When Bicycles Return: Where’s the Road?

That, in the short term, is a preventive measure. In the medium and long term, encouraging cycling instead of motor vehicles will help reduce emissions and contribute to a cleaner environment.

In fact, long before this Covid-19 epidemic, many years ago, cities in the Netherlands opened bike lanes, and by many very friendly measures, encouraged people to ride bicycles. bicycle. The Netherlands has succeeded in this “bicycling” idea. In 2004, when I had the opportunity to go to the Netherlands, I witnessed Dutch people happily (and a bit… pretentious) cycling in dedicated bicycle lanes. Very safe and very friendly. The cyclists in the Netherlands are not just exercisers, but more, cyclists to work. With the road to the office or factory not too far, they cycled at a moderate speed, looked quite leisurely and very strong.

Europe, after many years of getting used to using personal cars, now returns to the old means of transport, the bicycle, enough to see, the bicycle is a vehicle that is not outdated in this era called “4.0”.

Meanwhile, Vietnam used to be a ‘cycling country’ for many years, from a few decades ago it “launched … motorcycles”, and now is rushing “to the world… personal cars”. . Now, cycling in Vietnam, either very poor people, street vendors, or people who are “well-off” should use bicycles as a means of improving health. The bicycles they use, maybe the price of a… medium-sized car. That is very expensive.

Europe does not think that cyclists have to own expensive cars to be “fashionable” or “luxury”. They advocate bicycles as a normal means of transport, but need good quality, safe cars, that’s enough. Bicycles are only for… pedaling, not for showing off or proving class.

I still remember, when I was still subsidized, for Hanoians, Mifa bicycles from Germany or Prague from Czechoslovakia were already too good. As for the French Peugeot bicycle, it is too luxurious. At that time, Hanoi had very few motorbikes, especially Japanese motorbikes.

Until the whole country “upgraded to motorcycles”, bicycles naturally retreated to the past, to obscure areas. Since then, whenever new roads are built or old roads are widened in cities, no one thinks about the need to open bicycle lanes. Only for bicycles, not motorbikes. Now the most advanced countries are encouraging their people to ride bicycles. As it turns out, bicycles are not a thing of the past. It is the same as classical works in literature or art. Not out of fashion. It’s just been forgotten for a certain period of time.

But when Vietnam really wants to encourage people to ride bicycles, because it is a great means of protecting the environment, it is startled: in our country now, there are no dedicated bicycle lanes.

When will our cities have even small lanes dedicated to bicycles? When will that question be answered?

Once a “biking country”, Vietnam has a starting point in cycling skills that is certainly not inferior to any other country. But in today’s traffic conditions, if there are no dedicated bicycle lanes, the safety for cyclists is not high.

If during the epidemic, the government urges people to “stay at home is patriotic”, then to protect the environment and improve health, perhaps the slogan “cycling is patriotic” will be very “quality”. Therefore, there is a great need for lanes dedicated to this unique patriotism.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply