Hi. Welcome to the blog for my IB English B class at Jur Hronec High School in Bratislava, Slovakia. Below you will find links to other websites and discussion questions. My students are required to comment on one of these postings every month and also respond to each other's comments. Feel free to add your two bits, but be aware that all comments are monitored before being posted.
How safe do you feel as a pedestrian or
cyclist in Bratislava?Would the
changes made in Sweden and in my home state (Minnesota) work here?How can cities encourage more people to
walk or bicycle?
I find this topic very interesting and accurate. Nowadays cycling is becoming more and more popular, so there are more cyclists on our roads than before. That also means there is higher probability of accidents caused by cyclists. I really liked the point, where was written about education for cyclists. I think that many people just grab their bicycles and go. And that’s dangerous for them just like for us. I consider it essential for everybody to know about street safety. Furthermore I think police should pay more attention to drunk cyclists, not just to check drivers of motor vehicles, because there are many accidents caused by cyclists that result into a big crash.
Another important part about safety for cyclistsis cycling paths. In Sweden they have barriers which separate bikes from cars and they have extensive cycle path networks. Sweden is internationally known as a country for cyclists, that’s why cyclists all over the world go to Sweden on their holidays. However, I can say, that lately there have been built quite a many cycling paths in Slovakia, too. They are mostly built in nature. It’s nice. People can go on trips and enjoy our beautiful mountains, tarns and other natural beauties. But I consider it important to have more of them inside the cities. It’s because many people are in the city every day. More than they are in nature. They work there, they go shopping there and a big part of them live there. It’s true that there were recently built new roads for cyclist in Bratislava, for example before Eurovea, but I would be glad if there would be more of them, not just a few built before elections.
To be honest, I do not feel safe as both pedestrian and cyclist in Bratislava. As a pedestrian, not once I have had to jump back from the pedestrian crossing because someone has decided not to stop his car on the red light. Additionally, a lot of pedestrian crossings on the big crossroads are organised in a way that some of the lanes go together with pedestrians, thus crossing the road depends on the pedestrian’s speed or driver’s kindness. Moreover, I have recently had few opportunities to travel home by bicycle. I need to say, that I felt quite safe on the roadside. However, sometimes the roadsides just did not appear and some of the cars were overtaking me with so little distance between us that I saw myself in the wing mirror. Furthermore, a lot of them were driving so fast, that I always felt endangered when they were passing by. For this reason, I completely agree with what was said in the article. I find the number 270.000 of pedestrians being killed every year, according to World Health Organisation, alarming. I think the actions such as Vision Zero should become natural and same everywhere. Not just in Sweden and some of cities in the United States. I know a lot of my relatives who would like to cycle to school or work, but they feel uncomfortably and unsafe on the road. It is sad that people who walk or cycle are disadvantaged and discouraged instead of being motivated to do so. In addition, if there are more people walking and cycling there will be less traffic jams and also as America’s organisations for walking said: less emissions and healthier people. That is why I feel it similarly as Katherine Kraft, America Walks’ National Coalition Director. We need to create such a conditions for pedestrians that they will feel comfortable and safe. Moreover, this should apply also to cyclists. In my opinion, it will cause a chain reaction and more and more people will walk or cycle. Unfortunately, another article by “Cyklokoalícia”, Slovak civic association for cyclists, says that there were only 1,42 kilometres of cycle routes built in Bratislava in 2013. So the next point we really need to improve is planning. There must be more cycle routes built and pedestrians and cyclists should be separated from cars.
I definitely can agree with Henrich. As he mentioned in his comment cyclist in Slovakia do not have satisfactory conditions to feel safe during their ride near speeding cars, giving insufficient distances between car and bicycle. The same with pedestrians. They feel endangered by irresponsible drivers who not infrequently do not give them priority to cross a pedestrian crossing. This year I was in Munich and commute by bicycle for more than 10 day every morning. It did not happen once to me that I would feel unsafe or vulnerable. In my opinion new cycle routs should be built immediately and organizations should be established as soon as possible otherwise the alarming number of accidents will not decrease.
