PART 2: ua-cam.com/video/RXRQVcqZ-lU/v-deo.html Thanks everyone for all the comments! I'm learning a lot from these conversations and am slowly working my way through!
Behaviour on the road is part of our education. As small children we are taught how to behave in traffic. First as pedestrians and cyclists and later in motorised vehicles.
Thanks for visiting our country and honouring our liberators. Two things: Our asfalt is so called ZOAB, "Zeer Open Asfalt Beton", which translates as "Very Open Asfalt Concrete". It is designed to let rainwater sink through immediately so it can be drained through and there is less spray. Drawback is that it has to be replaced more often, so that is why it appears so new and fresh. Secondly, the trams in Delft are not Delft trams, but The Hague ones. A couple of lines extend to Delft, which is only 10 kilometers or so. Nice video and hope to have you back soon!
@@snapgabit is indeed, and this type of pavement is quite specific for the Netherlands. As it doesn't get too often really cold over here (we are under the constant influence of the warm East side of the Atlantic) the highways rarely freeze up. Just spraying a brine of NaCl and CaCl will lower the freezing point sufficiently combined with the cars passing by that keep the mixture activated. On less frequent used roads this open top layer is not used. In neighbouring countries with less influence from the Atlantic you'll find more closed pavement, be it concrete or asphalt.
About Dutch road paving quality, there is a reason for that. The road is owned by someone, be it a municipality, province, waterboard or the state. They have a responsibility to maintain their roads as well as a responsibility to use the safest possible design available at the time of design of that stretch of road. This responsibility is also reflected in the fact that if there is an incident that is caused by poor maintenance or bad design, the owner of a road can be held liable or even at fault. So if there is a pothole in the street you live on, you call the municipality to report that pothole. If your elderly neighbour on their e-bike then hits that pothole, falls and breaks their hip, they can hold the municipality liable for their medical expenses and damage to their bicycle, as the municipality knew about the pothole and has the responsibility to fix it as soon as possible. By the same token if a road was originally designed for 80km/h and the speed is reduced to 50km/h, they also have to change the layout of the road to reflect this new speed limit. If a road blatantly invites speeding, and an incident happens, the owner of that road can again be held liable or even at fault for that incident, because their design wasn't up to scratch. If they repave a road, it needs to be updated to the latest guidelines, lest the owner is put at risk of liability. This financial and possible criminal liability for road owners makes them be a lot more cautious with their designs. If the SWOV or CROW suggests that a new design could objectively be more safe, then not making those changes to the design puts the road owner at risk of liability. Designing a road like in the US, where speed limits are set at the 85th percentile, is considered horrible design here. It rarely happens and when it does you can rest assured that the Fietsersbond (Bicyclists union) or Veilig Verkeer Nederland (lobby group for traffic safety) will loudly complain about it. And there is always that small, yet vocal minority, who will accuse politicians of being child murderers if they make things unsafe for kids riding their bicycle. Which is tantamount to political suicide, at least for local politicians. So they are not a fan of badly designed roads either.
one of the big changes the made was "deregulation" along with the legal responsibility on the road owner removing a "shield" of that is CODE compliant as there is NO CODE there is a group that ONLY monitors and researches road designs for quality and safety and input into the "CROW" manual that is a list of suggestions / best KNOWN practices and NOT a CODE BOOK also the 85% rule is ACTUALLY applied in the Netherlands BUT the opposite of as done in the USA they design the SPEED of the road and follow backwards to BUILD a road that 85% of drivers will naturally drive the chosen speed because of a road is "to fast" and drivers drive the "road speed" and cause an accident then the ROAD owner is responsible
This is fantastic information. I work for a philanthropy involved in these issues in Canada. Would you have source documents to dig into this or key search terms so I could dig further and push at our policy people?
About traffic education: Dutch kids get mandatory "verkeersles" (traffic lessons) during primary education, starting with basics at about age 4 (group 1), and ending with a theoretical and practical bike exam in group 7 or 8 (which is usually age 10-12).
The numbers and arrows at 8:30 are not numbered routes but point to numbered intersections. It allows you to follow (safe) cycling routes without having to constantly look at a map. You only need a list of the numbers. It is a Belgian invention. For North America, such a system could be useful to be able to cheaply plot safe cycling routes parallel to busy roads through quiet streets.
@@lbergen001 Thats the nice thing about dutch road design they don't have that not designed here bias if it works somewhere else we are happy to nick the idea (and adapt and improve upon it if thats possible).
One thing I missed is the importance of road design to slow down vehicles. Narrowing roads, and adding visual clues will make drivers use the appropriate speed.
@@humanecitiesIMHO that is the NUMBER ONE thing North America gets wrong with a "build fast/safe regulate slow I remember in the 90s when I first had my licence/car and lived in Vancouver driving down I5 into SEATTLE there is a underground tunnel and everyone would slowdown "AUTOMAJICALLY" no signage nothing everyone just slowed down me included that did not know the "speed traps" - IT WAS the tunnel removing LONG "safety zones" and made drivers FEEL less safe so they slowed down seen videos of in Germany they will INTENTIONALLY plant trees closer to the road when approaching a side street and put curves in the road "for no reason" again to cause people to SLOW DOWN and pay attention
I live in a small village in the province of Groningen which has about 1400 inhabitants. I particularly love the consistancy and predictability of Dutch infrastructure. It's the same here as it is in the middle of Amsterdam. I can cycle from here to the south of The Netherlands on dedicated bike-infrastructure without any problem, without the need to ajust. I have always assumed this to be 'normal', until I started to visit other countries. To be honest, it is a blessing we should never take for granted. I appreciate videos that elaborate on the 'how' and the 'why' Dutch infrastructure is the way it is. I hope our society will keep up the good work, in electing politicians who make this happen, and value craftmanship and science.
I think our election system has a big influence actually. Power in the Netherlands is very distributed at all levels and governments are fluctuating coalitions of minority parties. This prevents a lot of polarization in politics and media. Our politics is relatively facts based and every vote matters, so even small groups of voters have influence. This is contrast to countries that use first-past-the-post systems, which are an outdated feudal British concept.
Some thoughts: 1. The canals between the farmplots are used to manage water levels in case of heavy rainfall and drought. In dry areas, digging ditches between acres of farmland, and planting trees and hedges, can improve water retention a lot, and also provide windshade which will help retain fertile top soil in dry and windy areas. Its honestly whack people dont do this in north America and just use more irrigation water instead. That costs a lot of money. 2. The roads look freshly paved because they are. We spend a ridiculous amount of money on road infrastructure. And the wear and tear is still pretty bad because of the massive amounts of trucks driving from the ports, mostly to Germany. We have very high road taxes and gasoline taxes and even an extra 30% tax on cars, but it still isnt sufficient to pay for the road maintenance, it has to be supplemented from other tax sources from people who might not even own a car, like me. 3. The raised pedestrian crossings not only (legally) indicate right of way for pedestrians, but also function as speed bumps for cars even when no one is crossing, so they are a very cheap and effective dual purpose solution for traffic calming. 4. Letting the grass and weeds grow on the roadbanks instead of mowing them constantly provides a big increase in biodiversity, with slower growing plants getting a chance instead of just grass, thistles and nettleweed. These plants in turn provide food and shelter for more types of insects and birds, and it saves the municipalities a lot of money on mowing. 5. Having the pedestrian and bike lane crossings set further back from the intersection reduces traffic accidents by a significant margin compared to having them closer. For the drivers, the bikes are coming from a less than 90 degree angle so you can see them in your peripheral vision, and it creates more distance between the bikers and the cars coming from the intersection so they can see the cars coming as well. In many cases, on less busy roads, this eliminates the need for stop lights for the bike lanes completely, as the bikes can simply wait a few seconds and cross to the center embankment when no cars are coming from the left, and then cross the second lane when there are no cars coming from the right. This improves traffic flow a lot. Additionally, the traffic lights for cars on such intersections are default to always be on red, forcing oncoming cars to slow down, and then turn green when you are approaching the intersection at low speed, if there are no other cars crossing from other directions. 6. In may areas, putting heavy equipment on barges in the canals provides a more stable base than trying to put a crane that weighs more than 10 tonnes on the soft peet soil that most of the low parts of the country have. They would quite literally sink into the ground. The barges can also be moved without having to pack up the crane.
Pretty sure the canals between farm plots do NOT retain water, they are meant for 'water afvoer' / drainage. All farm land in our polders have canals designed to DRAIN water from the farmland. That's why we get into trouble during droughts, our water infrastructure isn't designed to retain ( enough ) water.
He says extreme cold causes wear and tear on the roads, but that's not true. The worst weather for roads is wet during the day, where water enters cracks, and frost during the night
About point 2: the trucks and vans that cause most damage to the roads, are bringing stuff to the shops you buy it from. Because of this, the average consumer causes waaay more damage to infrastructure than I do driving my tiny Suzuki Alto to work everyday for 20km. But I pay all the extra taxes...
Lol mate, Dutch water management is worse than in the US. We cause an artificial drought every year to please the millionaire farmers who want to dump manure even in winter using the heaviest machines. The US nor Canada does do such an extreme winter pump-out, so by virtue of doing nothing their water management defeats ours, which is actively doing harm. And no way to change that because the water boards are anti-democratic, with the millionaire farmers given automatic seats on the board without elections.
I like how you noted the fact that people at Dutch intersections communicate through eye contact in order to know if they can safely cross or not, I've never really seen any other urbanist channel mention that detail, but it really is an important part of getting around in the Netherlands, and it's one of the reasons why the giant cars in North America seem so insane to me.
One of the weird things that makes this Canadian uncomfortable is when cars actually slow and stop WELL BEFORE they need to when they see bikes coming to a crossing near us where the fietspad has priority on the uncontrolled crossing. Like, I feel I need to speed up to close the distance to the crossing because they're already stopped for 10 seconds before I get to the crossing. I don't think that I really notice eye contact with drivers, though. I can barely make out the faces behind the reflective glass, honestly.
@@RichardMurrayyou have to be dutch driver yourself to get it... Most dutch drivers akso ride bikes and are therefore looking at the bicyclists to see if they are looking at them Hope that makes sense
Lol, this is actually a question on the dutch driver's exam. Do you proceed 1) when you make eye contact 2) when the other person slows down/stops. Hint: One makes you guess about whether the other person is gonna stop and the other directly tells you. Eye contact doesn't mean anything or maybe they think you are hot! Or they want to stare you down!
I took a trip there last June and it was amazing! The city was really cool, the transit was amazing. Biking around Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Den Haag was amazing. I also took the time to visit Baarle-Nassau, NL/Baarle-Hertog, BE because I'm a big border gore nerd. Dutch train service was world class, the trams were amazing, bike infrastructure was world class, and walking around was also mind blowing. I even had some casual chats with some people I met while getting around. You cannot beat human-first transportation, car-first transportation sucks. I remember on my bus from Baarle-Nassau/Baarle-Hertog to Tilberg I ended up having a great chat with a dutch woman from Den Haag. Nederland is zo fascinerend, en wij in Nord Amerika moeten van hen leren.
It really is such an impressive place! I hope we do learn from them. We do so many pilot projects in Canada when we already know what works, because the Dutch already studied it!
@@humanecities And still the Dutch complain a lot LOL 9 /10 Dutchies speak English quite reasonably, we have to be pragmatic a trading /pass-through country like the NL has always been in need to speak foreign a lot. We are the best non-native English-speaking countries at speaking English in the world.
while a lot of cities in europe have similar layouts and pedestrian (and cyclist) infrastructure, the advanced traffic calming measures are what sets the dutch apart. Its clear just how much care was put into making drivers hyperaware of their surroundings and emphasizing the importance of pedestrian safety in their cities.
as a driver in the netherlands i can say it is generaly verry clear where the next "conflict" with other roadusers is and gives me time to come up with a solution
Awesome that you chose to go to a smaller city like Weert and not just the obligatory Amsterdam or Utrecht (though both are nice). Your observation that driving habits are key is spot on and these don't change because of a few nice areas in big cities. The infrastructure needs to be prevalent so all drivers are familiar with it.
This man just randomly decided to go to the of the most random small backwater cities in all of the Netherlands, and is still praising everything. Glad to see my little city of Weert was able to still bring some people some fun.
but Weert has indeed better infrastructure than 99% of cities in the world, as does Emmen or Vlissingen or Doesburg or Ridderkerk or any other random midsize Dutch city anywhere.
I am with you brother! I feel the same coming from Hengelo Overijssel.But it's nice if there are outsiders that appreciate certain aspects of our lives and culture here!
