Biking in Paris's Latin Quarter Video

I love seeing all the scooters!

Excellent! I do a lot of my riding around 7am on the weekend, so I don't have to put up with all of those nasty cars.

So did you get a helmet cam sorted? It looks quite good in any case.

Ah, she is right to clutch the purse strings with typical French financial conservatism. However it would be a major plus to rent to your customers for bike tours so they could make their own riding videos. I bet the competitors haven't thought of that yet!

If she hasn't blown all the moola for a life insurance policy on her look-ma-one-hand riding husband.

I'm glad YOU did this so we won't have to!

All those brake lights and cobblestones and narrow handle-bar scraping car passings!

If you show this to potential clients, I think they will NOT choose to tour by bike, but will take a less frightening walking or vehicle-based tour.

However, I DO like the idea of renting a bike and a helmet cam and going on some of the bicycle lanes in Kerouac's thread anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ecology&action=display&thread=2216

Oh, I would say maybe 15% of the people do (very rare on a Vélib, though). There is talk of making helmets obligatory. Another 2 or 3 fatalities should seal the fate of us bareheaded people (but I do own a helmet!).

Kerouac, no I don't think so, as that would kill the incipient urban cycling culture in Paris. Helmet obligation has meant a drop in cycling road share everywhere, most tragically in Australia. People are killed by cars every day, and that hasn't meant cars being banned in major cities. (I don't actually think it should, but clampdowns should hit those responsible for serious accidents - again, see Amsterdam).

French, I have cycled in Paris, but not in the city centre, more in the northeast and east (18th, 19th, 20th). This is quite a few years' back - when I was last in Paris, it wasn't really relevant and I only walked and used public transport. I'd cycle there anywhere now, in normal clothing, though Paris still has a long way to go to be Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Strasbourg, Freiburg or Ferrara. I don't drive, and while the métro is a marvel, it is saturated at many hours.

I think a common measure is allowing cyclists to do a "rolling stop" at stop signs, but they do have to acknowledge their existence. Another is allowing cyclists to go "wrong way" on certain small, clearly-marked streets. Car drivers have to be aware of this so they look for cyclists both ways (this is very common in Amsterdam and is being introduced in Paris).

We have to look at places where the modal share is either higher or has increased most; of course Copenhagen and Amsterdam are the major Western cities with highest modal share; Paris has shown a very significant increase among the largest European cities though there are still a lot of dangerous gaps in both its cycling infrastructure and cycling culture (I'm referrng to all parties involved - cyclists, motorists - car and motorbike/scooter - and pedestrians). Obviously many cyclists are also motorists and vice-versa, and all are pedestrians, but it takes a while for reflexes to develop.

Of course Strasbourg is by far the French city with the highest modal share and the best cycling infrastructure. Sure, the Germanic influence but also a concerted effort by the city administration to encourage cycling - and of course public transport - Strasbourg has beautiful modern trams.

As for safety, safety in numbers is by far the most important factor, not only because it makes us far more visible than any reflective vest could, but because at a certain qualitative point it means that almost all motorists are also cyclists, or have been. All Dutch motorists who grew up in the Netherlands have taken cycling lessons as schoolchildren, and most continue to cycle - many combine use of a car, one or more bicycles (the beater and the good bicycle to do touring or fitness cycling) and of commuter trains if they work in another nearby city - it is cheaper than driving and parking.

I DID put a after my comment, bixa, but I was only part kidding.

The close scrapes when passing cars and all the stops necessitated by the cars stopping ahead of the bike made me very uneasy. I'd rather be on a bike path than sharing the (narrow) road with so many cars and (unpredictable) pedestrians on (even narrower) sidewalks.

How about a bicycle rickshaw ride instead?