Waste of money. That is roughly the conclusion of the evaluations conducted in the 1980s and ’90s into public campaigns in the Netherlands aimed at reducing car use. Today, a campaign with a slogan like ‘the car can easily manage a day without you’ is almost unthinkable. The motto is now: (car) mobility is allowed. How different is the ‘mobility style’ in our southern neighbours. Anyone browsing the Internet will soon find various campaigns aimed at encouraging (in Flanders they use the term ‘sensitising’) people to leave the car at home more often. These are almost all ‘framework campaigns’ (see boxes for the three main ones) intended for local application. The question is: are they applied in practice, what are the results and how can we learn from them in the Netherlands? The following subjects are addressed:
- Veilig en Milieuvriendelijk naar School; (The safe and environmentally friendly way to school)
- Met Belgerinkel naar de Winkel; (Take the bike shopping)
- De Week van de Zachte Weggebruiker. (The week of the soft road user)