Bike blog | The Guardian – Tagged "World news" – Page 2

Cycling, Environment, Gender, Life and style, Women, World news - October 4, 2019

Why are female cyclists targeted by aggressive drivers for abuse?

By being on the road, women seem to be transgressing a boundary that some men find intolerable

I commute in London by bike. Run-ins with aggressive drivers are as much a part of my daily routine as brushing my teeth. Recently though, I’ve started to wonder whether there is a distinctly gendered dimension to the frequency and intensity with which I am shouted, sworn and honked at.

When I talk to friends who cycle, I’m struck by the instant recognition of this phenomenon by fellow women, who are quick to share their stories. Sometimes the abuse is explicitly sexual, more often it’s simply aggressive and unpleasant, or merely patronising. Almost without exception, it’s perpetrated by men.

Can you guess the world city from the cycle lane icon?

Some cities use images of bikes and riders, with or without helmets. Some use riderless bikes – and others just get the geometry all wrong. Can you tell what city it is from its cycle lane icon?

Which city is this?

London

Paris

New York

Which city is this?

San Francisco

Manchester

Vancouver

Which city is this?

Amsterdam

Sydney

Edinburgh

Which city is this?

Stockholm

Milan

Washington DC

Which city is this?

Tokyo

Jakarta

Singapore

Which city is this?

Bahrain

New Orleans

Copenhagen

Which city is this?

Lille

Seattle

London

Which city is this?

Perth

Prague

Pittsburgh

8 and above.

Excellent

7 and above.

Very good

6 and above.

Pretty good

5 and above.

Not bad

4 and above.

Not bad

3 and above.

Hmm

2 and above.

Oops

0 and above.

Oops

1 and above.

Oops

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'People think we’re from another planet': meet Karachi's female cyclists

Teams of women and girls are among numerous cycle groups increasingly to be seen on the streets of the frenetic Pakistan megacity

Early on Sunday morning in Karachi, a group of girls are riding loops around an empty stretch of road outside the colonial-era Custom House. At 6am they left the narrow alleys of the old neighbourhood of Lyari, branded a war zone by national and international media after a lengthy and brutal gang conflict. Two hours later they are still happily pedalling away, in ballet slippers and with headscarves tucked under helmets.

“I used to cycle alone,” says Gullu Badar, 15. “It’s nice to cycle here because there’s no danger, no cars. It feels good that there are other girls cycling with me too.”

The ego of our men is very fragile. If someone is trying something new they cannot tolerate it

How apartheid killed Johannesburg's cycling culture

Racial segregation meant cycling lost status in South Africa earlier and more intensely than in the rest of the western world

Cycling Cities: the Johannesburg Experience is published by the Foundation for the History of Technology

“The writer counted, in the space of only four minutes, 93 native cyclists riding past the Astra theatre,” wrote a journalist for the Star newspaper in July 1940. Standing almost 80 years later on the same corner of Louis Botha Avenue at the same time and day of the week – 6.30pm on a Monday – it is hard to imagine. The theatre is long gone and not a single cyclist is to be seen on the car-choked thoroughfare.

What happened to Johannesburg’s once vibrant commuter cycling culture? The dominance of the automobile marginalised the bicycle in many cities around the world through the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s but that process was accelerated in South Africa by apartheid. When policies of spatial segregation forcibly moved black people to faraway townships at the periphery of the city, the distance between work and home increased dramatically and cycling collapsed as an everyday practice.

It may be said of the Johannesburg child that he learns to cycle before he can walk

Members of Johannesburg Amateur Bicycling Club, a white leisure cycling group, in the 1890s

Alexander Township residents ride bicycles in 1957 as part of a boycott of bus services in protest at high fares

Left: two men pose proudly with their bicycles in 1922. Right: 1890s Johannesburg

Workers from a white working-class neighbourhood cycle towards the then city centre

Left: white children’s bicycles at an airshow. Right: Alexandra Township residents discuss the 1957 bus boycott

Dublin disappoints: what happened to city cycling's great hope?

In 2013 the Irish capital was ranked among the world’s top 20 bike-friendly cities, but only a small part of the promised cycle network was ever built

One sunny May afternoon in Dublin, as the Spice Girls prepared to kick off their Spice World 2019 tour at Croke Park stadium, the coaches bringing their fans unwittingly sparked another reunion – the city’s cycle activists.

It had been two years since the direct action group I Bike Dublin had mobilised to protect cycle tracks from car parking – uniting around twice a week under the hashtag #freethecyclelane – but as police officers directed coach drivers to park in the bike lane by Dublin Bay, blocking the track, the protesters were back.

We’ve lost our way with the private car over the last 50 years. I hope we find our way back

That public meeting was the closest thing to a lynch mob I have ever been in front of

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World news RSS

Why are female cyclists targeted by aggressive drivers for abuse?

Can you guess the world city from the cycle lane icon?

'People think we’re from another planet': meet Karachi's female cyclists

How apartheid killed Johannesburg's cycling culture

Dublin disappoints: what happened to city cycling's great hope?

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