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I bike to work in New York, and I've biked around Berlin, and I would say New York still has a way to go before it catches up with Berlin. The problem that New

I bike to work in New York, and I've biked around Berlin, and I would say New York still has a way to go before it catches up with Berlin. The problem that New York faces is that it is embedded in USA society, so it has to face some issues that are not about bikes, but effect bikes. An example would be the reasons people use bike helmets. No one uses bike helmets in Berlin, because Berlin is safe for bicycles, and that is partly due to the respect that cars and trucks show to bikers. In the USA, car culture is stronger, and car drivers are much more aggressive. I've gotten into the equivalent of tug-of-war situations with taxis, trying to exercise my right to turn, when they want to turn in the opposite direction: the taxi drivers are willing to use the vast bulk of their car in a threatening manner. You never see that in Berlin. In New York City, one is justified wearing a helment, and one would be justified wearing elbow and knee pads (but I never had). It's an aggressive environment. Also, in New York, the roads are often chaotic. In Berlin, I only saw chaos around construction sites, otherwise the roads were safe and orderly. Also, I could rent a bicycle in Berlin, very cheaply, and then keep it for days. There is nothing exactly so convenient in New York. All the same, I am pleased that the situation is getting better in New York.

ptaipale 12y ago
Around here, about 80 % of cases where helmet helps are incidents not involving a motor vehicle. I.e. bicyclist collides with another cyclist, a pedestrian, or a stationary object (Earth counts as stationary object here). Using helmet would be very wise also in Berlin (and many do use it, if you look around).
stronglikedan 12y ago
> No one uses bike helmets in Berlin, because Berlin is safe for bicycles That's not why people don't wear helmets there, and that's not a reason to not wear one. I would have been in a world of hurt if I didn't have a helmet on when I fell. No cars, people, or other moving object were anywhere near me. My tire hit a slippery patch as I was turning, and I went over sideways. I broke my shoulder and my hand, and my head hit the ground so hard that my glasses flattened out on the pavement. I considered myself lucky that I didn't have a head injury, aside from my bell being rung - hard. Wear a helmet. They not only save you from dangerous environmental situations, but they save you from yourself.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  > Wear a helmet. They not only save you from dangerous environmental situations, but they save you from yourself. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/do-bike-helmet-laws-really-save-people/2013/06/03/6a6532b4-c6df-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/do-bik... http://www.californiahealthline.org/insight/2015/bicycle-helmet-bill-changed-from-mandate-to-call-for-study http://www.californiahealthline.org/insight/2015/bicycle-hel... http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/19036/feds-will-stop-hyping-effectiveness-of-bike-helmets/ http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/19036/feds-will-sto...
  - kevinnk 12y ago
    There isn't much question that helmets reduce injury. The larger question of "should they be mandatory" is still open (with a strong lean towards "no.") From the first article. "Even most opponents of mandatory helmet laws advocate helmet use, but they say that the negative consequences of helmet laws outweigh the benefits." From the third. "If you consider the entire body of research rather than just one study, and look at both head and neck injuries, helmets only reduce the risk of injury by about 15% to 45% ."
    - panglott 12y ago
      Wearing a helmet would also improve the safety of people driving or walking around. But strangely we don't hear all the nagging lectures for people to wear a helmet when they are driving or walking to a corner store, whether or not it's on a quiet street in fine weather.
      - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        Negligible for walking. Its different to be hurtling along at 20mph on a contraption of pipes, gears and chains and hit a storm drain, launching headfirst into the back of a parked car, than to trip and skin your knee. One requires a helmet to survive. And driving - there's airbags and the steel cage and belts and padding. Another storey altogether.
adrianparsons 12y ago
I've also lived in both New York and Berlin. I completely agree that the US has a more powerful "car culture," but the cities are very different -- New York is incredibly dense while Berlin is pretty spread out. Wikipedia says New York has 10,756 people per km2 while Berlin has 4,000 [0]. They face different issues in developing transit infrastructure. [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin
zwtaylor 12y ago
> Also, in New York, the roads are often chaotic. In Berlin, I only saw chaos around construction sites, otherwise the roads were safe and orderly. One only needs to bike a couple minutes in New York to start encountering hazards, even in lanes specifically designated for bike use. I ride in NYC daily and usually encounter at least one of the following in bike lanes on every other block: car or delivery truck double-parked, construction, police activity, someone walking or running in bike lane, car doors opening. There's often no other option for some of these things (I particularly empathize with delivery drivers), but it all creates a very hazardous atmosphere, especially for those not accustomed to riding in the city.
- mauricemir 12y ago
  You have to ride with awareness of the hazards I used to regularly ride in central London 15 years ago. 1 Ride assertively not aggressively 2 Don't ride in the gutter 3 Most IMPORTANT don't undertake slow or stopped traffic - that's what causes most fatal accidents (90% in london)
odiroot 12y ago
I wouldn't say 12-15€/day is a cheap rental. And these are the prices you find everywhere. A lot of tourists are buying their bikes on flea markets instead and just leave them unlocked on the street before leaving. The bikes are probably then "recycled".
cmurf 12y ago
In most other countries, driving is not a right, it's a privilege, and your dad doesn't qualify as a driving instructor. Everyone learns the same rules of the road, whereas in the U.S. it's totally haphazard. When I visited Copenhagen, cars, bicycles, pedestrians seemed significantly more on the same page than in any U.S. city (NYC and Denver are examples I have direct experience with). While serious altercations are rare, most people still don't understand that bikes are considered vehicles with the same operator rights and responsibilities as with cars. Hardly a week goes by, biking in Denver, without a car honking for no reason other than to say "get out of my way" and anytime I have a conversation with the driver they assert with absolute confidence bikes should be on sidewalks, that it's illegal for bikes to be in the street. Ignorance of the law is much more common in the U.S. So that's a huge barrier to "catching up" with any European city.
kazinator 12y ago
> No one uses bike helmets in Berlin, because Berlin is safe for bicycles, and that is partly due to the respect that cars and trucks show to bikers. Bicycle helmets are not even rated for traffic accidents. It says so in their accompanying literature! They are for falls. A couple of years ago, I went into a skid while making a turn on wet pavement and fell. I developed a huge black bruise on my right hip, and for the next six months had a pain in the right side of my rib cage. It was quite a fall. Now here is the thing: the back of head also hit the pavement quite hard, but I was wearing a helmet, so my head was okay. There is no way I could have prevented my head from coming down. It happened so fast, that there was no time for "oh shit, I'm falling and I don't have a helmet, so I have to adjust my falling style to protect my head." (Yes, I replaced the helmet. Not only are you supposed to after impact, but the date on it was March 1995.) You may be able to get away without a helmet in a "safe" town, if you only ride in good weather, in broad daylight, on flat roads, go slowly, and avoid all obstacles, so that the chances of falling are vanishingly small.
- panglott 12y ago
  Of course, that covers a huge percentage of bicycle usage. I wear no helmet when commuting, but I'll wear a helmet in unusual conditions. Most cycling is done in fine weather in ordinary situations.
  - ptaipale 12y ago
    If you want bikes to be a serious thing for commutes, you need to be able to ride in all weathers that you have in your locality. Otherwise you're just taking the nice days for fun, but you still make it necessary to reserve the capacity for seats in public transit, or capacity for autos on road, on the days that are not nice. Helmets are not just for "unusual" conditions. Wear helmet all the time when you ride, make a habit of it, and you'll not need to even think about it. Just like the seat belt in a car.
  - kazinator 12y ago
    You're right, but that has more to do with the cyclist being a fair weather cyclist, than being in Berlin. If you're a serious all-weather, all-season cyclist, you wear a helmet. In Berlin, too.

