What going Dutch really means
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Presentation by Jim Davis, then chair of the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain.
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What going Dutch really means
- 1. What going Dutch REALLY means Jim Davis Founder, Cycling Embassy of Great Britain
- 3. Stop de Kindermoord 1973
- 4. Assen 1968
- 14. 725 Students 850 Cycle Places
- 31. Grimsby
- 32. Bournemouth
- 33. Credits Copenhagenize - www.copenhagenize.com Amsterdamize - www.amsterdamize.com David Hembrow - aviewfromthecyclepath.com Bicycle Dutch - bicycledutch.wordpress.com Warrington Cycle Campaign ‘Facility of the Month’
- 34. Contact Email: thecyclingjim@gmail.com Website: www.cycling-embassy.org.uk Twitter: @GBCycleEmbassy @lofidelityjim
Editor's Notes
- Cycling in the Netherlands declined sharply in the post second war period. In the 1950s and 1960s, what little cycling infrastructure there was was in many cases removed to make space for the motor car. The Dutch Bicycle Plan clearly states that “From 1950 to 1975, the bicycle was almost entirely excluded from the Government’s vision”. The number of deaths on the roads rose, especially amongst children on their way to and from school. In 1972, a total of 3264 people were killed on Dutch roads, and at the same time, in 1973, 450 road deaths were of children. In the UK we delude ourselves that we have a safe road safety record but that’s only achieved by suppressing cycling rates through mostly subjectively dangerous conditions that only committed “cyclists” will happily endure day in day out. A grassroots campaign started to lobby politicians called Stop de Kindermoord which translates as ‘Stop the Child Murder’ which, I think you have to agree is as direct as it gets for campaign names. The Netherlands had reached a crossroads, and they decided to do something about it.
- Here is a main bidirectional cycle path running into Assen. Here, there is no such thing as Dual Network where crappy provision is put on a pavement while experienced cyclists fight for their right to the road. Here it is ONE QUALITY NETWORK FOR ALL. You can be as slow or as fast as you like. On my travels I encountered all types of rider from elderly ladies heading out to a cafe to club riders heading out to the countryside.
- It's not about segregated paths everywhere. It is however about segregated routes. 30kph (or 18mph) is standard in residential areas. For some reason in the UK it has been devolved so has to be fought district to district, street to street.
- There is nothing to stop the Dutch being a two or even three car family. It’s not about bashing the poor beleaguered motorist. It’s about creating quality networks for all. You can drive through this estate but it is has been designed to be quicker to cycle and just as pleasant to walk.
- I love this sign. This is for a woonerf or home zone. There is no through route for anyone, not even pedestrians and cyclists. Notice the scale of the car. It is small in relation to the parent and child firmly in the foreground. It is clearly saying that the car has its place but people come first. In Britain, the opposite is true. The people have their place but the car comes first.
- This is the sign in context. The speed limit here isn't 30mph, it's not even 20mph. It's walking pace. Any more is anti-social.
- As a result, they can do this. Imagine putting that in a British housing estate road.
- This secondary school in Assen has 725 students and 850 cycle parking spaces. It is expected that students will arrive by bike, and they all do. In the winter, cycling rates sometimes drop as "low" as 95%. Some students ride more than 40 km each day to get to school and home again. Due to the number of bicycles which arrive each day, the amount of space taken by them can be quite large. That's the reason for the high density cycle parking with bikes hanging from their handlebars.
- Rubbish bin next to a cycle path on a school route for cyclists on the move to throw rubbish into. These exist on all school routes. This section of cycle path heads for an underpass which avoids a main road junction. The cycle path is four metres wide.
- Banner I found in an outlying suburb of Assen that simply informs motorists that School Term is beginning.
- This is what creating a safe network yields. This is a typical Dutch school run. I noticed parents and grandparents out to collect children from school.
- This is a Secondary school in Groningen.
- Cycling obviously keeps you fit throughout your life. The demographics of cycling in the Netherlands are more varied than in any other country. Even the over 65s make 24% of their journeys by bicycle in the Netherlands. No transport poverty there. An equitable network for all.
- Going on a date Dutch style. Those carefree days in the UK are over apparently.
- Family riding through Vondelpark in Amsterdam.
- Groningen is a university city in the North of the Netherlands. In 2006, the replaced the cycle parking which had been an untidy clump of bikes outside the station with a remarkable new cycle park which has space for 4150 bikes under cover outside the station.
- There are 6,000 spaces in total around the station. The population is 190,000. Please note that all the Dutch people look normal. Just normal clothing, carrying out normal everyday tasks. The bicycle is treated seriously as a mode of transport and not just a sport or leisure activity to be swept to the margins. With that in mind, let's have a quick look at British cycle commuting..
- This is more like it. Helmets, hi-viz. They’ve left the rat race just to enter one of their own creation. I don’t blame these people at all. They are just risk compensating for the often dreadful conditions they find themselves in, favouring the quick and the brave.
- The mask there tells me everything I need to know about what people think about the street environment. You can only blame a remote desert and mainland Europe for so long.
- I started working permanently in London again two weeks ago. I sometimes cycle between Kings Cross and London Bridge, you know, for a giggle. When people tell me that there is a cycling revolution going on in London, I tend to give them a wide berth as they must be lying to themselves about other stuff too. Certainly there are more cyclists but that’s not the same thing. London is a battlefield where more soldiers have turned up in armour but without a coherant strategy from the generals, they are cannon fodder. People are cycling in spite of the conditions, not because of them. Moreover, if we have arrived at a situation where adults not only have to wear armour, but also put surveillance on that armour, what does that tell our children that maybe wish to cycle to school? Their parents would always veto it anyway.
- Wickford Esssex. Presumably so Bardon Concrete lorry drivers can see these young people easier to spot as they speed on past regardless. (I find it just a little bit cynical)
- Local shops aren’t going to benefit from streetscapes like this. This is part of London’s and TfL’s incessant need to ‘maintain traffic flow’. The red lines merely increases the urgency of the streetscape making it unpleasant for all. Road users feel pressured, mistakes are made, lives are lost. And it’s just written off as one of those things.
- Which brings us to British Cycle Infrastructure. I believe that when decent infrastructure occurs in this country, it is often by accident. Usually because it is on an old pre-Beeching railway line. This is a track running through Camden…