Like many Japanese commercials, I have no idea what's going on. The title is even mystical: "about 1988 『峠のやまちゃん』".

But hey. It's 1988. It's Japan. It's cool old men with pipes on bikes. Something those tweed ride people might like, too.
Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

Off to Halifax in the morning. The purpose of the visit is to kick off The Kickstand Sessions - Bicycle Policy Training Sessions. Copenhagenize Consulting has teamed up with Mobycon from the Netherlands to host comprehensive bicycle policy training sessions for professional planners, traffic engineers, architects, marketing people and NGOs. Both Mobycon and Copenhagenize Consulting see more value in combining Dutch AND Danish best practice and policy in order to provide inspiration for local solutions in cities. There seems to be a bit of "bicycle nationalism" gaining purchase and when the goal is inspiring cities around the world to starting placing the bicycle higher up on the traffic pyramid, all the good experience should be presented all at once. The "bicycle embassies", it would seem, are interested in providing a platform for local companies to present their products to a wider market. Fair enough, it's a market economy. Goods and services must be sold.

We just think cities should be given the chance to see the wealth of ideas at their disposal, regardless of national origin, in order to kickstart an urban planning and traffic engineering revolution.

We're looking forward to launching the Kickstand Sessions in Halifax. Our partners in the city have informed us that a number of city councillors will be attending and the Premier of Nova Scotia, Darrell Dexter, will also be present on the last day to hear what kind of solutions the training session participants have come up with for Halifax and other towns in the province. It's going to be great.

On Tuesday, I'll be also speaking at Dalhousie University with my Four Goals for Promoting Urban Cycling talk - as well as a bit of Bicycle Culture by Design. Thanks so much to the Halifax Cycling Coalition for producing the above poster.

Atlantic Canada, here we come.Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

Sometimes you just have to stop and feed the swans and ducks on your way home. With a half a bread roll in the fading light of a Nordic winter day.






Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

What a lovely shot. Copenhagen. 1907. Vestre Boulevard. Dug up by our very own Lars Barfred.

The sign on the right reads "Bicycle Lane". Sweet. At first glance it's a nice vintage photograph - coloured for effect - of a street in Copenhagen. And then, as a Copenhagener, you realise... hey... I KNOW that street. That's City Hall on the left and Tivoli Gardens on the right. Vestre Boulevard is now named Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard.

My goodness! Look at how lovely that street is! So liveable. Like a wide street in the heart of a city should be. Look at all that space!

Then you get depressed because you remember what it's like now.


(Thanks to Jason for the link to What Was There and this image)

The 1907 photo was taken from right about where that black car is, in the middle of the intersection. H.C. Andersen's Boulevard is the most congested street in Denmark apart from the motorways. 55,000 cars a day. It carves a grey scar through the heart of the Danish capital. 250,000 pedestrians cross City Hall Square (bottom right) on a summer's day, at the mercy of the parasites. Over 20,000 bicycle users ride up and down this street each day, as well. Indeed, three of the intersections on this stretch are the most dangerous in the nation for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Dutch National Cycling Council - Fietsberaad - were amazed that a city like Copenhagen wasn't tackling this blatant problem in this report.

There was talk of burying the boulevard and reclaiming the surface space for people a few years back, but that idea disappeared. Just some mumbling about noise reduction asphalt has been heard from city hall.

Here's the boulevard from above, in the same direction as the first vintage photo.

Same area. Amazing to see what this street used to be like and could be like again if there were any political vision coming out of the city hall, above.

As it is now, six lanes of cars roar through the heart of our city. At speed limits far too high for such a densely-populated area.

The vintage photo is, at once, enlightening and depressing.
Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

This campaign from the car-centric Danish Road Safety Council is a prime example of how they are maintaining the status quo and Ignoring the Bull in society's china shop.

According to their warped ideology, cars rule the streets and anyone who dares to challenge this indisputable fact will be eliminated. They use cars - portrayed as anonymous machines (no focus on the invisible driver and no focus on the responsibility of these drivers to take care in the traffic) - to hammer home their point that they are incapable of taming motorised traffic and, I fear, completely unwilling to do so.

