French pupils get a bicycle riding license

But first, they have to complete a programme that teaches them to be skilled on two wheels

Did you know that young students in France can get a sort of bicycle riding license called “bicycle passport”? The national programme called ‘Know How to Ride a Bike’ (Le Savoir Rouler à Vélo) has been offered and led by the country’s Ministry of Sports, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, since 2019. And since then, more than 185,000 children have received their bike passports.

The programme has the purpose of ensuring that children (aged 6-11) will be more skilful, confident and law-abiding when riding on the street and participating in the traffic flow. It also aims to lessen traffic incidents and mortality and injury cases on the road.

Paris finally joins the programme as part of its traffic code

The country’s capital and biggest city – Paris – has finally decided to take the programme seriously and in the upcoming school year, some 340 elementary schools (out of 355 locally) will participate. The aim is to eventually include all such schools as part of the city’s new street code.

The argument given for the late addition of Paris to the programme was the dearth of bike storage facilities in the schools. The media sources, however, do not mention if that issue has been resolved and how.

The city government also has an objective of developing 100 “streets for schools” by the end of its term - that is, the pedestrianization of streets in front of schools in a sustainable manner or at school entry and exit times.

Paris’ traffic code also stipulates that new cycle paths will no longer be set up on the sidewalks (currently, they can sometimes cross them), as pedestrians find it difficult to get used to these arrangements, according to the city, and this creates a feeling of insecurity.