As if the world needed more proof that Western culture worships cars, the Greek city of Athens has turned foot traffic into a criminal offense.
As it turns out, Pouliasis and his fellow peds don’t have the right of way—or any rights at all. Instead of issuing a ticket to the vehicle’s owner for parking illegally, the police charged Poulasis with vandalism and jailed him in a detention center. Now, the 29-year-old faces a trial and up to four years in prison.
Pouliasis’ rebellion set off the car’s alarm–and a veritable war between drivers and peds. The people of Athens are understandably fed up. “Step on a sidewalk or try crossing any street here, and chances are you’ll instantly feel like the prey of a safari hunt,” Vassilis Theodorou, of the Hellenic Association of Road Traffic Victim Support, told the New York Times. “This is the only place in Europe where the golden traffic rule — that pedestrians have the unconditional right of way — is so brazenly disrespected.”
Various pro-pedestrian groups, like Pezee, have stormed the streets of Athens to demand pedestrian rights and protections. Another group of activists, the Streetpanthers prowl the city in the dark and slap stickers on illegally parked cars. The neon orange decals feature the message, “I park wherever I want,” and picture a donkey in a car. Thus far, this civilian army has made an ass out of more than 250,000 motorists.
Related posts:
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Very good point on heart disease vs biking — but applying this in a car vs bike argument doesn’t apply because the stats are not normalized for the number of bike versus car commuters. By your “read” on the numbers, you can also claim “getting shot accidentally” (1/5,134) and “getting struck by lightning” (1/79,746) are safer than biking — even though the odds for someone in that activity dying are rather high.
Ooh…the “Most dangerous to NOT ride a bike” post you link to is PERFECT, though — since it’s fatalities per hour, the units match!
We continue to experience about 800 deaths a year by people on bicycles. Usually, about half of them are children. A large percentage of the rest are killed while engaged in risky behavior- riding against traffic, riding on sidewalks, riding without lights at night for example.
If one avoids the riskiest behaviors, and operates his bicycle according to the rules of the road as a vehicle, his risk of injury is very very low.
A very good primer on how to avoid the most common traffic hazards can be found here:
http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/index.htm
Tailwinds!
Thanks for the link ChipSeal (although your username makes me want to adorn my own bikes with extra-wide, cushy tires). And, good points – you’re dead on. Many of cycling-related injuries/deaths are the result of the cyclist riding in a stupid way – i.e. on the sidewalk then crossing at a light and getting plowed by a turning car.
DB- thanks for the insight and keeping our stat-reading honest. Fatalities per hour of activity is the key or even more precisely, perhaps – fatalities per MILE (since bikes are typically moving slower).
Keep the comments coming guys – we appreciate the input.
Thanks Josh. I do love you guys — I was out this afternoon on my first test run of my likely-soon-to-be carless bike commute…and for a n00b like me it was very nice to have fresh (favorable) statistics in my head as the cars zoomed past!
Can you provide a link to a high-quality version of this graphic? Thanks …