Stopping ban by schools

Groningen has recently implemented a stopping ban by many of its primary schools. This is to spread to cover all schools in the city within a two and half years and will be rolled out as the safety of home-school routes is enhanced.

This means it is now illegal to stop with a car adjacent to the schools between 8 am and 4 pm on week days. i.e. No children may be taken to school by car.

By British or American standards, the rate of children being taken to school by car is already extremely low. Just try to spot any children being taken to school by car in this video shot at a local primary school.

Of course, a good idea like this won't just stay in one place. It's also spreading to other towns within the Netherlands. Perhaps it can also spread outside this country ?

Britain could do with trying this. Here's a typical scene from outside the primary school that my children attended in Britain. Virtually all the cars in the picture have brought a child to school. Even the car in the middle of this road junction is parked, as is the one in front of it which is obstructing the dropped kerb.

When "everyone else is doing it", there is no legal enforcement against illegal parking, and there are generally no really safe ways of getting to the schools by bike, is it such a surprise that parents see driving their children as the only safe option ?

There are more posts about school travel.

What separation of cycle routes really means

This video shows a location very near our home. Cyclists completely separated from motor traffic. It's not an aberration, but something quite common. It is possible to cycle here and barely see cars. Cars are mostly elsewhere.

The cycle routes you see in this video have few cars for several reasons. Some are cycle paths along which cars are not allowed. Others are roads open to all, but along which there is no destination for drivers, so they are not at all useful as a through road by car. No road sign will tell a driver that these small roads are route. They are directed onto the main road that you also see in the video. What's more, rat-running doesn't work here. Those roads which have been prioritised for cyclists really don't make a useful alternative for drivers.

This location looked quite different three years ago. The motivation for this transformation was to make sure that there was a direct and easy route to the city centre from a new housing estate on the western side of the city. The blue bridge carrying the cars over the cycle path was built to give cyclists a direct route without any stops and with maximum social safety.

This change was amongst those which helped the city to raise its cycling rate from around 37% to the new figure of 41% of all journeys by bike.

If you imagine going under the blue bridge in this video, you can get all the way into the city centre on the bicycle road, and the last bit looks like this

The video was shot from an artificial hill which stands where the red spot is in this photo:
The photo is from Microsoft Bing Maps birds eye view. I would have embedded it if I could work out how (it's much easier with Google Maps...).

A view of the bicycle road between this spot and the centre of the city is on youtube.

"Motorbikes" on the cycle path

Here in the Netherlands, low powered motorbikes called bromfietsen are allowed to use rural cycle paths. These include many of the cycle paths on which I commute. In the middle of the countryside they're allowed, while at each village along the way they are sent back onto the road.

These things can be a minor irritation, but it's actually quite advantageous to faster cyclists that these bikes also use the cycle paths. It means that the cycle paths have to be designed to be suitable for speeds of 45 km/h - the legal limit for these bikes.

They also provide a bit of sport. On a good day, I overtake them

Autumn cycling in the Netherlands

Another of Mark Wagenbuur's lovely videos, showing typical scenes as in every Dutch city at this time of year.

He says: "The Dutch keep on cycling in fall. Even in rain, wind and early darkness they just keep on doing what they do all year long. Roads are swept clear of slippery leaves and umbrellas and special rain-suits keep the cyclists dry."

Is it too late to start providing for cyclists ? Are the Dutch "too far ahead" ?

Twenty years ago (1990) this video was produced by the Dutch Ministry of Transport and Public Works to show what cycling was like then in the Netherlands, and how the potential for the bicycle could be further developed.

Less than twenty years elapsed between the mid 1970s when cycling infrastructure first started getting heavy investment in the Netherlands and 1990 when this film was made.

I'm regularly given the excuse that the Dutch are so far ahead because they started sooner, so there's no chance to "catch up". I've heard this excuse used for at least twenty years - enough time for infrastructure as seen in the video to already have been built.

It's never too late to stop making excuses and to start working on proper infrastructure which is convenient, pleasant and safe for cyclists.

There are many excuses used for low investment in cycling and cycling rates. I'm working through them one by one.

Photos from the last few days

Peter's father's Alleweder out and about this morning.

Near this block of flats in Assen there is a cycle path and a walking path, but no road. A fine place for walking a pony.

The bridge was open on my way to work a couple of days this week.

This child, aged 9 or 10, was one of several practising a bit of stunt riding on the cycle path while riding home from school.

My daughters on their way to a social engagement.

Entertainers in Assen with a rather unusual tricycle.

Bike share... and helmets

I've pointed out before that I'm a skeptic about the potential for bike share schemes because the numbers just don't add up to a significant culture of cycling.

I also rarely post about helmets, as I see them more as a symptom of a problem, primarily that there is inadequate subjective safety which causes people to see a need for safety equipment.

However, Mike Rubbo's latest blog post and film, makes an excellent point that compulsory helmets and bike share are fundamentally incompatible. Neither can exist with the other.

Incidentally, we had a film crew here in Assen yesterday who only after the shoot realised that they'd not worn a helmet as they would have in the UK. It just doesn't feel necessary to wear one in somewhere like Assen.