Firstly, I would like to say that I feel quite safe as a pedestrian. If you walk on the pavements, nothing should happen to you. Moreover, if you cross the street when the light is green, you should not be in danger. Or at least if a car ran over you while doing so, the insurance company would compensate you for the losses. However, and this is a very important fact, the deaths on roads are not necessarily caused by reckless drivers but also by careless pedestrians. They are usually people who have never driven a car so they cannot even imagine how difficult it is to stop a car 20m before the pedestrian crossing when a pedestrian walks onto it without watching out for cars. I can say it because I am a motorist and I have some experience with driving and pedestrians. That is why I really agree with the idea of teaching street safety in schools. It could make children more responsible. As the text talks a bit about motorists too, I have to say I think the drivers are not that reckless. For example, when cars pass me, they usually leave a proper gap between us what is ordered by the law. Therefore, pedestrians should not always complain only about the drivers because most of them do not really want to cause any harm.
Secondly, I do not think that changes like improved crosswalks, narrowed streets, lowered urban speed limits and barriers that separate cars from bikes and pedestrians which were made in Sweden would actually work or be possible in Bratislava. Bratislava streets are quite narrow and building another cycling lane and a barrier would reduce the car lanes which would mean more cars in a small place – traffic jams. And those are good neither for drivers, nor for pedestrians. Moreover, I consider believing that the amount of cars would decrease after such changes a non-sense. What I would like to point out is that there already are some cycling lanes around the city but seriously I have not noticed many bicyclists using them. That is why I consider building such infrastructures useless. The city lacks much more important things than cycling lanes, for example a proper train station, for what the money could be used more effectively. And when talking about lowering urban speed limits, if the police were not measuring the speed there regularly, drivers would still break the rules. In addition, speed limit of 50km/h seems alright to me.
Lastly, there is a huge difference between the thinking of Slovaks and Western Europeans. That is the main reason why the number of deaths on roads in Slovakia could be reduced very slowly and difficultly in comparison with Sweden. The desire to do so must come from the people and I have a feeling that we are not on such a level yet. Thus maybe such changes will be possible in several years when we “grow up”.
This is a comment by Rebeka Zanechalova:
ReplyDeleteI find this topic very interesting and accurate. Nowadays cycling is becoming more and more popular, so there are more cyclists on our roads than before. That also means there is higher probability of accidents caused by cyclists. I really liked the point, where was written about education for cyclists. I think that many people just grab their bicycles and go. And that’s dangerous for them just like for us. I consider it essential for everybody to know about street safety. Furthermore I think police should pay more attention to drunk cyclists, not just to check drivers of motor vehicles, because there are many accidents caused by cyclists that result into a big crash.
Another important part about safety for cyclistsis cycling paths. In Sweden they have barriers which separate bikes from cars and they have extensive cycle path networks. Sweden is internationally known as a country for cyclists, that’s why cyclists all over the world go to Sweden on their holidays. However, I can say, that lately there have been built quite a many cycling paths in Slovakia, too. They are mostly built in nature. It’s nice. People can go on trips and enjoy our beautiful mountains, tarns and other natural beauties. But I consider it important to have more of them inside the cities. It’s because many people are in the city every day. More than they are in nature. They work there, they go shopping there and a big part of them live there. It’s true that there were recently built new roads for cyclist in Bratislava, for example before Eurovea, but I would be glad if there would be more of them, not just a few built before elections.
To be honest, I do not feel safe as both pedestrian and cyclist in Bratislava. As a pedestrian, not once I have had to jump back from the pedestrian crossing because someone has decided not to stop his car on the red light. Additionally, a lot of pedestrian crossings on the big crossroads are organised in a way that some of the lanes go together with pedestrians, thus crossing the road depends on the pedestrian’s speed or driver’s kindness.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, I have recently had few opportunities to travel home by bicycle. I need to say, that I felt quite safe on the roadside. However, sometimes the roadsides just did not appear and some of the cars were overtaking me with so little distance between us that I saw myself in the wing mirror. Furthermore, a lot of them were driving so fast, that I always felt endangered when they were passing by.