ptaipale 12y ago

Around here, about 80 % of cases where helmet helps are incidents not involving a motor vehicle. I.e. bicyclist collides with another cyclist, a pedestrian, or a stationary object (Earth counts as stationary object here). Using helmet would be very wise also in Berlin (and many do use it, if you look around).

stronglikedan 12y ago

> No one uses bike helmets in Berlin, because Berlin is safe for bicycles That's not why people don't wear helmets there, and that's not a reason to not wear one. I would have been in a world of hurt if I didn't have a helmet on when I fell. No cars, people, or other moving object were anywhere near me. My tire hit a slippery patch as I was turning, and I went over sideways. I broke my shoulder and my hand, and my head hit the ground so hard that my glasses flattened out on the pavement. I considered myself lucky that I didn't have a head injury, aside from my bell being rung - hard. Wear a helmet. They not only save you from dangerous environmental situations, but they save you from yourself.

toomuchtodo 12y ago
> Wear a helmet. They not only save you from dangerous environmental situations, but they save you from yourself. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/do-bike-helmet-laws-really-save-people/2013/06/03/6a6532b4-c6df-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/do-bik... http://www.californiahealthline.org/insight/2015/bicycle-helmet-bill-changed-from-mandate-to-call-for-study http://www.californiahealthline.org/insight/2015/bicycle-hel... http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/19036/feds-will-stop-hyping-effectiveness-of-bike-helmets/ http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/19036/feds-will-sto...
- kevinnk 12y ago
  There isn't much question that helmets reduce injury. The larger question of "should they be mandatory" is still open (with a strong lean towards "no.") From the first article. "Even most opponents of mandatory helmet laws advocate helmet use, but they say that the negative consequences of helmet laws outweigh the benefits." From the third. "If you consider the entire body of research rather than just one study, and look at both head and neck injuries, helmets only reduce the risk of injury by about 15% to 45% ."
  - panglott 12y ago
    Wearing a helmet would also improve the safety of people driving or walking around. But strangely we don't hear all the nagging lectures for people to wear a helmet when they are driving or walking to a corner store, whether or not it's on a quiet street in fine weather.
    - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
      Negligible for walking. Its different to be hurtling along at 20mph on a contraption of pipes, gears and chains and hit a storm drain, launching headfirst into the back of a parked car, than to trip and skin your knee. One requires a helmet to survive. And driving - there's airbags and the steel cage and belts and padding. Another storey altogether.

