Category Archives: Well done!
E-Rickshaws: The Start-Up Helping The Marginalized In India
Fugir és delicte
The Highway Projects That Almost Destroyed Copenhagen
Why Oil Doesn’t Corrupt Norway
Vision Zero project
The Vision Zero project aims at reducing, even avoiding, all the victims in road accidents. This massive utopia was considered so in the end of the last century. Some saw it as an impossible target, but sometimes the apparently impossible ideas are the brightest ones. Crashes in streets cause thousands of injured and killed cyclers and pedestrians around the world and brave politicians have wanted to change things.
Take for example the case of Oslo (Norway). They started talking about the Vision Zero project back in 1997 and although politicians supported an awareness campaign, the message which started so was thought reminiscently. As time went by, even the most skeptical believed in such a powerful idea. As a result, Oslo experienced the impressive figure of zero deaths of bikers and pedestrians in crashes in 2019. Only one car driver died in the streets at that year. Just for comparisons, 41 people died in crashes in Oslo in 1975. While most of cities around the world have been increasing died cyclers and pedestrians in the last decades, Oslo as well as Pontevedra have diminished until zero such figures.
How has it been possible? The key point in the Vision Zero project constitutes urban planning to which political will is needed above all. The axiom is clear: the essential responsibility of crashes is due to the system general design. No matter which political party govern Oslo, strategic actions towards the Vision Zero project have been constantly produced. Gradual reduction of cars speeds, thousands of parking spots removal, sidewalks widen, public transport support and lots of bike lines constitute clear examples of steps in the right direction which Oslo has implemented. However, the most shocking measure was car banning, even electric cars, in downtown. As conscientious politicians claim, such initiatives looked for citizens benefit and specially bikers, pedestrian and local business.
To sum up, the Vision Zero project wants to diminish and eradicate deaths of bikers and pedestrians in crashes by taking off space to cars and giving it to people.
Ciclosferia
It seems quite odd the fact that there has not been celebrated an offline exhibition on urban biking in Spain so far. It is not so strange the fact that the chosen city to host it is Valencia because of the promotion of this urban movement as it comes to the development of cyclist infrastructures and local laws among others in the last years. The jointed effort of Ciclosfera and the Valencia council, as well as bike stores, brands and workshops, will make it possible. As a result, the Ciclosferia will take place in Valencia, Spain, from 13th to 15th of May 2022.
The shed number 2 in the Valencian La Marina has more than 4,500 squared meters. All this surface will be covered by bike brand stands and everybody will be able to test dozens of bicycles from e-bikes and traditional bicycles to hybrid ones and cargobikes. Besides, circuits, activities for children, raffles, food trucks and concerts guarantee amazing days for bike users next to the Mediterranean see. I almost forget it: It is totally free. A perfect scenario to discover the present and future mobility. A feast in order to spend the day, eat and pedal, enjoy confidently that everything, mobility, health, entertainment and efficiency, goes through bikes.