I Like To Ride My Bicycle - But Other People Are Really Serious About It

The cycling lanes: fun for the whole family. Or not. 

Here's the problem. The cycling lanes in Vienna are roadways for cyclers. Now, most westerners that I know have grown up with the notion that roads are for cars. So you teach your children proper "road awareness" early on. Stop at the curb, look left, right, then left again, cross at the green, not in-between, hold mommy's hand in the parking lot. And you remind them constantly that if they accidentally dart out into traffic and are obliterated by a mini-Cooper, you told them to be careful.

Cyclists, yes. Pedestrians, no.

When we moved to this fair city, I didn't need to read the rules on the internet to get it. It seemed pretty obvious to me: the cycling ways are for cyclists. I assumed that if the wee children were to fail to pay attention to the cyclists, they would end up as splotches on the macadam. This is, in fact, the case. I have since checked the rules (after listening to people kvetch endlessly about the cyclists and their bicycle lanes), and pedestrians are meant to watch the heck out, exactly the same way that they would look both ways, wait at the light and hold mommy's hand if they were crossing the automobile roadway or the tram lines.

Vienna being a tourist city, does have its fair share of out-of-towners blithely wandering around wondering exactly where the Danube is. And while they seem to do a pretty good job of following road rules (universal!) and watching for trams (big rumbling things coming your way!), there does seem to be a high degree of obliviousness to the danger of ambling unconcernedly along the (flying up behind you silently!) cycle lanes.

And, on the other side of the coin, there are obnoxious cyclists. Going the wrong way on a one way street, ignoring the pedestrian crossings at streets (where pedestrians to legally have the right of way) and acting like a moron in the Fairness Zones is not in the best interests of everybody getting along. The Fairness Zones, by the way, mean exactly what you might think: this is an open way for everyone, please be considerate. 

As you might imagine given my history, I use the cycling lanes extensively, and just love them. I love zipping around the Ringstrasse in my own lane, away from the cars, with my own traffic lights. Off to get circus ticket, off to get my hair cut, off to pick up my Night Run packet, off to school every morning! Until it is so cold that my eyelashes freeze closed, I will be cycling around this town. Bliss!

It's tougher for the children. When we first moved here, I was very clear with them and their role as wee pedestrians:  “Cycling lanes,” I explained, “are for cycling. If you walk on them, you will get run over. If you are crossing one, look both ways, or you will get run over. If you are cycling on one and someone walks in front of you, run them over.”

Ha! Kidding, I didn’t really say that last bit, but I did think it. And, here is where it gets tricky, the real cyclers, the serious cyclers, the delivery messenger cyclers who earn their living on these cycling lanes, do not like to find children in their way. I've done some research and haven't been able to find a specific rule against children riding in the cycle lanes (although they have to have an adult with them until they are 16, which makes sense if you have a 7-year old, but I do wonder how the 15-year old kids feel about it), however, local people have told me that children are considered a danger and are not welcome. And, it certainly makes sense to me: imagine 12 year old children driving cars. The analogy holds.

So where are children supposed to bike? Rumor has it, the sidewalk. Adults, of course, are fined for riding on the sidewalk. I have been quite lucky, and was warned the one time I was caught el flagrante delicto, but not actually fined. I consider this more than fair warning, and have taken to not riding on the sidewalks. I think the Austrians would consider this a win, although in general one imagines they would secretly agree I should have been fined. It's only fair.

But the children: given that Hope always cycles as though she were practicing the Dance of the Drunken Butterfly, I am hard pressed to work out exactly where she should ride. Probably, just Prater Park.  I get this intellectually, however, cycling to school is by far the fastest way to get there. And the cycling path is really the only way to get to school: the good news is that we are in a Fairness Zone for a good 50% of the trip, whew.

And I have found the cyclist we encounter on our way to school to be a touch less unwelcoming. Not forgiving exactly, but no one is yelling at me like that man who almost got taken out by the Drunken Butterfly on a sunny Sunday around the Ringstrasse. He was mad. The morning-to-work bikers might be a bit irritated, but it is clear we are on our way to school (backpacks!), and not taking up cycling lane space just because it is a nice day and we wish to be out.

Cyclists here, pedestrians, here, but only cyclists get to actually cross the street.

 

Separate, but equal?

   

Ah, finally, equality.

 

So, we cycle conciously. I watch the childre, correct their behavior and attempt to keep them alert and aware of their environment. So, far, no one has fallen into the canal, or done anything more tragic than run into a random loose dog. Ah, the dog people. Now there's a topic for another day.

Comments

[Debbie Hanson]

Interesting. I'm on my city's bike-ways and trails committee. We would love to have this is our area. I may refer to it in our next meeting.