Use of the “War on Terror” since 9/11 to Discriminate

Against Bicyclists, Pedestrians, and Mass Transit Riders

Paul K. Simpson, M.D.

A new word was added to the official Danish dictionary last year. Speaking at Velo-City 2009 in Brussels, Copenhagen mayor Klaus Bondam, said “schottelkot” (bicycle congestion) entered the Danish lexicon because rush hour bike commuters in larger Danish cities sometimes wait through 2 or 3 red light cycles at major intersections. Bondam described the phenomenon as a sign of the city’s successful policy of promoting cycling and walking over car use. He went on to outline Copenhagen’s plan to alleviate bike congestion by taking more space from cars for bicycle infrastructure.

            While some city governments work for solutions to scottelkot, government is behind the source of this summer’s major impediment to bike traffic flow in College Township. Cyclists and Pedestrians have been asking why a bike path tunnel has been closed for construction for over six weeks when no work is being done in the tunnel.

News out of Jefferson County, Colorado is that the Jefferson County Commisioners are hoping to propose state legislation to allow individual counties in that state to ban bikes from roads they deem unsafe for cycling.

This cycle trap is on the ramp from westbound College Ave. to University Drive. Watch out for it, especially at night!

Bike helmets represent perhaps the highest volume of religious cycling discussion, enough so that parody sites have been erected in their honor. Helmet debate spans the globe as is evidenced by the fact that the Danish Socialist People's Party introduced compulsory helmet legislation which was then defeated in parliament.