Hundreds of thousands of cyclists took to the streets of Berlin in support of safer conditions for bikes. There is an urgent need for real cycle facilities, not just cycle streets where cars can drive and cycle paths which they park on. The traffic infrastructure need to support pedal powered vehicles and not just the fossil fuel users. Berlin needs to meet the needs of modern road users.
Sternfahrt is the one day each year when the potential of streets for pedal transport can be experienced first hand. Cycling on the Autobahn in the fresh air is so easy compared with dodging illegally parked vehicles.
Unfortunately the event was tainted by a massive releaseof balloonsdistributed to participants in the ride with the slogan ‘ride bike' on them. The high cost of such balloon releases to children, wildlife and rural animals seems to have gone unnoticed to those giving away these free balloons.
Every year in Berlin the 'star ride' takes place. About 250,000 cyclists converge on the city centre from the peripheries in a star formation, picking up ever more riders along the way. The main traffic arteries are freed from cars on that day creating an ambience of security and fresh air. Even the autobahn is dedicated for bicycles.
It is one day in the year when cyclists can experience the full potential of their bikes. On a 6-lane autobahnthere are no bumps and no problem overtaking another bike. Long distances can be covered easily in a short time while others roll along at a leisurely pace. Why are there no bike highways here? Why the special treatment for car drivers?
The main theme of the Sternfahrt this year was bicycle safety:
cyclists are forced to share roads with deadly cars which kill many cyclists very year.
cars cause enormous health damage to cyclists (and others) from their exhausts while the car drivers breath in far less poisonous gas and particles.
huge budgets are spent to make car driving safer while cyclists are left vulnerable to their arbitrary violence.
The Sternfahrt was a demonstration of the superiority of bicycles as transport. Without cars they are safe, unpolluting, quiet and generate a positive ambience among people. It showed how motorised transport infrastructure could be simply taken over for bicycles to facilitate a rational and safe transport system in modern cities.
Mobility without cars.
If travellers used their own energy to propel themselves around, they would not clutter up the public roads with heavy dysfunctional encasements endangering other road users in so many ways.
Welcome to sustainable mobility. Bi-pedalism, usually with the aid of bicycle pedals. Accessing social spaces without the pollution. Navigating urban topography (de) and cruising along beaches (au).
