Despite a strong national preference for children to walk or cycle to school, a majority of Danish families still rely on cars for the daily run, with safety fears and distance cited as the main barriers.
A June survey of 2,508 parents by Norstat for the Danish Road Safety Council found that while 82 percent consider active commuting important, only 58 percent of children walk or cycle most often in summer, and 26 percent are usually driven. Region Zealand recorded the highest car-share at 35 percent. Among parents whose children do not travel actively, 36 percent cited excessive distance and 33 percent said the route was too dangerous. Separately, the Danish Cyclists' Federation reported that four in ten children almost never cycle to school, a rate its director Kenneth Øhrberg Krag said has nearly halved over three decades.
Transport Minister Signe Munk confirmed that school-area cycling infrastructure would receive priority funding from the 2026 cycling pool later this year.