IMPORTANCE

Today I came across an IMPORTANT person. As I approached a bakery, the IMPORTANT woman drove her car to the bakery and stopped near the entrance, so that her car was parked outside the marked parking spaces (IMPORTANT people don’t waste time with thinking about markings on the ground). I had to squeeze my bike through the tiny gap between the front of her car and a railing to get to the entrance of the bakery. The IMPORTANT woman didn’t show any reaction. She got out of the car, letting the lights on and the engine running, and entered the bakery to place her order unhurriedly. When she was done, she didn’t just reverse into the road – instead she made several cumbersome moves to turn her car on the bike path so that she could drive forwards into the road. It is fair to say that she tried to use every opportunity to show her IMPORTANCE (including blocking the way of the incoming bakery van).

I could go on for hours, pointing out that she demonstrates a way of living at other people’s expense, or asking how at all it is possible that someone using common sense can consider this behaviour acceptable, or talking about the devastating ecological consequences, but ... I’ll just hold my horses here. :-)

Our neighbours are always a step ahead

The Dutch government is planning to substitute the car tax by a fee which is paid per mile (starting 2012). All vehicles will be tracked by satellite. They think that the travelled distance will decrease and that more people will use public transport and bikes. I hope one of the bigger blogs picks up the subject soon. :-)

Addendum:
There it is. Read about the pros and cons of the new system here.

Admiring the view

If you go by bike you can always stop and have a look at your surroundings. I am living at the edge of town, so I’m quite close to nature.


I took this photo last summer, about 5 miles away from my home.

Another trap for cyclists

Today it dawned on me that the intersection above can be quite dangerous if you happen to be there at the wrong time (like me today). You can see that bikes have their own light which is still green (red arrow), while the pedestrian light has already turned red and even the yellow warning light (green arrow) has already stopped flashing. So if an inattentive right-turning driver has already passed his green light and not noticed the green bike light, he will probably turn right without thinking about cyclists, because the only light he can see is red (leading the driver to believe that there will be no one crossing the road). In my opinion there should be an additional bike light on the other side of the road – or at least the yellow warning light (which is supposed to let drivers know that there are pedestrians crossing) should continue flashing until the bike light is red, too.
Sorry for the big orange blotch, but I didn’t want to show the ugly advertisement on my blog.

German commuting statistics for 2008

The German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) has published the commuting statistics for 2008. In Germany 60 % of the commuters used a car to get to work in 2008. That’s the same percentage as 1996. Only 13 % used public transport. 8.3 % went by bike (only 0.9 % more than 1996) and 9.5 % walked to work.
If you look at the short distances under 10 km (6.2 miles) however, there is a little change visible. 17 % used their bike, far more than the 13.5 % of 1996.
Destatis concludes that overall German commuters don’t show much change in behaviour – despite rising petrol prices and climate change discussions. Most people are still driving, and that’s why the commuters are spending more and more time on the road.

They offer an English summary and a detailed German version on the web.

Bike gallery

Another one of those affordable De Vries bikes, this time a cream-coloured version. Probably not as durable as real Dutch bikes, but they are looking good.