The video, above, is a part of the Tag Chancen / Take the Chance campaign, which we had a sneak preview about last year and also here. "Take Chances, just not in the Traffic" is the slogan. It is focused on the foolish youth who dare to believe that cities should be liveable places with safe mobility - a basic human right - for it's citizens.

It features the Danish footballer Christian Eriksen, who plays for Ajax Amsterdam. Filmed in Amsterdam, the Road Safety Council and their cohorts - including the Danish insurance behemoth Tryg who would love you to be frightened into buying their insurance policies - even manage to infiltrate the Netherlands with their message by filming this in that country.

Ironically, Amsterdam, like many other European cities, takes traffic safety seriously by restricting the speed limits for cars and positively promoting urban cycling. The Road Safety Council has no plans for Denmark to follow suit - either on lower speed limits or positive cycling promotion. Which is why the 30 kbh campaign was started on Facebook. Cars are king in their eyes. Get used to it.

It's manipulated reality, which is always a bit desperate. Eriksen is struck down by a speeding motorist (and we're sorry to see him arriving at Ajax stadium in a car and not on a bicycle) even though it is unlikely that a car could get up to that speed on that stretch, or would even try given the lower speed limits. But fukkit. It's dramatic effect. When citizens dare to infiltrate the domain of the automobile, they must pay the price.


Another video in the series features some Danish rapper type named Joey Moe. Wham. He's struck down for daring to challenge the dominance of the automobile. Ironically, we can see him hanging out in front of Bobi Bar in the centre of Copenhagen. It's on this street, Klareboderne:

A traffic-calmed street that ends at Købmagergade pedestrian street, from whence the car apparently is coming from. So, again, fabricated reality. Here's the street on Google Maps.

Vis stort kort

With all the videos, the cars are clearly speeding. Ignoring speed limits and setting their own agenda, with the full backing of the Road Safety Council.

There is no commentary aimed at motorists making them aware of their responsibility as drivers of dangerous machines to take care and drive responsibly. We see this all to often in the current era of traffic campaigns in Denmark, like this one that ignores the traffic rules and goes after cyclists.


There's another film featuring a Danish comedian, Mick Øgendahl. Again, same message. This time with a bike involved, which probably makes this the Road Safety Council's favourite film in the series.

There are other films in the series featuring people you have never heard of if you're from outside of Denmark, so I won't bore with with non-celebrities.

This campaign is particularly tasteless given the fact that a 10 year old girl was mowed down and killed last November - by the same kind of speeding motorist that the Road Safety Council proudly portray in this film.

The point is, as always, that Denmark's journey to renewed car-centricity - we are more car-centric now than at any time since the 1960s - is sad. Not least because a so-called Road Safety Council (basically a communications bureau that doesn't employ anyone with the ability to read scientific research) is intent on ignoring the goal of liveable cities, safe streets, lower speed limits and all the ingredients for a positive urban future. In favour of their own ideology.

That these communication people are even allowed to use money to promote their personal vision of an automobile-based society - and in 2012 - baffles the mind. Ah, yes. The insurance company's fund helps finance it. Follow the money, as ever.

Like we often say, please come to Copenhagen to see how the City of Copenhagen's traffic and bicycle department has developed a fantastic bicycle infrastructure network with brilliant innovation and dedication regarding encouraging more people to cycle.

You needn't bother coming here for our bicycle advocacy or for our (non) promotion of cycling or liveable cities. We are farther from returning to the Anti-Automobile age than we've ever been.

For that, please go to the Netherlands. We never tire of highlighting this fine example of a road safety campaign that places the focus where it must be placed:

