Hang the Cyclists in Budapest
On the 13rd of december 2009, at the same time of the climate conference in Copenhagen, 16 motorists demonstrated against a new bike lane, built on one of the main roads of the city.
The organisation EMPAMO (Movement for Human Parking) started an offensive against the cyclist movement, calling them fascist (http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/10/0 3/hungary-cycling-is-chic-but-fascist/ target="blank"). This group has 13 members, and the video shows, how constructive they face the problems of urban traffic.
FYI there's a very old motorist club in Hungary, called Autóklub, with more than 300k members. They have no connection with this group.
By the wave of the Critical Mass, the sum of cyclists doubles every year in BP. In 2009 some smaller but important changes happened to help this kind of transportation. One of them was this bike lane. On the smaller boulevard about 70 parking lots were deleted, to give back the space for pedestrians and cyclists. The route also has a strong public transport use, and every- day traffic jams. Parking lots for delivery were constructed.
The Critical Mass Budapest is organised on the closest sunday to Earth Day in april and on the Car Free Day, in sept. The worlds biggest CM is abiding the law, has a good relationship with the local police.
Thanks to Aron at Cyclechic.hu for the link.
16 thinking out louds:
Ah we're past the ignoring stage, I guess after this ridiculing and some fighting we win.
They can bicycle their cars out to the Hungaroring, play with them there, then bicycle them home.
And where exactly is it I apply to get my taxes back?
To clarify "Anonymous" comment:
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."
-- Mahatma Gandhi
This is a sad video and though they are only 16 motorists who are prepared to come out and stand on the street there are many who believe in the ignorance they have been fed without questioning it ('cyclists don't pay tax', 'we have a right to park our family cars', 'we want our tax back that paid for these facilities' etc etc)
And the negative perception of cyclists isn't just happening in Hungary... Here are a recent selection of reader's comments from an article about cycling on the website of London's daily newspaper the Evening Standard:
"And what is a cyclist anyway?! The old man on his bike,the gang of hoodies on there bikes.the Lycra clad aggressive health freak!!!Cyclists are like cancer cells in the blood stream of life.They pay no dues and suck of others."
- Kev, London uk
"Cyclists: dangerous, selfish, arrogant, self absorbed, stupid, ill mannered, nasty heinous creatures."
- Anticyclist, London
"they are scum nothing more, nothing less."
- P Staker, London
"Shame on you and all the other sweaty, 2-wheeled scum!"
- Sonia Esquilant, Maidenhead, Berkshire, UK.
This kind of thinking is widespread and should not go unchecked or simply written off as the opinion of loons.
This is why blogs like this (and so many others) are so important in engaging other cyclists and ensuring that all cyclists are au fait with the reality of the situation.
People who hold opinions like this cannot be changed through lobbying or campaigning or persuasion - to try and do so is a wasted effort. The only way to combat this kind of thinking is to make cycling so mainstream and everyday and ordinary that everyone is doing it and the opinions of gentlemen such as these becomes socially unacceptable.
I am often struck at the similarities faced by cyclists to other forms of identity politics. In the 1950s to be gay was a shameful, secret, underground existence - the general public perception was that gay people lead degenerate 'outsider' lives. Everyone assumed that they didn't know gay people because they never saw them around. Then the liberation movement came along, and gay pride, and campaigns to legislate for equality, and it made being gay so acceptable that gay people were able to lead their lives openly. As a consequence 'ordinary' people met gay people and saw that they were not strange or other and it was the people who held out-dated prejudices who became the ones who were socially unacceptable.
This turning of the tables will only happen for cycling in 'emerging cycling cultures' (to coin a Colville Andersen phrase!) when the mothers and daughters and friends and family of people like these somewhat unpleasant men in the video are also out cycling. That is to say that cycling is so mainstream that everyone is doing it.
The only way this will ever happen is to implement strong, well-designed, safe and practical cycling infrastructure (even if this is sometimes seen as being to the detriment of some motorists).
