One way to ‘measure’ a city or country’s bicycle-friendliness is to observe children on bicycles in their natural habitat…which is everywhere. Around the block, going to school, playgrounds and most importantly the roads they share with everybody else to get to their destination. Or at least, it should be everywhere. Is it safe, or is [...]
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Just an Amsterdam native who won't take his city and its cycling extravaganza for granted anymore, thinking these posts might be clues to others, inspiration perhaps, if you will...
One way to ‘measure’ a city or country’s bicycle-friendliness is to observe children on bicycles in their natural habitat…which is everywhere. Around the block, going to school, playgrounds and most importantly the roads they share with everybody else to get to their destination. Or at least, it should be everywhere. Is it safe, or is it perceived as safe by their parents to have their kids cycle or take their children where they need to go by bicycle?
Contrary to general perceptions, Amsterdam is a popular city to raise children. I think it would be far less so, if it wasn’t for the comprehensive bicycle infrastructure and long established place for bicycles in society.
Photo by Carol Lydia
Over the last four months I’ve posted many pictures of kids cycling in Amsterdam or riding along with their parents, but for this post I resort to other people’s captures. You know, in the spirit of ‘Amsterdam Through Stranger’s Eyes‘ (give or take the occasional local photographer):
Photo by Meteorry
Photo by Eldrytch
Photo by Yossi Langer
Photo by KDC43
Photo by Kromag
Photo by Pawelpach
See more below (toggle to see the slide show full screen):
Now, how excited would you and your kids be about seeing this, being able to safely go across town by bicycle? Exactly.
A very good post which gets to the bottom of the issue.
It’s all OK for experienced cyclists to say it’s OK for them to ride in thick traffic, but for cycling to grow it needs to be an inclusive activity which everyone can take part in.
Another group of people who you see on bikes here but not back in the UK are disabled people. There are many hand-cycles used for everyday transportation, electric bikes also help (especially for the elderly who may not be as strong as they once were) and low-step-through designs provide an option for people who can barely get on a normal bike.
There’s a market for all these things here because the environment is “100% friendly”.
That’s why cyclists are protected by law, Aaron. No matter the situation, car drivers are liable. Add the fact that car drivers are also cyclists and voila, you got the mix that you need for normalcy. Yup, that pretty much explains it.
Kimba added these cyclelicious words on November 3, 2008 |Permalink
It would be a beautiful thing to actually this the US.
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