Survey says roads feel too dangerous for cycling

[mjr]

Easier to blame the false risk than it is to admit that the real problem is cycling can be quite hard, hills go up, rain comes down, and the wind blows, cars are warm and dry inside, and have built in gravity eliminators.
Why is cycling more popular in Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Cambridge, than it is in Edinburgh?

More people cycling, fewer of them claiming "cycling can be quite hard [...] cars are warm and dry" or that you need to do 14mph average with 20mph sprint to be a beginner, and more of them telling politicians that road designs and so on can be better, leading to improvements (although sometimes very slowly as politicians are among the least likely to cycle and officers often come from other places unfamiliar with mass cycling).

 

[GilesM]

More people cycling, fewer of them claiming "cycling can be quite hard [...] cars are warm and dry" or that you need to do 14mph average with 20mph sprint to be a beginner, and more of them telling politicians that road designs and so on can be better, leading to improvements

If I understand your post correctly (it's not exactly clear) the answer I was thinking of was more hills, and worse weather.

(although sometimes very slowly as politicians are among the least likely to cycle and officers often come from other places unfamiliar with mass cycling).

I agree, our local MSP recently backed a campaign for a rather pointless cycle path (nothing against it myself, just prefer the money to be used for a more useful one), very dangerous roads were given as his reason, so I asked the MSP to come for a bike ride with me to see if the roads were actually dangerous, he declined, I even offered to lend him a bike, he declined again.

 

[mjr]

If I understand your post correctly (it's not exactly clear) the answer I was thinking of was more hills, and worse weather.

Worse weather?!?!? I've rarely been as soaked as cycling in Denmark in August! Amsterdam does a nice line in freezing and wind, too.

Hills is true for those, but is it a significant factor? If so, why haven't ebikes changed things much? If so, why are Trondheim, Montreal, Barcelona and Ljubljana routinely in lists of top cycling cities?

 

[GilesM]

Worse weather?!?!? I've rarely been as soaked as cycling in Denmark in August! Amsterdam does a nice line in freezing and wind, too.

The nice thing about Edinburgh weather is you get the rain and freezing wind together.

Hills is true for those, but is it a significant factor? If so, why haven't ebikes changed things much? If so, why are Trondheim, Montreal, Barcelona and Ljubljana routinely in lists of top cycling cities?

The ebike is more expensive, and lots of people in Edinburgh live in flats in old buildings, no lifts, ebikes are not much fun to carry up four floors, and you still get wet and cold on an ebike.

I've just been out for a lunch time ride, the wind is currently howling, really strong, I nearly didn't go for that reason, and I love riding my bike.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I had my worst close pass for a long time yesterday, I now ride mainly off road but have to get to & from bridleways/byways etc. out with my 7 year old grandson, we'd managed to do 6.5 miles off road & only had 1 mile to get home to do. There's a footpath so my grandson rides on that I was riding on the road, maybe I wasn't paying enough attention & keeping my eye on him, normally when I go through the pedestrian refuges I tend to take a very primary position, but this time I clearly hadn't gone over far enough to deter this Volvo estate he was Jesus H Christ close, he shocked me that much I didn't get his reg..