One of the reasons the system is so well accepted has to do with the fact that every car driver has also grown up with and is still using bicycles and of course does a lot of pedestrian activities as well.
when i turned 18 i thought i would never ride a bike again. now 20 years later i have a car but i bike 15 kilometers to work and 15km back. it is not necessarily faster. but it is more relaxing.
When I was younger I never even considered other countries had worse infrastructure than us, all I knew was that the Belgium roads were terrible. When becoming older and being taken to other countries on vacation I'd come to realize how good we have it here. But I still, even at 25+ years old, didn't grasp how much better most of our infrastructure is compared to let's say usa, or most of the world. I don't know if our driving behaviour is so different than the rest, the design of the streets and roads sort of make you drive a certain way. For example : If you want to enter a busier road from a street you usually have a speed bump in-between, that speed bump also contains the cycling and walking lane so you naturally cross it slowly, making it safer. I will say that having been around quite a few countries that German drivers are the most skilled and nicest drivers imo, worst ones would be either American or Polish, both for different reasons. Keep up the nice content!
Help! These days we here in Amsterdam can't even open our front doors because of all the youtubers filming in the streets! We're all stuck in our houses! Send stroopwafels!
Cyclist/pedestrian are protected by law. If an accident happens between a car and a cyclist/pedestrian, the car is guilty unless is proven that the cyclist/pedestrian made a severe error. By then the guilt is split even by 50/50.
Yes! i love this. Forces Drivers to double check when crossing. I my self used Electric longboards everyday to school and work for years. If something happens with my Longboard, i could always use tram/busses and never be late xD Best infrastructure in the world. i actually felt safe riding 50+km/h between cars. I do not do it anymore because police is acting hard these days against it. and i understand why. no hard feelings.
As a Dutch person I am accepting of going slow in the city or village; once I get on the highway I can drive faster without worrying about traffic lights, bikes or giving way to traffic from the right.
Most dutch are not aware how great and intelligent our infrastructure is designed. But it is great and also the quality of the roads is great. Last year i was on holiday in Kent (south England) and was suprised how bad the roads were and also how dangerously fast one is allowed to go on roads with bad visibility. I was shocked
On my bike through Amsterdam daily, 13 km from Zuid Oost to Noord, incl Ferry, 45-50 minutes. Crossing roads with cars, only 8 times (4 with traffic lights), 80 % dedicated bicycle lanes, rest is shared. I do not even own a bike, so rain or shine, on my Ebike.
I as a Dutch,not really realize that it is beautiful and so good.. Thanks to your videos I now know how you añd others look to the Netherlands.. And yes it is true,even here in Nijkerk often the bike and walking is quicker to go places.. I even don't have a driver's license.. I always walk..
Yes, I think about it very often. Me and my GF moved to New York for a while, and it was the thing she missed the most. Other cities try to do "something" for bikes and pedestrians. Netherlands has taken it to a whole new level. There is a respect for the rules, generally. But let's say 10-20% of people don't: the whole design is set up so that you're already nudged to do the right thing. Any rules that are broken are only REALLY frowned upon if cars do it. Pedestrian or bikes running a red light is not the end of the world, although you do get a fine.
The best thing is that overall, despite the very dense area's, there is so much green space. I once went from Maastricht up to the north by highway (almost four hours driving) and than I realized. I travelled alot through parts of the highway system in the randstad and north-Brabant (wich at places is quite monumental as well and very smooth to drive on) I also realized the country to be not as small as always portrayed in vids about this country.(in Total 3000 km of mostly 6 lanes up to 16 lanes) But yeah so much green space as far as the eye can see.
I love being here in the Netherlands. For the most part the car is just the last resort if you are traveling because other options take you to the heart of your destination. My city allows me to get from the suburbs to the heart of the city by bike with very little use of shared road space with cars. This makes the bike the logical choice and with free bike parking you save money too.
I don't think the Americans have the mentality and driving proficiency to do this. If they want this they should also reinvent their driving education. It's like gun control, everybody want more safety but nobody wants to give up their guns.
