I thought I would share this remarkable piece I saw on the Bike Forms Advocacy and Safety forum. The author has spent 6 months in Stockholm and has compiled some very compelling helmet cam videos while cycling in the area.
I think that I have grown jealous of the Baltic states after all the publicity they get as a bike friendly area. Sights like Copenhagen Chic have created a romantic view of the area as a cyclists heaven on earth. The videos dispel a little of the jealousy with a realistic chronicle of day to day and season to season survival in the bike paths.
I was most impressed with the attempt to segregate cyclists in the urban landscape, and the amount of danger it creates. While we all would like better infrastructure, these videos demonstrate some of the flawed attempts to totally segregate cyclists and autos. I realize that streets in Europe are narrower (some having a history to the days of oxcarts) but I saw time after time the bike lanes segregated from traffic mid-block only to re-merge with traffic at each intersection. The practice also makes winter maintenance nearly impossible since the lane is isolated.
It really made me even more happy to live where an emphasis has been placed on bike lanes contiguous to the traffic lanes which help reduce both problems.
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