Post AQ5oOv1fAPW9xX4wka by hembrow@todon.eu
(DIR) More posts by hembrow@todon.eu
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOnKVmRqE5fpt1E by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-06T10:06:51Z
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After a few months of it being fairly quiet around here I suddenly have lots of new followers. Welcome, everyone!You may appreciate something to read so this is the beginning of a thread in which I will slowly toot out links to the most read posts from my blog, along with a comment about what I was thinking of when I wrote them.
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOnv1ah33uuv2vo by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-06T10:26:01Z
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To my surprise, the most read article over the last few years was about "Cycling's Recommended Minimum Daily Allowance".This started as a simple equation: It's widely suggested (by health services in various countries) that half an hour of exercise per day is enough to maintain a healthy body. How far can we travel if we use that half hour to cycle ? The answer is that I can travel about 5000 km per year purely as a side-effect of trying to keep myself healthy. i.e. until I have cycled that much I need no extra energy input, nor even any extra food. It doesn't even consume any time out of my day, because otherwise I'd have to expend the same amount of energy and time doing some other completely pointless type of exercise, perhaps wasting energy, time and money by driving a car to pay to enter a sweaty gym.Don't get hung up on an exact distance - everyone has a different fitness level, bicycle and journey type etc.Taking everything into account, using bicycles for transport isn't just a little bit efficient, it's something akin to achieving faster than light travel with zero energy input because it take neither time from our day nor energy from another source.Also: if you like e-bikes that's fine. This was not meant as a slight. I don't need one yet.https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2017/12/cyclings-recommended-minimum-daily.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOoLxyWbDGTWYvQ by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-07T13:20:45Z
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My second most read article of the last few years is this one about living car free in the Netherlands.The Netherlands is still a great place to live if you're car-free but this country has yet to do anything to effectively fight growth in car use.I first wrote about car free living in the Netherlands in 2008 when 42% of Dutch families were car free. That's now only about 20%.We set new records every year for both car ownership and use. What's more, the cars are getting bigger and more dangerous for vulnerable road users.Our cycle-paths network is still the best in the world, but even here cycle-paths are consistently built narrower, with less good surfaces, and less direct routes than roads. Cyclists also suffer more delays than drivers. Cycling takes a distant second place in planning and funding and no mode of transport is growing faster in the Netherlands than driving (except, possibly, flying).I didn't settle here to live in a car oriented dystopia, and the Netherlands still is not that, but we do get a little closer every day.No country can live on past glories - let's recognise that were heading in the wrong direction so that the problem can be solved.The myriad problems caused worldwide by cars cannot be solved by selling more (electric) cars.https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2019/08/the-car-free-myth-netherlands-is-great.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOolqQJIcYjdEGG by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-08T15:19:12Z
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My third most popular blog post is this one about the safest design of roundabouts for cyclists.https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2014/05/the-best-roundabout-design-for-cyclists.html?m=0The main problem with the much less safe competing designs is that they give cyclists priority. That of course sounds marvellous in theory, but the problem is that it takes the safety of cyclists out of their own hands and places it firmly in the hands of drivers who may not have seen a cyclist approaching from over their shoulder, or may simply not care about cyclist safety. The safety problem is also greater with large vehicles, poor weather / misted windows, at night, or with faster cyclists as they give drivers less reaction time.Over the eight years since I wrote that piece more and more evidence has come to light that this really is an order of magnitude safer. So resist the temptation to emulate a design which gives a false "priority" which cyclists can't safely rely upon, and instead put effort into prioritizing cyclists in other locations where it can be done safely.Note also that no roundabout is suggested in NL for junctions busy enough that there won't be gaps in which to cross. Traffic lights or tunnels then make more sense.There are more details of studies into roundabout safety here:https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/search/label/safe%20roundabouts?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOpCQpSZBtC4Shc by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-09T13:22:36Z
