Embassy News - 2012

The proposed improvements to the roundabout at the northern end of Lambeth Bridge have some merit. Placing the existing zebra crossings onto raised tables, to reduce speeds and improve priority, is sensible, as is the decision to replace the side hatchings with an extension of the footway, which represents a partial tightening of the geometry of the roundabout.

The improvements also include an implicit recognition that the roundabout is unattractive for many current and potential cyclists.

In 1807 the British fleet sailed to Copenhagen, bombarding the city and seizing the Danish Navy (the original 'Copenhagenize'). Yesterday saw the process reversed - a considerably more benign Copenhagenize Danish invasion of London.

Mikael Colville-Andersen spoke first to the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group at Portcullis House, having cycled across London with the Danish Ambassador.

Consultation exercises seem to be coming thick and fast with another one just closing on Manchester's Oxford Road and the surrounding area. Although this will improve bus transport into the city centre, as Chester Cycling has pointed out the changes to the surrounding streets will tend to favour the private car, putting cyclists and pedestrians at risk.

What do Glasgow, Edinburgh, Twickenham, Whitchurch, Basingstoke, Brighton, and Tunbridge Wells have in common? Well, if the response to our BikeMinded twitter competition are anything to go by they're just a few of the places people would like to see Copenhagenized in the UK. 

We were amazed at how much some of you could squeeze into 140 characters - not so much tweets as tiny essays: