Visible at night

A new reflective spray is being tested in England which makes bikes and their riders more visible at night. You can spray it on your bike and/or on your clothes. During the day you cannot see it but at night it glows white. Life paint is being developed by a car manufacturer to help prevent cyclists being killed by their cars.

The spray remains visible for a week and can be washed off your clothes.

It may also be of value for pedestrians who want to be visible to cars at night on the footpath.

Sprayed with life paint you can go out on foot or on your bike without wearing special clothes to make car drivers see you.

Keep it next to the front door along with your personal insecticide. One spray for the insects, one for the vehicles.

See the video here.
Images: Light pollution in Berlin

The more cylists, the less accidents OECD

Safety in numbers
The more bikes are around, the less the risk for an accident. To provide safety for cyclist, cities should provide a sufficient bicycle infrastructure. This 2013 OECD reports on "Trends relating to fatalities, injuries and crash rates are presented alongside international data on levels of cycling."

Cycling, Health and Safety, Analysis of international trends in bicycle use and cyclist safety
DOI:10.1787/9789282105955-4-en

In good cities one can cycle to work and education without stress. It appears 'normal' to go to the movies (Babylon) or an ADK concert/ exhibition at the Brandenburg Gate by bike.

The car door is potentially a deadly weapon

Alberto Paulon, 25, was knocked to the road when a person in a parked car opened their door, and he was then hit by a passing truck in Melbourne. (source) (video)

Paulon was riding to work. The 'accident' happend in an area where one in ten residents regularly ride to work. (source)

"Car drivers and passengers need to recognise that the car door is potentially a deadly weapon and was in this situation

Victoria Police issued 180 dooring notices in the past 12 months. The fine is $369." (source)

Cyclist groups are pushing for government-backed safety awareness campaigns (source)



In Paul Virilio's dromology there is no 'accident' or even 'incident', there is only an integral accident. The accident is inherent in the set up of the technology and its (fossil fuel) culture.

Paul Virilio: Der eigentliche Unfall. Wien: Passagen 2009, Allem Anfang wohnt ein Unfall inne Buchrezension

see also
Cyclist killed, law breached, driver not charged

Update:
Eliminating the risk of "Dooring": Good cycle infrastructure design keeps cyclists out of the door zone and saves lives, A view from the cyclepath

Dogs and Their Owners...

10-year-old Rhianna Kidd was riding her bike when two Rottweilers pulled her to the ground. "The girl suffered a fractured jaw, bite marks to her face and injuries to her right arm and left leg." Her jaw was broken in two places and she had to have plastic surgery. Yet again, another dog owner failed to keep their animals under control. Telegraph.co.uk. 31082010

The high cost of helmets

A new study by mathematician Piet de Jong of Macquarie University shows that mandatory helmet laws are responsible for substantial extra costs on health care systems. If other countries followed the Australian lead and made helmets compulsory, the costs would be substantial. It "would cost the US $4.8 billion per year, Netherlands $1.9 billion, and the U.K $0.4 billion."
The costs come about because helmets discourage cycling and the health benefits of cycling are thereby reduced. This translates into increased hospital costs due to heart disease.
The additional costs due to poor health far outweigh the costs of accidents that are due to not wearing helmets.
Video: Free helmets and hugs... instead of separated cycle paths. via Metafilter

Demanding Safer Cycling Conditions

700 cyclist were demanding safer cycling conditions in Melbourne today. A cyclist died there last month, when she was hit by a tour bus. Despite the 'National Ride to Work Day' hype, a lot of urban planning needs to be done on Australian cities and sub-urbia.
Safe, physically separated cycle and walking paths, before all the gadgets of helmets, fluorescent plastic clothing etc. Provide the infrastructure for safe mobility without the stink and life-threatening dangers. Target the mind-set of 'speeding'.

Image: altered 'Time is Money', H.Haluschka,1938 via Zeno

Magpies swooping

Recently I have been swooped by a couple of Magpies, sometimes with painful results. They seem to have the bicycle exits to my suburb covered. The usual response of the media and the "person on the street" is that the magpies are a menace and behaving somehow irrationally. But they are native fauna, they were here first and play an important role in the ecosystem as well as singing beautifully, and they are trying to protect their habitat in breeding season. They also cause far less damage and injury to cyclists than armoured road users which are tolerated and encouraged. So here are a few tried and tested solutions which do not require the eradication of other species:

• Cover your ears - wear a soft hat which covers your ears under your helmet and sunglasses so the bird can peck where it wants to without causing any harm. This will not appeal to fashion cyclists dressed up in colourful plastic suits but is totally effective.
• With your hat on, think about the pleasure of being accompanied by such a beautiful large bird when cycling.
• Try another helmet colour. I never had this problem until I bought a new shiny-metallic blue helmet. I once observed a magpie chasing off a snake in the bush. They are very responsive to particular shapes and forms. The other day I followed another bike into magpie territory and it ignored the other cyclist but swooped me. They discriminate.
• Beware in particular areas such as magpie habitats which are being disturbed by building sites, or where a lot of children have recently moved in and play on the street. Some kids are unkind to birds. These things make them irritable. In quiet suburban streets, the magpies like to just walk about without feeling the need to swoop on anyone.
• Watch the shadows. Your first warning of a bird approaching can be seen on the ground.
• If all else fails, get off your bike, take off the helmet, and walk out of the magpie's territory. It will leave you alone when you are walking.

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

Safety in numbers

Cycling is safest in places where there are more cyclists. An increase in the number of cyclists does not result in more injuries, but fewer, because cars become more aware of bikes and drive more carefully. The best way to make cycling safer is to promote bike use.
This is independent of infrastructure. More cycle paths may improve the quality of the cycling experience, but attitudes are the main factor in safety. Cyclists must be perceived to have a presence and rights on the roads.
Cycling is not dangerous
Policies which create the impression that bikes are dangerous discourage cycling and reduce the number of bikes on the roads, thereby increasing the danger from cars. Compulsory helmet wearing implies that cycling is dangerous, whereas it is the motor vehicles that cause head injuries to other road users. Cars continue to be fitted with impact devices such as roo-bars (bull-bars) designed to injure pedestrians and cyclists but protect the vehicles. The victims are advised or required to wear helmets.
Obligatory helmet wearing is a danger to cyclists. It gets bikes off the roads. When helmet laws were introduced in Western Australia, bike use fell by 30%, but head injury rates decreased by 13% so the risk of injury per cyclist increased.

Going out
In bicycle-friendly places, urban citizens dress up and go out on bikes to entertainment events such as opera or theatre, often in formal clothing and hats. People go out on bikes without having to wear special protective ‘armour’ to fend off the danger from less responsible road users. If legislation prohibits this, the number of cyclists drops as it has in Australia. Only ‘serious cyclists’ are seen, sporty types, dressed in tight plastic sausage-like skins, and going fast like a wannabe car. Cycling is predominantly racing, independent of other purposes like shopping or going out. Leisurely cycling is unknown.
Images: Konstanz de