14 DAY TRIAL // Denmark and Holland are known around the world for their love of bicycles, which have become an important part of their culture. But the Danish capital, Copenhagen, which is to host the UN Climate Change summit later this year, is vowing to take its already-amazing love for the environment a step further. Authorities have recently announced a plan that would make the city one of the most environmentally friendly in the world, the BBC News reports.
Rush hours in this metropolis bear no resemblance whatsoever to those in, say, New York. Streets are not over-packed with cars, and there are very few traffic jams. It is very difficult to clog a street with bicycles. Workers peddle to work, carrying their children in special cargo bikes, or in small bikes of their own, if they are old enough. The air in the center of the city can be breathed in without fear, even at times of the day when it's hazardous to do so in other cities. People here don't wear pollution masks on their faces, like they do in Tokyo and Beijing.
Authorities estimate that about one third of people in Copenhagen use bicycles to commute to work or to simply move around. There are about 350 kilometers (217 miles) of bicycle lanes constructed in and around the city, and cyclists and pedestrians have priority over cars and buses at almost all major intersections. But that doesn't seem to be enough for city officials, who have recently proposed a daring plan of convincing half of the city's population to use bicycles in the metropolis by 2015.
“The city has worked consistently to improve things for cyclists. Everything you see in Copenhagen today is due to decisions taken back in the 70s and early 80s. For people here, going on a bicycle is a bit like brushing your teeth, you don't think much about it!” the leader of Copenhagen's cycling program, Andreas Rohl, says. The manager estimates that, while the targets set for the next five years are, indeed, ambitious, they are, nevertheless, achievable.
One of the main advantages that these efforts bring forth, in addition to a cleaner environment and a smaller carbon footprint, is safety. About ten cyclists were killed in Copenhagen last year, two times fewer than a decade ago, when less people used bicycles and there were less lanes for them. Now, even bridges are converted to be cyclist-friendly. One of them has been entirely closed to traffic, while another has double bicycle lanes on both sides.
“We are very focused on the safety. Since the mid-1990s we have reduced the risk of having an accident when you travel by bike by 65%. The health effect of going on a bicycle is seven times higher than the actual risk of going on a bike,” Rohl concludes. Statistics suggest that most people prefer bikes over cars, if they have less than eight kilometers (about five to six miles) to travel.