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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.
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Emergency-bike
Most of people think about bicycles as the traditional vehicle in which one person rides in order to move herself from point A to point B. But a bike can be utilized for a myriad of uses from cargo bikes to emergency-bike. As time goes by, cities are becoming more a more bike and pedestrian friendly. However, in some cases when an emergency vehicle is needed, it can found it difficult to move in labyrinthine areas like downtown. In such cases, bicycles are ideal to move fast on them since the small space it needs as well as its versatility make it an ideal way of transport.
Paris is a beautiful city which has been opting for promoting the bike use among its citizens and tourists. They faced the problem of health emergencies with the innovative idea of the emergency-bike. It consists in a modified cargo bike with the essential equipment for doctors to save lives. Moreover, the project took place with the involvement of the Parisian emergency service, thus they gave engineers the medical perspective. As a result, this bike counts on a 150 capacity liters special storage compartment in which to carry medical supplies, a 140 dB horn, a high intensity, blue LED light, anti-flat tires, a GPS unit and one USB port. What is more, an electrical motor makes it easy and fast moving with the emergency-bike. Indeed, saving a life is a matter of time as every minute a patient does not get care by a doctor, the life expectancy is reduced by a 10%. As a result, the two 500 Wh batteries of the emergency-bike fulfills this need.
On the other hand, the implication of health professionals is essential. At the beginning, engineers made lots of prototypes with the advice of medical staff. Going step by step, they finally created the emergency-bike. Precisely the health workers involvement allowed the emergency-bike to be used from day one because it comply with their needs. Furthermore, studies have been made on the emergency-bike use concluding that doctors take care of patients twice as fast as cars and they attend the double of daily medical interventions thank to this bicycle.
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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.
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Thomas Stevens
Thomas Stevens (1854 – 1935) is known for being the first documented person in riding a round-the-world-tour. He started this amazing trip with some socks, a spare shirt, a raincoat, a sleeping bag and a revolver as baggage on the 22nd April 1884.
His family migrated from Berkhamsted, UK, to the USA when he was a child. So early, he came into contact with a bicycle in San Francisco. The very first year of his fabulous trip, he bought a black, nickel wheels, 50 inches Columbia Standard bike on which he left Sacramento to the East of the USA. However, he encountered serious difficulties such as lack of roads which made him to walk for more than one third of the 6,000 kilometers until he arrived in Boston on the 4th of August. For these four months after the first riding, he enjoyed large parts of the country which he did not know at all as well as interesting persons, particularly the native Americans.
But he did not stop here. He spent Winter in New York and then embarked to Liverpool in the Spring of 1885. On 4th of May, hundreds of people said goodbye to him in the Edge Hill church. Then, he crossed the English Channel in order to pedal on France, Austria, Hungary, the Balkans and Turkey. He rested in Istanbul and continued to Anatolia, Armenia, Kurdistan, Iran and Iraq. Even if the Thomas Stevens adventure was covered in newspapers, he still faced problems. He was denied a permission to travel on Siberia, was expelled from Afghanistan which obliged him to detour to cross the Red Sea and had troubles of having to explain himself in China. As a result of this last point, he was almost lynched since Chinese people confounded him with a French man (at that time France was in war).
Finally, he crossed the Japan Sea and took a ship to California where he was received as a hero. Yet, his impressive life continued as he formed part of the Henry Morton Stanley team to explore the East Africa and became the manager of the Garrick theater in London.