In an interview with the Dutch newspaper AD, he explains why: “Children are missing out on part of their road safety education. When they later go to secondary school, they still need to be able to judge whether they can cross the road safely or not. This is something you should practise with them as early as possible.”
Hulshof sees the consequences during the cycling proficiency test in Years 7 and 8. In certain parts of Amsterdam, half of the children fail. When looking at the backgrounds of these children, two groups stand out: children of parents who use cargo bikes and children whose parents have never learned to cycle themselves or cannot afford a bicycle.
A spokesperson for the ANWB confirms Hulshof’s observations in the same article. “During the cycling lessons we provide at schools, we see that children increasingly struggle with basic skills such as cycling steadily, looking around properly and getting on and off their bikes safely. You learn to cycle by doing it regularly. Covering many kilometres makes children more skilled and more confident when participating in traffic.”
The province of North Holland recognises the problem and is also taking measures. In 2026, it is making €1.5 million in subsidies available for road safety lessons at schools. With this funding, all primary and secondary schools in North Holland can offer road safety lessons to their pupils.