You had this, but during WW2 the US had the geological advantage of it's location and not a single factory was destroyed, while the industry in Europe and Japan was destroyed after the war. That is were you made the big mistake of the zoning scam. Nothing in walking distance anymore. Amen.
If you are going to a neighbouring town or city or the next town over, you'll still be stuck in several frustrating traffic situations, almost always cause by roadworks. ...by car of cours. On an (E)bike you'll be everywhere quicker, within 10 km.
Infrastructure is a dissatisfier. You only notice it when it does not work. So, if I use the infrastructure in the Netherlands, I think about all kinds of things, but not about the infrastructure.
I mostly think of the nonsensical 'solutions' we come up with. Problems with youth getting into accidents with tuned scooters? Helmets for everyone! Problems with tuned fatbikes? Age limit! How about good old law enforcement? I used to shit my pants when there was a police trap on my way to school, checking our mopeds and getting a free 'dyno'. Instead we use automated traffic-fine-milk-machines to fatten the government coffers instead of making traffic safer through education and awareness. What use is brilliant infrastructure with braindead users?
@@dimitri877there’s a reason why you’re not allowed to drive a scooter under the age of 16 and without a drivers license. Since we now have new types of vehicles that can easily reach the same speed, it makes total sense to start a discussion whether kids should actually be allowed to drive these vehicles. The same thing with the helmets. The amount of fatal accidents, especially the ones involving a very young person riding an e-bike, has doubled! since 2019. And this trend can’t be stopped by law enforcement, when we simply don’t have any laws to enforce.
@@Lars_erik Last time I checked it is in fact illegal to tune such vehicles to go faster than they are supposed to, so perfectly enforceable. And like I said, we need education and awareness in this age group. Having the privilege to grow up with these shiny toys demand you to have respect for the rules of the road and understand why they are there. Helmets and airbags don't make you invincible, in the minds of some a false sense of safety.
Yes i do notice, especially when traveling. Nr 1 nuisance is infrastructure and lack of connectivity in most countries. Most foreign cities also tend to be extremely loud. Makes me happy to arrive home again.
The Dutch don't think they have enough greenery, i am Dutch myself, but live in Australia, I think the Netherlands have plenty of greenery compared to Australia, here we have many streets with no greenery, no trees or hardly any, so no shade, and that makes it extremely hot to walk in, the car culture is the same as in the US, in fact it looks like the US here, including crappy roads with lots of potholes😂
Green left is simply pushing the nature scheme as part of anti capitalism. The ones crying there isn't much green in the cities live in a 💩 neighborhood or simply aren't spending enough time outside. Or are too blind to see how well nature is doing this year. The rest is 🏳️🌈 and in denial.
@@SanderEvers I think what the person means is greenery in the cities and places the people live. We do have nature but we are a small country so it is hard to compare which such a big country as US or Australia, but we have quite a bit of greenery in the peoples living areas.
As an actual Dutchman, the traffic jams have consistently gotten worse in the Netherlands for the last 10 years. On Tuesdays and Thursdays (known as my boss requires everyone in the office days) my commute goes from 45 minutes to 1h45 / 2 hours. Just look at the people stranded for 5 hours around Nieuwegein in August 2024. In a tiny country, how is more than 1000km of traffic even a realistic number? The trains run terribly, the prices have increased. They will continue to increase by another 12% in the next year: driving people to use more cars, not less. Get outside of Amsterdam and Utrecht, you tourist (speaking to original video creator).
