Ah, the freedom of the bicycle. Riding along the safe, separated bike lanes in the rain she spotted something in a shop window that tickled her fancy. Hand up, coaster brake gently to a stop and in under 20 seconds she was inside the shop.
It's no secret that bicycle lanes are good for businesses anywhere. Not only are cyclists better shoppers according to studies, bicycle infrastructure also serves to increase property values and the profit margins of businesses along the routes and the streets are transformed into lovelier urban spaces, encouraging not only more bicycles but more pedestrians, too.
Great photograph, just in the right moment.. Do cyclists in Copenhagen give such hand signals a lot? Some people here do indicate for turns and signal like that when they stop, but very rarely. I think it's quite useful on a crowded bike paths..
ReplyDeleteI've also never seen this signal to indicate that you're stopping. I think it is very useful. However, in the US people might mistake it for the "back off" signal.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that you don't see hand signals often, anna and Filigree. Granted, this one is for a right turn, not a stop, but don't they teach these things in driver training? Here in Seattle, I use hand signals all the time, and I wish more people did!
ReplyDeleteJenny -- driver training to ride a bicycle?.. No, in the New England suburbs we just got on a bike and rode.
ReplyDeleteI thought that for a right turn, your arm had to be extended? To me, it looks more like she is either telling someone approaching her to halt, or giving the "give me more space" sign to someone behind her.
Sorry, I wasn't very clear. When you learn to drive a car in Canada, you learn the hand signals, so you know what bicyclists are doing.
ReplyDeleteLeft hand up = right turn
Left hand out = left turn
Left hand down = stop
If this is not standard, maybe I should stop using them, to avoid confusing the people around me :)
Interesting. In the US -- at least when I was getting my license in 1996 -- we did not need to learn that for the road test.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the fact that there have been three different interpretations of her gesture so far, is a little worrisome : )
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ReplyDeleteHi Jenny, the signals you described we only use in the car if the indicators are broken. For right turns on the bike we simply use the right hand in Austria ;-).
ReplyDeleteJenny, your hand signals are the correct standard signals for North America; and when I learned to drive a car, oooh, let's just say awhile ago, they were part of the written exam to get learner's permit in the US.
ReplyDeleteNot so you would know what cyclists were signaling, but because they are the correct signals; for cars, motorcycles, horses, what have you. The raised arm to signal a right turn is because a car driver can only use his left arm to make signals.
It is only recently that extending the right arm to signal a right turn has become acceptable for non automotive road users, but it has, even in the eyes of the law most places.
the signals in Denmark are a bit different. the girl in the shot is signalling that she is stopping.
ReplyDeleteright hand out... turning right. left hand out... turning left.
Hand up meaning slowing or stopping, pointing (whole hand gesture)right or left depending on direction. Single center finger salute is probably the most common one I see used in the US...and I would be willing to wager that less than half of the drivers on the road have any clue what the proper hand signals are, a lot of them are even clueless on how to use the turn indicators on a car.
ReplyDeleteAaron
Turn indicators on a car are used for signaling a left turn and then throwing a right hook at a cyclist. Everyone knows that.
ReplyDeleteI remember having bike lessons in school when I was 9 or 10 years old in the 80's. A policeman came to my school and taught us the hand signals and the importance of following the rules of traffic. Of course our parents already taught us that, but it didn't hurt having an authority figure like that repeating it.
ReplyDeleteWe had to bike around the school playground and got a 'biking permit' when we finished. I was great fun.
It was great fun. But maybe I was too :-)
ReplyDeletei'm quite sure you WERE great fun. Still are. :-)
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