Promoting Cycling Positively in Holland
Let it be no secret that the Dutch are world class promoters of cycling. Not only the Fietsersbond - the Dutch cycling federation - but also cities and towns are constantly promoting cycling as a way of life and a feasible, acceptable form of transport.
They do so even though the country enjoys a massive number of daily cyclists. They still produce campaigns that encourage people to cycle. It's much like producing campaigns showing the benefits of snow and ice for the Inuit populations in Canada and Greenland.
I never cease to be amazed at how the Dutch do it or the fact that they keep on doing it. And all without fear-mongering, overcomplicating a simple issue or finger-wagging.
Here in Denmark, our car-centric Road Safety Council dominates the fear market. In Holland they are selling public health, societal values and everything good about cycling.
The national Fietsberaad, or Bicycle Council, has produced a pdf document about the variety of pro-cycling campaigns in the country. It's in Dutch, but copy-pasting text into Google Translate enlightens us. There are links in the document to the various websites in question, too.
The goal of the document is highlighted in the foreward:
How can the tools of commercial marketing translate to cycling? That question is central to the project MET cycling that Fietsberaad launched in 2008. Although marketing is about much more than just advertising - communication and promotion play an important role.
The experience with communication and promotional campaigns in the Netherlands cycling is limited. Usually these are modest campaigns with limited resources. Yet these experiences can also inspire new ideas. Moreover, we need to keep reinventing the wheel to find out. Therefore, the Fietsberaad to XTNT Experts in Traffic and Transport commissioned to make a survey of bicycle campaigns in the recent past. The result is this publication.
Modest campaigns. Limited resources. Sounds like issues in most urban centres. And yet the results are positive and the message is clear. Inspiration for any town or city.
Read the document here.
8 thinking out louds:
A recent treehugger article about Dutch cycling...
Also, you may be interested that an Australian bicycle shop has copied all your links - but hasn't linked to you! I found them because I was wondering why people were coming to my blog from there :)
How about this story from a Stockholm newspaper. Some streets are getting the green bicycle wave traffic light treatment.
The article ends with some words from the emergency ward. They advise all cyclists to use helmets and knee protection.
DN: Nu måste stadsplanerarna räkna med cyklisterna
Knee protection! Can you imagine?
That is stuff for mountain biking and extreme sports.
I enjoyed the Dutch ladies about the fact that normally, if someone should fall, they tend to fall and their arse (I'd think one's side would be more common, actually). But strangely, helmet zealots are always talking about having fallen on their heads.
I do think one of the reasons if faulty bicycle design - in less-cycled countries, "racing" and "mountain" bicycles are more common than sit-up-and-beg ones. The outcomes are obvious.
thanks kiashu... they link to copenhagencyclechic though.
erik... that's just crazy. what is happening over there?!
upright bikes, lagatta. for everyone! better centre of gravity.
Mikael, it's the usual culture of fear you have written about earlier.
But it's probably also the newspaper wanting to be "objective and balanced". The whole article reads like a propaganda piece from the cycling lobby, up until the end. It's like they are just waking up to how fabulous the bicycle really is, and then they just have to ask the question: what's the catch?
The catch, if you can call it that, is that people have been ignorant to the bicycle's blessings. Stockholm's bicycling mode share has been just about zero, and since the nineties the number of cyclists in the inner city has doubled. Now people are trying to figure out how they were able to miss such an obvious solution for so long!
Finally, another point on safety: the Danish report you mentioned ealier says that bicycling is safer than walking, per kilometer. See page 13.
And with reference to your cycle chic blog, upright bicycles also show off your sartorial refinement to best advantage!
Oh look. Portland regulators want pedicabs (bicycle taxis) to carry fire extinguishers.
Pedicab business owner concerned about proposed regulations
Just wanted to share this with all of you fellow cyclists... This type of attitude is what we have to contend with in the US. Here is hoping that we get to a better place here in the States... spread the word:
http://www.wendmag.com/blog/2009/04/10/mighigan-state-univ-publishes-article-about-hitting-cyclists-with-car/
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