Omg that around the bend placement haha. Also this year I started to e bike in the winter, yes I did bike in the -36/-40 C this week and it was fine after proper dressed.
During my time in elementary school in the Netherlands we had a “bike riding exam” we had to ride our bikes through a certain route of about 2/3km following instructions and learn about all the different scenarios that can occur on the road.
Thanks for sharing your trip, really interesting to see a nuanced and thoughtful comparison of Calgary and other places in Alberta to the Netherlands, looking forward to the next part!
I remember seeing your updates on social media last year but I didn't know your trip was for choir. My trip in 2022 was for work and the other half was a vacation. We loved taking the train, biking and walking everywhere. We stayed near the German border around Doetinchem and near a friend in Woerden. From there we visited Amsterdam, Utrecht, Gouda and few small villages. I was hoping to visit Arnhem where my Great-Grandfather (British medic) hid and worked with the Dutch underground after jumping off a POW train. He has some old tapes that now have been digitalized of remembrance ceremonies that he went to in Arnhem. He even has photos of himself with the family hid him and another soldier that he reconnected when he visited.
Wow! Thank you for sharing your family’s history with the Netherlands! I love hearing family stories and how that physical media can deepen that connection!
@humanecities You're welcome! I enjoy sharing his legacy. He was a part of Operation Market Garden. I am proud of my British and Dutch heritage. I feel closer to my heritage since I am only second generation Canadian. Unfortunately, I barely know my relatives and either country since most of my grandparents' siblings moved to Canada too.
Nearsighted signals have another advantage. They enable smarter traffic controls, with, for example, only green for directions with traffic and small or even negative clearance times. Which leads to shorter waiting times for all traffic participants.
The best response to "It is too cold to have a bicycle city" is just one word, one name: Oulu! Oulu, the city built for bicycles. The city noone heard about, in any other context. But also, the city, only 150km south of the artic circle.
In Calgary I've seen bicyclists out even at -40 and in snowstorms. There's no such thing as "too cold" just not dressing properly for the cold. If we can spend all day skiing, skating and other winter sports, there's really no excuse why we can't bike
@@LoneHowlerYeah. In the Netherlands it never gets really cold in winter, but still most winters have at least some days with icy roads. You definitely notice less people are willing to go outside on bike or even in a car, but as a child and teenager I’ve cycled on snowy and icy bike paths to get to school. And yeah, I’ve definitely slipped on those icy days. Even kids who lived 30+ bike minutes from school would generally still go by bike those days.
Temperatures are very different between Canada and The Netherlands. I grew up in BC, where -25 is still inviting enough to spend the day outside having fun, but when my cowboy rancher brother-in-law came to the Netherlands during the winter, he was shocked at just hold cold a measly -2 really was. He didn't go anywhere without gloves, a scarf and a silly toque. We don't do any ice fishing here, but it gets cold enough to make a Ukranian-Canuck shiver uncontrollably.
I never heard this before and I find this very interesting. Is this like the heat in Southern countries being different because of the humidity? Or is it because of the wind?
@@carmenl163 Humidity is the main factor, yes. And the wind chill factor on top of that makes -2 feel like -20 in your underwear. Take away the wind, add some snow, and at -2 all the little Dutch kids are outside. But warmly dressed.
As a dutchie, the coldest i have ever experienced was in Calgary. About -20 celcius with wind chill. The Netherlands weather can be unpleasant, but not like that.
@@rienkhoek4169 Oh yeah, no doubt it gets real cold in Alberta. BC right now is having a hard time too, and the further north you go, the more deadly it gets. Think of Finland and the rest of the North Circle.
If the roads look like they are freshly paved, that is because they are. In the netherlands investment in road maintenance is enormous. And a lot of it is done during the night, so not to disturb the daily trafic.
My neighbourhood in Edmonton has some of those raised crosswalks, so I treat those streets as ripped up and removed, so I drive my car all the way around the interior of the neighbourhood on the collector road that rings it. We also now have curbs jutting out into the roadway at random locations, reducing parking and making snow removal difficult, ineffective, and expensive.
With you taking the train to Delft, I feel I should add something about the new train tunnel that was opened there a few years ago, which was a really cool project, for two reasons. First of all they removed this big railtrack running through the city, but the second reason, and the most important reason why the project was so cool is that they had to move an old dutch windmill including the warehouse attached to it, out of the way , so they just lifted the whole thing up, 17th century foundations and all, by a meter, and dug the tunnel underneath it. Just because we want to relieve the people of delft from an eyesore and noise pollutant, it doesn´t mean we have to destroy what has been preserved for centuries.
The Dutch style setup of an intersection in Calgary makes me very happy. ❤ But when seeing this at 10:37 , it makes me mad that the striping on the road is worn off. It give me the impression the cars have taken it over again. Why it is not maintained properly???
@1:22 Well, actually that is the North Sea beach, and an Atlantic beach is about 1000km away in West France ;-) Also, fun to see a city different than cities in the Randstad and typical exception Groningen in an urbanist video. Biking to Germany would have been a bit more heavy duty, but still possible btw :)
Thanks for visiting the Netherlands. You're actually one of a few American/Canadian content creators that goes outside of Amsterdam to see the rest of the Netherlands
Yes, the tourist choices of this trip are pretty amazing, espacially if your starting point is Weert - of all places. Antwerp, Belgium, is obviously great, and Kinderdijk is obligatory for foreigners ( Dutch people rarely go there; I have never been there!) but kudos for the person / people who came up with Sint Oedenrode and Ammerzoden. What a wonderfully random selection! Your observations were generally quite insightful and spot on! Well done. Anything we can do, you can too!
1:37 Actually, Calgary is on a more southern latitude than most (if not all) of the netherlands but it's quite close, so in fact we get just about the same amount of sunlight. Just that canada, unlike europe, doesn't have the gulf stream. That is the reason the west coast of Europe is unusually warm, even though we're on the same latitude as most of canada
You CAN import driving habits. At the core of everything you've seen here is the Road Traffic Law of 1994. This changed it so the driver of a motor vehicle is presumed liable during an accident with a non-motor vehicle. This changed the behavior of all road users almost overnight (give or take a few years) more than any of the physical infrastructure did. Of course this change in law itself was only a part of a greater trend but if you want to make changes, getting to that hurdle is an important part. I loved your video, loved the comparison shots between your beautiful country and mine.
Well, and the 2008 law change that put all license plate numbers into a database that insurers and police have acces to, so being uninsured results in automatic fines. It got rid of 'ghost cars' and the amount of uninsured untraceable drivers (who can commit crimes and crashes without consequences) went from 6% to 0,4%. The only ones who voted against were CDA, CU, SGP. Nearly all remaining uninsured drivers are religious nutjobs.
Nice video- happy for you brother! And again just a little shoutout- thank you so much for doing wht the Canadians have done and sacrificed during WW2. Never forget!
Glad you had a great trip there! When I was last there, I also rarely took the local trams, buses, or metro, as the cycling network makes them kind of irrelevant for a lot of trips 😅
@@humanecitiesI say that about Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. Of course, our network isn't as good at most of the Netherlands but it's good enough to get around almost anywhere safely if you are okay with sometimes taking a less direct route. We also have a local app (that's looking to expand) that gives you directions by comfort level. It's great and I have discovered trails and protected infrastructure that I was unaware of before.
Most of us use the bicycle for trips in town or the city, depending on where you live, and outside town for up to 5 or 10km and above that we use public transport. In my town of 20,000 this means only the bus, the nearest train station is 15km away. We have a bus to the station on a 30 min schedule and during rush hour every 15minutes. If I go out in Utrecht or Amsterdam and take the last train 00:18 to this station, I’m home at 01:10. If I go to Rotterdam and take the last train back at 23:35 to this station, I’m also home at 01:10. If I’m later, because it is a nice party or a late movie or theatre, I have to travel via Amsterdam Central Station by night train (hourly service), take the city bus night service (30min service) to Amsterdam Arena station and then by regional night bus (also hourly service) to home, but they only ride during weekends and they take 30minutes longer to get home. I often hear complaints about our public transport, but it really is good. And we have a national public transit card, so valid in the whole country for every kind of public transport, train, metro, tram, bus, waterbus, ferry and water taxi. You can also check in and check out with a credit card or debit card instead of the PT card. I own a car but hardly use it privately, only for work.
5:56 is a good underrated reason why this inter-comodal transportation thing you were on about also works easier here. The kid on the bike with her mother is already looking to her right to see if the road is clear. You literally grow up using the roads and infrastructure. You learn what those shark teeths are on the road and how to yield to people. The basics of right of way is basically naturally ingrained in your brain from a young age. Switching to a car as an adult, you still know there are bikers and other road users out there. And you know where they are, how they move, etc. It is easier to predict traffic and have it be safer. I imagine in North-America, you do not really use the infrastructure as a kid to this extend. You only start learning when you start driving a car. To then also have to share the road with users that are not in a car would be a hard switch to make at first. Probably unsafe in the beginning
Awesome! Calgary is a great place! I made this video seeing some tourist attractions: ua-cam.com/video/sADlQXGuzo4/v-deo.htmlsi=QMaDnkdko8P_bkFf There are many more things to see, too! I love sharing my city with people, to please ask if you have any questions!
My 10yo is in groep 7 in a Dutch public school (grade 5 in Canadian) and they do bike training and they get a diploma. They're not being taught how to ride a bike - they all know how by the time they're in school, honestly. At least half the kids live within 1-2 km and bike alone every day. The diploma is about responsibilities, teaching signage, and how to know who has the right of way.
Snow is not an excuse for not cycling. Not just bikes by a fellow Canadian shows how the people in Oulu Finland have winter bicycle infrastructure that is better than in the Netherlands.
I stumbled upon your video by coincidence, but never expected to see my hometown (Weert) in it. For Dutch terms, Weert is a very normal city. Because it is a small town, the simple infrastructure applies, like the intersection with the cars going around each other. In cities with more traffic, these intersections wouldn't work as well (for example in Munich, Germany). The Netherlands in general has a very good infrastructure focused on cyclist and pedestrians, but this is in the whole of the Netherlands. I think this mainly works because all the people, shops and work are so closely together, which makes biking and public transport an option (together with the weather being not to extreme). Also the very well tuned traffic lights, which 'Not just bikes' made a very nice video about help with the nice flow of traffic. You were very accurate about Weert and the infrastructure, and I do fully agree that the lower speeds and the smaller cars make for a very safe environment. But I don't think an average North-American would acknowledge that XD. If you do happen to come back to Weert, make sure to ask for the 'Turbo-Rotonde' (turbo-roundabout), which I think is the most special piece of infrastructure in Weert (with the bike lane going under it). Also not all cities have such a beautiful church (with a beautiful history) + so much low-rise buildings. So I think for even more unique infrastructure there are tons of other cities too (ps. we also tunnels underneath rivers and bridges for nature over the highway).
You have to adopt it for canada but most shops are where a lot of people live so most of that part can be designed relaticly the same ofcourse you have to take little things as climate and elevation into account. And ofcourse how to make youre city accesable for prople that need to come well not really into it but close to i by car.
The main thing people should know about dutch roads, is not the design guidelines or details like that, but how the laws are structured resulting in dutch style urbanism. In short, the government does a lot of research about roads and what works best and what doesnt, and makes that data available as guidelines for road design. But at the same time the road designers and construction companies are made responsible for the roads functioning. This naturally pushes things like making traffic lights in such a way that people stop before the stopping line. (because if an accident happens due this the company building the road has to answer why they did not implement said guidelines.) And it causes better maintenance as the companies usually are not only responsible for building the road but also for maintaining it. ua-cam.com/video/b4ya3V-s4I0/v-deo.html this guy goes more in debt about the system, but it is one of the main reasons for dutch urbanism, and certainly could be translated to other countries (with adjustments based on the counties needs (i wouldnt want to cycle in a country where it gets 40 degrees Celsius in the summer))
Thank you for this insight! (And I wouldn’t bike in +40 either. I’m actually tracking how often it gets to a temperature - or conditions - where I wouldn’t bike. I want to see how many days out of the years it’s definitely not an option for me. That will be part of my 1 year car-free video.)
i like to add that part of why it works in The Netherlands is also our law system. in short: thanks to the law(s) protecting the vulnerable road users people in motor vehicles pay more attention to them. in more detail: when a car and a cyclist (or pedestrian) get in an accident the motor vehicle driver, by default is mainly at fault unless evidence proves otherwise. this doesn't mean you go to jail or get a ticket for every accident you're involved in as a motor vehicle driver. but it does mean that you take that extra care to make sure you don't get into an accident. and because accidents between motor vehicles and vulnerable road users often happen on 30km/h roads the outcome is often mostly damages or light injuries. i've been in a couple of "accidents" while cycling, because the driver didn't notice me cycling. so we bumped into each other. worst outcome was a bend in one of my wheels. what also helps is that almost every motor vehicle driver bikes themselves so they know how it is to be on the receiving end of road rage/inconsiderate drivers, and their children probably bike to.
used ti live in Edmonton and had to take a truck to Calgary left Edmonton dressed for -40 it was plus5 in Calgary I needed to leave or get undressed as I was being boiled alive
about the biking in cold weather: its actually amazing! as long as its dry (snow is dry), biking is pretty nice, as long as the road is cleaned/salted. Biking in rain is awful, but biking in any below 0 temp is pretty good, as long as you dress for it. You keep yourself warm anyway!