As a Dutch man who grew up abroad in the U.S. and moved to Maastricht I find it reassuring at times that we are always dissatisfied enough to say so when our infrastructure doesn't hold up to expectations. However the kind of traffic you are talking about is accepted as normal where the original creator is from. At least it was generally accepted in Sacramento, Folsom, and most places along the southern coast of California. Even though non of these places should have such bad congestion with their significantly lower population density but because of bad zoning and bad solutions its seen as an unfixable issue by most people who live there. And public transport is often non-existent with the Amtrak trains running on the same lines as cargo trains and cargo recieving priority. You think Dutch trains run horribly because they might delay you by an hour. I don't know if it has improved since I was younger but Amtrak delays were often well over 2 hours, and even if you wanted to use it for intercity despite that they are so infrequent that a cancellation is likely to mean you need to pay hundreds of dollars for a long distance taxi or just find a hotel if you don't need to go home. It is extremely difficult to find employment if you don't have a car because the chance that you will be able to find work in walking distance of where you live is almost zero outside of any neighborhood built before the 1950s because the zoning laws don't allow for any commercial buildings in residential areas and unlike in the Netherlands where many employers will cover public transit costs as a bonus, in the U.S. it is often looked down on as a thing only people who are too financially unstable to own a car would use. Even though employers are not supposed to be allowed to ask about it they often will try to confirm potential employees are car owners as part of interviews and turn away people who don't answer or say they dont have a car. Even though there are well known solutions to these problems, the known non-solution of adding a lane is chosen 99 times out of 100 because its more politically popular then solutions that exist out of the only lifestyle people know. Given how many times I have had delays at Roermond in the last year I do sympathise with your frustrations but I think you have to remember that these people come from places that haven't even been able to keep up with the infrastucture quality of third world nations and war zones.
It also helps that cycling is something everyone does in the Netherlands, not just poor people that can’t afford a car. When I was living in the US and had just parked my bike at work in the garage, the lady who came in at the same time in her truck asked me in the elevator if I was working there just for the summer. Because you know, even being 35 years old, when on a bike it makes you an intern 😂😂😂😂
We are all cyclists from the age of 4 we know how it feels when you cycle. Our aged parents and our children are traveling on bikes. This vulnerability has this effect on our society. Together with laws that prioritize the weakest road users in a conflict over less weaker ones. This is often overlooked in this kind of youtube content.
I didn’t think about the level of our infrastructure nor appreciate it until I watched videos like these on YT. I even started cycling more because of it. Because streets are only redesigned when they are up for a renewal means that it’s not like this everywhere yet. But year by year the level of upgraded streets increase.
it is nice that comparison, but it is not feasible for America, firstly, residential areas in the Netherlands have shops within walking/cycling distance, in America you have to go to the store by car and secondly, Americans cannot get out of their car because they are so attached to their car, even if a store is within walking distance, they still get in the car
We all ride or have ridden bike, so no wonder there are separate paths voor cyclists. Bikes often have advantage in traffic over cars. Cyclists are even allowed in our national park where you cannot get with a car. You can park your car and then lend a bicycle (for free!) to visit the park. But of course we also have our fair share of rude people, either by car, bike or walking. But drivers usually know what it is like to be a cyclist and have learned the rules when getting their drivers license
Sure... I'm proud of how we do things. I happen to have been born here but I'm grateful. I would want to live nowhere else in the world. There's other very intriguigng places I'd love to visit, but to live.... ? No... absolutely nowhere else.
There's plenty of infrastructural designs implemented in the city of Amsterdam, at least. One way-roads, carfree streets, seperate bike lanes, etc. I live in a one way-street, I had to navigate the Moving company truck to get in the street properly. But, for pedestrians there's sidewalks on both ways, and cyclists can ride both ways as well. Amsterdam is not a car friendly city, forcing most cars to take the main roads or city ringway, and with one-way traffic through most (narrow) streets in the centre and direct surrounding burroughs. Outside the ringway, there's more room for cars, and people are motivated to park them there for lower fees and take public transportation instead, giving them a discount on parking costs when using the public transportation card at the checkout.
What do we think about it?...we are not used to anything other than the infrastructure being like this, if you come from the USA (really the opposite) then your jaw drops (as many do in the videos on youtube) The UK at least still has (not always) reasonable sidewalks (in the cities) where the USA totally lacks it because the car is more important.
