Despite being clean and green, however, cycling is really popular in only a few countries. Potential accidents, the lack of a cycle-friendly infrastructure, and worries about rain and cold keep many from hopping on a two-wheeled horse. In the UK, US and Australia, for example, only about 1% of all journeys are made on a bike. But there are exceptions, of course: in the Netherlands, the number is 27%; and in the Danish capital Copenhagen, more than half the population cycles regularly.

Fewer people on cycles, however, doesn’t mean fewer accidents – quite the opposite. The number of cyclist deaths per 100 million kilometres cycled is 5.8 in the United States and 3.6 in the UK. In contrast, a cycling-happy country like Germany has a rate of just 1.7 deaths; and in Denmark it’s 1.5 – four times safer than in the US and twice as safe as in the UK. And cycling is even safer in the Netherlands, with just 1.1 deaths per 100 million kilometres on the road. It appears that the more cycling is encouraged and taken up, the safer it becomes.

Traffic traumas

But can this Dutch or Danish bicycle utopia work everywhere? And how would our cities’ roads have to change to persuade people to give up gas guzzling cars and switch to two wheels instead – especially when it’s cold and wet?

And can technology help us to make cycling smarter?

“The main factor that keeps cycling rates low in many cities is that most people are not comfortable sharing space in streets with fast-moving cars and trucks,” says Mark Vallianatos, policy director at the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute, Occidental College, in Los Angeles, California.