Recently returned from a European junket, the Doc Homebrew reported thus:

The cycling culture in Europe is so different and so much more progressive - lots more bikes on the road and most are for everyday transport. Didn't see a lycra-clad wannabe executive on a carbon-fibre road bike in my travels, but lots of people rugged up and pedaling their way to work or the shops on a range of 2-wheeled jalopies.

Photos of bikes locked up outside the Florence Duomo

The congestion tax in London has also had a big impact on reducing cars and increasing bike riding with lots of bike-only lanes built into the road network - its the sort of thing us Melb riders can only dream about!

And as I mentioned yesterday, F1 driver Mark Webber has noticed that the road culture "is different in Spain, in Italy and in the UK"

I can't really comment on the UK, but while in Italy last year I noticed that cyclists seem to get a fairer deal on the roads and I have two pet theories about this:

Pet theory 1

A picture of a Piaggio Ape

There is a wider range of vehicles on Italian roads. You certainly see plenty of motorbikes and scooters trundling around - they are everywhere. Italy is the home of the very small car from the FIAT 500 to the little German Smart cars - and let's not forget my very favourite: the Piaggio Ape - a three-wheeled cross between a truck and a motor scooter. Although there is a wide variety of vehicles on the road it was no surprise to see that hulking great 4WDs are quite rare (for starters, parking one in Rome or Florence or Milan would be a nightmare).

The good thing about this range of vehicles is that it broadens the scope of what can be considered a legitimate road vehicle, and bicycles (nearly as numerous as scooters) seem to be viewed just like any other vehicle with a right to be a part of the traffic. And the very numbers of bikes on the roads must contribute to the equality.

Pet theory 2

Italian drivers are not mad. Given the stereotype, you may want to read that again. No I don't think Italians go crazy behind the wheel - they are actually incredibly tolerant of each other on the roads. Italians seem to accept the sort of things from other drivers that would turn me into horn-honking, fist-shaking nutter. (However just because they are tolerant doesn't mean they're patient. Italian drivers may quietly go around the lunatic reversing the wrong way up a one-way street but the hand goes onto the horn the moment they are unnecessarily delayed.)

It's this tolerance that makes Italian drivers swerve into oncoming traffic in order to give a cyclist enough space and the approaching drivers will move over (just as they will expect others to make space when they need to divert around something or someone). I'm not saying this is a recipe for success (methinks the data would show that Italian roads aren't noticeably safer than anywhere else) but it demonstrates a level of respect for all road users and must surely make for more pleasant and generally safer cycling.

Conjecture

As Doc Homebrew observed, Italians seem to cycle more for utilitarian purposes than in Australia, where it is largely considered a form of exercise. The upshot of this is that a broader cross-section of Italians ride plain old clunkers just to get them (and often, the kids and shopping) from "A" to wherever they want to be. You can see stiffs in suits, old grannies, mums-with-kid(s), schoolkids - all sorts - out on bikes just getting somewhere.

So is there something in the view, recently proposed on Commute By Bike, that motorists show more respect to an average plonker on a treadly than to a slick dude kitted out in all the "roadie gear"? I don't think that applies much in Australia (where anyone on a bike is just a dickhead cyclist in my way!!!) But maybe it works in other places like Italy?

Or is it that at one time or another almost every Italian has ridden a bike around town? Certainly "driving like a cyclist" gives you a different perspective on the road.

Probably it's some combination of all the above and more (e.g. Italians in general are scrupulously polite - that could help). Whatever it is, I just wish we could bottle it and bring some of it here.

Greener grass?

But let's not get carried away. I'm sure Europe isn't entirely a cyclist utopia but at least there seems to be more of respect each way than we have between motorist and cyclist in Australia.

Comments

pedaller

I have often mused on the idea that motorisits don't understand cyclists and therefore lack empathy for them simply because they have missed out on cycling experiences as a child/young person. I'm not referring to the "child on a trike in the driveway" scenario but rather to young people using bicycles as transport to get to school, to visit friends etc.

Like you, I think being a cyclist makes one a better car driver. By extension then, people who spend years cycling on the road before getting a drivers' licence should also be better drivers earlier. Perhaps there is also a link between the increasing number of serious/fatal car accidents involving drivers under 25 and the reduction in young people cycling before they get a licence?

CogControl

I had a suspicion that wearing ordinary clothes means that you get hassled less, confirmed on talking this over with some 'roadie' mates, who unanimously agreed they get less hassle when not wearing lycra.

Doesnt seem to stop them wearing it though!

CC