I always feel mixed because when you live here, you definitely notice issues. The public transport sector is really not what it used to be (not everywhere but generally its worse), Cars seem to often still get priority, especially when in more rural areas and so on. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad here, especially compared to the US, but I feel like we are digressing.
ill just say this, If not for our infrastructure here (and maybe the job benefits we have here). i would have tried to move to America like 10 years ago.
we introduced a law that said that if a car hits the cyclist, legally, the car driver is ALWAYS wrong and at fault. So the driver's insurance will have to pay hospital care. So we are careful with bikes and pedestrians
The social and financial pressure on car owners is enormous. Just getting your license to drive a car is thousands of Euros and takes up to 2 years to obtain. The number of driver license exams are deliberately kept low making it even more difficult to start driving. Buying a car is no picnic either. Cars are stupidly expensive, mainly by taxes. There are even taxes raised on top of taxes. The Netherlands is in the top 10 of countries with regards to fuel prices with over half of the fuel price being some kind of tax. Legally you’re screwed as well if you drive a car. When you’re in an accident with a cyclist, nobody cares about who made the actual mistake leading up to the accident, the car driver is always at fault. So a cyclist can drive through a red light, in the dark, without any lights on his bicycle, wearing all black clothes and headphones with his eyes closed and still be protected under Dutch law for damages. We are now close to the straw breaking the camels back with cars in cities only being allowed to drive 30 km/hr which is slower than electric bikes and scooters etc. The only available next steps are to ban cars all together or to start upholding the law for cyclists. I’m curious which choice out of the two will be made. Seems like a classic case of “painting yourself in a corner”! So before you start drooling over how fantastic things are here in our country, think about the downsides as well before you make up your mind.
When you grow up in the Netherlands; Things as bike lanes everywhere and the no car street my house was in seem very normal. Till you learn about the US. Bike lane? 5 lane roads in front of your house. A buddy that has been to US complaining about parking meters are the only thing taking coins! And about the us accepting or switching to metric? Back in like the 70's. Watch video's how US fire truck kills people, how American city ask a Dutch guy for help, but say no to change. Too many dumb Americans don't want better Europe engineering and thus have dangerous streets and wet feet we Dutch haven't and I can be happy to life in the Netherlands and not the US
Of you live outside the big cities you end up with being reliant on a car. In the small villages, there is no public transport at all and not everybody at 80 is able to cycle. I don’t, far to dangerous and I’m only 64!
4:40 cyclists are declared holy... if a car hits and injures a cyclist, the car driver is to blame by default, and has to prove the cyclist was wrong.. So yeah.. you do mind the cyclists and also yes, they can become assholes when biking... they know they are practically immune to get blame
Driving a car in cities is terrible. Roads in cities are designed to frustrate drivers. More cyclists create densification in the cities. The highways are incredibly complicated. Lanes merge at full speed with little time to do a second merge to get to the right lane. Even with GPS I constantly end up in the wrong lane.
Every how drive a car. Olso ride his bike. So, then is it not so hard to tink about a bikes. I have a car and a electric bicycle. In the usa is actuele car speed 16 km/h. Wan I take my bike is my actuele speed 23.7 km/h. In a city. Greetings from Bunschoten-Spakenburg the Netherlands.
One of the reasons the system is so well accepted has to do with the fact that every car driver has also grown up with and is still using bicycles and of course does a lot of pedestrian activities as well.
when i turned 18 i thought i would never ride a bike again. now 20 years later i have a car but i bike 15 kilometers to work and 15km back. it is not necessarily faster. but it is more relaxing.
the black spot is our national park de Hoge Veluwe
When I was younger I never even considered other countries had worse infrastructure than us, all I knew was that the Belgium roads were terrible. When becoming older and being taken to other countries on vacation I'd come to realize how good we have it here.
But I still, even at 25+ years old, didn't grasp how much better most of our infrastructure is compared to let's say usa, or most of the world.
I don't know if our driving behaviour is so different than the rest, the design of the streets and roads sort of make you drive a certain way. For example : If you want to enter a busier road from a street you usually have a speed bump in-between, that speed bump also contains the cycling and walking lane so you naturally cross it slowly, making it safer.
I will say that having been around quite a few countries that German drivers are the most skilled and nicest drivers imo, worst ones would be either American or Polish, both for different reasons.
Keep up the nice content!