There, I think I've just summed up the aims of this entire blog in one post(!) Sorry for the uber long post. Hope it was worth it.
Wow, just read my own post back to myself, goodness me a little bit of prejudice gets me hot under the collar!
I loved the video. As an American, I'm glad that someone, somewhere thinks we do something right. Our treatment of bicycles in not, however, one of those things.
I really wish the bicycle promotion campaigns would stop using environmental and health benefits as justification for bicycle infrastructure. Biking in the city is cheaper and easier than driving. That should be enough.
Tom - hear hear! Whenever anyone asks me why I cycle, I tell them it's quicker, it's cheaper, and it keeps me fit, slim and healthy without having to go and be stuck in a gym (which I also don't have to pay for = double cheaper!). I cheekily tell them that I hate being stuck in traffic jams. I tell them that I like the fresh air, and that it's a great way to wake up in the morning.
Granted, as I say, I do mention the fit&healthy side of things, but that's usually in response to people asking how I "stay so slim" or similar - they rarely believe me when I say it's all due to cycling.
C'mon, that's hilarious! I love it! We need more videos like that, Mikael!
I guess it depends on the mood you are in at the time, but I had a really good laugh - hard to pick out the best bits.
Those guys are speaking the same angry rubbish I hear in Bristol each day. I have to agree with Tom we need to start selling cycling to the masses as a cheap and affordable means of transport and play down its green credentials. Earnest hippies and politicians smearing themselves and their taxes in green wash have made any environmental argument unpalatable to the great British public.
Cycling - It's quicker than walking!
this kind of group being formed is the surest sign that budapest is on the right track to reestablishing the bicycle as a transport form.
My argument for cycling is almost always about 'quick and cheap' stuff. Cause the only people to whom it is reasonable to advocate bicycling are motorists. And they aren't really concerned about the environment basing on their choise of transportation.
Environmental arguments, even if they're 100% true almost always sound kinda offensive and offensive is not a very efficient way to sell cycling to people.
P.S. These car-addicts strongly reminded me Veronica Moss (http://www.streetfilms.org/veronica-moss-visits-times-square/) only they are real :))
What a scary and hilarious bunch they are, shooting themselves so candidly in the foot with their selfish aggressiveness.
Mark hit it on the head - they're as hysterical as those people who demonstrated against gay rights - ("If you make it legal to be queer, they'll will corrupt all the young boys, destroy society and make the human race extinct!")
It's striking how this sort of militant car-driver bangs on about (their own) freedom, yet always yearns for people on bicycles to be tightly restricted, taxed extra, and generally closely monitored. Almost as if they perceive the freedom that cycling can give, and feel...jealous :)
WeeE
This was a funny video. I like how they say that no one bikes in the U.S. I envite these Budapest drivers to NYC and SF. It sad we have these anti-bike folks. There are tons of them here in the States too. Biking is one of the most fun and free feeling way to travel. There is something about it that make you feel more alive. I wish the Budapest cyclist and people the best.
@ WeeE
your example is right, this "scientist" also mentioned in the full interview, that the whole climate-business is in the hands of israel :) lol.
instigation. always the same.
@Anonymus: dont be afraid, the hunagrian cyclists are feeling extra high:
http://vimeo.com/6925978
Why in hell would you want to drive a car in Budapest anyway?
I was alarmed to hear that people in American cities don't use bicycles to get around. I use my bike to get around every day (except when the streets are covered in ice, like they are now).
I believe the most important element in urban planning in the 21st century is reducing traffic congestion and making it easier for people to use all forms of transportation in cities (cars, trains, bikes, and walking), making it easier to drive your own car because there are fewer cars on the road, because people who want to use other options are using them. Not everyone is willing to think long-term or big-picture. These fellows (and the people in just about every city around the world with the same attitude) just aren't realizing that almost every cyclist they see is one less car on the road, totally in their way, backing up auto traffic.
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