Culture is not just about the Arts, but about the way we live. When I was out for a walk with Monkey a few days ago I saw these signs and was reminded of a difference between the British & Finnish everyday cultures..
Almost every street in Urban Finland allows for cyclists. They are well tolerated on the roads and well catered for with cycle paths, too. The majority are either alongside a footpath or shared (as these signs indicate) with pedestrians and everyone respects each other's space.
Pedestrians and cyclists keep to the right hand side of the path and cyclist can (normally) safely overtake pedestrians without fear of them suddenly leaping to the left! On a narrow footpath a simple ring of the bell elicits a jump or step to the right to allow safe passage.
Pedestrians and cyclists keep to the right hand side of the path and cyclist can (normally) safely overtake pedestrians without fear of them suddenly leaping to the left! On a narrow footpath a simple ring of the bell elicits a jump or step to the right to allow safe passage.
No-one feels a sense of ownership, there is no feeling of "I was here first" or "you have no right to be on the pavement". Footpath users, whether on foot on on wheels, simply get along with each other, allowing safe passage for all.
I am often reminded of an experience in Leicester where this was NOT the case and even now, years later, my blood pressure still rises when I think of it. Petty, maybe, but I had the right of way and I was the one on the receiving end of the abuse!
There are three crossings within a 100m stretch of a main road into the city centre. The middle one of these crossing is for cyclists ONLY, the other two being pedestrian crossings. The cycle crossing was clearly divided into two lanes with only a picture of a bicycle in each lane... oriented to be the right way up in the correct lane. So, as I entered the crossing on my bicycle, at some speed (as I was in a dedicated cycle lane and therefore safe to do so) I came face to face with a pedestrian in the middle of the road, in my lane. He stood firm, causing me to brake and swerve and as I passed him he pointed to the bicycle painted in the other lane and "suggested" that that's where I should be...
I was not about to stop in the middle of the road to point out the bicycle was upside down or that it was, in fact, a bicycle and NOT a pedestrian. Neither did I want to further taint his obvious mistrust of anyone on two wheels by shouting the abuse that was on the tip of my tongue but I fumed the whole of the rest of my journey and the adrenaline meant an earlier than normal arrival!
In general in UK, cyclists are still regarded as pests, an inconvenience to other road and footpath users. In Finland they are generally respected and even envied as they enjoy swift and healthy transport in good weather. There are even folk who choose to cycle year round, fitting spiked tyres in winter! I have on friend here who cycles 9 km (5.6 miles) each way to & from work everyday, regardless of blazing sun or freezing snow.
The Finnish attitude to cyclists is just one example of their general attitude to others.
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That was originally written last Autumn, but as is my way, I never published it!
Now I am cycling on a regular basis and really enjoying it.
I think I will be a fair weather cyclist, so not much more than a month til it gets too cold but in the meantime, it's getting me from A to B and saving me time & money!
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I'm really bad at this blogging thing...
I popped in a while ago and corrected a couple of errors in this piece and somehow took it off the page! Well, now I'm publishing it again... updated & corrected.
