In an interview with AD, he explains why: “Children miss out on part of their traffic education. When they later go to secondary school, they still need to be able to assess whether they can cross the road or not. You need to practise that with them as early as possible.”
Hulshof sees the consequences during the traffic exam in years 7 and 8. In certain parts of Amsterdam, half of the children fail. Looking at these children’s backgrounds, two groups stand out: children of cargo-bike parents and children of parents who never learned to cycle themselves or who cannot afford a bicycle.
An ANWB spokesperson confirms Hulshof’s assessment in the same article. “During the cycling lessons we give at schools, we see that children more often struggle with basic skills such as cycling steadily, looking around properly and getting on and off safely. You learn to cycle by doing it often. Covering many kilometres makes children more skilled and more confident participants in traffic.”
The province of North Holland recognises the problem and is also taking measures. It is making €1.5 million in subsidies available in 2026 for traffic lessons at schools. With this amount, all primary and secondary schools in North Holland can offer traffic lessons to their pupils.