I never expected to see Weert in an urbanism video! Weert usually gets a bad wrap here because of the empty shops, the not so very walk friendly spaces and the poor public transit but you showed me that if Weert is bad in our eyes then we are maybe truly spoiled. :) Thank you visiting our little country. If you ever visit again, really try Groningen, Den Haag, Eindhoven and Maastricht as they all are completely unique in their own way. 👋
Regarding education programmes: the Dutch get cycling lessons in school. Not learning to cycle (that's a job for parents), but lessons in getting around traffic by bike. It's usually for 11-12 year olds, right before they start going to a next level of school (middelbare school), which a lot of Dutch kids do by bike in another town/city. It's not uncommon to have to bike for 30-60 minutes to school when you're 12-17.
One doesn't need to go to Europe to discover good urbanism, one only need look at how Canada built cities a century ago before the car. The built form of our 1880-1930 cities were dense, walkable, had parks/green spaces, and streetcars. I'm not saying we have nothing to learn from other places but many seem blind to what's been right in front of them their whole lives.
3:48 temperature changes quiclky here aswell... when Beatrix celebrated her last year as Queen, I came out of nightshift at 6 am and had to scratch ice off my window of my car...-5 degrees Celcius 27 april..went home, to bed, slept untill 1,30 pm and could walk outside in shorts and t-shirt because it was +24 degrees Celsius
Yeah, you can feel it. So the climate or cars are not the excuse why The Netherlands has better roads. It really is that Belgium and Canada simply don't have a budget for maintenance.
Great video! I’m from Calgary and I wish we had more walkable neighborhoods and better light rail systems that do east west connecting the x shape of light rail we currently have
As a Dutch person, I wouldn't want to ride a bicycle at -30°C. At -5 it's already hars, like I'm not looking forward to it, it's gonna be unpleasant, but I got to plough through. But -30? forget it. How do you even breath without freezing your lungs?
This is a REALLY important difference I didn’t bring up in the video: Calgary is dry. So while that comes with its own challenges, it makes the cold more manageable. A wet cold will sink into your bones. A dry cold is far more manageable. That said… yeah… -30 sucks 😂
3:25 yes agreed, but just like in Sweden where is was this week -43, here in Netherlands -10 feels like -30 due to wind filled with moisture, so just alone the tem. doesn't say much.. just like summers here in Netherlands....temp shoots up to +35, but when you are in turkey having +35 it is much more barable due to dryer air. Summer in Netherlands with these temperatures is like walking in a sauna with the same amount of moisture as a tropical rainforest
Nice to see a comparison video in which not Amsterdam is featured for a change (and I'm saying that as someone from there). Now that you've cycled in both the Netherlands and in Belgium, how did those two countries compare infrastructure wise in your opinion?
regarding our highways, we repave them every few years, we do maintenance every night when nobody is driving and we have innovative asphalt mixtures which makes highways extremely durable. it's not really our climate, it's that we take good care of our road in general, look at the shoulders next to the highway and you'll see that they're perfectly clean instead of being full of garbage like in the US.
@@humanecities yup that too, it’s all part of our efficient working culture, we were the first ones to replace people and horses in agriculture with machines that ran on steam, we’re still one of the world’s efficient ones. All of this creates well thought out and integrated systems that make everything for everyone most pleasant and we also strive to always improve, that’s also the reason why our traffic lights are so efficient and why road projects get finished in time here, because people have no patience and that’s a good thing.
@@miles5600 thanks for the insight have to say not having as many "miles" of road PER PERSON makes it a LOT cheaper per person to PAY for the roads and aren't the Dutch the ONLY road network 100% covered with street lighting?
4:25 from freezing to shorts .. we have that in Netherlands aswell, more like desert without the sand dunes... nights freezing literally and daytime t-shirt and shorts weather is typical in early spring. Summers often have lower temp then Phoenix Arizona, or Ankara in Turkye, but the humidity and lack of wind makes it feel like a tropical rainforrest without the actual forrest. And 4 seasons in one day..the cnases are 50-50 all year every day 24-7
The grassy tram lanes in Delft and other places are not just looking good... they have a purpose. There are more and more rain showers occuring and at times the amount of water was so huge that streets started to flood. One of the problems was that the streets were all paved, so the water couldn´t go anywhere. The grass helps to let the water go away much quicker. For the same reason the Dutch transferred many buildings in dual purpose buildings, so they now also can store water. Many of the ´odd´ things you see in the Netherlands have some way to do with water...
The bottom line is density. Since the 50’s cities in the US and Canada where designed for cars which in the beginning wasn’t that bad but as cities kept growing with low density single use or zoning development, they ended up generating suburban sprawl which is the least efficient model of urban development.
Yep! One of my friends recently pointed out that the more people drive cars in a city, the worse it is for everyone. Whereas the more people take transit, the better it is for everyone!
To be fair, the Netherlands on average is basically a suburbanized North American city density wise (I'm simplifying, but in general this is strue). That's actually one of the problems our public transit has. There isn't generally the density to invest in anything other than buses or trains.
in my town we had trams untill 1937 when the werent profittable anymore you can still see a few buildings with the style like the depot and station and we had untill 1975 a cargo railway untill the NS(dutch railways) quit the railway deu to safety concerns as the area became more inhabitat as it was opened in 1886 closed in 1975 only a tiny portion is still in use for cargo but thats far away from where i live
The biggest reason why roads are better here in the Netherlands has to do with road maintenance, an asphalt road only lasts about 25 years, and after that time is passed the layout gets repaved. That's also how we built good cycling infrastructure without having to spend a ton of money to do it. When a road is due for replacement, you also look into improving it.
Actually, it is about the weather. Here in Finland, roads can get into bad shape in as little as 5 years. First, the temperature changes cause the asphalt to change in size and crack, and large, sometimes deep holes appear. Second, studded tires really do wear the roads down. If a Finnish asphalt road would be without repaving for 25 years, it would be undriveable.
Can Canada become more like Netherlands? Maybe, maybe not. Can Montreal and especially my neighbourhood become more like Amsterdam? Yes and that’s what i care more about, at least on a day to day basis. Change needs to happen in the cities, especially needs to start from the core of Canadian cities because they really don’t have the density excuse.
You’re right! I’m not looking to ride my bike from Calgary to Edmonton, but around Calgary? ABSOLUTELY! I look forward to seeing how Canadian cities improve over the coming decades!
If you want to look into behaviour change in traffic, a great place to start is the application of brick roads instead of asphalt; the added noise (mostly for the driver) creates the illusion of higher speeds, leading to people slowing down. (Ofcourse, this only works if you contrast this with asphalt highways, and only use bricks in slower (urban) areas anyways.)
Having biked in Europe, and specifically Amsterdam to Brussels, I agree with what you have said. All of the little things, by themselves, are possible. However, it is the combination of all of them which becomes the challenge. If I remember correctly, it was the desire to stop the deaths of children that was the impedance for the Dutch to start the change. So, socially they were happy to suffer through the change. I see this as the largest speed bump to enacting such a large change here in Canada (I am in Toronto). We, perhaps due to our neighbours to the south, hold more importance in self, not the collective. Add on to that, the geography, hills, and the overall greater distances in general, and then the weather.....and the SUVs and traffic. The dutch have a lot of little things adding up to making it work with less effort. I would love if we could implement the change here, to allow more bike commuting.
I feel that other factors work in our favour though, which were not present in the Dutch transition. The biggest example I can think of is that we have e-bikes and other micromobility options, which make hills and winter more bearable for more people. And we can copy infrastructure and import vehicle modules wholesale from less car dominated societies.
@@fraserfuite8816 My understanding is that copying is not they way to go.I think the dutch tried, tested and then evaluated, and then implemented on a larger scale., based on what worked for each situation. The intuitive format, of pedestrian, bike and car last, works, but has taken a long time. North America has such a different mindset, of car equalling freedom, that I think is hard to overcome. But I am older, so maybe the next generation, who shows less interest in cars will be different. You are correct about ebikes, allowed me to commute, although technically illegal on some of my route.
@@Chrishm0it’s kinda the same thing though. Especially considering Brussels to Belgium would be like Detroit to Toronto. It’s not like North America is multiple times larger than the entire continent of Europe. It would be easy for every city in North America to be like Amsterdam including getting rid of skyscrapers especially supertalls. 🤣
@@fraserfuite8816 one big thing FOR Calgary not present in the Netherlands is "cheap" land and HUGE roadways cheap land allows for a "focused" new town development to INCREASE housing - "TOD" communities and wide streets become NARROWER streets WITH transit and bike lanes without a complete "destruction" of car infrastructure Amsterdam has a MAJOR housing shortage driving a LOT of issue including super long commutes and increased in CAR based commutes and I believe most Canadian cities (NOT IN Ontario) can build enough housing in a "TOD" style to BOTH moderate housing prices AND to offer housing that fits everyone's needs INCLUDING single family styles and not have a "tokyo of the prairies" for housing
From the Dutch wikipedia, "zeer open asfalt" is used on the main roads. It is especially optimized to have better drainage and sound propagation qualities, however it wears must faster than normal asphalt. But you can compare our roads with belgium at a certain border crossing, the difference can be huge. My guess is that in NL roads are just much more regularly maintained than anything.
6:14 This median wouldn't work here, because my 8.9L Cummins Diesel lifted dually pickup truck (that I only use the capability once per month at Costco, but still drive it around everywhere) doesn't fit. /s
@@humanecities In all seriousness, so many people think that shopping at Costco saves them money. I was the same way back in the States shopping at BJ's. But when you factor in the gas, extra driving, and time of your life it takes to navigate their parking lot and traffic in the area, are you really coming out on top? I'd venture to say that paying $0.10 more for a banana at a grocery store you can walk to saves you more and leads to a higher quality, healthier (with fresher foods), and more peaceful way of life. Also can give you more of a personality than "Have you seen the gas prices" or "sorry I'm late, was stuck in traffic" or "the city needs to do something about these potholes". Conversations for me have never been the same since my orange pill. Everyone just seems like they serve their automotive master instead of them being the ones in charge of their life.
@@AustinSersen I personally AVOID all the big groceries and WALMART and go with the "smaller" groceries as I am in and out LONG before someone is 1/2 done with dealing with walmart parking lot
The clock towers as a way to get around is an interesting thing. There is a video on how Paris city center is designed with churches, towers and monuments as navigation points for people to recognize where in the city they are to make it easier to get around.
The fietsknooppunten (signs for cycling routes) are actually more for recreational cycling / tourists. They indicate the "nice" routes. We don't use them for just getting somewhere quickly by bike, as they're often not the quickest route and don't lead to useful places.
Nice to see my country through your eyes! I live 50 kilometers from Weert but I don’t think I’ve ever really been there… we have so many towns and villages, having 18 million people in this tiny country!
Fun fact about the road condition. We pay a lot more road tax as car owners than in Canada. Secondly our highway maintenance is different. It’s much slower per kilometer and in bad weather we just don’t pour the asphalt. Therefore the quality is as good as it can get from the start
As a Dutch when you where talking about the Clock tower they belive how higer the Tower how closer you are so far i understand. But in case you in a city and you lost your way some Dutch people may tell you if you lost Look for a Clock tower or just a High tower and follow that direction as it will bring you closer to begin begin/centrale stattion or any place where more people are. That mabey a tip for Anyone if you lost but still see the tower
I am in Netherlands for about a year now and while i like the country i wouldnt want to live here. Despite i generally enjoy rain, there is something i like more and it is snow and cold weather. I miss it. I should definitely try to visit Canada some day.
