Research from England shows that bicycling is on the decline in that country as kids spend more time in front of the TV and computer games.
A report by Kellogg's finds that one home in three doesn't have a bicycle, and half the parents responding to a survey says riding a bicycle isn't important for kids today as when they were growing up.
In fact, one of every five parents in London won't bother to teach their kids how to ride a bicycle. And half the parents said they simply don't ride a bicycle anymore themselves.
While the Guardian newspaper was alarmed at this decline in bicycling, I wondered if there are similar trends in the US.
Comparison
It was hard to find apple-to-apple comparisons, but figures on the League of American Bicyclists website shows that the US population probably bicycles less than our cousins across the pond.
The National Survey of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Attitudes and Behaviors found that 27.3% of people older than 16 rode a bicycle in the summer of 2002.
As for bicycle commuting to work, America Bikes in 2003 reported that a US rate of 0.4%, compared to 2% for the UK. (They were both trumped by The Netherlands, with a rate of 27%.)
It looks like the US has some catching up to do before it can achieve the low standards that is alarming the Guardian newspaper.
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