How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
1–10 of 391 posts
Re: How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
#2As a Dutch person I am pleasantly surprised by this article, it gets basically everything right. One thing though is that our geography works well with biking. I visited the US recently and you can drive for 30 minutes in a car and you are still in LA, if you drive for 30 minutes in the Netherlands you're in a completely different city. Everything is just closer and hence more bike-able.
As a dutch person I would absolutely NOT want to ride a bike in the US, it's simply too dangerous. There are so many cars that are not looking out for cyclists. For example, I never saw my Uber/Lyft driver peek over his shoulder. In the Netherlands we fail our driving exam if we forget this even once. Another example is the insane speed cars fly past the "share the road"-bikelanes. It's crazy. I would feel really unsafe on a bike in the US.
Re: How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
#3As a Dutch person I am pleasantly surprised by this article, it gets basically everything right. One thing though is that our geography works well with biking. I visited the US recently and you can drive for 30 minutes in a car and you are still in LA, if you drive for 30 minutes in the Netherlands you're in a completely different city. Everything is just closer and hence more bike-able. As a dutch person I would abs…
The cyclist vs motorist dynamic in NL is skewed because practically all motorists are cyclists too.
Re: How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
#4A main one not pointed out: cars are always (extreme negligence would be the tipping point) liable for crashes with cyclists and pedestrians. That's quite supportive for keeping an eye out for possible danger. To support that liability insurance is obligatory for motorists.
The one on left vs. right really is not even close to an issue. I would guess most MPs of most parties cycle to work. There is literally not a (native) child that doesn't bike by 7. We even have courses for newcomers to learn how to cycle.
Re: How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
#5As a Dutch person I am pleasantly surprised by this article, it gets basically everything right. One thing though is that our geography works well with biking. I visited the US recently and you can drive for 30 minutes in a car and you are still in LA, if you drive for 30 minutes in the Netherlands you're in a completely different city. Everything is just closer and hence more bike-able. As a dutch person I would abs…
As an American, whenever I see articles about Dutch cycling culture, the thing that stands out to me is that nobody is wearing helmets.
In the US, I wouldn't dream of doing that - it's just too dangerous, because there's too much risk of being involved in a high speed collision. But, after having spent some time in the Netherlands, it's come to feel like a minor injustice every time I put my helmet on. It's a little reminder of how, in the US and much the rest of the world, we have blithely turned our public right-of-way into a space that's fundamentally dangerous for humans to be in.
Re: How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
#6As a Dutch person I am pleasantly surprised by this article, it gets basically everything right. One thing though is that our geography works well with biking. I visited the US recently and you can drive for 30 minutes in a car and you are still in LA, if you drive for 30 minutes in the Netherlands you're in a completely different city. Everything is just closer and hence more bike-able. As a dutch person I would abs…
The cyclist vs motorist dynamic in NL is skewed because practically all motorists are cyclists too.
I would say the dynamic is skewed in the US because so few motorists are cyclists. Just perspective.
Re: How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
#7My wife and I were in Amsterdam a few weeks ago for a music festival and we were blown away by how easy it was to get around on a bike. I don't have much to add to what's in the article just to say that I was shocked by how comfortable riding a bike in Amsterdam is. I live in Austin, TX and would never in a million years ride to work here. There is so little infrastructure to make regular bicycle riding less risky.
Re: How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
#8As a Dutch person I am pleasantly surprised by this article, it gets basically everything right. One thing though is that our geography works well with biking. I visited the US recently and you can drive for 30 minutes in a car and you are still in LA, if you drive for 30 minutes in the Netherlands you're in a completely different city. Everything is just closer and hence more bike-able. As a dutch person I would abs…
> One thing though is that our geography works well with biking. I visited the US recently and you can drive for 30 minutes in a car and you are still in LA, if you drive for 30 minutes in the Netherlands you're in a completely different city.
That's not geography, that's urban planning, or a lack of it. America's geographic size meant that we could sprawl, not that we had to.
And indeed, especially in the post-WW2 era, we collectively chose to sprawl out far and wide, greatly favoring the automobile at the expense of walking, biking, and transit.
> I would feel really unsafe on a bike in the US.
That makes sense, since yeah, it's dangerous as hell. Got hit twice the last year before I moved to Munich.
Re: How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
The cyclist vs motorist dynamic in NL is skewed because practically all motorists are cyclists too.
I would say the dynamic is skewed in the US because so few motorists are cyclists. Just perspective.
You are right, I was searching for words and couldn't find the right one.
Re: How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
#10As a Dutch person I am pleasantly surprised by this article, it gets basically everything right. One thing though is that our geography works well with biking. I visited the US recently and you can drive for 30 minutes in a car and you are still in LA, if you drive for 30 minutes in the Netherlands you're in a completely different city. Everything is just closer and hence more bike-able. As a dutch person I would abs…
Same here. The two interviewees really did a good job and the whole story conveys Dutch biking lifestyle really well. One note: they did pave over some canals in Utrecht back in the day, but they are being opened up again as we speak.