That intersection in Canmore, Alberta looks interesting - however it's a common misunderstanding to call this "Dutch style", as there is a lot more to them than only offset bike lanes and near-sight traffic lights. To be honest, this one (except for the impressive width of the bike lanes) looks more like what Germany would have build in the 1990s when two "Bundesstraßen" (federal highways) intersect… Wide turning radius, wide lanes, only dotted lines for the bike lane.
Have you seen the intersection of Home Road and Bowness Road in NW Calgary (Montgomery Neighbourhood)? That's what I'd consider Calgary's first Dutch-style intersection.
6:04 dutch people learn at a young age about 7 or 8 years old (though I don’t remember specifically) the traffic rules which is why this happens. We may not remember the specifics but we can remember some of it
I'm a born and raised Calgarian and have only owned and driven a car for 2 years here, I'm 55 now. I ride, walk or take transit(least of all). I spent 15 years as a bike courier in the core and have found this city to be very unfriendly to bikes until the city recently started to make it far more bicycle friendly, not that the drivers care though. I completely agree that the training of motorist in Calgary is abysmal, I've had Driving instructors with a student squeeze past me in my lane on the road, nobody is ever told that the Alberta Highway and Traffic Safety Act and the Calgary Bylaws state a "Bicycle on is to behave as a motor vehicle and be treated as such on the road" This essentially means I am to behave in the same manner as a Motorcyclist is required to, and I am to be given the same courtesy as a motor vehicle on the road.
You’re right about things getting better, and that many people are unfamiliar with the rules. I think we’ll be needing to change legislation, as well as, infrastructure - for anyone getting around using any mode. We’ll get there! I’m happy to have you here!
10 місяців тому
About the boulevard growths. This is something we probably just didn't want to pay too much for ;) Maintenance costs a lot! But we do consciously leave even much more wild nowadays for the insects\small creatures. Especially the bees. The Netherlands is a agriculturist country and we forsaw a lot of useful animals dying. Again, especially the bees. And those are really needed for good plant growth! I don't know if you've seen the wild flowery sides of farming fields, but those didn't exist 7 years ago. We kinda of invented them for the insects and healthy crow growth. Also, THANK YOU for going somewhere else then Amsterdam. The Netherlands is a small country, but A LOT bigger then the one city all of the world seem to think. We also encourage our citizens, and thus also the local governments, to make as much grassy as possible because of water management. Due to the changing weather (more dry the one and more wet the other season) we need to reduce the greatly growing flow of water through the sewer. And one of the solutions is more earth instead of pavement\stone\terraces. Besides, it looks much friendlier! Win-win. We do have downsides as well. Some unguarded trainrail crossings are kind of debated at the moment. Also more and more bike-car crossings are replaced with small car bridges or much more often: bike tunnels. We use those to avoid dangerous cross-traffic to avoid colissions in bad weather. Specially in places where lots of students bike. In Dutch, there is a wikipedia page about the biketunnels: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fietstunnel Funfact: the largest biketunnel we have is 945 meters (3100 feet).
Honestly, I think the biggest difference between Calgary and most European cities is population density. Amsterdam's metro is 3.6 times more dense then Calgary. In other words we have about half the population spread out over twice the land size in Calgary. There's also a clear difference in preferred housing density, in Canada the most common style of housing is detached homes, where as in the Netherlands its townhouses. This naturally leads to higher density in residential area's, in other words you have more people, occupying less space, leading to Amsterdam having a 5.72x the GDP per km2 of Calgary, despite Calgary actually having a slightly higher GDP per capita. This concentration of wealth makes it a lot easier to justify, create and maintain meaningful infrastructure in a place like Amsterdam then it does in Calgary, especially given the increased cost of maintaining infrastructure in Calgary. This same density also allows Amsterdam to support more shops selling amenities, its not uncommon to live 5 minutes walk from a Grocery store in Amsterdam, but in Calgary, you're "lucky" if you can walk to a 7/11 in under 10-15 minutes let alone an actual grocery store. Having spent time in the Netherlands and coming back to Calgary, everything you need is 5-6 times further away in Calgary, which means getting to places is 5-6 times more difficult, time consuming and less convenient, and this only gets compounded when combined with the shitty weather, and poor conditions of sidewalks and bike infrastructure in the winter, leading to cars being the most realistic option for people who can afford them. If we want to make our cities walkable and bike friendly we need to seriously look at how we manage zoning, property development, density and growth. We need to stop building wide and start redeveloping the core of the city into taller, more dense housing capable of supporting mixed used developments and expensive transportation infrastructure. Until we do, any attempts to force Dutch urbanism on the public is just a goofy waste of resources or vanity project. And unfortunately, that's probably a multi-generational change.
Fortunately Calgary just rezoned to allow some of these changes you’re talking about. More rezoning is on the way. As far as building bike lanes and such, it’s definitely worth it. They’re incredibly inexpensive to build compared to roads, and with e-bikes on the rise, there’re much greater distances the average person might be comfortable traveling by bike - if the right infrastructure were there. I’m optimistic. And besides, we ought to start sometime. Why not now?
@@humanecities Honestly, i disagree. People treat re-zoning like a panacea, obviously its a start, but it's not going to do much when all of the other things that make redeveloping the inner city difficult are still in place. I also disagree on bike lane infrastructure. I'm a designer by trade that's had a lot of drinks and conversations with people from the city planning department. I'll never forget being 13 (this was 15 years ago), getting my first new bike from the Sport Check in Sunridge Mall and being so stoked to ride it to school on Monday. Ultimately what would have normally been a 10 minute ride, with minimal traffic, ended up being an hour and a half of me winding through a park, and having to dismount 3 times, so i could walk my bike across 3 overpasses that went over deerfoot trail. The user experience was terrible and annoying, its implementation was an afterthought and it prioritized aesthetics over usefulness, the end result being me never riding my bike to school again. It's a beautiful bike path, and people may choose to explore it as a leisure activity, But few people have made it their daily commute because of this, and its not helped by residential bike infrastructure outside of the city center is also half assed at best and outright dangerous at its worst. This all creates a negative stigma around bike transport, hurting future potential adoption. Ultimately e-bikes may reduce time spent, and extend the option to people with minor mobility issues, but just like blanket re-zoning, it's not going to do much, if the rest of the user experience sucks. If the average person already owns a car, and they need that car to do basic things like get to work, take their kids to school...etc. Will they really buy e-bikes for anything more then recreation? We need to look at densifying neighborhoods and providing meaningful and useful infrastructure at a local level in places that already exist, before we focus on developing infrastructure connecting these neighborhoods. Until then, bike lane infrastructure is just solutionism, valuing the implementation and optics of a concept more then actually solving a problem for Calgarians.
I find it funny that at 5:46 you praise an intersection that I, as a Dutch traffic engineer and UA-camr view as a outdated design. For dutch standards this intersection is quite dangerous for pedestrians. there could have been done much more to protect the cyclists and to slow the cars down.
Good on you to go to Weert; it probably gives you a better representation of "the Dutch experience" than Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the like. Amsterdam especially is considered a bit of a universe of its own around here, so it can be frustrating that its the only city a lot of North Americans ever sample.
why did they even start hanging the traffic lights at the wrong end in North America? what kind of advantage did they think it brings, back in the day?
Actually the coldest temperature recorded is in the place where I still live and where i was born ( i'm actually still live in the same house here since i was born) in winterswijk to be precise and I love it here😍😍 greetings from the netherlands 🇳🇱
@@humanecities here you cannot ignore it because you have two options (next to the given fine): or you rip off the tinting wrap on the spot or and if that is not possible, they take your registration and you have to have your car checked after you remove the wraps in order to get your registration back
It is very interesting to see the increase in interest in the Dutch urbanism. For me, it feels super natural cause I was born and raised here. One of the most recent developments to support cyclists here has been the cycling streets. The local governments have been in a competition to win the price of best cycling city of The Netherlands and one development of that was streets being converted to cycling streets where cyclists enjoy priority over cars. These streets tend to guide to cyclists towards or away from the centre of town, at least where I live, and direct them to cycling lanes further out in town. There is another thing that also appears to be very different between NA and NL and that would be the highways. We generally do not have highways that cross straight through town, and if we do then they are bordered off and crossable by bridges, with the only way to enter or exit them being a couple of exit points. They are meant to get from city to city quickly but never to interfere too much with the city traffic. Often they also loop around a town or city for that same reason. It is the train tracks that lead right into the centres of cities and towns, usually, because trains cannot simply go off track. My city has been trying to get less car traffic in the centre of town cause our roads just cannot support enough cars and there is pretty much no way to expand them due to how our city has been built upon layers and layers slowly over time. For many cities the middle of town dates back to before America was even established. But in general they were not built for the current number of cars that are around.
PART 2: ua-cam.com/video/RXRQVcqZ-lU/v-deo.html
Thanks everyone for all the comments! I'm learning a lot from these conversations and am slowly working my way through!
Behaviour on the road is part of our education. As small children we are taught how to behave in traffic. First as pedestrians and cyclists and later in motorised vehicles.
soviet microdistrict vs USA Suburban
Thanks for visiting our country and honouring our liberators. Two things: Our asfalt is so called ZOAB, "Zeer Open Asfalt Beton", which translates as "Very Open Asfalt Concrete". It is designed to let rainwater sink through immediately so it can be drained through and there is less spray. Drawback is that it has to be replaced more often, so that is why it appears so new and fresh. Secondly, the trams in Delft are not Delft trams, but The Hague ones. A couple of lines extend to Delft, which is only 10 kilometers or so. Nice video and hope to have you back soon!
How interesting!! Thank you for teaching me these things! I’ll definitely be back - hopefully this year!!
Letting water through like that would also be disastrous in a climate where that water frequently freezes.
It also helps with sound dampening
yup, we have some problems with that whenever we get more than a week of hard freeze.@@snapgab
@@snapgabit is indeed, and this type of pavement is quite specific for the Netherlands. As it doesn't get too often really cold over here (we are under the constant influence of the warm East side of the Atlantic) the highways rarely freeze up. Just spraying a brine of NaCl and CaCl will lower the freezing point sufficiently combined with the cars passing by that keep the mixture activated.
On less frequent used roads this open top layer is not used.
In neighbouring countries with less influence from the Atlantic you'll find more closed pavement, be it concrete or asphalt.
About Dutch road paving quality, there is a reason for that. The road is owned by someone, be it a municipality, province, waterboard or the state. They have a responsibility to maintain their roads as well as a responsibility to use the safest possible design available at the time of design of that stretch of road. This responsibility is also reflected in the fact that if there is an incident that is caused by poor maintenance or bad design, the owner of a road can be held liable or even at fault.
So if there is a pothole in the street you live on, you call the municipality to report that pothole. If your elderly neighbour on their e-bike then hits that pothole, falls and breaks their hip, they can hold the municipality liable for their medical expenses and damage to their bicycle, as the municipality knew about the pothole and has the responsibility to fix it as soon as possible.
By the same token if a road was originally designed for 80km/h and the speed is reduced to 50km/h, they also have to change the layout of the road to reflect this new speed limit. If a road blatantly invites speeding, and an incident happens, the owner of that road can again be held liable or even at fault for that incident, because their design wasn't up to scratch.
If they repave a road, it needs to be updated to the latest guidelines, lest the owner is put at risk of liability.
This financial and possible criminal liability for road owners makes them be a lot more cautious with their designs. If the SWOV or CROW suggests that a new design could objectively be more safe, then not making those changes to the design puts the road owner at risk of liability.
Designing a road like in the US, where speed limits are set at the 85th percentile, is considered horrible design here. It rarely happens and when it does you can rest assured that the Fietsersbond (Bicyclists union) or Veilig Verkeer Nederland (lobby group for traffic safety) will loudly complain about it. And there is always that small, yet vocal minority, who will accuse politicians of being child murderers if they make things unsafe for kids riding their bicycle. Which is tantamount to political suicide, at least for local politicians. So they are not a fan of badly designed roads either.
WOW! Thank you! I’ve really appreciated the comments on Dutch infrastructure. I’m learning a lot more about why it is the way it is.
one of the big changes the made was "deregulation" along with the legal responsibility on the road owner removing a "shield" of that is CODE compliant as there is NO CODE
there is a group that ONLY monitors and researches road designs for quality and safety and input into the "CROW" manual that is a list of suggestions / best KNOWN practices and NOT a CODE BOOK
also the 85% rule is ACTUALLY applied in the Netherlands BUT the opposite of as done in the USA they design the SPEED of the road and follow backwards to BUILD a road that 85% of drivers will naturally drive the chosen speed because of a road is "to fast" and drivers drive the "road speed" and cause an accident then the ROAD owner is responsible
This is fantastic information. I work for a philanthropy involved in these issues in Canada. Would you have source documents to dig into this or key search terms so I could dig further and push at our policy people?