adrianparsons 12y ago

I've also lived in both New York and Berlin. I completely agree that the US has a more powerful "car culture," but the cities are very different -- New York is incredibly dense while Berlin is pretty spread out. Wikipedia says New York has 10,756 people per km2 while Berlin has 4,000 [0]. They face different issues in developing transit infrastructure. [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin

zwtaylor 12y ago

> Also, in New York, the roads are often chaotic. In Berlin, I only saw chaos around construction sites, otherwise the roads were safe and orderly. One only needs to bike a couple minutes in New York to start encountering hazards, even in lanes specifically designated for bike use. I ride in NYC daily and usually encounter at least one of the following in bike lanes on every other block: car or delivery truck double-parked, construction, police activity, someone walking or running in bike lane, car doors opening. There's often no other option for some of these things (I particularly empathize with delivery drivers), but it all creates a very hazardous atmosphere, especially for those not accustomed to riding in the city.

mauricemir 12y ago
You have to ride with awareness of the hazards I used to regularly ride in central London 15 years ago. 1 Ride assertively not aggressively 2 Don't ride in the gutter 3 Most IMPORTANT don't undertake slow or stopped traffic - that's what causes most fatal accidents (90% in london)

odiroot 12y ago

I wouldn't say 12-15€/day is a cheap rental. And these are the prices you find everywhere. A lot of tourists are buying their bikes on flea markets instead and just leave them unlocked on the street before leaving. The bikes are probably then "recycled".

cmurf 12y ago

In most other countries, driving is not a right, it's a privilege, and your dad doesn't qualify as a driving instructor. Everyone learns the same rules of the road, whereas in the U.S. it's totally haphazard. When I visited Copenhagen, cars, bicycles, pedestrians seemed significantly more on the same page than in any U.S. city (NYC and Denver are examples I have direct experience with). While serious altercations are rare, most people still don't understand that bikes are considered vehicles with the same operator rights and responsibilities as with cars. Hardly a week goes by, biking in Denver, without a car honking for no reason other than to say "get out of my way" and anytime I have a conversation with the driver they assert with absolute confidence bikes should be on sidewalks, that it's illegal for bikes to be in the street. Ignorance of the law is much more common in the U.S. So that's a huge barrier to "catching up" with any European city.

kazinator 12y ago

> No one uses bike helmets in Berlin, because Berlin is safe for bicycles, and that is partly due to the respect that cars and trucks show to bikers. Bicycle helmets are not even rated for traffic accidents. It says so in their accompanying literature! They are for falls. A couple of years ago, I went into a skid while making a turn on wet pavement and fell. I developed a huge black bruise on my right hip, and for the next six months had a pain in the right side of my rib cage. It was quite a fall. Now here is the thing: the back of head also hit the pavement quite hard, but I was wearing a helmet, so my head was okay. There is no way I could have prevented my head from coming down. It happened so fast, that there was no time for "oh shit, I'm falling and I don't have a helmet, so I have to adjust my falling style to protect my head." (Yes, I replaced the helmet. Not only are you supposed to after impact, but the date on it was March 1995.) You may be able to get away without a helmet in a "safe" town, if you only ride in good weather, in broad daylight, on flat roads, go slowly, and avoid all obstacles, so that the chances of falling are vanishingly small.

panglott 12y ago
Of course, that covers a huge percentage of bicycle usage. I wear no helmet when commuting, but I'll wear a helmet in unusual conditions. Most cycling is done in fine weather in ordinary situations.
- ptaipale 12y ago
  If you want bikes to be a serious thing for commutes, you need to be able to ride in all weathers that you have in your locality. Otherwise you're just taking the nice days for fun, but you still make it necessary to reserve the capacity for seats in public transit, or capacity for autos on road, on the days that are not nice. Helmets are not just for "unusual" conditions. Wear helmet all the time when you ride, make a habit of it, and you'll not need to even think about it. Just like the seat belt in a car.
- kazinator 12y ago
  You're right, but that has more to do with the cyclist being a fair weather cyclist, than being in Berlin. If you're a serious all-weather, all-season cyclist, you wear a helmet. In Berlin, too.