It's not as dangerous as you think!

(JB) A Finnish mother-of-two has spent her entire life cycling. From the moment she learned to ride a bike, she cycled to school, to work and the shops. “Even when she had two kids she was equipped to take them with her. But, within six months of moving to Luxembourg she got a driving licence. She didn't dare cycle here so she gave up,” explains Luxembourg Velo Initiative (LVI) spokesman Gust Muller.

This true story, recounted to Gust by a woman who moved to Luxembourg 15 years ago, is apparently typical of many people who don't cycle in Luxembourg.

“For all of them, the answer is 100 per cent the same: 'I don't dare. I'm scared'”, says Gust, adding: “But, this story was 15 years ago, and things have improved since then. It's less dangerous than you think. It's often people who don't cycle in the city who say it's dangerous. I'm not saying that there aren't problems but it's a lot less dangerous than you think.”

The keen cyclist is confident that this attitude is one which can be changed, particularly given improvements for cyclists in the past. Gust took up cycling 20 years ago.

Since then he says the situation for cyclists has changed for the better. “We, in the association, only noticed that during the last three or four years the attitudes of drivers have changed. Cyclists are a lot better respected and noticed. That comes down to safety in numbers.” Having a critical mass on the roads, Gust says, makes motorists more aware that cyclists exist and, fortunately, that mass is growing.

According to recent figures released by the Ville de Luxembourg, the volume of daily cyclists on the capital's roads grew by nearly 20 per cent from 2010 to 2011. The pay-as-you-go bike hire vel'oh! scheme is also gaining momentum, with 766 bikes being used per day at the scheme's height in September 2011, compared with 470 the same month in 2008.

“The adoption of the vel'oh! scheme was really positive for the visibility of cycling,” says Gust, who also believes that the popularity of cycling as a leisure activity for motorists has made drivers more cautious around cyclists.

But that is not to say the situation is perfect. The LVI would like to see more complete cycle lanes, linking key transport routes in the city, for example from Bonnevoie to Limpertsberg and from Merl to the city centre.

The trouble, Gust points out, is that the country spent some 20 years adapting towns like Luxembourg for cars during the 1960s. He says: “You can't change in one year what took 20 years to make.”

He believes that the solution is to share the roads “in a way that everyone feels comfortable”.

For that everyone must do their bit: drivers adhering to speed limits and cyclists ensuring they are visible to all road users, things that go hand-in-hand with better policing.

Finally, Gust's advice to cyclists is to be bold and accept they have a right to use the roads.

“Cyclists need to be confident on the roads. If you're cycling and you don't feel safe going through traffic it's not good. You have to show you're there and that you exist,” he says.