Help! These days we here in Amsterdam can't even open our front doors because of all the youtubers filming in the streets! We're all stuck in our houses! Send stroopwafels!
Get out of the city. 😂 Amsterdam is not even half as beautiful as Zeeland.
@@TheJoaveck Everywhere in the NL is better than the big cities :)
@@TheJoaveck Got drunk here once, walked into a canal. Afraid of what could happen in Zeeland.
@@bramharms72They swim. Even totally wasted. It's a natural instinct 😅
Beware the stroopwafel. It's dangerous.
Cyclist/pedestrian are protected by law. If an accident happens between a car and a cyclist/pedestrian, the car is guilty unless is proven that the cyclist/pedestrian made a severe error. By then the guilt is split even by 50/50.
Yes! i love this.
Forces Drivers to double check when crossing.
I my self used Electric longboards everyday to school and work for years.
If something happens with my Longboard, i could always use tram/busses and never be late xD
Best infrastructure in the world. i actually felt safe riding 50+km/h between cars.
I do not do it anymore because police is acting hard these days against it.
and i understand why. no hard feelings.
As a Dutch person I am accepting of going slow in the city or village; once I get on the highway I can drive faster without worrying about traffic lights, bikes or giving way to traffic from the right.
Most dutch are not aware how great and intelligent our infrastructure is designed.
But it is great and also the quality of the roads is great. Last year i was on holiday in Kent (south England) and was suprised how bad the roads were and also how dangerously fast one is allowed to go on roads with bad visibility. I was shocked
On my bike through Amsterdam daily, 13 km from Zuid Oost to Noord, incl Ferry, 45-50 minutes.
Crossing roads with cars, only 8 times (4 with traffic lights), 80 % dedicated bicycle lanes, rest is shared.
I do not even own a bike, so rain or shine, on my Ebike.
I as a Dutch,not really realize that it is beautiful and so good..
Thanks to your videos I now know how you añd others look to the Netherlands..
And yes it is true,even here in Nijkerk often the bike and walking is quicker to go places..
I even don't have a driver's license.. I always walk..
Yes, I think about it very often. Me and my GF moved to New York for a while, and it was the thing she missed the most. Other cities try to do "something" for bikes and pedestrians. Netherlands has taken it to a whole new level.
There is a respect for the rules, generally. But let's say 10-20% of people don't: the whole design is set up so that you're already nudged to do the right thing. Any rules that are broken are only REALLY frowned upon if cars do it. Pedestrian or bikes running a red light is not the end of the world, although you do get a fine.
The best thing is that overall, despite the very dense area's, there is so much green space. I once went from Maastricht up to the north by highway (almost four hours driving) and
than I realized.
I travelled alot through parts of the highway system in the randstad and north-Brabant
(wich at places is quite monumental as well and very smooth to drive on) I also realized the country to be not as small as always portrayed in vids about this country.(in Total 3000 km of mostly 6 lanes up to 16 lanes)
But yeah so much green space as far as the eye can see.
I love being here in the Netherlands. For the most part the car is just the last resort if you are traveling because other options take you to the heart of your destination.
My city allows me to get from the suburbs to the heart of the city by bike with very little use of shared road space with cars. This makes the bike the logical choice and with free bike parking you save money too.
Yes, every body is a biker ,all so when they sit in der CAR ,they now how it is to bike
Yes, but the Dutch use mostly a car when they must long kilometres because otherwise walking or cycling is faster
I don't think the Americans have the mentality and driving proficiency to do this. If they want this they should also reinvent their driving education. It's like gun control, everybody want more safety but nobody wants to give up their guns.
You had this, but during WW2 the US had the geological advantage of it's location and not a single factory was destroyed,
while the industry in Europe and Japan was destroyed after the war.
That is were you made the big mistake of the zoning scam.
Nothing in walking distance anymore. Amen.
If you are going to a neighbouring town or city or the next town over, you'll still be stuck in several frustrating traffic situations, almost always cause by roadworks. ...by car of cours. On an (E)bike you'll be everywhere quicker, within 10 km.
