Paris city authorities rewrote traffic laws to allow cyclists to run red lights—or griller le feu—at 1,800 T-junctions across the city, legitimizing a common practice and integrating bicycle behavior more deeply into urban infrastructure.
In a similar vein, Aarhus, the second-largest city in Denmark, is installing special readers at select traffic stops—activated by RFID tags attached to cyclists’ wheels—to give bikers exclusive green lights, freeing them from the need to stop or slow down and forcing automobiles to wait and let them pass.
Germany is building a 100-kilometer dedicated bicycle highway—the Radschnellweg RS1—between the cities of Duisburg and Hamm. Frankfurt is planning a similar, 30-kilometer path to Darmstadt and Munich a 15-kilometer route to its northern suburbs.
Copenhagen’s cost–benefit analysis framework for bikes—which takes into account accidents, air pollution, climate change, noise, congestion, physical health, and travel time—valuates the combined cost to society and the individual at 0.50€/km for cars as opposed to 0.08€/km for bikes. (To society alone, the cost is 0.15€/km for cars and 0.16€/km gained for bikes.)
Finally, the Italian public radio program Caterpillar on Rai Radio2 is petitioning to nominate the bicycle for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. It plans to deliver the candidacy to Oslo via bike relay in February. As crazy as that sounds, Oslo is planning to ban cars altogether by 2019. They might just give them a warm welcome.
As Natalie Shoemaker commented for Bigthink, “the weight of a bicycle and rider aren't enough to trigger electromagnetic road coils” on their own.