BicycleDutch

There's an actual existing place where most people ride bikes and you can see tons of really lovely videos of it here: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/

The videos are great, but the blog (https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/) is more informative, combining text with the videos, and adding search facilities (the by theme one in particular is useful)

I quickly read through this. Context: I'm Dutch and live in Utrecht, The Netherlands. This booklet has one massive flaw: it is constructed using American best-practices. At best, a couple of examples could be considered almost acceptable. Most of them were woefully inadequate and consist of little more than a blob of quickly-fading green paint in ill-considered positions. Worst of all, several examples are clearly flawed, and to me seem even more dangerous than not having any infrastructure at all. If the goal is to show to unimaginative people that it is indeed physically possible to create something resembling bike infrastructure, then it will do fine. But if you're trying to actually create a good, safe, well-used cycling network, then this is not the way to do it. If you want good examples, go visit something like https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/ . This booklet almost reads as if it was written by someone who has only heard about cycling infrastructure, but never actually lived in a city which has it. The intention is there, but there's an even longer way to go. Some trivial stuff to change: - Add green dye to the asphalt instead of adding a layer of green paint. This means that it will not fade. - Color the whole cycle path, not just a few small parts of it. You're trying to create a continuous network, remember? - Don't use a zebra-crossing style striping at crossings. A continuous green bar would be way easier to see and interpret as something to stop for. -…

The Dutch roundabout design is amazing for cyclists. See here [0] for a more detailed explanation, but the tl;dr is: Second, outer ring that's a bike lane - motorized traffic has to yield so bikes never have to stop and lose momentum. [0] https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/explaining-the-dutch-rou…

Not in Amsterdam where - there are more bicycles than people [1] - only 27% of trips are done via car [2] - people travel half as many miles per day than the US [3] [1] https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2018/01/02/dutch-cycling-figures/ [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119021001005 [3] https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/best-kept-secret-dutch-biking-dutc…

Dutch train stations have cheap parking for bicycles to solve that problem. Works great. I've had four different jobs over the years where I commuted by train (to four different stations) and used my bicycle on the office side for the last bit. There are also rental bicycles for 4 euro / day to use on stations where you don't have your own stored. (They parking buildings become really massive, but still much smaller than the same for cars would be: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2019/08/20/finally-fully-open-utrec… ).

Recumbent bikes, e-bikes, and other alternatives (https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/who-else-benefits-from-t… make "bike infrastructure" accessible to pretty much anyone. Considering the fact that it's impossible to live in the USA outside of a nursing home if you lose your ability to drive due to old age... I'm not sure accessibility is a great argument for car-centric infrastructure.

There's the (controversial) concept of "Risk Compensation", which covers some of the same ground; when we feel safer driving (eg, when we start wearing a seatbelt), we unconsciously compensate by driving with slightly less care. There are two problems with this: the risk is often transferred to other people, and the magnitude of the compensation is not guaranteed to be the same. The Netherlands is a great example of reworking the streets to make them better (see for example: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/amsterdam-bicycle-capit… and https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/how-the-dutch-got-their-… There was a large and well-organised campaign starting in the 1970s.

Everyone should know this blog about cycling in Netherlands: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/ It gives you a very good impression how awesome the cycling infrastructure is in the Netherlands and how far they are ahead of every other country. See for example this video from the youtube channel related to the blog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWHFLiPIMEo

Legislation is one part of the correct answer, but not all of it. Here in the Netherlands there's "strict liability" [0], in which the driver is always liable for at least 50% of the damage, and usually 100% liable, but that is only a part of the solution. The law is worth very little without proper infrastructure. Infrastructure that provides clear and physical separation works, as demonstrated by Oslo's zero cyclist fatalaties [1]. [0] https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/strict-liability-in-the-… [1] https://thecityfix.com/blog/how-oslo-achieved-zero-pedestrian-and-bicy…

That museum really is a treasure, and well worth a visit if you're ever in wonderful Amsterdam. Not right now I guess what with the crowds and everything, but hopefully this too shall pass. I think it's really funny that the always-pedalling Dutch included a bike lane through the museum [1], that feels very right and also quite unique. [1] https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/the-bicycle-passage-of-t…

> The city recently surpassed Amsterdam in a widely respected ranking of bike-friendly cities and is now second only to Copenhagen, which is more than twice its size. I visited Copenhagen last year, and while it's a lovely city I have absolutely no idea how it is ranked number one cycling city in the world. Mark Wagenbuur, cited in this article, is also sceptical: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2018/11/27/is-copenhagen-a-city-of-…

Good read on this subject: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/strict-liability-in-the-…

Dutch roundabouts are the best. Lots of videos here: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/tag/roundabout/

I mean if you live in a city like Paris, then yeah I'd say that's legitimate. I see nothing wrong with making such dense urban centers car-free other than what's necessary like deliveries or ambulances and such, but for the former these days you've got tiny electric trucks that even fit on bike paths without causing a ruckus, usually you'll see those grocery delivery services use them. Yes, people outside of urban cities like that (which, basically by definition means the majority of people in the country) still need cars to get around most likely, but at least we can ensure that inside the cities themselves, there are good alternatives for people to get around that benefits every single person who finds themselves in the city not inside a car, which will be the overwhelming majority of people. I live in Utrecht in the Netherlands, and the single best thing the gov't did a few years ago is rip out the highway that was in the city center and instead turned it back into a canal surrounded by parks [1]. Literally nobody who has ever been to Utrecht would argue we were better off with the highway. [1] https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2020/09/16/utrecht-corrects-a-histo…

