Observations on Driving in Aarhus

Hi,

Just a quick post with some observations on what its like to drive in Aarhus.

First, there is only one word that can be used to characterize the driving style of bus drivers in Aarhus: aggressive!

I've learned to give buses a lot of space because they will run into you otherwise and, heaven forbid, a bus is behind you and decides that you're going too slow!

Second, cyclists (and some pedestrians) in Aarhus have a death wish. Indeed, drivers appear to ignore pedestrians, pedestrians appear to ignore drivers, and cyclists appear to ignore everyone! I can't tell you the number of times I've seen cars making a right-hand turn come up short because the cyclist driving on their right, ignored the car, and went straight through the intersection! Now, I don't know about you, but if I'm riding a bike and I'm approaching an intersection where a car is turning right and I want to go straight through and I'm in the driver's blind spot, I WOULD STOP and let the car make its turn before proceeding through the intersection. My thought process would go something like this: "Oh, if that car hits me, it would put a serious damper on the day, so lets stop, wait 5 seconds, and let it turn."

Oh, and in addition to ignoring everything around them, cyclists in Aarhus appear to have adopted the convention of Boulder cyclists in which "the rules of the road" apply to cyclists only when convenient.

Finally, repairs of city streets occurs only during the work week and only during prime driving hours. The quality of life philosophy that underlies the Danish system of work would frown on doing such repairs at night or on the weekend. Indeed, except for critical community services (police, fire, and emergency medical services) most business is conducted during the work week roughly between the hours of 8 AM and 4:30 PM; Some shopping is available on the weekend, however, mainly between 10 AM and 2 PM on Saturdays and some grocery stores and gas stations are open on Sundays, but that's about it.

Anyway, we once observed a street repair project that involved digging up some of the existing pavement, fixing a problem underneath, laying new pavement, and then painting street lines on top of the new pavement which occurred over several days near our work. (For our local readers, this occurred at the intersection of Paludan-Müllers Vej and the O1.) The odd thing about this project was that the street workers made no attempt to close any of the lanes coming into or out of the intersection where the work was occurring! Instead, the workers ignored all of the cars, pedestrians, and cyclists moving through the intersection and just went about their work as if they weren't there. Meanwhile, all of the cars, pedestrians, and cyclists had to find ways to move around the significant obstruction that three trucks and several workers presented while trying to get through the intersection before the light changed. We observed several instances of grid lock caused by this during the local "rush hours" of morning and late afternoon.

So, given all this, Leysia makes sure that I stay very alert while driving through the city! And, my recommendation to anyone considering a trip to Aarhus and wondering how they will get around the city: Take the bus! No one messes with bus drivers!

Ken