Being in a car-centric environment - Unter den Linden

Being in a car-centric environment dwarfs the human. Unmotorised people walking or cycling have to move with the dictate of the machines moving. They are forced to breathe the exhaust and the dust of the asphalt. They run for their lives to not be squashed by the ever bigger cars.

Unter den Linden ("under the linden trees") is a large boulevard in the Mitte (middle) of Berlin. There was a time when flâneur wandered in the shady place. At other times it was a playground for military machines and parades. Today, many trees have disappeared and the place is studded with building sites and pipes.

Despite all the obstacles of this car-centric city 'design', one can dodge most hassles with a bike on this multi-lane parade. There is always time for a cup at Café Einstein Unter den Linden.

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Shared bike-pedestrian paths

The RTA was promoting shared foot-bikepaths as part of bicycle week. Shared ways can get bikes off the roads, thus facilitating traffic for cars, but it should not be mistaken as being of benefit for bicycles, or pedestrians.
When busy cycle paths are shared with pedestrians, it is a disaster for bicycle mobility. We have seen this in Manly where the nicest cycle path in Sydney, along the beach promenade, has been made into a share way. It doesn't work as a bike path anymore. This used to be the only dedicated cycle path in the area.
Similarly, when a busy footpath is made into a share way, the bikes appear to hassle people walking as they can't get anywhere. It ruins the walking space for pedestrians.
Shared facilities only make sense when a path is little used by bikes or walkers. Then it works well.
Promoting shared paths in Manly, Sydney's most visited tourist destination, especially in the most crowded areas, arouses the suspicion of a hidden agenda - to get bikes off the roads. Bad luck for the pedestrians but keep the gas guzzlers rolling.
To achieve positive outcomes for cyclists, they need their own organisation. Just as cars have a roads and motorist association, bikes need a bike-paths and cyclists association. Then the transport planning organisations may become inclined to promote Bike Week as an event for bikes, for dedicated cycle paths, not just to promote pushing bikes onto the footpaths in an attempt to make the dysfunctional motorised traffic flow.

Ploughing Vehicles into Pedestrian's Spaces

Alcoholised learner driver kills one pedestrian and injures another as his car mounts a footpath in Melbourne.
A teenager with three times the permissible alcohol limit was doing 150km/h in a 60 zone. After crashing into a traffic light and tree, the car mounted the footpath (image & here) killing one pedestrian and seriously injuring the other. The surviving pedestrian is suffering from "head injuries, fractures to his leg, and possible fractures to his pelvis." The 19 year old learner driver injured his wrist. >via Southbank crash driver 'drunk and speeding', The Age, 011008
- If nothing effective can be done against speeding and alcoholised drivers, should not the urban territory and its pedestrian paths (and cycle paths) be studded with bars? - Just in case.
Image: Artifacts excluding motorised vehicles from spaces where non-armoured bodies move.

Air Bags for Pedestrians

Finally, the air-bag for pedestrians is out. As the world's urban tanks are arming themselves with more war-like capsules etc, navigation for the unarmoured (human) body becomes a death-defying challenge in the urban environment.
Ploughing into pedestrian groups on their territory occurs more often now. A market niche could develop here, selling 'safety' gadgets to people wishing to move their bodies amongst the petrol-powered shooting objects. At this stage the gadget is intended for frail seniors and rehab.

Image: Pushy motorists Berlin, Mitte

Pedestrian helmets should be compulsory

If bicycle helmets are compulsory because of the head injuries that cars can cause to cyclists, and not because bikes are themselves dangerous, why are they not compulsory for pedestrians?

Especially child pedestrians are in danger of head injuries from the roo-bars, or bull-bars which are placed on the front of "family cars" at head height for kids. "Head injury is the most common injury type in child pedestrian accidents ".

Let's be consistent. Compulsory helmets for all, always. Why discriminate?

Image: Creativity in public places, Berlin