Now Even North Korea Has Bike Lanes
A brand new thought in a largely backwards nation.
July 21, 2015
metropolis and nationwide leaders world wide are joining the motion to create safer streets for cyclists. Now that even comprises North Korea’s Supreme leader Kim Jong-Un.
according to an enchanting record in Reuters, main streets in Pyongyang now have bike lanes to be able to reduce accidents. given that bikes are banned from the street, previously cyclists had to journey on sidewalks with pedestrians, which is regularly a foul concept.
North Korea is not proper about most issues, however it’s right that bike lanes will create safer streets. knowledge persistently presentations that accidents drop when lanes are introduced. as an example, NY city recently found that streets with bike lanes have 40% fewer critical crashes involving cyclists, motorists, and pedestrians than those with out. of course, given that Kim Jong-Un has absolute, dictatorial power over his individuals, he would not come across the identical political opposition most U.S. leaders face when wading into the thorny issues of methods to divide urban streets among more than a few customers.
Bike ownership is on the upward thrust in North Korea, in line with Reuters, as it is in much of the rest of the world. Bikes are still pricey, however more people are ready to have enough money them lately, and they are nonetheless easier to buy than automobiles within the isolated, repressive nation. The name Pyongyang it sounds as if way “flat lands,” which any biker will get pleasure from.
Simon Cockerell, a Beijing-primarily based tour guide who takes Westerners into North Korea, advised Reuters that he’s viewed the collection of cyclists elevate via about 50% in the last few years. however bikes nonetheless have a branding problem. Pyongyang residents are “image-aware” and assume biking is unsophisticated.
One thing is apparent. because the “constructed it and they’re going to come idea” goes, when cities build extra bike lanes, rates of biking elevate. And so North Korea may quickly have much more residents getting around in two wheels.
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