Two weeks ago the Netherlands was covered with a thin layer of snow. Enough snow to make cycling very uncomfortable if the roads and cycleways hadn’t been treated, but they were. Luckily it is customary in the Netherlands to treat … Continue reading How well can you cycle in winter conditions?
This week I have guided two cycle tours in and around Utrecht. One group with policy makers and politicians from Bavaria and one with students from the university of Platteville-Wisconsin. It felt really rewarding to lead these groups to places … Continue reading The Freedom of Cycling
Enabling cycling is all about removing barriers. With the opening of a major cycle bridge last week, Utrecht did just that. You can now cycle from the city centre to a huge residential development (that already houses 82,000 people) via … Continue reading The cycle path atop a school
Last week a news-broadcast on national Dutch TV reported that e-bikes are now even embraced by a most unlikely group: school children. Electric assisted bicycles have long had an image that they were for ‘old’ people, but apparently that is … Continue reading E-bikes embraced by ever more people
This year in April about 150,000 Dutch school children will take a traffic test called “Traffic Exam”. It is tradition Dutch school children do this test when they are in their last year of primary school. I have shown you … Continue reading New Traffic Test App for Dutch Children
Dutch children cycle to school in huge numbers. According to the Cyclists’ Union, of all cycle trips in the Netherlands 18% is to get to a facility for some form of education: to school, a course or university. That is … Continue reading Arriving at school by bicycle
It has been 34 years since I started riding to school on my bicycle. A big change in the life of any Dutch child is going from primary school to secondary school. Primary schools in the Netherlands are usually at walking distance. In my days we even walked there unsupervised. Nowadays kids are usually taken by their parents on foot, by bicycle or indeed by car. But once the kids start secondary school –usually at the age of 12– it means they will be going there without supervision and on their bicycles. Then as well as now. I looked up … Continue reading Cycling back to school
Hundreds of thousands of children cycle to school every morning in the Netherlands. The roads and streets are literally full of cycling children for about one hour. The “cycle highway” from Geldermalsen to Culemborg is one such road. Hundreds of children going to school take the same safe route here. They form spontaneous groups and the closer they get to school the larger the groups become. When the school bell rings and all the children are in class, the cycle highway looks as deserted as it was before the kids went to school. Some things in the video may need … Continue reading Cycling to school
Every year in April some 200,000 school children in the Netherlands take a “Verkeersexamen” (traffic test). The 12 year olds will start secondary school in the following school year. An overwhelming majority of these children will get to secondary school … Continue reading Bicycle Training in the Netherlands
