Mother Knows Best
Which traffic situations make mothers who cycle to school with their kids feel unsafe? Through a customer journey mapping exercise, Mobiel 21 mapped cycling mothers’ safety concerns and identified practical recommendations for policymakers to improve road safety for all.
Parents play a crucial role in deciding how their children go to school. Most of the time, they choose which mode of transport their children use and which route they take to reach the school gate and, although cycling to school seems like the most obvious (and coolest) choice for many kids, their parents often may not share their enthusiasm.
Surveys in the mid-sized Belgian city of Leuven, for example, show that women, more often than men, think traffic in their neighbourhood is not safe enough to allow children to cycle to school independently. Safety concerns are, in other words, decisive for mothers in determining the preferred mode of transport for their children and often trump other considerations.
As policymakers strive towards making school mobility more sustainable and increasing the bicycle’s share within the modal split, it is vital to ensure parents, and mothers specifically, feel comfortable allowing their children to cycle to school. Addressing safety concerns, however, first requires mobility professionals and policymakers to gain insight into the specific situations cycling mothers deem unsafe.
Mapping cycling mothers’ safety concerns
To identify why cycling mothers feel unsafe on the road, Mobiel 21, a Belgian non-profit organisation promoting sustainable mobility for all, reached out to cycling moms in Leuven, the organisation’s hometown. The goal was to involve cycling mothers in in-depth qualitative research into their sense of road safety, focusing on the urban environment.
‘In late 2023, we subjected cycling mothers to a customer journey mapping exercise,’ says Sam Delespaul, researcher at Mobiel 21. ‘Specifically, we followed 18 moms and their kids on their morning bike ride to school and mapped these routes. At fixed locations, we invited participants to give a score indicating how safe they felt at that specific spot. These scores formed the basis for an in-depth interview with each mother, conducted immediately after the bike ride.’
During the bike rides and interviews, it became clear that all participating mothers were motivated and committed cyclists, who care deeply about road safety. ‘Their personal stories show that it often requires dedication to cycle with children. Interestingly, several participants indicated that there is no real societal recognition that cycling with children is important, yet challenging. Not by other road users, not in our rules and regulations, not in policy measures and not in infrastructure design either,’ observes Sam.
Danger ahead!
All in all, the research participants relayed diverse experiences and emotions during the bike rides and interviews. ‘In general, participants indicate they enjoy cycling with their kids. A majority of participants consider their child’s school environment to be chaotic, but safe. This feeling of safety increases even more when measures have been taken to remove motorised traffic from the school environment.’
There are, however, certain factors that negatively influence this sense of safety. ‘First of all, public space that is poorly organised for various road users, and allows for close encounters between motor vehicles and cyclists, generally leads to a stronger feeling of insecurity amongst participants,’ Sam explains. ‘According to the mothers we interviewed, the presence, amount and speed of motorised traffic all contribute to a perception of chaos, especially when heavy traffic is added to the mix. Secondly, participants indicate that confusing traffic signs and rules increase feelings of insecurity. Particularly, inconsistent signage makes it difficult to give children clear instructions while on the road, teach them traffic skills, and turn them into confident, independent cyclists. Finally, a lack of understanding and impatience on the part of other road users, both motorised and non-motorised, towards novice cyclists as well as people riding a less agile or a larger family bike also plays a role in participants' sense of safety.’
Low-traffic streets and protected bike lanes provide safety for cyclists of all ages
Mobiel 21
What should policymakers do
Based on the research insights, as well as suggestions by the participants and their in-house expertise on road safety, Mobiel 21 compiled a list of practical recommendations for policymakers to increase the sense of safety amongst cycling mothers, and the general public more broadly. As Sam explains, these recommendations cover a lot of ground. ‘Infrastructure design is vital. Our roads can be made safer for young cyclists by creating protected or separated cycle paths, by making intersections and crossings conflict-free and by prioritising low-traffic streets. Along busy cycling routes, the speed of motorised traffic should be reduced and heavy traffic, like public busses, should be separated.’
In addition to infrastructure design, other recommendations zoom in on the need to communicate more clearly about cycling safety. Policymakers should, for instance, ensure road signage is unambiguous, inform all road users about traffic rules that protect cyclists, and create campaigns to raise awareness about the different types and speeds of cyclists. ‘In short, novice cyclists need space and time to learn,’ Sam explains. ‘So patience and understanding on the part of other road users is key.’
Customer journey mapping: Innovation in mobility research
Besides resulting in recommendations for policymakers, Mobiel 21’s research also demonstrated that the customer journey mapping methodology, which originates in marketing and product design, can also be successfully applied to mobility research. ‘On the one hand, this methodology proved relatively time- and labour-intensive, limiting the number of participants our researchers could engage. On the other hand, it provided valuable insights into which specific traffic situations are deemed unsafe. In real life, right there, on the road.
Such instructive insights cannot be gained by simply subjecting participants to an online survey or a stand-alone interview,’ notes Delespaul. ‘Our experience indicates that customer journey mapping could, and should, be used more broadly in qualitative mobility research as it can be applied to diverse target groups, different types of trips, and various emotional factors other than sense of safety.’
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About the author:
Sam Delespaul, Researcher, Mobiel 21. Delespaul focuses on the research aspect of mobility projects, campaigns, and initiatives at Mobiel 21. He specialises in transport poverty, inclusive mobility, and the social impact of innovations like digitalisation and shared mobility. Delespaul also translates the collected data into actionable advice and tangible recommendations, ensuring mobility research leads to better real-life mobility policies.
Mobiel 21