DENMARK. Children from two York schools are visiting a school in Denmark this week to discover for themselves the advantages of safe cycle routes to school.
The 13-year-olds are doing an exchange with a school in Odense, where the local authority has managed to cut child cycle and pedestrian accidents by 80 per cent over 10 years. Up to two-thirds of local children cycle to school.
Although cycling in Denmark is more than 10 times as popular as in the UK, a Danish cyclist is 12 times less likely to be killed or injured per mile cycled than a UK cyclist.
Travel costs for the children have been met by Sustrans, a Bristol-based charity which designs and builds traffic-free routes for cyclists, walkers and people with disabilities. It is undertaking Safe Routes to Schools projects in York, Colchester, Leeds and Hampshire.