Drive With Your Heart




Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

...Thats what we need.
The new government is admirably determined to build a congestion-ring, around Copenhagen City. For the first time in since the oil-crisis in the early seventies, and the car-free Sundays, Danish motorists are under  fire. Was the state of our tasteless self-indulgence and waste of natural resources not so catastrophic, it would be quite amusing to observe how closely aligned the excuses of smokers and motorists are. Except second hand car-driving kills twice as many as second hand smoking.
Photo: Steven DepoloFact is that only a small insignificant number of people drive, because they did a thorough analysis. Some are genuinely forced to, as we for sixty years build our infrastructure to favour cars over all other modes of transportation. That’s something we need to address, and strangely the government does not realize this, and specifically the Social Democrats as they continue to invest heavily on freeways, car parking and bridges. Rather than reprioritizing and making up for lost time, during the last six decades, to build better bike and public transportation infrastructure. Sorry, I get carried away, back to the rational choice, few make it, not unique to motorists, that’s just who we are. We believe we make rational choices, after careful deliberations, well in most cases we don´t, and that’s fine, as long as we don´t pretend and rationalize after the fact. We need politicians who acknowledge this, who have the courage, as it seems our government do have in the case of the congestion-ring, to ease our choices in a more rational and healthy direction.And then there is one more thing we can do, because apart from 5% fact, analysis and intelligence, we base our choices on the stories we tell, the symbols we use to construct our identity, the value negotiation we constantly have with our surroundings.We need to put first things first, an old President Carter address to the nation, reminded me of this, a really courageous speech, which I am sure stripped him of all commercial campaign contributions


We need to reemphasize the importance of well functioning personal networks, close knit communities, our families our health, rather than obsessing with quick fixes & instant gratification, material prestige, addiction to fossil fuels, economic growth and abundant fatty, sweet and meat foods.
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Today our life stories are told by the marketing machines of multinational consumer good and foods companies write our histories, the billion dollar advertising budgets, ensures their stories are heard more often than that of our intellectuals, our novelists like Emerson, the Picasso´s of our day. Even the bicycle manufacturers and similar industries with a mostly positive influence on societies, are not heard thru the wall of marketing noise of Nestlé, Bacardi, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Shell.
Photo: by Sergio MaistrelloWe cannot rely on our communities suddenly becoming rational, and probably, that would present its own set of problems, we can neither expect people not be influenced by advertising. But I believe the stories of our lives, of the people close to us matters more. We can thru each of our own actions change the stories, we can ignore the marketing noise, when we teach our children to bike safely on their way to school every morning, we we put carrots and low fat milk in their bag-pack, when we encourage them to run and play ball, rather than play wii or watch Disney channel. And the great thing about it, the car is such a big part of family economy, that if you get rid of it, your budget will not need you to work as much, their will be work-positions for more people, you will have more time to tell the important stories to your children, to enjoy teaching them to bike, listening to the birds, when you drive them in the cargo bike. Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

A little film about cargo bike culture in Copenhagen, featuring Andreas Røhl, the head of the Bicycle Office in Copenhagen, Christiania Bikes and Larry vs Harry.Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

There is a constant flow of discussion at the moment about the proposed congestion charges in Copenhagen - one of the initiatives the current government had on their election platform.

Like in Stockholm and in London prior to implementation of their congestion charges, the debate is heated and often rather one-sided.
Copenhagenize is pleased to feature this guest article written by Natalie Mossin and Jane Sandberg. Jane is the CEO of The Danish Architects' Association and Natalie is the Chairman of the Board.

The Danish Architects' Association was founded in 1879 and works to promote the quality of planning and design of our physical environment and to improve and develop the conditions for the architect's profession.

We thought it appropriate to publish some rational thoughts about the congestion charges. Here it comes.

The City of the Future Requires Space for Life

Congestion charges are about what cities will be like in the future and which needs they will fulfill.

The congestion charges have been strongly criticised and they have been divisive. Just the name – 'betalingsring' – or 'pay ring' generate associations of the worst possible kind. Just for a moment let's look away from the debate's unilateral arguments about what we'll lose and instead look at what we will gain, if Transport Minister Henrik Dam Kristensen dares to formulate a visionary goal for the Copenhagen of the future and prioritise cheaper and better public transport.

Danish cities are old and they are certainly not built for our modern transport masses. There is a natural limit to how many motor vehicles that can drive through our existing urban areas. Merely adding more car lanes is not a viable solution. Therefore we need to develop the conditions for other transport forms.

The causality behind the congestion charges is simple: If it costs money to drive into Copenhagen, many people will leave the car at home and choose instead train, bus or bicycle. The result is fewer cars, lower pollution levels, more flow in the traffic and a better urban environment.

