Danish Ambassador: In Britain, cycling is only for the few

I like the comment from Mr Ambassador about how it's safe in London because the traffic is slow. After 20 years commuting in London and 6 years now in Liverpool I can certainly say that smaller cities have more people driving at speed.

Our neighbourhood has wide straight residential roads perfect for safe cycling but almost completely devoid of bicycles. Instead they're full of the residents travelling at 40-45 mph in a 30mph whilst bemoaning the fact that it's "too dangerous" for their kids to cycle to school. The irony is totally lost on them.

I'm eagerly awaiting the proposed 20mph speed limits and the gradual sharing of the roads that the new speed limit will eventually bring. It may take until 2020 to work but the change is coming.

@don_don

I'm neither elitist nor bigoted (I don't think you know what that word really means, by the way). Read the first bit of my post. This is about density of population and traffic and overall size, and how a city works. This is where London is vastly different. Copenhagen and Amsterdam are small by comparison - no, they haven't changed, they are, SIGH, fundamentally different (and smaller) urban areas, hence the (hopefully slightly ironic) allusion to villages. Why bring in Paris, New York and Bogota? What do they have to do with the article or comments? But okay, while we're there, Paris is a fucking nightmare to ride in, probably worse than London. But Bogota?? Er, is it great to ride in? Dunno, never been there. But hey, what about Anchorage while we're at it. Or Moscow?

You sound like a well-meaning person but just sanctimonious, churning out insults about ignorant nonsense etc. And it's not just about political will. There are practicalities involved. And what is your 98% based on? You're saying that over 55,000,000 think that cycling is too hard even if you take care? I think you've been watching too much of Lance Armstrong and making stuff up.

And she's probably correct in view of the fact that there 55 million fewer people in Denmark than in the UK and a higher proportion probably ride a bike. It's also true that Denmark has a population density of 130 per sq km against the UK's 257; London has a particular issue with 4760 per sq km, but hey, why shouldn't we be like Denmark? We have a RIGHT to be like Denmark.

Ok, enough of this silly debate. It's becoming tedious. Go Dutch? Move to Holland. Want to cycle like you can cycle in Copenhagen? Move to Copenhagen. London - and many other parts of the UK as other posters point out - but especially London, is never going to be like Amsterdam or Copenhagen. It was set out centuries ago and hasn't changed much in terms of street layout. It's sprawling, it's huge, it's very busy. Amsterdam and Copenhagen are villages in comparison. It has too many people in it even to walk around easily, never mind ride. Aspire to cycle around towns, fine, it's not that hard provided you take care like Ms Steffensen, but don't bitch on with the I'm-a-saint-'cos-I-ride-a-fuckin'-bike-and-everywhere-has-to-put-bikes-first militant brigade, because it's belligerently impractical.

@bikecellar - seconded on potholes. It's a problem everywhere. For my taxpaid money, local authorities should spend dosh on fixing roads and making them good, safe surfaces that cyclists can depend on (and so keep your eyes on the traffic) rather than spend it on blue-coloured (sorry, London centric again...) cycle routes and other gimmicks.

London, London, London, London, London...why do I get the feeling her comments about riding in 'Britain' are really just about riding in LONDON.

The Danish ambassador is not wrong. As someone who attended the 'Love London, go Dutch' event I did think there were some interesting eye openers. The presentations were good for the most part and I learned some good pointers from the round table sessions.

But some of the 'good' examples of cycling infrastructure the event revealed were anything but. The innovative cycle rack for instance may have taken up little space, but its flimsy construction and the compact space it left for each bike meant it was by no means secure. I pointed out how flawed it was to the proud team presenting it, and probably upset them into the bargain.

And even when I arrived and wanted to lock up my bike, the organisers said I could lock up my bike in the basement garage, but the guy there said he had no knowledge of this so I went back round the front. The organisers at the front then said they'd ensure he was informed but I said I wasn't a keen tennis player and would just lock my bike to the railing instead, since the bicycle rack so thoughtfully provided, was useless.