04 May 2006

Biking

Just two kind requests to my fellow human beings.

1. Bike lanes are just that. Bike lanes.

They are not convenient parking space, they are neither extra sidewalk.
Sometimes it's just annoying, other times it's plain lethal. I come around a corner and almost run down some mom with a babycarriage.
Would she walk in the middle of the car lane too?

2. One side please.

When you bike together, form a line. Don't bike next to each others as if you are taking a stroll.

Thank you for your time. You may resume your daily duties.

Phwew, just had to get that off my chest....

----edit----
My friend Pete added these:
Actually, checked it recently. my impression was that according to the law it is legal to walk on the bike lane. don't ask why. i could add that at least on the big roads in and out of helsinki it is ok to drive on bikelanes with mopeds. really. they just come storming past at 45km/h.

oh, and in traffic lights. why cannot the cyclist just form a queue? why do they line up side-by-side to the both sides of the crossing? and then, when the light turns green, there is this randomized shuffeling of who goes where and who is in the way and who is faster and who is too slow.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I remember having read, that statistically speaking, in Helsinki, bicycle should be faster than public transport up to 7 km. What I don't know is, what kind of kamikaze effort through the flak from cars and these pedestrians extended does that take in a city where not even bus drivers respect traffic lights and other nuisances.