Ask a Dane about bicycle safety

If there is a heaven for bicyclists it would certainly look like Denmark

In recent years the City of Charlottetown has really tried to promote bicycle riding.

Many streets such as North River Road have painted lines showing lanes for bicycles, other streets like Fitzroy Street simply have bicycles painted on the pavement, presumably to indicate the cyclists have rights on the road too.

The city has even recently hired the consultant firm CBCL to tell the city how they can improve conditions for bike riders so more people can use this healthy and environmentally friendly means of transportation.

They could have asked a Dane, or taken a bicycle vacation to Copenhagen. If there is a heaven for bicyclists it would look like Denmark. In downtown Copenhagen, every street has a 6 to 8 feet wide dedicated bike lane in each direction, separated from both sidewalk and street with solid granite curbs.

At intersections dedicated miniature traffic lights directs the bikers.

In the countryside with more space available the bike paths are typically completely separated from the road with a wide strip of grass, and where there are opportunities the path will take you through pleasant woods, away from the noise and smell of cars.

People have been biking en masse in Denmark for 100 years, and we can’t expect Charlottetown citizens to suddenly act like Danes.

There is also a lot more snow and ice here on P.E.I., not conducive to bike riding. However, while the city efforts at promoting bike riding are commendable, they do not really do the job.

Painting lines on the road just gives bike riders a false sense of security with plenty of opportunities for a fatal accident.

At North River Road, the sidewalks are used very little, so a much safer bike path could be created at no cost by simply dedicating the sidewalk at one side to bikes.

There are many other little used sidewalks in the suburbs that could be better used as bike paths or a combination of bike and foot path, as is the case with the rail to trail path.

And let us not forget the pedestrians. The recent infestation of roundabouts may be great for cars, but they make crossings for pedestrians and bikers much more dangerous and are not suitable for downtown. Otherwise we would probably already have seen a roundabout constructed at the much talked about Pond and Queen Street intersection.

Again, the city should be commended for taking the traffic problem there seriously, but to me tearing down houses is an expensive and unsustainable method for solving traffic problems. Looking to the Danes, they would have solved the problem with an elevated crosswalk, essentially a really wide speed bump, with the elevated crosswalk constructed with a different material than asphalt like cobblestones or pavers.

A cheaper local solution would be four-way stop signs. Traffic lights would cost almost the same as buying and tearing down the house, but would create a much safer crossing for pedestrians and maintain one of the many houses that define this particular stretch of Queen Street.