Here's a report from The Copenhagen Bicycle Culture Blog:
So he has now proposed something (Copenhagen) City Hall calls 'Intelligent Traffic Control'.It sure will. But is that the way to go?
It involves setting up sensors that measure air pollution in Copenhagen and the levels of pollution they report will regulate the traffic heading into the city.
If the pollution levels are too high on any particular day, all the traffic lights on the main roads into the city will turn red and stay red longer than normal. The time the traffic lights are green will be reduced by 10 percent.
Motorists will be informed by the internet or text messages before they leave for work so they can choose alternative transport forms.
"It will create queues on some of the approach roads, but it certainly our hope that people will think about it. The signal we want to send is that you have to use your car with careful consideration", says Klaus Bondam.
He is aware that cars still pollute when they're stopped at a red light but: "There are fewer people in the areas in question than there is in the densely populated areas. But the whole idea is to get people to leave the car at home", he says.
Won't this make life miserable for motorists?
We've blogged before about bike culture here and there but for folk in the Netherlands this graph below tells a stark tale:while the Dutch certainly bike it with abandonment the public transport option may not be all that optional and to be required to leave your car at home presumes that you have an alternate means of transport you are willing to deploy. Without that, it's simply punishment.
So do the Danes have that option when considering a drive into the city of Copenhagen on those mornings that the traffic lights stay red?