Netherlands hit the 18 million mark on 15th of August 2024. Very heavily populated country, some would say a giant city.
Infrastructure is a dissatisfier. You only notice it when it does not work. So, if I use the infrastructure in the Netherlands, I think about all kinds of things, but not about the infrastructure.
I mostly think of the nonsensical 'solutions' we come up with. Problems with youth getting into accidents with tuned scooters? Helmets for everyone!
Problems with tuned fatbikes? Age limit!
How about good old law enforcement? I used to shit my pants when there was a police trap on my way to school, checking our mopeds and getting a free 'dyno'.
Instead we use automated traffic-fine-milk-machines to fatten the government coffers instead of making traffic safer through education and awareness. What use is brilliant infrastructure with braindead users?
@@dimitri877there’s a reason why you’re not allowed to drive a scooter under the age of 16 and without a drivers license. Since we now have new types of vehicles that can easily reach the same speed, it makes total sense to start a discussion whether kids should actually be allowed to drive these vehicles. The same thing with the helmets. The amount of fatal accidents, especially the ones involving a very young person riding an e-bike, has doubled! since 2019. And this trend can’t be stopped by law enforcement, when we simply don’t have any laws to enforce.
@@Lars_erik Last time I checked it is in fact illegal to tune such vehicles to go faster than they are supposed to, so perfectly enforceable.
And like I said, we need education and awareness in this age group.
Having the privilege to grow up with these shiny toys demand you to have respect for the rules of the road and understand why they are there. Helmets and airbags don't make you invincible, in the minds of some a false sense of safety.
The black spot is Otterlo/Hoenderlo/Schaarsbergen de Hoge Veluwe, a naturepark
I have a drivers license, but i bike everywhere too. Just like most dutch. We know how it is being on a bike so we look out for them.
Yes i do notice, especially when traveling. Nr 1 nuisance is infrastructure and lack of connectivity in most countries. Most foreign cities also tend to be extremely loud. Makes me happy to arrive home again.
finally a video where the guy spreeks the truth..!
our infrastucture is very innovative..!!
We don't think about the infrastructure. We live here, for us it is normal. Until a You Tuber from another country like the USA is amazed by it. 😅
Everytime I cross the border, either going or coming, I get renewed appreciation for our infrastructure. It's truly top-noth and almost peerless.
The Dutch don't think they have enough greenery, i am Dutch myself, but live in Australia, I think the Netherlands have plenty of greenery compared to Australia, here we have many streets with no greenery, no trees or hardly any, so no shade, and that makes it extremely hot to walk in, the car culture is the same as in the US, in fact it looks like the US here, including crappy roads with lots of potholes😂
We don't have a lot of nature here in the Netherlands, especially within the bigger cities. But I do agree that our roads are very good.
Yes, they are@@SanderEvers
Green left is simply pushing the nature scheme as part of anti capitalism.
The ones crying there isn't much green in the cities live in a 💩 neighborhood or simply aren't spending enough time outside. Or are too blind to see how well nature is doing this year.
The rest is 🏳️🌈 and in denial.
@@SanderEvers I think what the person means is greenery in the cities and places the people live. We do have nature but we are a small country so it is hard to compare which such a big country as US or Australia, but we have quite a bit of greenery in the peoples living areas.
I agree@@-_YouMayFind_-
As an actual Dutchman, the traffic jams have consistently gotten worse in the Netherlands for the last 10 years. On Tuesdays and Thursdays (known as my boss requires everyone in the office days) my commute goes from 45 minutes to 1h45 / 2 hours.
Just look at the people stranded for 5 hours around Nieuwegein in August 2024.
In a tiny country, how is more than 1000km of traffic even a realistic number?
The trains run terribly, the prices have increased. They will continue to increase by another 12% in the next year: driving people to use more cars, not less.
Get outside of Amsterdam and Utrecht, you tourist (speaking to original video creator).
As a Dutch man who grew up abroad in the U.S. and moved to Maastricht I find it reassuring at times that we are always dissatisfied enough to say so when our infrastructure doesn't hold up to expectations.
However the kind of traffic you are talking about is accepted as normal where the original creator is from. At least it was generally accepted in Sacramento, Folsom, and most places along the southern coast of California. Even though non of these places should have such bad congestion with their significantly lower population density but because of bad zoning and bad solutions its seen as an unfixable issue by most people who live there.
And public transport is often non-existent with the Amtrak trains running on the same lines as cargo trains and cargo recieving priority. You think Dutch trains run horribly because they might delay you by an hour. I don't know if it has improved since I was younger but Amtrak delays were often well over 2 hours, and even if you wanted to use it for intercity despite that they are so infrequent that a cancellation is likely to mean you need to pay hundreds of dollars for a long distance taxi or just find a hotel if you don't need to go home.
It is extremely difficult to find employment if you don't have a car because the chance that you will be able to find work in walking distance of where you live is almost zero outside of any neighborhood built before the 1950s because the zoning laws don't allow for any commercial buildings in residential areas and unlike in the Netherlands where many employers will cover public transit costs as a bonus, in the U.S. it is often looked down on as a thing only people who are too financially unstable to own a car would use. Even though employers are not supposed to be allowed to ask about it they often will try to confirm potential employees are car owners as part of interviews and turn away people who don't answer or say they dont have a car.
Even though there are well known solutions to these problems, the known non-solution of adding a lane is chosen 99 times out of 100 because its more politically popular then solutions that exist out of the only lifestyle people know.
Given how many times I have had delays at Roermond in the last year I do sympathise with your frustrations but I think you have to remember that these people come from places that haven't even been able to keep up with the infrastucture quality of third world nations and war zones.
It also helps that cycling is something everyone does in the Netherlands, not just poor people that can’t afford a car. When I was living in the US and had just parked my bike at work in the garage, the lady who came in at the same time in her truck asked me in the elevator if I was working there just for the summer. Because you know, even being 35 years old, when on a bike it makes you an intern 😂😂😂😂
We are all cyclists from the age of 4 we know how it feels when you cycle. Our aged parents and our children are traveling on bikes. This vulnerability has this effect on our society. Together with laws that prioritize the weakest road users in a conflict over less weaker ones. This is often overlooked in this kind of youtube content.
I didn’t think about the level of our infrastructure nor appreciate it until I watched videos like these on YT. I even started cycling more because of it.
Because streets are only redesigned when they are up for a renewal means that it’s not like this everywhere yet. But year by year the level of upgraded streets increase.
5:55 a wildlife reserve, actually
UA-cam channel NotJustBikes has great videos about street design in the Netherlands (compared to other countries).
it is nice that comparison, but it is not feasible for America, firstly, residential areas in the Netherlands have shops within walking/cycling distance, in America you have to go to the store by car and secondly, Americans cannot get out of their car because they are so attached to their car, even if a store is within walking distance, they still get in the car
We all ride or have ridden bike, so no wonder there are separate paths voor cyclists. Bikes often have advantage in traffic over cars. Cyclists are even allowed in our national park where you cannot get with a car. You can park your car and then lend a bicycle (for free!) to visit the park.
But of course we also have our fair share of rude people, either by car, bike or walking. But drivers usually know what it is like to be a cyclist and have learned the rules when getting their drivers license
Sure... I'm proud of how we do things. I happen to have been born here but I'm grateful. I would want to live nowhere else in the world. There's other very intriguigng places I'd love to visit, but to live.... ? No... absolutely nowhere else.
There's plenty of infrastructural designs implemented in the city of Amsterdam, at least. One way-roads, carfree streets, seperate bike lanes, etc. I live in a one way-street, I had to navigate the Moving company truck to get in the street properly. But, for pedestrians there's sidewalks on both ways, and cyclists can ride both ways as well. Amsterdam is not a car friendly city, forcing most cars to take the main roads or city ringway, and with one-way traffic through most (narrow) streets in the centre and direct surrounding burroughs. Outside the ringway, there's more room for cars, and people are motivated to park them there for lower fees and take public transportation instead, giving them a discount on parking costs when using the public transportation card at the checkout.