Oh my. First of, the statistics you point to are terrible. It's not the first time I've seen EU statistics on cycling be utterly incompetent either, it's weird. Anyhow: "Although there are no data available at EU level on the trend in cycling kilometres travelled, it is widely recognized that cycling has increased in popularity over the past decade." There you go, the entire dataset is invalid. As a curiosity, please point your attention to the graph of the distribution of fatalities over age categories. > It's just very hard to get data that include all factors but the data we do get is not so good for Netherlands. The data is easily accessible and robust: [1] [2]. > This is experience worth more than some stereotypes about Netherlands being good for cyclists or whatever. Relatively to basically everywhere else, the Netherlands is good for cyclists. That's a fact, not a stereotype. > Poland gets quite a bit of cycling infrastructure now (because that's the only way to get EU funding for roads for cars - what the government really wants). The infrastucture is terrible and dangerous. People die and get hurt because of it every day. It would be much better to just change the law to: "cyclist can be on the road whenever they please and can take the lane when they think it's for their safety". If the infrastructure is terrible, the solution is to make it not terrible. Changing laws is a lazy, ineffectual cop-out. It is always more effective to change the…

> Bikes are safe. Cars are unsafe because they often kill other road users. You have them confused. knifes kill people too but I'm sure you use them Guns kill people too, but they love them in the US, they love them so much that they put them in the hands of kids and let them go the school to shoot other kids Cars are not unsafe, people driving them are. It's the same people that ride bikes. You have them confused. As Conan's father said: "No one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts." BTW If you like to live, don't ride a bike. -- "More cycling fatalities than deaths in cars" https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2018/04/25/more-cycling-fatalities-… -- Crash Statistics - who was at fault? https://s3.amazonaws.com/ClubExpressClubFiles/86708/graphics/Bike_Cras… -- Fatality rate (UK) https://fullfact.org/media/uploads/DfT_chart.png

Funny you should mention because Europe does big projects that span decades. They have the greatest rail infrastructure in the world. Even projects that require considerable more nuance and social integration, such as the revitalizing of Dutch public spaces to accommodate bicycles. [1] I think the bit you are missing is that European nations have more centralized authority, they're somewhat naturally more communitarian, and not quite as big on individual rights, and they're also not quite so big. For better or worse, it enables them to make longer term plans on some things. Here is a list of major European undertakings, granted the Norwegian one's are a little unfair given their vast oil wealth. [2] [1] https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/how-the-dutch-got-their-… [2] https://nordic.businessinsider.com/11-giant-infrastructure-projects-th…

https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/how-dut… https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2025/03/05/a-rare-glimpse-of-utrech… https://old.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/ittddm/how_a_busy_road_was_tr… https://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-info/dutch-news/history-amsterdam-car-fr…

One reason for Utrecht scoring high: it has the largest bicycle parking lot of the world: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2024/08/21/happy-anniversary-to-the…

The public outcry was to ban cars - literally. They blocked streets, and did what they needed to to block drivers and vehicles. It's long enough ago that maybe the abrasiveness and confrontational nature of it is forgotten now - lots of big changes start out that way, but if successful the success almost drives the way the history is remembered more postively. See https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/amsterdam-children-fight… It looks to me like it was 100% a "think of the children" moment that often gets ridiculed. I can see the same inflection point in my country around the same time, when street and road design shifted to car orientated and car priority - Amsterdam being one of the notable exceptions but with a well documented fight.

This is only true of typical UK-style roundabouts which are designed for motor vehicle throughput. It’s extremely common in the Netherlands to replace crossroads and T-junctions with roundabouts to improve safety, but Dutch urban roundabouts are designed with safety as the main priority. This is achieved through single lanes, sharp entries, limiting forward visibility, and pedestrian and cyclist priority (via what are effective zebras). For more information see eg: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/explaining-the-dutch-rou… (Edit: fixed wrong link)

I don’t think they do! > That the Dutch roundabout, including the cycle tracks all around it, can be built in almost the same space of a traditional junction is the reason why so many are being converted. From: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/junction-design-in-the-n…

The Dutch do road design/purpose very well, and they didn't start with a new development. https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/sustainable-safety/ https://swov.nl/system/files/publication-downloads/dv3_en_kort_rapport… (pdf)

17% of 60+ year olds commute by bike in Netherlands: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2018/01/02/dutch-cycling-figures/ The idea that cycling is only for 20-year olds or that you have to be "very fit" is ridiculous.

> Bicycles aren’t very useful vehicles compared to cars, which is why a very small share of the US population uses them on the roads in the first place. It's because the infrastructure for biking is almost non-existent. Thanks to people who keep saying "just ban bycicles because cars!". Read and watch this: How the Dutch got their cycling infrastructure https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/how-the-dutch-got-their-…

It was not organic, there were fierce fights against the cars in the 70s[0] but unlike in the US where the car aided white people fleeing desegregation, they won. Not so in the US. I don't think you'll see an organic shift except in some city areas unless there's an intentional change in policy. [0] https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/how-the-dutch-got-their-…

This is the tunnel you may have seen: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2019/03/13/the-scheldt-tunnel-in-an… The wooden escalator is impressive still working after so many years.

Even though Copenhagen is often credited as being the most bike-friendly city, overall the Dutch bike more than the Danes: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2018/01/02/dutch-cycling-figures/

You would probably be in the protected path separated from the road to begin with. Reference: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/a-modern-amsterdam-round…