An article in today’s Irish Times – that appears to lean quite heavily on recent debates held on this blog – takes a comparative look at cycling in Dublin and Copenhagen, where apparently nobody wears helmets and everyone cycles aesthetically pleasing bikes. Why can’t we do the same in Dublin? Perhaps if we just ditch the unfashionable helmets and high-vis jackets motorists will cease to use cyclists for target practice. This argument closely follows a recent, much-quoted piece of research that essentially says cars go closer to cyclists who look like they might bounce comfortably off their windscreens like Tellytubbies rather than splat messily across them like a gnat, thus placing the responsibility squarely with the cyclist. Justin Mason has pointed out that it’s not as simple as it seems to wear ordinary clothes on a bike, concluding that a safer road environment is necessary to ‘Copenhagenize’ Dublin, and that ultimately it ‘takes dedication – and lots of wet weather gear – to ride a bike here.’
August 28, 2008...4:19 pm
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4 Comments
August 28, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I spotted a comment on Nicole Swan’s blog (http://www.nicoleswan.com/archives/2008/08/important-rules-of-bike-commuting/) which seemed to sum it up nicely.
“1. Always carry rain gear.
2. If you forget rain gear, you will get rained on.”
I’d rather be entirely unchic in a pair of trackies and a rain jacket than destroy a beautiful new coat or dress or pair of shoes as a result of getting caught on me bike in one of those insane, heavy showers we’ve had this summer.
August 29, 2008 at 10:30 am
hey — thanks for the link!
August 29, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Posted this on the wrong page, had two tabs open… An edited version of my comment on Justin Mason’s blog…
For the record, my article was emailed to the newspaper on August 1 – that’s before your blog post was posted (and also before the Guardian article it links to was published).
Reading Mikael Colville-Andersen’s blogs was the main factor in coming up with the idea for the article. Also, at the beginning of the summer, I saw cycling in a number of cities around Europe for my self (in Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris and other cities).
August 17, 2009 at 10:47 am
I’m just wondering what it’s going to be with all the Dublinbikes in September. Would expect the situation to be even worst!