About traffic education: Dutch kids get mandatory "verkeersles" (traffic lessons) during primary education, starting with basics at about age 4 (group 1), and ending with a theoretical and practical bike exam in group 7 or 8 (which is usually age 10-12).
Whaaaat 🤯
Then you get a "OK" sticker, to put on your bike. if your cycle has correct lighting and reflectors
Yep me too🙋♂
The numbers and arrows at 8:30 are not numbered routes but point to numbered intersections. It allows you to follow (safe) cycling routes without having to constantly look at a map. You only need a list of the numbers. It is a Belgian invention.
For North America, such a system could be useful to be able to cheaply plot safe cycling routes parallel to busy roads through quiet streets.
Yeah, that number system for cyclist works incredibly good and is so simple. Shoutout for the Belgians.👍👍
What a great idea. So smart!
@@lbergen001 Thats the nice thing about dutch road design they don't have that not designed here bias if it works somewhere else we are happy to nick the idea (and adapt and improve upon it if thats possible).
One thing I missed is the importance of road design to slow down vehicles. Narrowing roads, and adding visual clues will make drivers use the appropriate speed.
YES! This is vital! Thank you for adding this!
@@humanecitiesIMHO that is the NUMBER ONE thing North America gets wrong with a "build fast/safe regulate slow
I remember in the 90s when I first had my licence/car and lived in Vancouver
driving down I5 into SEATTLE there is a underground tunnel and everyone would slowdown "AUTOMAJICALLY" no signage nothing everyone just slowed down me included that did not know the "speed traps" - IT WAS the tunnel removing LONG "safety zones" and made drivers FEEL less safe so they slowed down
seen videos of in Germany they will INTENTIONALLY plant trees closer to the road when approaching a side street and put curves in the road "for no reason" again to cause people to SLOW DOWN and pay attention
I live in a small village in the province of Groningen which has about 1400 inhabitants. I particularly love the consistancy and predictability of Dutch infrastructure. It's the same here as it is in the middle of Amsterdam. I can cycle from here to the south of The Netherlands on dedicated bike-infrastructure without any problem, without the need to ajust. I have always assumed this to be 'normal', until I started to visit other countries. To be honest, it is a blessing we should never take for granted. I appreciate videos that elaborate on the 'how' and the 'why' Dutch infrastructure is the way it is. I hope our society will keep up the good work, in electing politicians who make this happen, and value craftmanship and science.
I think our election system has a big influence actually.
Power in the Netherlands is very distributed at all levels and governments are fluctuating coalitions of minority parties.
This prevents a lot of polarization in politics and media. Our politics is relatively facts based and every vote matters, so even small groups of voters have influence.
This is contrast to countries that use first-past-the-post systems, which are an outdated feudal British concept.
💯 agreed!
Man, that video flew by. Excellent comparison. Looking forward to the next.
Thanks! I’m super excited to tackle trains in the next one!
Some thoughts:
1. The canals between the farmplots are used to manage water levels in case of heavy rainfall and drought. In dry areas, digging ditches between acres of farmland, and planting trees and hedges, can improve water retention a lot, and also provide windshade which will help retain fertile top soil in dry and windy areas. Its honestly whack people dont do this in north America and just use more irrigation water instead. That costs a lot of money.
2. The roads look freshly paved because they are. We spend a ridiculous amount of money on road infrastructure. And the wear and tear is still pretty bad because of the massive amounts of trucks driving from the ports, mostly to Germany. We have very high road taxes and gasoline taxes and even an extra 30% tax on cars, but it still isnt sufficient to pay for the road maintenance, it has to be supplemented from other tax sources from people who might not even own a car, like me.
3. The raised pedestrian crossings not only (legally) indicate right of way for pedestrians, but also function as speed bumps for cars even when no one is crossing, so they are a very cheap and effective dual purpose solution for traffic calming.
4. Letting the grass and weeds grow on the roadbanks instead of mowing them constantly provides a big increase in biodiversity, with slower growing plants getting a chance instead of just grass, thistles and nettleweed. These plants in turn provide food and shelter for more types of insects and birds, and it saves the municipalities a lot of money on mowing.
5. Having the pedestrian and bike lane crossings set further back from the intersection reduces traffic accidents by a significant margin compared to having them closer. For the drivers, the bikes are coming from a less than 90 degree angle so you can see them in your peripheral vision, and it creates more distance between the bikers and the cars coming from the intersection so they can see the cars coming as well.
In many cases, on less busy roads, this eliminates the need for stop lights for the bike lanes completely, as the bikes can simply wait a few seconds and cross to the center embankment when no cars are coming from the left, and then cross the second lane when there are no cars coming from the right. This improves traffic flow a lot.
Additionally, the traffic lights for cars on such intersections are default to always be on red, forcing oncoming cars to slow down, and then turn green when you are approaching the intersection at low speed, if there are no other cars crossing from other directions.
6. In may areas, putting heavy equipment on barges in the canals provides a more stable base than trying to put a crane that weighs more than 10 tonnes on the soft peet soil that most of the low parts of the country have. They would quite literally sink into the ground. The barges can also be moved without having to pack up the crane.
Pretty sure the canals between farm plots do NOT retain water, they are meant for 'water afvoer' / drainage. All farm land in our polders have canals designed to DRAIN water from the farmland. That's why we get into trouble during droughts, our water infrastructure isn't designed to retain ( enough ) water.
He says extreme cold causes wear and tear on the roads, but that's not true. The worst weather for roads is wet during the day, where water enters cracks, and frost during the night
Yeah quite a lot of errors here. But hey, people who don't know don't seem to care....@@frankherrewijn2508
About point 2: the trucks and vans that cause most damage to the roads, are bringing stuff to the shops you buy it from. Because of this, the average consumer causes waaay more damage to infrastructure than I do driving my tiny Suzuki Alto to work everyday for 20km. But I pay all the extra taxes...
Lol mate, Dutch water management is worse than in the US. We cause an artificial drought every year to please the millionaire farmers who want to dump manure even in winter using the heaviest machines.
The US nor Canada does do such an extreme winter pump-out, so by virtue of doing nothing their water management defeats ours, which is actively doing harm.
And no way to change that because the water boards are anti-democratic, with the millionaire farmers given automatic seats on the board without elections.
I like how you noted the fact that people at Dutch intersections communicate through eye contact in order to know if they can safely cross or not, I've never really seen any other urbanist channel mention that detail, but it really is an important part of getting around in the Netherlands, and it's one of the reasons why the giant cars in North America seem so insane to me.
not just bikes is one
One of the weird things that makes this Canadian uncomfortable is when cars actually slow and stop WELL BEFORE they need to when they see bikes coming to a crossing near us where the fietspad has priority on the uncontrolled crossing. Like, I feel I need to speed up to close the distance to the crossing because they're already stopped for 10 seconds before I get to the crossing.
I don't think that I really notice eye contact with drivers, though. I can barely make out the faces behind the reflective glass, honestly.
Indeed.
@@RichardMurrayyou have to be dutch driver yourself to get it...
Most dutch drivers akso ride bikes and are therefore looking at the bicyclists to see if they are looking at them
Hope that makes sense
Lol, this is actually a question on the dutch driver's exam. Do you proceed 1) when you make eye contact 2) when the other person slows down/stops. Hint: One makes you guess about whether the other person is gonna stop and the other directly tells you.
Eye contact doesn't mean anything or maybe they think you are hot! Or they want to stare you down!
I took a trip there last June and it was amazing! The city was really cool, the transit was amazing. Biking around Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Den Haag was amazing. I also took the time to visit Baarle-Nassau, NL/Baarle-Hertog, BE because I'm a big border gore nerd. Dutch train service was world class, the trams were amazing, bike infrastructure was world class, and walking around was also mind blowing. I even had some casual chats with some people I met while getting around. You cannot beat human-first transportation, car-first transportation sucks. I remember on my bus from Baarle-Nassau/Baarle-Hertog to Tilberg I ended up having a great chat with a dutch woman from Den Haag. Nederland is zo fascinerend, en wij in Nord Amerika moeten van hen leren.
It really is such an impressive place! I hope we do learn from them. We do so many pilot projects in Canada when we already know what works, because the Dutch already studied it!
@@humanecities And still the Dutch complain a lot LOL
9 /10 Dutchies speak English quite reasonably, we have to be pragmatic a trading /pass-through country like the NL has always been in need to speak foreign a lot. We are the best non-native English-speaking countries at speaking English in the world.
Love it haha tilberg (tilburg)
We (from Breda) call it stilburg because our neighbours are always so quiet when we have a footballmatch lol
@@dimrrider9133 are you even in the same league these days?
our trains are ok but not world class, that would be Japan or Switzerland......
while a lot of cities in europe have similar layouts and pedestrian (and cyclist) infrastructure, the advanced traffic calming measures are what sets the dutch apart. Its clear just how much care was put into making drivers hyperaware of their surroundings and emphasizing the importance of pedestrian safety in their cities.
to me a LOT of it is also making it CLEAR to everyone who comes first and who are "second" and where they "belong" and not "belong"
It truly feels like they make you obey the rules, even if you don't quite know them. Breaking them almost requires breaking your vehicle.
as a driver in the netherlands i can say it is generaly verry clear where the next "conflict" with other roadusers is and gives me time to come up with a solution
@@YippingFox Well thats how they are suppose to be designed so if you feel that way its working.
As a fellow Calgarian and urban enthusiast, I am heartened by videos like this. Thanks for the great content. Subscribed.
Awesome that you chose to go to a smaller city like Weert and not just the obligatory Amsterdam or Utrecht (though both are nice). Your observation that driving habits are key is spot on and these don't change because of a few nice areas in big cities. The infrastructure needs to be prevalent so all drivers are familiar with it.
Thanks for the kind words.
As someone who's family was saved in ww2 by canadians. We thank you again.
Also great to see Weert! Been there a lot as a kid
This man just randomly decided to go to the of the most random small backwater cities in all of the Netherlands, and is still praising everything.
Glad to see my little city of Weert was able to still bring some people some fun.
but Weert has indeed better infrastructure than 99% of cities in the world, as does Emmen or Vlissingen or Doesburg or Ridderkerk or any other random midsize Dutch city anywhere.
@@Blackadder75 Emmen is actually pretty big. You should have picked Assen
I hope we get a follow-up video where he explains which crimes he perpetrated to earn being sent to Weert though.... 😉
I am with you brother! I feel the same coming from Hengelo Overijssel.But it's nice if there are outsiders that appreciate certain aspects of our lives and culture here!
Omg that around the bend placement haha. Also this year I started to e bike in the winter, yes I did bike in the -36/-40 C this week and it was fine after proper dressed.
I’m impressed!!
will say it is easier to DRESS for cold then it is to "dress" for VERY HOT
During my time in elementary school in the Netherlands we had a “bike riding exam” we had to ride our bikes through a certain route of about 2/3km following instructions and learn about all the different scenarios that can occur on the road.
I remember that. I did mine about 62 years ago.
Awesome to see urbanism being promoted in my city as a fellow Calgarian. Cheers!
There are more and more of us here!
@@humanecities look north and Edmonton set aside huge cash for "roads"
FOR BIKES NOT CARS
Thanks for sharing your trip, really interesting to see a nuanced and thoughtful comparison of Calgary and other places in Alberta to the Netherlands, looking forward to the next part!
Thanks, James!
I remember seeing your updates on social media last year but I didn't know your trip was for choir. My trip in 2022 was for work and the other half was a vacation. We loved taking the train, biking and walking everywhere. We stayed near the German border around Doetinchem and near a friend in Woerden. From there we visited Amsterdam, Utrecht, Gouda and few small villages.
I was hoping to visit Arnhem where my Great-Grandfather (British medic) hid and worked with the Dutch underground after jumping off a POW train. He has some old tapes that now have been digitalized of remembrance ceremonies that he went to in Arnhem. He even has photos of himself with the family hid him and another soldier that he reconnected when he visited.
Wow! Thank you for sharing your family’s history with the Netherlands! I love hearing family stories and how that physical media can deepen that connection!
@humanecities You're welcome! I enjoy sharing his legacy. He was a part of Operation Market Garden. I am proud of my British and Dutch heritage. I feel closer to my heritage since I am only second generation Canadian.
