A day into cruising on my bike in Copenhagen, I realized that I experienced a total sense of freedom. Yes, on my bike my sense of freedom thrived when I set foot (and behind) on a rusty bike and joined the hundreds of thousands Copenhageners cycling in their city. Sure, five days of perfect weather and without kids, alone with my husband on vacation were strong contributing factors to the freedom high, but the main cause and the foundation for this was the expansive bicycle infrastructure of Copenhagen.
1.3 million kilometres are travelled by day by bike in Copenhagen, a city plus metro with a population of 1.2 million. On average, each citizen of Denmark travels 1.1 km per day. 36% of the citizens of Copenhagen commute by bike; 45% of school children ride to school by bike. The city has 397km of bike paths – with a notable extra 2.5 meter wide curb to differentiate it from the car road and the pedestrian sidewalk – and in April opened its first 20 km of 500 km of “Superbikeways” that are roads exclusively built for bike travel.
As a result of this bike infrastructure, biking has become a very convenient way to get around the city, even during the harsh winter conditions; apparently it helps that rain downpours last only ten minutes and that snow ploughs are diligent about removing snow. I also suppose Danes have the philosophy that not the weather but the lack of proper rain gear are the problem when facing the elements. And they do seem to have coffee shops at every street corner that you can hop into to warm up in. Cycling as a dominant mode of transportation, especially as a part of the “cityscape”, has even become a Danish lifestyle and an integral part of Danish living. Everyone cycles: men, women (actually they make up the higher percentage than men of commuters), students, workers, mothers with children in special baskets or buckets, fashionistas with miniskirts and high heels, muslim women in hijabs. Nothing holds anyone back from riding.
Even the rules don’t hold anyone back. Rules and etiquette are clear, concise and strictly followed and that is why they probably make cycling with heavy bike traffic easy. Hand signals help to indicate a stop or turn. At busy multipurpose intersections, a multi step “box turn” must be made and it usually starts with a subtle hand signal and involves staying clear of sidewalk or road. It takes a new comer a day to grasp and master all the rules. If a biker blotches, you’ll hear a bell from a peer, but police enforcement does not seem to be present. It sure beats Drivers Ed!
Cycling seems to be safe and self regulating. Helmet use is at a low 15% (and it actually seems much lower, with only children wearing helmets). According to the Cycling Embassy of Denmark, 54 cyclists were killed in traffic related accidents in 2008, of which 70% were single cyclist accidents (potholes or alcohol) which means that cars have learned to be aware and respect cyclists and treat them as the more vulnerable yet just as important part of traffic. In comparison to the 54 cycling deaths, the Cycling Embassy of Denmark points out that lack of physical activity leads to 4500 deaths each year. Also, with increased cyclists, cycling accidents decline proportionately and in volume. For sure it beats Charlotte, NCs statistics with a dozen cycling deaths (usually involving a car collision) per year with a single digit commuter and recreational cycling percentage of the total population.
Not wearing a helmet and feeling safe, cyclists can definitely focus on their mantra, “Style over Speed” and just let their hair down! On a random sampling that I undertook amongst Copenhageners, they all responded to prefer to ride their bikes over drive their cars. Added to this are the statistics that 44% of Danish homes don’t have a car while 80% of Danes own a bike.
Danes above average liking for biking has been around for sure since World War II with maybe a low point in the 1960s when only 10% of Copenhageners commuted by bike. This took a turn with the energy crisis in the 1970s and the City started its first coordinated strategies for increasing cycling in order to make transportation affordable for all (especially since it had no automotive industry to complain). Part of the motivation was an effort by the White Cross to decrease the amount of bicycle deaths. The rest is history with an ever increasing bicycle infrastructure that has been effectively monitored since 1995.
While some Americans would cringe at all this government intervention in such transportation infrastructure (or wait a second – in such non automotive transportation infrastructure), Danes consider this bike infrastructure to enable a very liberating and cheap mode of transportation. Most Danes, when asked, answered that being able to cycle in their town to work and to shop provided them with a great sense of freedom for themselves. In addition, it provides an increased freedom from dependence on foreign oil and air clean up costs.
It also makes me wonder if this increased flexibility in getting around town plays a role in making Denmark one of the happiest nations on the globe and making Copenhagen leave more romantic traces than Paris with happy couples at every street corner and park. And for sure I got wondering, if a little sacrifice for the communal good could lead to an increased sense of personal freedom?
My mind was free enough to wander a lot and wonder about this whole freedom concept. Always jealous that Americans are cognitively and genuinely preoccupied with their “freedom”, to me the notion of American “freedom” does not always come intuitively. It is not clear to me whether Americans understand freedom as a historical notion, a philosophical idea, an abstract concept, a physical stake claiming, or a practical reality, as individual or communal. But one thing I now know for sure, I felt free as thin air cruising Copenhagen on my bike! Maybe I can carry a bit of that feeling back home and apply it practically beside some theoretical concept.
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