For this reason, I completely agree with what was said in the article. I find the number 270.000 of pedestrians being killed every year, according to World Health Organisation, alarming. I think the actions such as Vision Zero should become natural and same everywhere. Not just in Sweden and some of cities in the United States. I know a lot of my relatives who would like to cycle to school or work, but they feel uncomfortably and unsafe on the road. It is sad that people who walk or cycle are disadvantaged and discouraged instead of being motivated to do so.
In addition, if there are more people walking and cycling there will be less traffic jams and also as America’s organisations for walking said: less emissions and healthier people. That is why I feel it similarly as Katherine Kraft, America Walks’ National Coalition Director. We need to create such a conditions for pedestrians that they will feel comfortable and safe. Moreover, this should apply also to cyclists. In my opinion, it will cause a chain reaction and more and more people will walk or cycle. Unfortunately, another article by “Cyklokoalícia”, Slovak civic association for cyclists, says that there were only 1,42 kilometres of cycle routes built in Bratislava in 2013. So the next point we really need to improve is planning. There must be more cycle routes built and pedestrians and cyclists should be separated from cars.
I definitely can agree with Henrich. As he mentioned in his comment cyclist in Slovakia do not have satisfactory conditions to feel safe during their ride near speeding cars, giving insufficient distances between car and bicycle. The same with pedestrians. They feel endangered by irresponsible drivers who not infrequently do not give them priority to cross a pedestrian crossing. This year I was in Munich and commute by bicycle for more than 10 day every morning. It did not happen once to me that I would feel unsafe or vulnerable. In my opinion new cycle routs should be built immediately and organizations should be established as soon as possible otherwise the alarming number of accidents will not decrease.
DeleteFirstly, I would like to say that I feel quite safe as a pedestrian. If you walk on the pavements, nothing should happen to you. Moreover, if you cross the street when the light is green, you should not be in danger. Or at least if a car ran over you while doing so, the insurance company would compensate you for the losses. However, and this is a very important fact, the deaths on roads are not necessarily caused by reckless drivers but also by careless pedestrians. They are usually people who have never driven a car so they cannot even imagine how difficult it is to stop a car 20m before the pedestrian crossing when a pedestrian walks onto it without watching out for cars. I can say it because I am a motorist and I have some experience with driving and pedestrians. That is why I really agree with the idea of teaching street safety in schools. It could make children more responsible. As the text talks a bit about motorists too, I have to say I think the drivers are not that reckless. For example, when cars pass me, they usually leave a proper gap between us what is ordered by the law. Therefore, pedestrians should not always complain only about the drivers because most of them do not really want to cause any harm.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I do not think that changes like improved crosswalks, narrowed streets, lowered urban speed limits and barriers that separate cars from bikes and pedestrians which were made in Sweden would actually work or be possible in Bratislava. Bratislava streets are quite narrow and building another cycling lane and a barrier would reduce the car lanes which would mean more cars in a small place – traffic jams. And those are good neither for drivers, nor for pedestrians. Moreover, I consider believing that the amount of cars would decrease after such changes a non-sense. What I would like to point out is that there already are some cycling lanes around the city but seriously I have not noticed many bicyclists using them. That is why I consider building such infrastructures useless. The city lacks much more important things than cycling lanes, for example a proper train station, for what the money could be used more effectively. And when talking about lowering urban speed limits, if the police were not measuring the speed there regularly, drivers would still break the rules. In addition, speed limit of 50km/h seems alright to me.
Lastly, there is a huge difference between the thinking of Slovaks and Western Europeans. That is the main reason why the number of deaths on roads in Slovakia could be reduced very slowly and difficultly in comparison with Sweden. The desire to do so must come from the people and I have a feeling that we are not on such a level yet. Thus maybe such changes will be possible in several years when we “grow up”.