{"id":4372,"date":"2009-05-28T14:20:42","date_gmt":"2009-05-28T18:20:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=4372"},"modified":"2009-05-28T14:54:44","modified_gmt":"2009-05-28T18:54:44","slug":"copenhagen-bike-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/28\/copenhagen-bike-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Copenhagen bike safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

While I was away, a few people at the Toronto Star were following my Twitter and Facebook updates which contained snapshots of what I was experiencing in Copenhagen, especially from a cyclist’s perspective. I received an email asking if I’d look into Copenhagen’s approach to bike safety, which I had luckily already been doing.<\/p>\n

Today, I have an article in the Star<\/a> that looks at the helmet debate in the city. In Toronto, I’d never suggest to a cyclist not to wear a helmet since we lack the infrastructure that adequately protects riders from heavy traffic. But when you have a modal split like Copenhagen does (up to 40% bike, 30% drive, and 30% take transit), a helmet is less needed. And, as city officials argue, any kind of helmet bylaw would have a negative effect on Copenhagen’s bike ridership.<\/p>\n

I happened to be in Copenhagen in early May when a video appeared on YouTube<\/a> of a Danish police officer stopping a male cyclist, handing him a bike helmet and giving him a hug. Text scrolled across the screen that stated “We love you and would love you to wear a helmet.” <\/em><\/p>\n

The viral film, produced by the Danish Cyclists Federation in the country’s fourth largest city of Aalborg, has put Copenhagen’s bike and traffic planners at odds with the federation. <\/em><\/p>\n

“We don’t have a law in Copenhagen mandating cyclists to wear helmets,” says Brian Hansen, the head of the city’s traffic planning department. “We have no problem with anyone wearing a helmet and understand the safety benefits of it. But we’ve studied the topic many times and the results are always the same: it will decrease ridership significantly. We feel the health benefits of bike riding — active lifestyle, very low carbon emissions, clean air — far outweigh the risks of riding without a helmet.” And with ridership still increasing in the city, cycling is becoming even more safe. “The number of accidents has been decreasing year after year. More bikes on the road means it’s safer for cyclists,” says Hansen.<\/em><\/p>\n

[youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vWF4x01MkzE[\/youtube]<\/em><\/p>\n

This is the video I refer to in the Star article (above). What was even better was the response from Copenhagenize.com<\/a> (below), a video that parodies the Danish Cyclists Federation’s approach.<\/p>\n

[youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YlaAt1p6Y5Q[\/youtube]
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While I was away, a few people at the Toronto Star were following my Twitter and Facebook updates which contained snapshots of what I was experiencing in Copenhagen, especially from a cyclist’s perspective. I received an email asking if I’d look into Copenhagen’s approach to bike safety, which I had luckily already been doing. Today,Continue reading “Copenhagen bike safety”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[12308,12307,522,965,12305,12304,983,12306,1637,21,3407],"class_list":["post-4372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bikes","category-traffic","tag-aalborg","tag-brian-hansen","tag-copenhagen","tag-cyclist","tag-danish-cyclists-federation","tag-danish-police","tag-head","tag-head-of-the-citys-traffic-planning-department","tag-officer","tag-other-cities","tag-youtube"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCopenhagen bike safety - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/28\/copenhagen-bike-safety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Copenhagen bike safety - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While I was away, a few people at the Toronto Star were following my Twitter and Facebook updates which contained snapshots of what I was experiencing in Copenhagen, especially from a cyclist’s perspective. 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