Unfortunately, I barely know my relatives and either country since most of my grandparents' siblings moved to Canada too.
Nearsighted signals have another advantage. They enable smarter traffic controls, with, for example, only green for directions with traffic and small or even negative clearance times. Which leads to shorter waiting times for all traffic participants.
The best response to "It is too cold to have a bicycle city" is just one word, one name: Oulu!
Oulu, the city built for bicycles. The city noone heard about, in any other context. But also, the city, only 150km south of the artic circle.
YES!! 🙌 It’s on my list of places to visit! I hope it won’t take long for me to get there!
@@humanecities Oh, I'd love to learn about Oulu!
In Calgary I've seen bicyclists out even at -40 and in snowstorms. There's no such thing as "too cold" just not dressing properly for the cold. If we can spend all day skiing, skating and other winter sports, there's really no excuse why we can't bike
@@LoneHowlerYeah. In the Netherlands it never gets really cold in winter, but still most winters have at least some days with icy roads. You definitely notice less people are willing to go outside on bike or even in a car, but as a child and teenager I’ve cycled on snowy and icy bike paths to get to school. And yeah, I’ve definitely slipped on those icy days. Even kids who lived 30+ bike minutes from school would generally still go by bike those days.
@@DanDanDoe some people get studded tires for their bikes in winter to combat ice
Temperatures are very different between Canada and The Netherlands.
I grew up in BC, where -25 is still inviting enough to spend the day outside having fun, but when my cowboy rancher brother-in-law came to the Netherlands during the winter, he was shocked at just hold cold a measly -2 really was. He didn't go anywhere without gloves, a scarf and a silly toque. We don't do any ice fishing here, but it gets cold enough to make a Ukranian-Canuck shiver uncontrollably.
I never heard this before and I find this very interesting. Is this like the heat in Southern countries being different because of the humidity? Or is it because of the wind?
@@carmenl163 Humidity is the main factor, yes. And the wind chill factor on top of that makes -2 feel like -20 in your underwear. Take away the wind, add some snow, and at -2 all the little Dutch kids are outside. But warmly dressed.
As a dutchie, the coldest i have ever experienced was in Calgary. About -20 celcius with wind chill. The Netherlands weather can be unpleasant, but not like that.
@@rienkhoek4169 Oh yeah, no doubt it gets real cold in Alberta. BC right now is having a hard time too, and the further north you go, the more deadly it gets. Think of Finland and the rest of the North Circle.
Yes, it is the difference in humidity that makes the big difference.
awesome to see another calgarian passionate about urbanism! :D
There’re more and more of us!!
If the roads look like they are freshly paved, that is because they are. In the netherlands investment in road maintenance is enormous. And a lot of it is done during the night, so not to disturb the daily trafic.
My neighbourhood in Edmonton has some of those raised crosswalks, so I treat those streets as ripped up and removed, so I drive my car all the way around the interior of the neighbourhood on the collector road that rings it. We also now have curbs jutting out into the roadway at random locations, reducing parking and making snow removal difficult, ineffective, and expensive.
Wow, -19°C to +22°C in an hour! As a Dutch guy, I'm used to having 'changeable weather', but skipping a season, in the same day, that's different.
We can have 4 seasons in one day but yes your right with the megaskip
One thing that would be really great is if google maps included multimodal mapping. Bike+public transport would be awesome.
With you taking the train to Delft, I feel I should add something about the new train tunnel that was opened there a few years ago, which was a really cool project, for two reasons. First of all they removed this big railtrack running through the city, but the second reason, and the most important reason why the project was so cool is that they had to move an old dutch windmill including the warehouse attached to it, out of the way , so they just lifted the whole thing up, 17th century foundations and all, by a meter, and dug the tunnel underneath it. Just because we want to relieve the people of delft from an eyesore and noise pollutant, it doesn´t mean we have to destroy what has been preserved for centuries.
i don't believe it. HE GOT A BMW USING A BLINKER ON CAMERA?!?!?!
I’ve been waiting so impatiently for this video, thank you for finally putting this out
The Dutch style setup of an intersection in Calgary makes me very happy. ❤ But when seeing this at 10:37 , it makes me mad that the striping on the road is worn off. It give me the impression the cars have taken it over again. Why it is not maintained properly???
@1:22 Well, actually that is the North Sea beach, and an Atlantic beach is about 1000km away in West France ;-) Also, fun to see a city different than cities in the Randstad and typical exception Groningen in an urbanist video. Biking to Germany would have been a bit more heavy duty, but still possible btw :)
Thanks for visiting the Netherlands. You're actually one of a few American/Canadian content creators that goes outside of Amsterdam to see the rest of the Netherlands
Yes, the tourist choices of this trip are pretty amazing, espacially if your starting point is Weert - of all places. Antwerp, Belgium, is obviously great, and Kinderdijk is obligatory for foreigners ( Dutch people rarely go there; I have never been there!) but kudos for the person / people who came up with Sint Oedenrode and Ammerzoden. What a wonderfully random selection! Your observations were generally quite insightful and spot on! Well done. Anything we can do, you can too!
@3.52; that would explain the guy wearing shorts in februari in Calgary, while i was making my way to the Barber through the snow 😊 on foot.
1:37
Actually, Calgary is on a more southern latitude than most (if not all) of the netherlands but it's quite close, so in fact we get just about the same amount of sunlight.
Just that canada, unlike europe, doesn't have the gulf stream.
That is the reason the west coast of Europe is unusually warm, even though we're on the same latitude as most of canada
Victoria & Vancouver get temperatures comparable to the Northern Adriatic Sea.
You CAN import driving habits. At the core of everything you've seen here is the Road Traffic Law of 1994. This changed it so the driver of a motor vehicle is presumed liable during an accident with a non-motor vehicle. This changed the behavior of all road users almost overnight (give or take a few years) more than any of the physical infrastructure did.
Of course this change in law itself was only a part of a greater trend but if you want to make changes, getting to that hurdle is an important part.
I loved your video, loved the comparison shots between your beautiful country and mine.
Well, and the 2008 law change that put all license plate numbers into a database that insurers and police have acces to, so being uninsured results in automatic fines. It got rid of 'ghost cars' and the amount of uninsured untraceable drivers (who can commit crimes and crashes without consequences) went from 6% to 0,4%.
The only ones who voted against were CDA, CU, SGP. Nearly all remaining uninsured drivers are religious nutjobs.
Nice video- happy for you brother! And again just a little shoutout- thank you so much for doing wht the Canadians have done and sacrificed during WW2. Never forget!
Glad you had a great trip there! When I was last there, I also rarely took the local trams, buses, or metro, as the cycling network makes them kind of irrelevant for a lot of trips 😅
Right?! If I can just walk or bike, why would I take transit?
@@humanecitiesI say that about Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. Of course, our network isn't as good at most of the Netherlands but it's good enough to get around almost anywhere safely if you are okay with sometimes taking a less direct route. We also have a local app (that's looking to expand) that gives you directions by comfort level. It's great and I have discovered trails and protected infrastructure that I was unaware of before.
Most of us use the bicycle for trips in town or the city, depending on where you live, and outside town for up to 5 or 10km and above that we use public transport. In my town of 20,000 this means only the bus, the nearest train station is 15km away. We have a bus to the station on a 30 min schedule and during rush hour every 15minutes. If I go out in Utrecht or Amsterdam and take the last train 00:18 to this station, I’m home at 01:10. If I go to Rotterdam and take the last train back at 23:35 to this station, I’m also home at 01:10. If I’m later, because it is a nice party or a late movie or theatre, I have to travel via Amsterdam Central Station by night train (hourly service), take the city bus night service (30min service) to Amsterdam Arena station and then by regional night bus (also hourly service) to home, but they only ride during weekends and they take 30minutes longer to get home. I often hear complaints about our public transport, but it really is good. And we have a national public transit card, so valid in the whole country for every kind of public transport, train, metro, tram, bus, waterbus, ferry and water taxi. You can also check in and check out with a credit card or debit card instead of the PT card. I own a car but hardly use it privately, only for work.
5:56 is a good underrated reason why this inter-comodal transportation thing you were on about also works easier here. The kid on the bike with her mother is already looking to her right to see if the road is clear. You literally grow up using the roads and infrastructure. You learn what those shark teeths are on the road and how to yield to people. The basics of right of way is basically naturally ingrained in your brain from a young age.
Switching to a car as an adult, you still know there are bikers and other road users out there. And you know where they are, how they move, etc. It is easier to predict traffic and have it be safer.
I imagine in North-America, you do not really use the infrastructure as a kid to this extend. You only start learning when you start driving a car. To then also have to share the road with users that are not in a car would be a hard switch to make at first. Probably unsafe in the beginning
I’m from Delft visiting Calgary this summer so I’m curious to witness all the things you’ve mentioned
Awesome! Calgary is a great place! I made this video seeing some tourist attractions: ua-cam.com/video/sADlQXGuzo4/v-deo.htmlsi=QMaDnkdko8P_bkFf
There are many more things to see, too! I love sharing my city with people, to please ask if you have any questions!
I just stumble upon your channel. You got yourself another follower. 🙂 Very interesting video. Looking forward to the next one.
Thank you 🙏
My 10yo is in groep 7 in a Dutch public school (grade 5 in Canadian) and they do bike training and they get a diploma. They're not being taught how to ride a bike - they all know how by the time they're in school, honestly. At least half the kids live within 1-2 km and bike alone every day. The diploma is about responsibilities, teaching signage, and how to know who has the right of way.
Snow is not an excuse for not cycling. Not just bikes by a fellow Canadian shows how the people in Oulu Finland have winter bicycle infrastructure that is better than in the Netherlands.
great vid, I like how you talked about things other then, "so many bikes" and NO stroads"!
The “so many bikes” and “no stroads” market is just too saturated 😉
I stumbled upon your video by coincidence, but never expected to see my hometown (Weert) in it. For Dutch terms, Weert is a very normal city. Because it is a small town, the simple infrastructure applies, like the intersection with the cars going around each other. In cities with more traffic, these intersections wouldn't work as well (for example in Munich, Germany).
The Netherlands in general has a very good infrastructure focused on cyclist and pedestrians, but this is in the whole of the Netherlands. I think this mainly works because all the people, shops and work are so closely together, which makes biking and public transport an option (together with the weather being not to extreme). Also the very well tuned traffic lights, which 'Not just bikes' made a very nice video about help with the nice flow of traffic.
You were very accurate about Weert and the infrastructure, and I do fully agree that the lower speeds and the smaller cars make for a very safe environment. But I don't think an average North-American would acknowledge that XD.
If you do happen to come back to Weert, make sure to ask for the 'Turbo-Rotonde' (turbo-roundabout), which I think is the most special piece of infrastructure in Weert (with the bike lane going under it). Also not all cities have such a beautiful church (with a beautiful history) + so much low-rise buildings. So I think for even more unique infrastructure there are tons of other cities too (ps. we also tunnels underneath rivers and bridges for nature over the highway).
You have to adopt it for canada but most shops are where a lot of people live so most of that part can be designed relaticly the same ofcourse you have to take little things as climate and elevation into account. And ofcourse how to make youre city accesable for prople that need to come well not really into it but close to i by car.
The main thing people should know about dutch roads, is not the design guidelines or details like that, but how the laws are structured resulting in dutch style urbanism. In short, the government does a lot of research about roads and what works best and what doesnt, and makes that data available as guidelines for road design. But at the same time the road designers and construction companies are made responsible for the roads functioning. This naturally pushes things like making traffic lights in such a way that people stop before the stopping line. (because if an accident happens due this the company building the road has to answer why they did not implement said guidelines.) And it causes better maintenance as the companies usually are not only responsible for building the road but also for maintaining it. ua-cam.com/video/b4ya3V-s4I0/v-deo.html this guy goes more in debt about the system, but it is one of the main reasons for dutch urbanism, and certainly could be translated to other countries (with adjustments based on the counties needs (i wouldnt want to cycle in a country where it gets 40 degrees Celsius in the summer))
Thank you for this insight! (And I wouldn’t bike in +40 either. I’m actually tracking how often it gets to a temperature - or conditions - where I wouldn’t bike. I want to see how many days out of the years it’s definitely not an option for me. That will be part of my 1 year car-free video.)