The desire for fewer cars on the roads is not a war on cars. It is a necessary regulation of the growing number of cars in the capital region so that the city's logistics – in the future as well – can work. If the congestion charges in Copenhagen are to improve the traffic environment in Copenhagen, a number of important steps must first be taken.

The first step is defining a vision for what kind of city we wish to have in 10, 20 and 50 years. We mustn't discuss congestion charges based on what Copenhagen is like today, but rather how we wish the city to be in the future, as well as which needs it must fulfill.

We're already seeing massive changes in many peoples working lives and everyday lives. It has become more flexible and less rooted to one location, in the way we have meetings on Skype and are online everywhere we go.

These new possibilities for movement and interaction place demands on the city's space, which no longer is merely a terminal for dropping off and picking up goods as well as transport. It is a centre for human meetings – a place for experiences and recreation with a lively street scene that also has room for the as yet undiscovered. This requires space.

The next step is about public transport, which has to be better and cheaper in the capital at the very moment that the congestion charges come into effect. A large portion of the revenue from the congestion charges must be allocated to this.

The third step is about urban planning. In Stockholm they had a great deal of success with integrating revenue from their congestion charges with the national planning strategy. The local regions have therefore benefited from the revenue and have improved the general infrastructure. Why not do as the Swedes have done?

Improved accessibility on a national level could be a concrete place to start. Even though Denmark is ahead of the game regarding accessible cities, it remains difficult for many wheelchair users, elderly citizens and visual imparied to move around the streets.

Therefore, physical hindrances like lack of ramps on stairs, high curbstones, complex intersections and narrow sidewalks must be given serious thought so that the urban space can be more accessible for everyone.

There was a great deal of resistance when congestion charges were implemented in London and Stockholm. Since then, the negative perception has reversed. In 2006, 56% of Londoners were against the congestion charges. That has now fallen to 39%.

In Stockholm, only 40% were for the charges just before the pilot project was launched. The latest numbers, from 2010, show that 74% now support the congestion charges. If we are to follow in London's and Stockholm's footsteps, the Minister of Transport should take the necessary steps we have highlighted here. In addition, he should enage urban planners, architects and other stakeholders in a dialogue about the goals for the future of the city's life between houses and on the streets of Copenhagen.

It is also of utmost importance that he listens actively to the critics of the congestion charges. Not least the 15 mayors in the municipalities around Copenhagen, as they represent the citizens who will be affected by the new fees. Finally, it is important that we avoid an invisible ”city wall”. It shouldn't cost the farm to drive into Copenhagen.

There should be the possibility for differentiated payment. For example, using GPS technology that can be used with great precision in road pricing initiatives, as long as the cars have a chip that registers where they drive and sends the data to the tax authorities.

An alternative could be to divide the congestion charge between a number of zones in the city.

At the end of the end it is all about prioritising and daring to invest in the future so that Copenhagen, in the future as well, can be a city that inspires others, that is accessible to all, where there is a balance between transport forms and where there is space and life between the buildings.

If this doesn't happen, we will think back to the good old days when Copenhagen was voted the world's greenest city in 2009 and the world's most liveable city according to Monocle in 2008 and where urban planners from all over the world came to Copenhagen to study Copenhagenization and realise we dropped the ball.

Natalie and Jane's article was published in Politiken, the Danish newspaper last week. Here's the link to the Danish version.Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

Los Angeles. 1900. Spring St. near 8th.
The latest installment in our Subversive Bicycle Photos series is from a city that enjoyed a modal share for bicycles of 20% at the turn of the last century and built impressive protected bicycle infrastructure like this 10 km, elevated cycle track back in 1900.

Alas, the bicycle disappeared from this area that was described like this in an 1897 newspaper article: "There is no part of the world where cycling is in greater favor than in Southern California, and nowhere on the American continent are conditions so favorable the year round for wheeling."

Thanks to our reader, Rick, we found some subversive photographs showing the bicycle as an accepted and respected part of life in Los Angeles in the Los Angeles Public Library archives.

As ever with these subversive photos, do not let them get out. If society at large were to learn that the bicycle used to be an integral part of life for Citizens Cyclists and not just some recent sub-cultural activity for middle-class white men, who knows what might happen. People might realise that riding a bicycle used to be normal and could quite possibly become normal again. Who know what resistance might appear. At the moment it's just this, but it could get worse. We all know what happened when the car industry went after another competitive transport form.

