The bike-unfriendly city of Mainz

I thought I'd dedicate this post to a recent study that took place in Germany about the most bike-friendly cities in the country. Mainz came in at the top of the middle group. Basically, the total distance of bike-lanes was counted, and along with other factors, provided the source for the ratings.

As a cyclist that has to travel 15kms a day through this city, I wanted to give an alternative point of view of someone who has to put up with the unfriendliness and downright dangerous driving of the car owners in this city. And so I will be using the same criteria that the ADAC test used, but giving a proper perspective.

1) Few deaths or severe injuries of cyclists.
Well, having not died yet, I can't confirm or deny this, but all it shows is that the drivers manage to brake before a fatality occurs. It does not reflect how many actual injuries take place.

2)Many one-way streets allow bikes in the opposite direction of the traffic.
Okay, it makes the journey shorter as there are too many one-way streets anyway, but it means that you have cars coming towards you that don't seem to know that you're allowed to cycle in the opposite direction, and thus try to run you down, or at the very least force you to pull into the side as they drive in the middle of the road hooting at you.

3)Roads which allow cyclists to cycle next to another, and where cars have a reduced speed limit for.
Reduced speed? That's a laugh, they seem to think it's a second lane with no traffic in and so go faster than normal! Apart from that, nearly every day I have some car park or wait in the cycle lane in front of me, causing me to go out into the (very fast) car lane.

4)30-zones and speed-reducing measures.
First of all, let's look at the speed zones. Has anyone ever seen a car do 30km/h that hasn't been parking? I think it has something to do with the limitless motorways, but only a police presence has any effect here. Sleeping policemen (bumps in the road) are another thing. These affect the stability of cyclists (especially in places they have to signal to turn off) whilst the cars just reduce their tyre pressure and fly over them.

5)Parallel routes going through inhabited areas instead of through uninhabited ones makes for better safety.
Fine, but show me where they are. Lots of the bike paths here go through fields where there aren't any inhabitants for miles, and save following a much much longer route going into the city centre and then out again. Also, it's not a matter of it being inhabited, rather being lit up. As it's hard to find lights on any roads, this makes the safety of the cyclist plummit, even if people do live nearby, at night they won't see anything.

6)Lots of bike parking places in the centre.
Many there are, but it's the type that matters. Most of them are only a little wheel-holder affair that lets you stand your bike up if it doesn't have it's own stand, but you can only lock your front wheel to it if at all (which with the popular quick-release systems, is hardly going to protect someone from stealing the bike).

7)Possibility to take bikes on the public transport at no extra cost.
Let's check this first. The old trams have doorways that prevent bikes, wheelchairs and prams from entering. The S-Bahn also prohibits them (or makes it that you can't get out of the station at the other end with them). The new trams and buses do make it easy to take bikes on, but they do not provide space for them once they're on. At each doorway either a bike, wheelchar or pram can stand, but this prevents other people from getting on or off the transport. This leads to tension between the passengers and the bike-owners.

8)Bike rallies each month.
Okay, I'll give them this one, as I haven't partaken in one I can't comment.

9)Tested roads sometimes of bad quality.
Another understatement of the year. Having drains, holes, lamp-posts and signs in the middle of the cycle lanes and having to mount and demount the pavement every five metres is not my idea of good quality lanes. And I'm not just talking about some of the lanes, I haven't found a single one that does not have one or more of the aforementioned problems with the quality of the road.

10)Narrow cycle lanes blocked by cars and shared by pedestrians.
Coming back to the number one cause of cycle frustration here, the drivers do not respect cyclists. They park wherever they want to, opening their doors without looking, causing the cyclist to take action to avoid an accident. Pedestrians also seem oblivious to cyclists, as they walk looking down at the ground, reading their newspaper, or talking amongst themselves, meaning the cyclist has to go out of his lane onto the pedestrian part to avoid conflict, and then has the next pedestrian have a go at him for being out of his lane in the first place!

11)Sometimes the cycle lanes are too narrow.
Okay, so who manages to sit astride their bike and not have a width of more than 50cms? Why such narrow cycle lanes are created, I don't know. It just leads to cars assuming we can stay in such a narrow lane and thus driving right up close because "they're in their lane". Why not just have the road without markings, and let the cyclists ride as normal road users. If the street really is that narrow, what's the point of letting cars though it in the first place?

12)Few functioning bike stands at the train station.
Few? How about none. On top of that, they've prohibited the leaning or locking of bikes against the telegraph poles in this area. So what do you do - stand it against a wall and lock the wheel to the frame - hardly a safe option.

That's it for the ADAC test, how about a few points of my own:

13)Not having trees with thorns line the cycle paths. Every day I have to pick thorns from my tires because these trees and bushes have somehow been chosen to line every cycle-way.

14)Have traffic lights give enough time for people/bikes to cross, and the interval between them changing not be greater than 5 minutes (not like the one at HBf-West then, that is red for 10 mins and then changes to green for 30 seconds).

Well, there you have it, The real Cyclists Guide to Mainz