@@humanecities Your welcome, to be honest, I dont want to know how often i take public transport, because i dont like cycling in the weather.
i like to add that part of why it works in The Netherlands is also our law system.
in short: thanks to the law(s) protecting the vulnerable road users people in motor vehicles pay more attention to them.
in more detail: when a car and a cyclist (or pedestrian) get in an accident the motor vehicle driver, by default is mainly at fault unless evidence proves otherwise.
this doesn't mean you go to jail or get a ticket for every accident you're involved in as a motor vehicle driver. but it does mean that you take that extra care to make sure you don't get into an accident.
and because accidents between motor vehicles and vulnerable road users often happen on 30km/h roads the outcome is often mostly damages or light injuries.
i've been in a couple of "accidents" while cycling, because the driver didn't notice me cycling. so we bumped into each other. worst outcome was a bend in one of my wheels.
what also helps is that almost every motor vehicle driver bikes themselves so they know how it is to be on the receiving end of road rage/inconsiderate drivers, and their children probably bike to.
Really love these videos of people analyzing our country. I'm glad you had a good time here.
"It"a freezing in Calgary right now"
Dude: it will feel downright 🏝️TROPICAL🍹 when it gets up to the freezing point! Can't wait! 😎
I am VERY MUCH looking forward to it!
used ti live in Edmonton and had to take a truck to Calgary
left Edmonton dressed for -40 it was plus5 in Calgary I needed to leave or get undressed as I was being boiled alive
Me Dutch. The tram tracks with grass and other stuff will demper the sound of the big tram ;)
about the biking in cold weather: its actually amazing! as long as its dry (snow is dry), biking is pretty nice, as long as the road is cleaned/salted. Biking in rain is awful, but biking in any below 0 temp is pretty good, as long as you dress for it. You keep yourself warm anyway!
I never expected to see Weert in an urbanism video! Weert usually gets a bad wrap here because of the empty shops, the not so very walk friendly spaces and the poor public transit but you showed me that if Weert is bad in our eyes then we are maybe truly spoiled. :)
Thank you visiting our little country. If you ever visit again, really try Groningen, Den Haag, Eindhoven and Maastricht as they all are completely unique in their own way. 👋
Great video! I really enjoyed watching your perspective. I'd looove to visit Canada someday.
Do it! And if you visit my part of Canada (Calgary), let me know! I’m always happy to list off my favourite places to see!
Regarding education programmes: the Dutch get cycling lessons in school. Not learning to cycle (that's a job for parents), but lessons in getting around traffic by bike. It's usually for 11-12 year olds, right before they start going to a next level of school (middelbare school), which a lot of Dutch kids do by bike in another town/city. It's not uncommon to have to bike for 30-60 minutes to school when you're 12-17.
One doesn't need to go to Europe to discover good urbanism, one only need look at how Canada built cities a century ago before the car. The built form of our 1880-1930 cities were dense, walkable, had parks/green spaces, and streetcars. I'm not saying we have nothing to learn from other places but many seem blind to what's been right in front of them their whole lives.
3:48 temperature changes quiclky here aswell... when Beatrix celebrated her last year as Queen, I came out of nightshift at 6 am and had to scratch ice off my window of my car...-5 degrees Celcius 27 april..went home, to bed, slept untill 1,30 pm and could walk outside in shorts and t-shirt because it was +24 degrees Celsius
2:55 I was told you can really feel the difference between Dutch and Belgian highways
Belgium is working on that at least Flaanders.
Im from Breda and work a lot in Belgium so ;p they really trying haha
Yeah, you can feel it. So the climate or cars are not the excuse why The Netherlands has better roads. It really is that Belgium and Canada simply don't have a budget for maintenance.
Great video! I’m from Calgary and I wish we had more walkable neighborhoods and better light rail systems that do east west connecting the x shape of light rail we currently have
Our East-West connections are seriously lacking here 😔 I think there are some great opportunities to add them though… stay tuned 😏
I used to live in Delft and it’s actually the Den Haag tram (HTM) line 1, which ends in Scheveningen.
Oh cool! I hope to come back and ride it!
Thanks for taking us to Holland!
Thanks for joining us!!
@@johncools1 Holland is perfectly fine for colloquial use.
@@forklessit’s definitely not
@@jamesedwards1284 Being Dutch myself I can most certainly assure you it is. It's a style form called pars pro toto.
@@forkless being dutch myself I can assure that it is most certainly an issue. I do not want to be associated with hollanders we are our own people.
As a Dutch person, I wouldn't want to ride a bicycle at -30°C. At -5 it's already hars, like I'm not looking forward to it, it's gonna be unpleasant, but I got to plough through. But -30? forget it. How do you even breath without freezing your lungs?
This is a REALLY important difference I didn’t bring up in the video: Calgary is dry. So while that comes with its own challenges, it makes the cold more manageable. A wet cold will sink into your bones. A dry cold is far more manageable. That said… yeah… -30 sucks 😂
Not sure how I feel about this vid, but I’m sure I want to support the creator with a comment. Yay alberta.
Much appreciated!
This is such a great video. Nice job bro I'm proud of you❤❤❤❤❤
Thank you 🙏
3:25 yes agreed, but just like in Sweden where is was this week -43, here in Netherlands -10 feels like -30 due to wind filled with moisture, so just alone the tem. doesn't say much.. just like summers here in Netherlands....temp shoots up to +35, but when you are in turkey having +35 it is much more barable due to dryer air. Summer in Netherlands with these temperatures is like walking in a sauna with the same amount of moisture as a tropical rainforest
Nice to see a comparison video in which not Amsterdam is featured for a change (and I'm saying that as someone from there).
Now that you've cycled in both the Netherlands and in Belgium, how did those two countries compare infrastructure wise in your opinion?
regarding our highways, we repave them every few years, we do maintenance every night when nobody is driving and we have innovative asphalt mixtures which makes highways extremely durable. it's not really our climate, it's that we take good care of our road in general, look at the shoulders next to the highway and you'll see that they're perfectly clean instead of being full of garbage like in the US.
Wow! The Dutch do infrastructure right!
@@humanecities that’s what we’re known for yes, but it’s not just our roads, our design and engineering of urban spaces is next level.
And your water management!
@@humanecities yup that too, it’s all part of our efficient working culture, we were the first ones to replace people and horses in agriculture with machines that ran on steam, we’re still one of the world’s efficient ones.
All of this creates well thought out and integrated systems that make everything for everyone most pleasant and we also strive to always improve, that’s also the reason why our traffic lights are so efficient and why road projects get finished in time here, because people have no patience and that’s a good thing.
@@miles5600 thanks for the insight
have to say not having as many "miles" of road PER PERSON makes it a LOT cheaper per person to PAY for the roads
and aren't the Dutch the ONLY road network 100% covered with street lighting?
4:25 from freezing to shorts .. we have that in Netherlands aswell, more like desert without the sand dunes... nights freezing literally and daytime t-shirt and shorts weather is typical in early spring. Summers often have lower temp then Phoenix Arizona, or Ankara in Turkye, but the humidity and lack of wind makes it feel like a tropical rainforrest without the actual forrest. And 4 seasons in one day..the cnases are 50-50 all year every day 24-7
The grassy tram lanes in Delft and other places are not just looking good... they have a purpose. There are more and more rain showers occuring and at times the amount of water was so huge that streets started to flood. One of the problems was that the streets were all paved, so the water couldn´t go anywhere. The grass helps to let the water go away much quicker. For the same reason the Dutch transferred many buildings in dual purpose buildings, so they now also can store water. Many of the ´odd´ things you see in the Netherlands have some way to do with water...
Delft trams are part of the The Hague tram network. You can take the tram thru the city center of The Hague and then it goes to the beach
I 💛raised crosswalks 😊
GIVE ME MORE 🚶♂️
They're so common sense-y. Since I first saw one, I can't understand how there aren't a billion more of them.
They have them at Calgary airport. I love them and think they should be in all neighborhoods. Starting with playground zones
The bottom line is density. Since the 50’s cities in the US and Canada where designed for cars which in the beginning wasn’t that bad but as cities kept growing with low density single use or zoning development, they ended up generating suburban sprawl which is the least efficient model of urban development.
Yep! One of my friends recently pointed out that the more people drive cars in a city, the worse it is for everyone. Whereas the more people take transit, the better it is for everyone!
To be fair, the Netherlands on average is basically a suburbanized North American city density wise (I'm simplifying, but in general this is strue). That's actually one of the problems our public transit has. There isn't generally the density to invest in anything other than buses or trains.
in my town we had trams untill 1937 when the werent profittable anymore you can still see a few buildings with the style like the depot and station and we had untill 1975 a cargo railway untill the NS(dutch railways) quit the railway deu to safety concerns as the area became more inhabitat as it was opened in 1886 closed in 1975 only a tiny portion is still in use for cargo but thats far away from where i live
Interesting! Thank you for sharing!
The biggest reason why roads are better here in the Netherlands has to do with road maintenance, an asphalt road only lasts about 25 years, and after that time is passed the layout gets repaved. That's also how we built good cycling infrastructure without having to spend a ton of money to do it. When a road is due for replacement, you also look into improving it.
Actually, it is about the weather. Here in Finland, roads can get into bad shape in as little as 5 years. First, the temperature changes cause the asphalt to change in size and crack, and large, sometimes deep holes appear. Second, studded tires really do wear the roads down. If a Finnish asphalt road would be without repaving for 25 years, it would be undriveable.
Can Canada become more like Netherlands? Maybe, maybe not.
Can Montreal and especially my neighbourhood become more like Amsterdam? Yes and that’s what i care more about, at least on a day to day basis.
Change needs to happen in the cities, especially needs to start from the core of Canadian cities because they really don’t have the density excuse.
Amsterdam is one of the worst Dutch cities, but of course lightyears away from Canadian cities.
You’re right! I’m not looking to ride my bike from Calgary to Edmonton, but around Calgary? ABSOLUTELY! I look forward to seeing how Canadian cities improve over the coming decades!
look at the money Edmonton has earmarked to build bike infrastructure
even Winnipeg is building bike lanes and talking more transit / streetcars
Which neighborhood in Montreal do you live/have good bikeability?
@@henkoosterink8744 This is just a blatant lie
If you want to look into behaviour change in traffic, a great place to start is the application of brick roads instead of asphalt; the added noise (mostly for the driver) creates the illusion of higher speeds, leading to people slowing down. (Ofcourse, this only works if you contrast this with asphalt highways, and only use bricks in slower (urban) areas anyways.)
Having biked in Europe, and specifically Amsterdam to Brussels, I agree with what you have said. All of the little things, by themselves, are possible. However, it is the combination of all of them which becomes the challenge. If I remember correctly, it was the desire to stop the deaths of children that was the impedance for the Dutch to start the change. So, socially they were happy to suffer through the change. I see this as the largest speed bump to enacting such a large change here in Canada (I am in Toronto). We, perhaps due to our neighbours to the south, hold more importance in self, not the collective. Add on to that, the geography, hills, and the overall greater distances in general, and then the weather.....and the SUVs and traffic. The dutch have a lot of little things adding up to making it work with less effort. I would love if we could implement the change here, to allow more bike commuting.
I feel that other factors work in our favour though, which were not present in the Dutch transition. The biggest example I can think of is that we have e-bikes and other micromobility options, which make hills and winter more bearable for more people. And we can copy infrastructure and import vehicle modules wholesale from less car dominated societies.
@@fraserfuite8816 My understanding is that copying is not they way to go.I think the dutch tried, tested and then evaluated, and then implemented on a larger scale., based on what worked for each situation. The intuitive format, of pedestrian, bike and car last, works, but has taken a long time. North America has such a different mindset, of car equalling freedom, that I think is hard to overcome. But I am older, so maybe the next generation, who shows less interest in cars will be different. You are correct about ebikes, allowed me to commute, although technically illegal on some of my route.
@@Chrishm0 there was a major de regulation on engineering design rules and a increase in research based solutions and less "law" based ones
@@Chrishm0it’s kinda the same thing though. Especially considering Brussels to Belgium would be like Detroit to Toronto. It’s not like North America is multiple times larger than the entire continent of Europe. It would be easy for every city in North America to be like Amsterdam including getting rid of skyscrapers especially supertalls. 🤣
@@fraserfuite8816 one big thing FOR Calgary not present in the Netherlands is "cheap" land and HUGE roadways
cheap land allows for a "focused" new town development to INCREASE housing - "TOD" communities and wide streets become NARROWER streets WITH transit and bike lanes without a complete "destruction" of car infrastructure
Amsterdam has a MAJOR housing shortage driving a LOT of issue including super long commutes and increased in CAR based commutes and I believe most Canadian cities (NOT IN Ontario) can build enough housing in a "TOD" style to BOTH moderate housing prices AND to offer housing that fits everyone's needs INCLUDING single family styles
and not have a "tokyo of the prairies" for housing
You were in Weert! I live there, thanks for visiting the Netherlands!
