We conducted an interview with Björn about his dangerous experiences in road traffic. We want to show you how he answered our questions and, above all, how he assesses the safety of cyclists in road traffic.
Björn belongs to the commuters category. Björn covers a good 60 kilometers per day by bike, as he is on the road 5 days a week and rides his bike (pedelec) about 28 kilometers a day to work.
Because Björn is on his bike almost every day, he has also experienced a few dangerous situations firsthand. For him, a day on the bike without a dangerous incident with other road users is a good day. Unfortunately, he feels that such days are becoming increasingly rare, as reality is often different.
But what can these dangerous situations be attributed to? Is it, for example, due to the infrastructure, or the impatience of many drivers?
Björn thinks that ddangerous situations are often caused by the ignorance of motorists. Most motorists perceive cyclists as a nuisance because they feel slowed down by them. From his point of view, this is because motorists underestimate the speed of many cyclists. He criticizes the impatience and tight driving of other motorists, as this can quickly lead to dangerous situations.
To what extent did the dangerous situations you experienced influence or even change your own driving behavior?
In Björn's case, witnessing dangerous situations while cycling has led to a change in his driving style. He is very anticipatory and careful on the bike in traffic, because he is aware thatsomething can happen at any time. he has also adapted his clothing style for his own safety and always wears a safety vest and reflectors when cycling.
Have there ever been situations on the road that were so dangerous that the police were called in?
Björn experiences various risky and extremely dangerous maneuvers on the part of car drivers almost every day that he rides his bike in traffic. As soon as he is forced to swerve from the bike path onto the road, he is exposed to overtaking maneuvers that fall short of the minimum distance of 1.5 meters and endanger the safety of cyclists in road traffic. Unfortunately, he often sees going to the police and filing a complaint as futile, because it's usually a case of testimony against testimony or he can't remember the driver's license plate number that quickly.