In many countries it is illegal to carry a passenger on a bike. Not here.
Carrying a passenger on a bike is legal in this country, and very common. Those who've been doing this since childhood have a very relaxed way of hopping onto a friend's bike as the lights change, which is what you'll see in the video.
A great way of transporting a friend who for some reason doesn't have their bike with them.
It's worth pointing out that at this junction, as is always the case at well designed junctions in the Netherlands, when cyclists have a green light to go straight on, car drivers wishing to turn right have a red light. As such, there's no chance at all of a driver to your left running you over as you do this.
There are many products available to help you safely carry all kinds of objects on bicycles, including younger and older children.
At work, in the yard where we all park our bikes (in Manchester), someone has abandoned an old bike with a built in seat at the front - identical to one I saw in a documentary about the Hindenburg disaster - ie in use in 1930s Germany.
ReplyDeleteBit of a disgression: as teenagers in my native Peru in the 70s, we would load up to 4 of us on each bike (just as well, since not all of us could afford one) to go to the park, shops or just hang around. We were even known to tow a go-kart with 2 more lads in it.
It's worth pointing out that at this junction, as is always the case at junctions in the Netherlands, when cyclists have a green light to go straight on, car drivers wishing to turn right have a red light. As such, there's no chance at all of a driver to your left running you over as you do this.
ReplyDeleteThe part about it being always the case at junctions in the Netherlands is far from the truth, unfortunately. I live in The Hague and the opposite seems to be the norm. The green light to turn right comes on at the same time as the green light for the bikes to cross and it is up to the driver to make sure no bikes are passing. It is rather dangerous for the bikers and can get quite frustrating for drivers at a busy junction.
mitsaras: Thanks for your response to this now rather old blog post. You're right and I've edited the post above to reflect what you've said. While the well designed road junctions remove conflict, there are unfortunately still quite a lot of poorly designed junctions remaining in the Netherlands. Not here in Assen where all the bad designs have been eliminated, but certainly in Den Haag. Those designs bring much the same danger as the poor design used in Copenhagen.
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