The consequences of climate change and global warming are increasingly affecting our lives. As a country vulnerable to global warming, the Netherlands is one of the pioneers in efforts to protect the environment. One of the obvious manifestations is the habit of using bicycles of people. With 17 million people but 23 million bicycles, the Netherlands is a country with more bicycles than people. However, to encourage more people to ride bicycles, the Dutch government has announced spending money on cyclists.
According to one statistic, in 2016, more than a quarter of the Dutch people's picnic trips were by bicycle. However, only a quarter of people ride a bicycle to work, while up to half of people living less than 7.5km away from work go to work by car.
In order to have the current cycling culture, the Dutch government also greatly facilitates this mode of travel by simultaneously building many overpasses or tunnels for bicycles and pedestrians to cross the roads and heavy traffic route. Bridges across the Netherlands also have their own bike paths. The Netherlands' network of bicycle paths spans nearly 35,000 km and the country costs about 400 million euros a year for bicycle infrastructure.
The Dutch teach their children to ride a bicycle very early so that they can confidently ride a bicycle to school from the moment they enter secondary school. Middle school students in the Netherlands have to take an exam to participate in traffic to be issued bicycle traffic certificate Verkeersdiploma. This is a very important certificate, because 84% of secondary school students in the Netherlands go to school by bicycle within less than 5 km.
Let's learn from the Netherlands to build a cycling culture in Vietnam!
Source: from the Internet