Stockholm reviewing traffic issues from cyclists’ perspective

Some Stockholm politicians are arguing that the city’s cyclists be allowed to run red lights and cycle against one-way traffic in order to ease bicycle congestion and help those who choose to travel by bicycle, reported The Local – ‘Sweden’s news in English’ – on 14 June.

According to The Local’s source, Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, the number of cyclists in Stockholm is three times as high today as it was in the 1990s. The biggest increase has been in the past five years and cycle paths are described as “more cramped than ever”, with frequent queues. Ah, something to look forward to in Australia!!

City councillor Per Ankersjö, who has responsibility for the city environment, says there are many who already are breaking the rules. As reported in The Local, he said: “As a cyclist you want to feel free and it is not as easy to go an extra two blocks as if you are in a car. There is a risk that people ignore the rules anyway, and then it is better to make it legal in an orderly fashion.”

“In many other countries, traffic rules are less severe on cyclists than on those travelling by car,” says the article in The Local (clearly they haven’t been to the Antipodes), hinting that (shock, horror) Sweden is lagging behind in progressiveness.

But, continues the article, “keen cyclist Anders Ygerman of the Social Democrats, chairman of the Riksdag’s committee on traffic, thinks that changing the legislation is not the right way to improve conditions for cyclists in the cities. “Changing traffic regulations for cyclists doesn’t seem like a good solution to me. Instead I think that a lot could be done locally to prevent cyclists to run red lights by separating cycle paths from the street,” Ygerman said.”

Sweden is currently reviewing its traffic regulations from a cycling perspective and Stockholm City is apparently now pursuing some questions with the Swedish transport agency, Transportstyrelsen.