You live in a lovely place!! Thanks for having me!
From the Dutch wikipedia, "zeer open asfalt" is used on the main roads. It is especially optimized to have better drainage and sound propagation qualities, however it wears must faster than normal asphalt. But you can compare our roads with belgium at a certain border crossing, the difference can be huge. My guess is that in NL roads are just much more regularly maintained than anything.
6:14 This median wouldn't work here, because my 8.9L Cummins Diesel lifted dually pickup truck (that I only use the capability once per month at Costco, but still drive it around everywhere) doesn't fit. /s
You’re right, Sir. I’ll be shutting down the channel and delivering a final farewell and apology to the good people of the internet.
@@humanecities In all seriousness, so many people think that shopping at Costco saves them money. I was the same way back in the States shopping at BJ's. But when you factor in the gas, extra driving, and time of your life it takes to navigate their parking lot and traffic in the area, are you really coming out on top? I'd venture to say that paying $0.10 more for a banana at a grocery store you can walk to saves you more and leads to a higher quality, healthier (with fresher foods), and more peaceful way of life. Also can give you more of a personality than "Have you seen the gas prices" or "sorry I'm late, was stuck in traffic" or "the city needs to do something about these potholes".
Conversations for me have never been the same since my orange pill. Everyone just seems like they serve their automotive master instead of them being the ones in charge of their life.
I’d be curious about food waste because of bulk buying, too…
@@AustinSersen I personally AVOID all the big groceries and WALMART and go with the "smaller" groceries as I am in and out LONG before someone is 1/2 done with dealing with walmart parking lot
The clock towers as a way to get around is an interesting thing. There is a video on how Paris city center is designed with churches, towers and monuments as navigation points for people to recognize where in the city they are to make it easier to get around.
The fietsknooppunten (signs for cycling routes) are actually more for recreational cycling / tourists. They indicate the "nice" routes. We don't use them for just getting somewhere quickly by bike, as they're often not the quickest route and don't lead to useful places.
Nice to see my country through your eyes! I live 50 kilometers from Weert but I don’t think I’ve ever really been there… we have so many towns and villages, having 18 million people in this tiny country!
It was very cool seeing how many towns are scattered around the country! Thank you for having me 🙏
Fun fact about the road condition. We pay a lot more road tax as car owners than in Canada. Secondly our highway maintenance is different. It’s much slower per kilometer and in bad weather we just don’t pour the asphalt. Therefore the quality is as good as it can get from the start
Great video! I recognized the crossing in Canmore! Although im from The Netherlands, i loved Canada!
As a Dutch when you where talking about the Clock tower they belive how higer the Tower how closer you are so far i understand.
But in case you in a city and you lost your way some Dutch people may tell you if you lost Look for a Clock tower or just a High tower and follow that direction as it will bring you closer to begin begin/centrale stattion or any place where more people are. That mabey a tip for Anyone if you lost but still see the tower
I am in Netherlands for about a year now and while i like the country i wouldnt want to live here. Despite i generally enjoy rain, there is something i like more and it is snow and cold weather. I miss it. I should definitely try to visit Canada some day.
there was snow on my car this morning! and Wednesday we get some more. but yeah it's rare here
@@Blackadder75 True. Actually, just as i finished typing that comment it started to snow here =)
That intersection in Canmore, Alberta looks interesting - however it's a common misunderstanding to call this "Dutch style", as there is a lot more to them than only offset bike lanes and near-sight traffic lights. To be honest, this one (except for the impressive width of the bike lanes) looks more like what Germany would have build in the 1990s when two "Bundesstraßen" (federal highways) intersect… Wide turning radius, wide lanes, only dotted lines for the bike lane.
Have you seen the intersection of Home Road and Bowness Road in NW Calgary (Montgomery Neighbourhood)? That's what I'd consider Calgary's first Dutch-style intersection.
6:04 dutch people learn at a young age about 7 or 8 years old (though I don’t remember specifically) the traffic rules which is why this happens. We may not remember the specifics but we can remember some of it
I'm a born and raised Calgarian and have only owned and driven a car for 2 years here, I'm 55 now. I ride, walk or take transit(least of all). I spent 15 years as a bike courier in the core and have found this city to be very unfriendly to bikes until the city recently started to make it far more bicycle friendly, not that the drivers care though.
I completely agree that the training of motorist in Calgary is abysmal, I've had Driving instructors with a student squeeze past me in my lane on the road, nobody is ever told that the Alberta Highway and Traffic Safety Act and the Calgary Bylaws state a "Bicycle on is to behave as a motor vehicle and be treated as such on the road"
This essentially means I am to behave in the same manner as a Motorcyclist is required to, and I am to be given the same courtesy as a motor vehicle on the road.
You’re right about things getting better, and that many people are unfamiliar with the rules. I think we’ll be needing to change legislation, as well as, infrastructure - for anyone getting around using any mode. We’ll get there! I’m happy to have you here!
About the boulevard growths. This is something we probably just didn't want to pay too much for ;) Maintenance costs a lot! But we do consciously leave even much more wild nowadays for the insects\small creatures. Especially the bees. The Netherlands is a agriculturist country and we forsaw a lot of useful animals dying. Again, especially the bees. And those are really needed for good plant growth! I don't know if you've seen the wild flowery sides of farming fields, but those didn't exist 7 years ago. We kinda of invented them for the insects and healthy crow growth.
Also, THANK YOU for going somewhere else then Amsterdam. The Netherlands is a small country, but A LOT bigger then the one city all of the world seem to think.
We also encourage our citizens, and thus also the local governments, to make as much grassy as possible because of water management. Due to the changing weather (more dry the one and more wet the other season) we need to reduce the greatly growing flow of water through the sewer. And one of the solutions is more earth instead of pavement\stone\terraces. Besides, it looks much friendlier! Win-win.
We do have downsides as well. Some unguarded trainrail crossings are kind of debated at the moment. Also more and more bike-car crossings are replaced with small car bridges or much more often: bike tunnels. We use those to avoid dangerous cross-traffic to avoid colissions in bad weather. Specially in places where lots of students bike. In Dutch, there is a wikipedia page about the biketunnels: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fietstunnel Funfact: the largest biketunnel we have is 945 meters (3100 feet).
Honestly, I think the biggest difference between Calgary and most European cities is population density. Amsterdam's metro is 3.6 times more dense then Calgary. In other words we have about half the population spread out over twice the land size in Calgary. There's also a clear difference in preferred housing density, in Canada the most common style of housing is detached homes, where as in the Netherlands its townhouses. This naturally leads to higher density in residential area's, in other words you have more people, occupying less space, leading to Amsterdam having a 5.72x the GDP per km2 of Calgary, despite Calgary actually having a slightly higher GDP per capita. This concentration of wealth makes it a lot easier to justify, create and maintain meaningful infrastructure in a place like Amsterdam then it does in Calgary, especially given the increased cost of maintaining infrastructure in Calgary. This same density also allows Amsterdam to support more shops selling amenities, its not uncommon to live 5 minutes walk from a Grocery store in Amsterdam, but in Calgary, you're "lucky" if you can walk to a 7/11 in under 10-15 minutes let alone an actual grocery store. Having spent time in the Netherlands and coming back to Calgary, everything you need is 5-6 times further away in Calgary, which means getting to places is 5-6 times more difficult, time consuming and less convenient, and this only gets compounded when combined with the shitty weather, and poor conditions of sidewalks and bike infrastructure in the winter, leading to cars being the most realistic option for people who can afford them.
If we want to make our cities walkable and bike friendly we need to seriously look at how we manage zoning, property development, density and growth. We need to stop building wide and start redeveloping the core of the city into taller, more dense housing capable of supporting mixed used developments and expensive transportation infrastructure. Until we do, any attempts to force Dutch urbanism on the public is just a goofy waste of resources or vanity project. And unfortunately, that's probably a multi-generational change.
Fortunately Calgary just rezoned to allow some of these changes you’re talking about. More rezoning is on the way. As far as building bike lanes and such, it’s definitely worth it. They’re incredibly inexpensive to build compared to roads, and with e-bikes on the rise, there’re much greater distances the average person might be comfortable traveling by bike - if the right infrastructure were there. I’m optimistic. And besides, we ought to start sometime. Why not now?
@@humanecities Honestly, i disagree. People treat re-zoning like a panacea, obviously its a start, but it's not going to do much when all of the other things that make redeveloping the inner city difficult are still in place. I also disagree on bike lane infrastructure.
I'm a designer by trade that's had a lot of drinks and conversations with people from the city planning department. I'll never forget being 13 (this was 15 years ago), getting my first new bike from the Sport Check in Sunridge Mall and being so stoked to ride it to school on Monday. Ultimately what would have normally been a 10 minute ride, with minimal traffic, ended up being an hour and a half of me winding through a park, and having to dismount 3 times, so i could walk my bike across 3 overpasses that went over deerfoot trail. The user experience was terrible and annoying, its implementation was an afterthought and it prioritized aesthetics over usefulness, the end result being me never riding my bike to school again. It's a beautiful bike path, and people may choose to explore it as a leisure activity, But few people have made it their daily commute because of this, and its not helped by residential bike infrastructure outside of the city center is also half assed at best and outright dangerous at its worst. This all creates a negative stigma around bike transport, hurting future potential adoption. Ultimately e-bikes may reduce time spent, and extend the option to people with minor mobility issues, but just like blanket re-zoning, it's not going to do much, if the rest of the user experience sucks. If the average person already owns a car, and they need that car to do basic things like get to work, take their kids to school...etc. Will they really buy e-bikes for anything more then recreation?
We need to look at densifying neighborhoods and providing meaningful and useful infrastructure at a local level in places that already exist, before we focus on developing infrastructure connecting these neighborhoods. Until then, bike lane infrastructure is just solutionism, valuing the implementation and optics of a concept more then actually solving a problem for Calgarians.
4:41 Weert! I can't believe you were in my home town! Really weird to see familiar places where you don't expect them :D
I find it funny that at 5:46 you praise an intersection that I, as a Dutch traffic engineer and UA-camr view as a outdated design. For dutch standards this intersection is quite dangerous for pedestrians. there could have been done much more to protect the cyclists and to slow the cars down.
Good on you to go to Weert; it probably gives you a better representation of "the Dutch experience" than Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the like. Amsterdam especially is considered a bit of a universe of its own around here, so it can be frustrating that its the only city a lot of North Americans ever sample.
why did they even start hanging the traffic lights at the wrong end in North America? what kind of advantage did they think it brings, back in the day?
Now I want to go to the Netherlands 😍
You MUST! It’s beautiful!
you should come, it's a lot different than anything in the US or Canada!
Actually the coldest temperature recorded is in the place where I still live and where i was born ( i'm actually still live in the same house here since i was born) in winterswijk to be precise and I love it here😍😍 greetings from the netherlands 🇳🇱
Fun fact about tinted windows in the Netherlands: it is illegal to tint the front windshield and driver/passenger window more than 55% by law.
That makes sense! I think Canada has a limit (probably set by each province), but it’s regularly ignored.
@@humanecities here you cannot ignore it because you have two options (next to the given fine): or you rip off the tinting wrap on the spot or and if that is not possible, they take your registration and you have to have your car checked after you remove the wraps in order to get your registration back
It is very interesting to see the increase in interest in the Dutch urbanism.
For me, it feels super natural cause I was born and raised here.
One of the most recent developments to support cyclists here has been the cycling streets. The local governments have been in a competition to win the price of best cycling city of The Netherlands and one development of that was streets being converted to cycling streets where cyclists enjoy priority over cars. These streets tend to guide to cyclists towards or away from the centre of town, at least where I live, and direct them to cycling lanes further out in town.
There is another thing that also appears to be very different between NA and NL and that would be the highways. We generally do not have highways that cross straight through town, and if we do then they are bordered off and crossable by bridges, with the only way to enter or exit them being a couple of exit points. They are meant to get from city to city quickly but never to interfere too much with the city traffic. Often they also loop around a town or city for that same reason.
It is the train tracks that lead right into the centres of cities and towns, usually, because trains cannot simply go off track.
My city has been trying to get less car traffic in the centre of town cause our roads just cannot support enough cars and there is pretty much no way to expand them due to how our city has been built upon layers and layers slowly over time. For many cities the middle of town dates back to before America was even established. But in general they were not built for the current number of cars that are around.