Cycling Mecca (Holland) reclaims the World’s safest country for cycling title
(Source: Treehugger)
Img: Daniel Sparing @ Flickr
The Dutch and the Danish pass back and forth the crown for best cycling country. Now new research (from the Dutch) shows Holland to have the safest cycling roads (graph after the jump). Here’s how Tineke Huizinga, State Secretary of Transport, views the bike:
“The bicycle oils the wheels of the municipal traffic system. Cycling means arriving at work, school or the gym in a more alert frame of mind, feeling creative and positive.”
That may seem like a subjective statement, but the Dutch have found cyclists do have fewer sick days. And, amazingly, cycling safety is NOT give the highest priority in Dutch planning.
More Dutch cycling = safer cyclists
The Dutch, in their 2009 Cycling in the Netherlands report, attribute Holland’s low number of cycling fatalities – 2 people killed per 100 million kilometers traveled by bike – to the fact that so many of the Dutch are also cyclists. It isn’t a ‘we versus them’ mentality any longer, now that each person owns an average of 1.1 bicycles. This coupled with the fact that, as the report states: “Wearing a bicycle helmet for daily trips is unusual in the Netherlands,” is indeed food for thought.
In addition, Dutch liability dovetails with the recent TreeHugger post of making heavier vehicles more responsible in accidents.
Click here to read the entire article.
