Why couldn't the country of the Tour de France become cyclable like the Netherlands?
In his first book, “Why not the bike?
», Stein Van Oosteren, spokesperson for the Vélo Ile-de-France collective, suggests revisiting the national public space, through his pragmatic Dutch perspective.
Through these multiple interventions during public debates, the diplomatic attaché and president of the FAR à Vélo association (Fontenay-aux-Roses à Vélo, where he has lived for ten years) has contributed to the emergence of cycling. and in particular to the RER bicycle project.
A philosophical and psychological approach
His positions sometimes get him some trouble, as recently when he got into trouble with the mayor of his town, who took away the room from his bike-school.
Never mind, "the promoter of the bicycle" - a name he prefers to "pro-cycling activist" - persists and signs in a work both funny and documented, in which he adopts a philosophical and psychological approach.
He explains both the good reasons for developing the use of the bicycle but also those which lead us not to give space to the bicycle in France, by attacking, among other things, the automobile industry.
Stein Van Oosteren proposes to revisit the French public space, through his pragmatic Dutch perspective.
DR
Here are some excerpts from the book, which the author has commented on for us.
"In France, children are deprived of their freedom of movement from an early age"
STEIN VAN OOSTEREN.
This is something that has always shocked me in this country. The fact that children are carried like small vegetables in the back seat or in coaches. We sedentary their bodies, we prevent their autonomy, and that makes them passive. We develop docile adults, who do not take the handlebars of their lives. Conversely, in the Netherlands, three out of four children go to school by bike on their own, they decide their own path. But to reassure parents in France, it would be necessary to secure the public space, by developing a real cycle network which limits the space of the car. It is only by offering suitable infrastructures that we will be able to put the little French on the pedals and that we will generate new automatisms.
"This almost magical well-being of cycling is difficult to convey to non-cyclists"
If we move thirty minutes a day, we produce endorphins.
Riding a bicycle is a bit of a natural drug.
When I'm not riding a bike, I miss it.
It is a time when you are what you are, that is to say a body made to move and not to remain seated all day while moving from one seat to another.
My wife got started by force of circumstances and I was able to observe her transformation.
She is different in the evening when she comes home, more dynamic.
But as long as you do not experience it yourself, you can give dozens of arguments in its favor, we will not convince.
The best cycling ambassador is the bike itself.
"In France, the cyclist is presented as a helmeted warrior"
The French are always surprised that in the Netherlands, cyclists are not helmets.
But that's because the government cares about their safety.
When road safety encourages people to put on helmets, they confirm the danger of cycling, they say "let us leave the situation and the infrastructures as they are, where the shock can occur" and hide the real people responsible for the lack of safety who are policies.
"There is no lack of space here but of political will"
When I was doing my tour of the documentary “Why we cycle”, many politicians gave me many excuses not to give more space to cycling: streets that are too small, too many trees… But in the Netherlands, we have the same difficulties and that did not prevent the country, which was also a "country of the car", to start a revolution of the bicycle in the years 1970. The political will works if there is citizen support behind .
Today, it is there, as the Climate Action Network poll shows: 60% of Ile-de-France residents want to reduce the place of cars in favor of an ambitious cycling policy.
"The biggest success of the automotive industry is love: that of the French for the car"
This is all linked to the hype on cars.
In France, when you buy a vehicle, you put 1,500 euros to pay for advertising.
If the French received as many images of bicycles on their retina as images of cars, the bicycle would enter their minds and their daily lives ten times faster.
"With the money used to build a single road interchange, we can make an entire metropolis cyclable"
I will take the example of the Grand Paris Express which costs around 40 billion euros.
It will make it possible to transport 2.3 million people per day.
The RER bicycle, it will cost only 1% of this budget and, yet, it could allow the movement of 12 million people daily.
Cycling is too powerful and too simple a solution to be believed.
"Cycling is not only a utility but also the pleasure of being together"
This is a phrase from the Dutch researcher Marco te Brömmelstroet.
Cycling is the freedom to be able to go, stop when you want or want, talk with whoever you want.
When I ride on the Coulée verte, smiles rain, when there are people on a bike path, we put in place courtesy pacts.
In the car, behind a windshield, the presence of the other is less tangible;
in traffic jams, we honk, we get angry.
For me, this is the main argument and this is how I summarized it in my book: “Cyclists will give you dozens of reasons why they cycle.
But behind every reason lies pleasure and freedom.
"
“Why not the bike? »By Stein Van Oosteren, published by Ecosociété editions. Preface by Olivier Schneider, President of the Federation of Bicycle Users (FUB). 200 pages. 16 euros.