Nine million bicycles
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According to Katie Melua, there are nine million bicycles in Beijing. I've never been to Beijing, and even if I had, I doubt I'd have the time or inclination to find out if that is true. I have, however, been to Cambridge. Cambridge is a university town in East Anglia, England, where people presumably go to ride bicycles. While perhaps some way off Beijing's tally, there are thousands of them in Cambridge. And each one is apparently piloted by one of the most fearless cyclists in the world.
Cambridge is a fair distance from Coventry. On a good day, with no traffic, it takes about two hours to drive straight to it. I don't recall ever going there before. This week, however, I had to visit a potential client there for work, so my colleague and I made the trip. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, getting there was straightforward. The difficulties came when we had to find somewhere to park. Cambridge isn't a very accommodating place if you need to leave a car somewhere. It's only a little more conducive if you need to drive one.
The centre of Cambridge is a maze of narrow streets, several of which are wide enough only for a single vehicle at a time. It's a busy town with a lot of traffic. It's understandable why bicycles would be preferable. According to the 2001 census, 25% of Cambridge residents own and use bicycles instead of cars. They're everywhere. While hunting for a parking space, we passed numerous houses or offices with front 'gardens' that were literally a tangled mess of dozens of bicycles with room for nothing else.
But it's the bicycles with riders on them that are the real problem. They stop for nothing. A car could be driving along the road and a cyclist will happily cut in front of them or whiz across the road. While trying to reverse the car during our brief visit, my colleague had to dodge at least half a dozen separate cyclists who simply ignored the fact the car was moving and rode around behind it, mere inches away. Drivers in the centre of Cambridge must be nervous wrecks after a typical journey and the local garages must do a roaring trade in brake pads.
Pedestrians are not much safer. While typically needing to be conscious of cars when crossing roads, in Cambridge it is necessary to look out for bicycles too. Even the pavements aren't safe. The fact that you are walking in a straight line in an area designated for pedestrians serves only as a minor inconvenience to a cyclist. You become an obstacle to weave around, cut up or, sometimes, to ride through, but regardless, your existence makes you to blame for whatever ensues.
Ordinarily I'm a fan of cyclists. I haven't cycled myself for many years because the roads in Coventry are too dangerous and congested with cars, but I'm all in favour of cycling in general if it reduces the traffic, improves the health of the rider and is better for the environment. Cambridge, however, might not be the best example of it in practice. In any other place I've been in, the cyclists fear the drivers. In Cambridge, the drivers fear the cyclists. And the thousands of cyclists seem to fear nothing.