Berlin is known as a bike-friendly city, and ordinarily a 25% increase in Berliners riding to work and shop would be a cause for celebration. Except now, when it has led to conflict with pedestrians and motorists and calls for regulation.
Frustrated bike-riders take to sidewalks to bypass street traffic and jams, bringing a wave of complaints from pedestrians who have been injured or made to feel unsafe. Cyclists complain that cars, trucks and buses crowd them off the streets. And there has been a sharp rise in bicycle accidents and bicycle deaths.
City police chief Barbara Slowik has called for bike and cyclist registration to make it easier to identify offenders, saying that “more than 50% of all traffic accidents involving cyclists are caused by the cyclists themselves.” Seventeen cyclists have died this year; last year it was six. There are an estimated 3 million bicycles in the city.
The controversy has ignited angry letters from both sides in the city’s newspapers and on social media. But behind all the feelings, one group pointed out, bikes make up 18% of traffic, but only have 3% of road space reserved, while the 33% of traffic that is cars has 58%.
While the registration issue is unresolved, the police are increasing their own bicycle-mounted patrols from 40 to 100 in an attempt to crack down on violators.
