The relatively low level of skill required to operate a bike compared with that required to operate a car means that people of all ages can make use of them. Except in Britain, where hostile infrastructure means that children quickly become too big and too fast to ride on the pavement, but not responsible and skilled enough to ride on the road. Whichever they choose, they will be criticised. And when one gets too old and frail to be able to "take the lane", cycling becomes just too unattractive. Dutch people ride from their earliest years all the way through to when their personal cycle path runs out, all generations sharing the same, cycle-friendly infrastructure.
