The Hembrows

Posted by on May 15, 2011 in Infrastructure, Paul Martin | 0 comments

Update: David Hembrow has posted an excellent summary of the tour on his blog.

On Friday 13 May, David & Judy Hembrow took us on a tour of Assen and the surrounding area, focussing on how this region has managed to achieve a cycling modal share above 40% for all trips (compared to Australia’s paltry 1-2% – with the exception of the Northern Territory that is…).

I can’t explain much of this better than David Hembrow can so I would suggest you head over to his excellent blog, A View From The Cycle Path.

Shortly, Paulo & Rowena will be uploading a film so I won’t say too much about the day. Instead I have some photographs for you to enjoy.

A comfortable ride...

David Hembrow. A few stills from the book can be seen here: http://hembrow.eu/cycling/assenverandert.html

Forbidden to park a bicycle or moped outside the parking area.

How Assen used to look in the 1970s

...and how Assen looks today (similar angle)

This roundabout is a bit atypical, in that the road to the left is actually just the entrance to a sporting area, so there is very little traffic using it. Mark Wagenbuur wrote a very good description of how Dutch roundabouts work: http://hembrow.blogspot.com/search/label/roundabouts

Mark Wagenbuur joined us on this public hire bike. This is how they do it here: http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2011/03/bike-share-dutch-way.html

David Hembrow & Rowena Crowe

Paul van Bellen

Judy Hembrow

Bill Bretherton

Andrew McAdam

Joanne Jones

Alison Jones

Bernard Hockings & Bill Bretherton

Discussing cycle infrastructure in a typical residential street. Cars do not have through-access everywhere (bicycles do) and there is almost no on-street parking. It is quiet and safe.