstrations of the outerwear and trousers at your closest retailer." "One must be able to see the danger in order to avoid it. Therefore The Danish Road Safety Council recommends Pasma." You'd think that we would have learned a lot about traffic calming and reducing the danger that cars and motorists pose to pedestrians and cyclists in all the years since 1957. Alas, Bubble Wrap Society lives on and politicians continue to embrace the ...

As it turns out, I didn't get my christmas wish fulfilled . 30 km/h zone for motor vehicles in Copenhagen. Maybe the package is still in the post, but it isn't looking good here in mid-January. Since wishing for 30 km/h zones - 20 km/h for school zones - there has been a bit of buzz about them. Barcelona is developing more 'Zones 30' based on positive results. A 27% reduction of accidents in one area of the city, for example. Amsterdam has proposed a similar scheme, too and the Dutch Fietsersbond advocates them. The list of cities and towns lowering the speed limits is growing across Europe week by week. In an inspired moment of excellent timing, The British Medical Journal published a paper about the effect of 20 mph traffic zones on road injuries in London. It was written by researchers at... The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine... which is strange, but hey. Effect of 20 mph traffic speed zones on road injuries in London, 1986-2006 Results:...