It only works because the most vulnerable get the most rights. So everybody minds everyone else.
What do we think about it?...we are not used to anything other than the infrastructure being like this, if you come from the USA (really the opposite) then your jaw drops (as many do in the videos on youtube) The UK at least still has (not always) reasonable sidewalks (in the cities) where the USA totally lacks it because the car is more important.
I always feel mixed because when you live here, you definitely notice issues.
The public transport sector is really not what it used to be (not everywhere but generally its worse), Cars seem to often still get priority, especially when in more rural areas and so on. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad here, especially compared to the US, but I feel like we are digressing.
ill just say this,
If not for our infrastructure here (and maybe the job benefits we have here). i would have tried to move to America like 10 years ago.
I guess it’s not bad to be a Dutchy living in the Netherlands 😉
How nice that part of our taxes are being used to better our lives with this excellent infrastructure and the positives it delivers to all of us. 😊
we introduced a law that said that if a car hits the cyclist, legally, the car driver is ALWAYS wrong and at fault. So the driver's insurance will have to pay hospital care. So we are careful with bikes and pedestrians
The social and financial pressure on car owners is enormous. Just getting your license to drive a car is thousands of Euros and takes up to 2 years to obtain. The number of driver license exams are deliberately kept low making it even more difficult to start driving. Buying a car is no picnic either. Cars are stupidly expensive, mainly by taxes. There are even taxes raised on top of taxes. The Netherlands is in the top 10 of countries with regards to fuel prices with over half of the fuel price being some kind of tax. Legally you’re screwed as well if you drive a car. When you’re in an accident with a cyclist, nobody cares about who made the actual mistake leading up to the accident, the car driver is always at fault. So a cyclist can drive through a red light, in the dark, without any lights on his bicycle, wearing all black clothes and headphones with his eyes closed and still be protected under Dutch law for damages. We are now close to the straw breaking the camels back with cars in cities only being allowed to drive 30 km/hr which is slower than electric bikes and scooters etc. The only available next steps are to ban cars all together or to start upholding the law for cyclists. I’m curious which choice out of the two will be made. Seems like a classic case of “painting yourself in a corner”! So before you start drooling over how fantastic things are here in our country, think about the downsides as well before you make up your mind.
When you grow up in the Netherlands; Things as bike lanes everywhere and the no car street my house was in seem very normal. Till you learn about the US. Bike lane? 5 lane roads in front of your house. A buddy that has been to US complaining about parking meters are the only thing taking coins! And about the us accepting or switching to metric? Back in like the 70's. Watch video's how US fire truck kills people, how American city ask a Dutch guy for help, but say no to change. Too many dumb Americans don't want better Europe engineering and thus have dangerous streets and wet feet we Dutch haven't and I can be happy to life in the Netherlands and not the US
The concept of my freedom ends where your freedom starts is alien to Americans. I'm American so I have to have unlimited freedom is their concept.
Of you live outside the big cities you end up with being reliant on a car. In the small villages, there is no public transport at all and not everybody at 80 is able to cycle. I don’t, far to dangerous and I’m only 64!
4:40 cyclists are declared holy... if a car hits and injures a cyclist, the car driver is to blame by default, and has to prove the cyclist was wrong.. So yeah.. you do mind the cyclists and also yes, they can become assholes when biking... they know they are practically immune to get blame
Driving a car in cities is terrible.
Roads in cities are designed to frustrate drivers.
More cyclists create densification in the cities.
The highways are incredibly complicated. Lanes merge at full speed with little time to do a second merge to get to the right lane.
Even with GPS I constantly end up in the wrong lane.
Ah you've just talked about consideration and responsibility. Sadly we have a post covid plague, the fat bike.
Every how drive a car. Olso ride his bike. So, then is it not so hard to tink about a bikes.
I have a car and a electric bicycle. In the usa is actuele car speed 16 km/h. Wan I take my bike is my actuele speed 23.7 km/h. In a city.
Greetings from Bunschoten-Spakenburg the Netherlands.