The Life-Sized City Blog

Robert Doisneau - running pedestrians in Paris We recently covered the disturbing and archaeic 85th percentile method and how it is applied for (and by) vehicles. If you thought THAT was fun, you might also enjoy The 15th Percentile. It is frequently used to determine the time between the WALK and DON'T WALK crossing signals -  in other words, how much time the engineers computer models allow for human beings to cross streets. It's not as rooted as a standard as The 85th Percentile, but it is still widespread. In a nutshell, we should be paying more attention to pedestrian crossings, when you consider statistics that say that " 40% of accidents involving pedestrians occur at these intersections ". In Europe, one in four pedestrians die on a crossing . What seems to be the problem? In the U.S., the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) establishes a “normal” pedestrian speed at 1.2 metres per second (m/s), so traffic signal times are set according...

I see this lovely, elderly lady quite often in my neighbourhood. She is always walking her bicycle. More often than not with bags in the two baskets. She walks slowly and steadily along. I've never seen her ride it - she just might - but I thought that she was perhaps like many proud elderly people in Copenhagen. When their agility fades they walk their bicycles on their daily rounds, using it as support. A kind of crutch or two-wheeled walker. Nothing wrong with walkers, of course. Design and technology have offered up all manner of funky walking aids, but I like that the bicycle keeps on giving, even when you no longer can ride it.

Now THIS is how to promote cycling. No fear mongering from helmet advocates, just pure joy. Showing the facts about the health benefits of cycling without mentioning them. Absolutely brilliant advert from Hungary. Her bag reads, "Bike to Work." The dialogue goes like this: Lady: Would you like some tea? Man: Yes, that would be lovely, thanks. Telltale noises from the other side of the wall. Lady [muttering under her breath]: You should rather be biking, too, Rezso. The tagline at the end is "You should rather be biking, too..." With the Olympics in full swing I thought I'd post this little screen grab: We fancy our rowing in Denmark - mostly because we usually win medals - and watching the rowing I was fascinated by the long line of bicycles on shore, following the boats. So aesthetic - human powered boats dancing with human-powered bicycles. Here's a little addendum to a previous post about our Electric Boogie elderly/disabled citizens, happily humming abo...