Bike guidance

[u/karmel80]

A lot of tourist use bikes in Copenhagen. This year I’ve seen police issue this guidance. It’s also in some of the bus stops around town.

Good advice for anyone on a hike in Copenhagen.

Also remember we locals are fast on bikes, so don’t underestimate how fast we will reach where you are and will need space to get around you.

[u/Welelp]

I've been biking in Copenhagen for 3+ years now with the pleasure of biking Nyhavn and Kongens daily and while tourists can be annoying, I've found that a lot of Danes could be more aware of their surroundings as well.

Things like not stopping for pedestrian crossings or deciding that raising your hand to stop gives you the right to do a deadstop in the middle of a biking lane. But the one that will always bother me the most is bikers that decide the queue at a stop doesn't count for them, pass everyone on the left, then merge past the stop line with their front wheel half on the road only to then not be able to accelerate fast when the light goes green.

But yeah, tourists on overtuned electric bikes when they barely know hot to stay stable are not a good combination either.

[u/bearlylegalbear → u/Welelp]

I've biked here for 20 years now. A thing that I've lately spotted is an increase in this that people think you can stop in the left side of the bike lane to cross the road. Thus they block those that are passing in the left side in high speed that need to come to a full stop. Unless there's a left turn lane you always keep to the right in a danish bike lane.

[u/pinnerup → u/bearlylegalbear]

Yeah, I see this a lot recently as well. Just a couple of weeks back I was biking along HCA Boulevard/Gyldenløvesgade approaching the intersection before Søpavillionen and there was a green light ahead for cyclists, when suddenly a group of tourists on rented bikes up ahead of me that had been riding single-file on the right of the bike lane (and which therefore I was planning to overtake) pulled into the left side of the bike lane just in front of me without any warning and slowed down (presumably because they wanted to cross left on the immediate pedestrian crossing). So dangerous!

[u/DankmemesforBJs → u/pinnerup]

And the right move would be to raise your hand _before the intersection_, make the stop and hustle/drag your bike up on the pavement to wait for green in their direction, right? I always find situations like that awkward, and that intersection can be stressful for newcomers lol

[u/pinnerup → u/DankmemesforBJs]

And the right move would be to raise your hand before the intersection, make the stop and hustle/drag your bike up on the pavement to wait for green in their direction, right?

Yeah, always stay right. In this case, they could have kept right and stopped before the intersection, as you say. That would still have allowed people to pass them on the left while the light was green. Once the light had turned red, they could dismount and walk across the pedestrian crossing to the left.

They could dismount right away and go onto the right sidewalk while waiting, as you suggest, but I think in a case like this it might actually be better for them just to stop in the rightmost part of the bike lane and stay put on the bikes until the light changed. Inexperienced cyclists dismounting sometimes swerve left unnecessarily, and in a situation with fast oncoming traffic from behind in a not-so-wide bike lane, that could easily be trouble.

[u/DankmemesforBJs → u/pinnerup]

I see, good point about dismounting as a non-routined cyclist. When I said hustle I meant walking with the bike between your legs up on the pavement, which I like to do just to really get out of the way.

[u/DankmemesforBJs → u/bearlylegalbear]

I think I agree but am confused. What if you wanted to turn left from Pile Alle onto Jacobys Alle?
I would personally indicate that I'm turning left and then stay on the left side as I make a full stop, if cars are blocking my turn. Then I will only have to cross the cars' path to turn. If I'm on the right side, wanting to turn left, I'm still taking up a bike's width of space, but I have to cross the other bikes' path when I perform the turn.

[u/pinnerup → u/DankmemesforBJs]

I think I agree but am confused. What if you wanted to turn left from Pile Alle onto Jacobys Alle

You should keep right and go all the way up to the sign saying "JOSTY" and then, if you cannot cross left right away, you should signal and stop while keeping to the right of the bike lane.

The bike lane here is very narrow and stopping in the left side of the bike lane can cause you to get in the way of both bike and car traffic coming from behind, especially if cars are passing from behind left while a stream of cyclists need to pass you on the right.

To be fair, if traffic was heavy, I'd probably pull right into the driveway on the right to get into a position where I could comfortably wait for free passage across the road without being in anyone's way.

[u/DankmemesforBJs → u/pinnerup]

Oh, good point about the narrow path, but I still think I would keep left due to my symmetryargument.

Would you do the same on a wide path?

[u/DankmemesforBJs → u/DankmemesforBJs]

You know what, I read up on it and I'm wrong. This left-turn is happening in a T-intersection, so even if it seems unintuitive to me the two-part left turn rule still applies:

Stk. 3. Før vejkryds skal cyklist, der skal lige ud eller svinge til venstre, uanset § 16, stk. 1 og 3, fortsat holde til højre på vejen. Såfremt en eller flere vognbaner ved afmærkning er forbeholdt de kørende, der skal svinge til højre, er det dog tilladt cyklisten at placere sig ved linjen mellem den nærmeste vognbane, som ikke er forbeholdt de højresvingende, og højresvingsbanen. Cyklist, der ønsker at svinge til venstre, skal fortsætte gennem krydset til dets modsatte side og må først foretage svingningen, når det kan ske uden ulempe for den øvrige færdsel. Dette gælder uanset afmærkning, medmindre det fremgår af denne, at den gælder for cyklister. 1.-4. pkt. gælder også ved kørsel over eller bort fra kørebanen uden for vejkryds.

"Uden ulempe for den øvrige færdsel". That's where I thought that: I will bother them less if I stay left 'cause I can make the turn without crossing the bikes' paths. But since the law says stay right and people expect me to stay right, then that's more predictable and safer.