Burbank. 1908.


First Street looking east from Yale Avenue in Claremont in 1915.


Los Angeles. Ca. 1890. 632 South Broadway.


Balboa. Newport Beach. 1940s. Photographer: Herman Schultheis.

Los Angeles Bicycle Police Squad. 1904. Broadway past 6th St.

Los Angeles. 1905. Rambler Bicycles at 207-209 West 5th Street near Spring.

Los Angeles. 1902. Commercial High School participate in the Fiesta Floral Parade with a bicycle float.

Los Angeles. 1915. Hill and 4th.

Los Angeles. Ca. 1904. Main and 9th. Bicycle Parade heading for Griffith Park.

Long Beach. Ca. 1895. Pine Avenue.

Los Angeles. Ca. 1930s. Variety Arts Theater.

Los Angeles. 1899. Spring Street.

From left:
- Portrait of Japanese boy with bicycle and notebook ca 1900.
- Grace Toya with bicycle at the Tule Lake internment camp 1945.
- Los Angeles Bicycle Club 1890s.


Los Angeles High School's Kodak and Bicycle Club ca 1900.


From top left:
- Los Angeles ca. 1930s.
- LA Rooftop Stunt 1930s.
- Ditto.
- Los Angeles "Old Settlers Parade" 1937. Photographer: George J. Cooper


Leela McAdam nee McCabe - winner of the best decorated bicycle for the 1900 Fourth of July parade in Lompoc stands outside her home at 137 South J Street.


Oh, and tell your local bike polo playing hipster that he/she is soooo old school. Bike Polo in Los Angeles, 1930s.

Might be fun to see photographs taken these days from the same locations. Let us know if you take them.

Los Angeles Public Library Photo Archives.

Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

Girl on fixedgear/track bike. Photo: Joel Lingat 
I ran today, its one of my goals for 2012 to run much more. Ultimately I would like running to be as natural a choice of mode of transportation as cycling is today. Also I am on a bike, a spinning bike or real bike about twenty hours a week, some variation in my exercise regime is probably advisable.
And running is very much like cycling, you use your calves and hamstrings more when running, and the thigh somewhat less, you head is in a constant position, you only want to use power to move yourself forward, not up and down, not from side to side, just forward and away, it really has much of the same beauty of motion. I believe running and cycling to be very complementary to exercising your legs. Which is actually all besides the point.


Photo: Gary Harrison


Fixed gear bike play -
Photo: Laila GhambariI do enjoy to run on the treadmill during the winter,. At one of the gyms I attend, the treadmills  I use, face the parking lot and street. Everybody who visits the gym, passes by. two girls came on men’s road-bikes, which is not uncommon for girls between maybe 17 and 30 years old, and for good reason. Why, why, why, would a girl choose the inferior design of the woman bike, with the missing top-tube, which brings so much stability to the frame. No matter what material and no matter how thick the frame is, the women’s design never brings that feel good stiffness of a great men’s steel frame (…and yes I only ride steel).
You may argue, that the womens design is much more feminine, simply as it is the women’s frame.  Which I may tend to agree with
Still you got to respect the girls who makes the conscious preference and choice of a man´s frame. Even more so, when choosing a track hub, over a soft granny-bike, in lousy quality. Maybe its not as much if the women’s design is better or worse, more or less feminine as the clear message of the active conscious deliberations and final choice I like ;-)


Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

Before I begin, if you don´t live in Denmark or the Netherlands, you may feel that if only your city was as welcoming to bikes. On the other hand, if you live en many Southern European cities, where the municipality has had enough reason to conclude, that cars ruin the old city center, and have virtually banned cars inside the old city walls, you may not be so envious.
Copenhagen advertises it self as a bike-city, whatever that is, if you are a tourist and understood Danish, you would rightly be confused to notice that on most buildings in the city, small signs advertise the opposite; ”Cykler fjernes uden ansvar” Bikes are removed, no responsibility accepted”.  I bet you, more money went into these small signs, than into bike racks in the city. Strange thing is, it is not allowed to remove bikes from public spaces, unless they block fire exits. Even so, it is accepted by police and the city, to advertise this illegal threat. The Police, which publicly announces it could not care less about peoples bikes getting stolen, also condones getting rid of bikes that annoy you, for whatever (by the letter of the law) unjustified reason. Welcome to the City of bikes!
This has for some time made no sense to me. This last couple of weeks there has been some public debate about a rise in traffic tickets for bicyclists. Of course there is nothing wrong with ticketing traffic offenses, and of course now and again the price of the offense needs to be adjusted to the general pricing and earnings in society, to have any effect. The bicycle association claiming there should be some leeway when offenses did neither harm any victims nor interrupt other commuters in traffic.  In some instances, we al ready have such rules, for example if a bicyclist wants to turn left in a traffic light, you must cross to the opposite side, but does not need to wait for the light to change before completing the turn, as long as you are not interrupting the traffic going straight through the light. This is incidentally the opposite of what we teach children in school, because we are more occupied by keeping them alive, than having them to cross town fast., Which again is why many thinks bicyclists crosses red more often than we do, as most people will ot have noticed that you are completing a left turn, and not just crossing a red.
But why should cyclist not just obey the law, no matter the circumstances? Well, as long as the city is designed for cars and pedestrians, and all bicyclist lanes are tertiary to planning, often remedying solutions after the fact. Because we may call our city a bike city, but we are, and invest primarily in a car city.
·      30 times as much space is allocated for car parking, compared to bike parking.·      99% of traffic lights are planned for car traffic. How many lights in crossings would we need at all, if it was not for cars. When people frown upon pedestrians or cyclists, who decide to ignore a red, they often forget, the light is there because of cars, not to regulate pedestrians or bikes.·      In not one place do a bike path have right of way, when crossing or being crossed by car traffic, in 100% of all instances cars have right of way.·      To avoid cars killing bikes when turning left, the city hast started to make an extra traffic light for bicyclists, so we have to wait for red, while cars turn right, then we can proceed ten feet to the next light where we can wait again at red, before we can resume following the main road.·      In most cases bike lanes stops 50 feet before a traffic light, to make room for a right-turn lane for cars, a clear policy of the Copenhagen Police to prioritize car mobility and flow of traffic over bicyclist safety.·      Cars turning right are supposed to block the way of bicycles going straight or turning left. This means when the light changes the cars wait for the zebra crossing to clear for pedestrians, then the cars turning right will go, and only then is the road free for biccyles going straight across the light.·      In the Road Authority manuals on designing roads, cyclists are all but non-existent. Roads in Denmark are still designed out of a cars-speed-&-capacity paradigm only, sidewalks are always included from the then later in the planning process or after building the road, bike lanes are added. ·      When speed limits are set, the principle is the speed of which 85% of cars will travel by, had there been no speed limit. One might in stead expect primary use of a lethal weapon such as a car, to be considered after evaluating the soft traffic in the street, is it residential, is it primarily children families, is it a school or merchant street or a public transportation hub, what is the total use of the area, what is the intention rather than a car centric evaluation.·      Recently the city council voted to increase investments in parking further, as their analyses showed a lack of parking spaces in residential areas in the Inner city (Østerbro), which is correct if you do not include paid parking. The city assume its services to include whatever volume of free parking, the residents demand.·      Investments in car parking only since 2005 in Copenhagen, exceeds all investments related to bike infrastructure by a factor of 4!
I think much of the reason cyclists tend to break some of the rules in traffic, is that we are the majority group, we are legion, but we are treated as a minority, which the city try to make room for, try!
A fellow bicyle advocate,  recently wrote: “The day they put in the first bike path was the day cycling received its mortal wound. It took decades to take effect and it'll probably survive a few more years on life support, but unless cyclists are integrated, the dream is effectively over.”
I think he may be quite right, we need to change our paradigm of what city traffic is, and design our streets to the life we want in them, not the cars the Police wants in them.
The other major reason cyclists break the rules in Denmark, is that Danes are rather rude, no matter if we walk, bike, drive a car or a bus. We are unreasonable inconsiderate, and are more occupied about what we think are our rights, rather than to make room for safe travel for everybody. A really sad national characteristic, but its not specific to mode of transportation.

Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.