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Here's the fourth most popular article:Two thirds of children cycle to school In this new-build suburb in the Netherlands. It was made possible by design which was specifically intended to make that possible.But this isn't an unusual case. Modern developments all over the Netherlands have very similar design with similar results. What's more, older residential developments dating back to the 1970s were based around earlier versions of similar ideas, and while it's difficult to achieve so good a result as a retro-fit, many much older residential areas have had through traffic eliminated from them leaving streets which are relatively safe for children to cycle.All children, everywhere in the world, could have this same independence from an early age.But it's not all good news in NL. Growth in car usage over the last few years is putting all this in danger. More parents drive their children to school now, creating less favourable conditions which don't only rob their own children of their independence. So we're not really making progress on this at the moment and I find that rather sad.Cars take away everyone's freedom to some extent: Young and old, rich and poor, and even their owners who find themselves trapped into working to pay for the car that they drive.https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2013/09/the-school-run-in-assen.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOpoiX7Bvnvz2NU by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-10T18:17:45Z
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Popular article five:"Anatomy of a reliable everyday bicycle" describes the features of the practical bikes which are most common for everyday use in the Netherlands.These bikes are perfect for everyday journeys, shopping etc. While requiring a minimum of maintenance, they reward their owners with decades of efficient and reliable all-weather transport.I wouldn't change much here.If I was to re-write it anew perhaps I might say a bit more about hub dynamos, but actually they have downsides as well such as extra weight, extra drag for daytimes rides which are the most common, and shorter lifespan. 13 years after writing the article we're all actually still riding the same bikes with the same bottle dynamos for our lighting as these things just keep working so I don't see a great reason to change even that aspect.I have other bikes that I prefer for longer rides, but I still do more than 1000 km a year in on the traditional bike because it's the best fit for those everyday journeys.https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2009/01/anatomy-of-reliable-everyday-bicycle.html
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOptKFysU2E8iYq by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T17:19:59Z
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Hashtags which ought to have been part of the tweet above: #cycling #carfree #netherlands
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOqGMsJJFBgv7Tc by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-15T11:35:47Z
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The Grid.It's often underestimated, but in order to encourage people to choose to cycle en-masse it needs to be possible for people to make their journeys on a very extensive network of very high quality cycling infrastructure.Dutch research showed forty years ago that doing less, even including building a few really good arterial cycling routes, doesn't achieve this. People need to feel, and to be, safe if they are to choose to cycle.https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2008/09/grid.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOqvqO6UDGKKF7o by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-16T10:27:13Z
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Norway provides an interesting contrast with most other countries as cycling is allowed on all pedestrian infrastructure. This means a near full grid is achieved, so cycling has a wide demographic, but where there is no segregation of modes the same conflict is seen as elsewhere.Speed limits on cycling infrastructure are always an indication of failure. Bicycles are automatically limited in potential to harm by the strength of their riders and their low mass. There has never been a mass casualty event caused by a cyclist.While no country in the world can't provide for cars to travel at 100 km/h they still seem to struggle to create infrastructure on which people can cycle 10 km/h without complaints.Pointing fingers at cyclists in these situations doesn't fix the problem.Recent discussions in the Netherlands about imposing a 20 km/h speed limit on cycle-paths, lower than the speed limit for cars on parallel roads, also indicate a failure to build properly for efficient cycling: Giving drivers an even greater speed advantage than they already have will just driving more attractive than cycling, which helps no-one.#cycling #infrastructurehttps://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2014/11/shared-use-paths-create-conflict-and.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOrY85l6xB4Eong by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T13:58:17Z
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These days it's popular to criticise bidirectional cycle-paths, often on the grounds of safety issues which could perhaps result from poor design. But we should not let the possibility of poor design prevent the implementation of good designs and in the real world there are very many situations in which well designed and constructed bidirectional cycle-paths provide both improved safety and convenience for cyclists. They also offer greater capacity for the same area of asphalt, especially with tidal flows of cyclists as can sometimes be seen near workplaces or schools.Of course, bidirectional cycle-paths do have to be well designed to work well, but that also applies to all other kinds of cycling infrastructure.This article gives several examples of bidirectional cycle-paths which work well.#cycling #infrastructure #cyclepathhttps://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2019/03/how-bidirectional-cycle-paths-improve.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOrfvclLjZFt2xM by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T17:20:35Z
