16th June 2019 Swing Left for your greener transport?

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Sunday 16th 62F, almost calm, bright and sunny with thin, high cloud. I took an hour to walk to the woods and back with lots of pauses to admire the view. Lots of brown butterflies getting in my way. I had to keep stopping to let them do their own thing. If only to avoid feeling guilty when they moved from plant to plant, down the verge, for hundreds of yards to get away from me.

Late morning ride to more distant shops. Lots of weekend warriors out and about. Everybody cheerful in the sunshine. Going remarkably well despite the wind. 15 miles returning uphill, heavily laden.

The recent Danish election has resulted in a win for the left of center parties. The resulting coalition parties seem to be arguing over how green the country can become. With deep cuts in CO2 being discussed after years of backpedaling by the right wing coalition on many environmental issues.

The last government destroyed electric car sales overnight with massive import charges. Leaving Denmark looking anything but green in its ambitions after many years of being a vocal and practical leader.

Meanwhile the Danish cycle dealers federation are raising the alarm over the poor braking on many electric bikes and trikes. The electric load carriers in particular are heavy and often carry several children up front. Yet, ironically, are furnished with brakes more suitable for a small child's bicycle.

The cycle trade group are also worried about the fitness of many wannabe electric cyclists with no previous experience. The responsibility for training for safely riding these higher speed machines  seems to have been dumped back on the retailers.

Rather than a real desire for legislation and proper licensing to match the considerable demands of this new breed of machines. Deaths amongst cyclists are rising again after a falling trend over many years. The majority of these deaths are amongst electric bike riders. The cycle trade would rather have the El-bikes treated like motor driven mopeds and motorcycles. With the same compulsory training and licensing.

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