{"id":4914,"date":"2013-06-17T10:57:25","date_gmt":"2013-06-17T14:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=4914"},"modified":"2013-06-17T10:57:25","modified_gmt":"2013-06-17T14:57:25","slug":"danish-happiness-bicycle-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/17\/danish-happiness-bicycle-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"Danish happiness: bicycle infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of my personal happiest times have been when riding a bicycle. Even more fun is riding a bike with a child. Using a bicycle for transportation in the U.S., however, entails a certain amount of risk. Even if there is a dedicated bicycle lane there is nothing to stop a mobile phone-using driver from driving over and hitting you from the left. On right side of the bicycle lane will be a row of parked cars, each one a potential source of a driver opening a door without looking (a common enough accident that the term “being doored” has made its way into our language). For many of the bike trips that I’ve enjoyed I wouldn’t be comfortable taking a child with me on a trailer bike<\/a>\"\"\u00a0or in a bike seat.<\/p>\n

Despite its old cities and old road network, Danes invested heavily in dedicated bicycle lanes. Typically there is a curb separating the bike lane from the cars and one more curb separating the bike lane from the sidewalk. Nobody can hit anybody else without going over a curb, in other words. Rather seldom is it the case that parked cars are next to the bicycle lane. Sometimes the bicycle lane is separated from the road by a curb and grass median. If there are cars parked along the road then an opened door will sway into the grass, not into the paved bike lane.<\/p>\n

One sees a lot of children riding in various forms of modified bicycles and tricycles, including one heavy-looking design where two or three kids can ride in a huge basket in front of the bike, with the parent pushing on the pedals from behind. The kids get an awesome view; the adult gets a lot of exercise. Fortunately Denmark is pretty darn flat.<\/p>\n

Because a bicycle can be used safely on every segment of almost any trip it becomes much more practical to dispense with car ownership and its $9100 annual bleed (according to AAA). The 24-hour metro, excellent intracity buses, and frequent trains other parts of Denmark complement the utility of bicycles in situations involving miserable weather and\/or long distances.<\/p>\n

The wild popularity of bikes does have some drawbacks. It can be tough to find a secure parking spot for a bike. There are so many cyclists in the bike lanes in Copenhagen in the summer that bike-bike collisions seem like a realistic fear (though I didn’t see any).<\/p>\n