I flicked through the channels the other day, hoping for something to watch, when I happened across Virgin 1, and the last couple of seconds before an ad-break of a programme called “In Harm’s Way” which seemed to have something to do with bikes. In the course of the commercials I was able to do a spot of research and discover that the programme was about people doing dangerous jobs. The jobs they featured included the obviously risky war photography, oil well cappers, and Alaskan coast guards, but also Boston bike messengers (or “couriers” in proper English). I’m not debating that riding a bike all day in any large city puts you at risk, but does it really qualify as a dangerous job in the way that taking photographs in a war-zone does, for example. The programme featured the couriers riding fast and often not in-line with the traffic laws and therefore ending up in danger. That would be like the oil well capper deciding to do it while smoking, or the Coast Guard dressing in swimming trunks for the Alaskan weather. Some of the couriers even fell off. Still, I guess it’s good to know that those of us who can ride a bike in traffic are seen as exciting and dangerous, I may even cultivate some sort of reckless hairstyle to support it.
In other places the debate about making cities safer tor cycling is continuing, with everyone deciding that the grass is greener on the other side of some sea or other. New York has decided that what they need is to be as good as London, and London needs to do it on the scale of Copenhagen. Ultimately there seems to be a hierarchy of cycling cities and Copenhagen is consistently the nirvana of urban cycling. I think this might be all about to change if Bristol manages to take things a step further with a bike lift to avoid the trouble of climbing hills. Riding a bike around a city without having to actually ride a bike, and also having to wait for a lift to get anywhere, now, obviously, that’s proper cycling.
A
No comments:
Post a Comment