Half way through a bike tour from Edinburgh to Athens and crossed the Albula and Ofenpass. The latter was busy (Saturday) and there were multiple close passes and ‘get in the gutter’ horns – rarely were we given over 1.5m. Despite the route being a national cycleway and very busy with cyclists there was not one sign to advise drivers on safe passing distance. Are the Swiss behind the rest of Europe?
by Electric-shoe
15 Comments
As a cyclist living in Switzerland I’d say absolutely. I have the impression most cars and motorcycles HATE cyclists and here in Geneva it has almost become a polarized political discussion.
I think the further south you go the worse it will be.
Yes. Richer countries are generally worse in my experience. Even regions within countries can have huge variation based on wealth, which somehow translates to a megalomaniacal valuation of your own time and predisposes people to buying big dumb cars.
Also, mountain (and island) life is generally very car centric with weak public transit.
Swiss drivers are not great ~~with cyclists~~. ftfy
edit: also albula and ofenpass are heavily used during the weekends for leisure by cars and motorbikes. I would never bike those on a weekend because of this.
Yes we are. Our mobility mentality is pathetic, and you discovered the lies we tell ourselves by yourself, about how the country is supposedly a train and cycling haven.
With that said, according to our laws (that reflect this car mentality):
– nobody is supposed to ride in the gutter, you have to take the right side of the road when there’s no cycling path.
– but *there’s no minimum passing distance*
– and you can *never* ride side by side unless you’re in a group of 10 or more riders
Then, you rode some of the most driven passes. There’s also other passes that are better to cycle… apparently. And in most regions, I’ve had relatively good experiences – bad ones mainly were Fribourg, some cities around Aarau, or any case when you “experience” the inconsistency of cycling paths.
>Despite the route being a national cycleway
I don’t think car drivers know when a route is a national cycleway. You might see this information in Komoot or somewhere else on the internet but unless there are *multiple* signs next to the road, they won’t know that you are on a national cycleway.
For many people their car is an extension of their masculinity. They love to show that it is bigger than your’s. Perhaps they are in fact jealous, because you are healthy, moving at your own power and they can’t do it without fuel. Now who is the real man out there?
Dont ride abreast and not in the middle of the road and you will be fine. Why do cyclists have 0 critical thinking skills
I rode road bikes in many countries in Europe and currently live in Switzerland (Zurich). The Swiss have an unhealthy combination of poor car handling skills paired with an overly aggressive approach to driving in my experience. Of course this makes for an unpleasant experience as a cyclist.
In this they match the French and Portuguese who conduct themselves in a similar fashion.
My top countries for riding are Spain, Netherlands and the Nordics. Surprisingly I also always felt well treated in Poland.
The worst experiences are unfortunately in South/Eastern Europe (with the exception of Greece)
Just my observations
I’m Swiss and I both cycle and drive (albeit rarely).
I don’t think Swiss drivers are worse than the other European countries I’m familiar with as a cyclist. However, when you cycle in Switzerland, you usually have much more friction with drivers. The reason for this is that, even along the national cycle routes, roads have very little bicycle infrastructure, even painted gutters are quite rare.
This means that even though Swiss drivers aren’t worse imo, you have to interact with much more of them on cycle routes than e.g. in France.
I would also like to mention that Ofenpass is terrible to cycle. I’ve done it once and decided to never do it again if I can avoid it. It’s a really uncomfortable road and the drivers there seem to be especially terrible.
I hope you could still enjoy my beautiful country 🙂
You might want to change the photo that you posted with your question. You are riding uphill in the middle of a narrow road after a pretty tight bend on a busy road.
Yeah… don’t ride a busy pass on a Saturday…
Did Alpsu (is this Albula? :D) and Furka at the start of last month. Can 100% agree. Swiss Drivers rarely keep distance, overtake even with oncoming traffic and the cycling lanes are non existent or paint at best.
The first thing I spotted coming back into Germany was the wonderful Baden-Württemberg “Radnetz”, a dedicated and separated path starting directly after the border.
I think Switzerland has a lot of catching up to do. This being said, apparently the fatality numbers are not high enough to justify attention, during passes most people weren’t swiss and they (also the Swiss drivers) were way more cautious than during normal roads, especially since most of the roads are pretty tight anyway. You couldn’t fit a dedicated lane there.
And last but not least the view makes up for everything 😁
As bad as it may seem, if you check the Mobility app, The country is crisscrossed with dependable bike lanes and paths that take you through some stunning sites.
Switzerland is Europe’s USA in many ways.