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Hashtags which ought to have been part of the tweet above: #cycling #infrastructure #cyclepath #roundabouts #safety
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOs2GHjDKgWKslc by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-18T17:59:19Z
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Here's another of my most popular articles. It's about how speed bumps are actually quite rate in the Netherlands because this country doesn't rely on them to try to control excess traffic on streets (especially residential streets) when it's far better to exclude the through traffic altogether. Exclusion of cars can be achieved in several ways, including by making some roads inaccessible to cars by use of bollards or by creating a one-way system which applies only for cars. Either of these prevent streets being used as short cuts (rat runs) by drivers. Several examples of good practice are shown.#cycling #infrastructure #Netherlands #residential #streethttps://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2016/08/speed-bumps-are-not-effective-traffic.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOs4k8VCOoDUrdQ by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T17:19:01Z
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Hashtags which ought to have been part of the tweet above: #cycling #health
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOt5UNDODwoqyR6 by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-20T09:53:28Z
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How would you place 50 bollards in your city ? Bollards can be an effective low cost intervention for cycling, or they can cause inconvenience and danger. Read more about the fifty bollard game, and see good as well as bad examples at the link below.https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2013/08/the-fifty-bollard-game-how-bollards-on.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOt5UNDODwoqyR7 by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T17:21:48Z
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Hashtags which ought to have been part of the tweet above: #cycling #infrastructure #schoolrun #children #suburbs #Netherlands #Assen
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOtNZHzqqqtJPcG by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T17:23:01Z
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Hashtags which ought to have been part of the tweet above: #bicycle #cycling #dutchbike
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOtVingNDGB7vKC by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-24T17:44:09Z
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On-road cycle-lanes are never really a great idea. In the Netherlands it's far more common that we have completely separate cycle-paths. However there are on-road lanes as well, and some of the details of them are worth looking at.One of the things which often causes cyclists danger on roads with on-road lanes is pinch points caused by central reservations, the result of designs which try to give pedestrians a place to cross the road, motorists a place to make turns, or sometimes in an attempt to slow cars and improve safety (cyclists rarely see improved safety from pinch points).The design of pinch point shown here is quite different. While from the driver's point of view, their road appears to be narrowed and it does cause most cars to slow down, they are actually given more space at the "pinch point" and as a result they rarely encroach on the cycle-lane.The driving lane is 2.8 m wide for most of its length, widening to 3.5 m at the restriction, while the cycle-lane keeps its 2.1 m wide for its entire length.While overall I'm not a fan of on-road lanes, I use this road often (including today, for instance) and it's surprisingly pleasant to ride along.#cycling #infrastructurehttps://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2015/07/a-pinch-point-design-which-slows-cars.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOtZGaVD1RAmkqm by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T17:23:41Z
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Hashtags which ought to have been part of the tweet above: #cycling #infrastructure #cyclepath #grid #network
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOv1fAPW9xX4wka by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-29T09:19:29Z
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In 2011 I happened across the story of the 1970s "Stop de Kindermoord" protests in the Netherlands. It was forgotten history. No-one had covered this subject in the English language in decades and it was rarely mentioned in Dutch.Protests about the lack of safety for children on the streets became a highly effective movement which fed into the safe cycling infrastructure which we have today. Nowadays, most Dutch children cycle independently in relative safety, to school as well as to visit friends etc.I'm happy to see that this subject has been picked up by many other people in the last ten years, though sadly it still hasn't been translated successfully into other countries' policies.#cycling #safety #RoadSafety #planning #StopDeKindermoord https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2011/01/stop-child-murder.html