Traffic Calming is Everywhere in the Netherlands

[@NotJustBikes]

This video was one of the first videos on my channel, when I was making short videos. At the time, I assumed my whole audience knew what "traffic calming" was, but most people don't. It may be time for a re-make of this with some more explanation and detail.

[@yabbaguy]

Well you did say "I'd like to talk about Sustainable Safety in a future video". No pressure, but maybe that's your opportunity. :)

[@burgerpommes2001]

yes please

[@Professorkek]

It's still very informative and high quality video. But would love to hear more about traffic calming and see more examples.

[@marit-6366]

Being Dutch, I am so used to 'traffic calming' that I didn't even know there was a word for that...

[@ChatDisabledGG]

Zelfde hier hahahahaha 🤣😂

[@y.g2279]

Ja hetzelfde geldt ook voor mij

[@mikaxms]

When I looked at pictures of US streets they always seemed a bit off, but I never could quite put my finger on it. Now I know what it is!

[@kirsten7467]

haha inderdaad!!!!

[@Wouter10123]

@@mikaxms It's mostly the lack of continous sidewalks (or sidewalks at all). It just seems so weird to have every crossing be a plain slab of concrete that pedestrians are somehow supposed to navigate.

[@chaselearnslanguages47]

There is a positive here for the US and Canada. We’ve made our roads so wide that we will have plenty of room for bike paths and pedestrian paths if we ever get around to giving them priority over cars.

[@woutervanr]

It depends on the location. You shouldn't really want any cars in the city centre. Wider streets also mean that you have to walk/cycle/ride further. It sure is easy in suburbs though.

[@matthewcollins4764]

@@woutervanr Eradicating cars from the city center will be difficult though as many major roads pass through the cities still. So wide streets will still allow us to add bike lanes and such, like my city which added streetcars that go through downtown and into the neighboring city.

[@IBeforeAExceptAfterK]

Hell, some of our highways are so wide that you could add sidewalks and bike lanes on both sides and a double track rail corridor along one side and still have an excessively wide highway. Like the embarrassment that is the Katy Freeway

[@FlashiestRed]

“If we ever”

[@kevinbarnes218]

true ture

[@daanvandongen1422]

I love that these comment sections are all dutch people talking English to eachother.

[@ev4_gaming]

well, we do (mostly) speak english quite well, since we are such a small and export based country

[@daanvandongen1422]

@@globalelite7306 Houdoe

[@JDarrylSSS]

someone pointed it out... awkwarddddd

[@ELdASenSei]

Machtig mooi oniedamienjong?

[@y.w.m.2429]

Happens in amsterdam too

[@OsmosisHD]

Funny, it takes a foreigner to appreciate my own road network. I never gave it much thought since it's "normal" for me. Heck it's been there since I was born

[@deprecatedflayer]

@Gappie Al Kebabi kek

[@MegaWolkje]

Gappie Al Kebabi troll alert!!!

[@MrVargatron]

@Gappie Al Kebabi Nice try but no. The only folks there are refugees refusing to leave. That's hardly something to visit as a tourist man. Next thing you'r gonna say is visit every trashcan you see. Yes we have them, no we are not proud of them. But since we can't get rid of garbage we need the bins xD.

[@Cyhcg5uhgb]

@@MrVargatron I am glad that you didn't grew up as a refugee.

[@cocoacoolness]

Pretty standard I reckon. My friend didn't realise how good we have it until she visited America and felt scared to walk anywhere because the infrastructure was so poor, and apparently most of the cities she visited had extremely bad public transport.

[@noijze]

In Belgium traffic calming is applied to the whole highway system.

[@Bierkameel]

In the Netherlands we have smooh roads and profile on our tires. In Belgium the profile is on the bad roads so the tires do not matter.

[@MrNicoJac]

Wait, Belgium has a highway system? I thought you had "a string of potholes" ;-p

[@nijtramboii123]

en je krijgt er een gratis nekhernia bij

[@woutertje026]

Haha dit is goud

[@TehhDesiree]

Belgium is terrible at designs

[@brinkshows2720]

Me as a dutch person always find American and Canadian roads quite dangerous. We are not traffic calming. We just have a normal safe road for all people. XD

[@JDarrylSSS]

these 5 lane highways with people overtaking left and right would certainly make my palms sweaty

[@ELdASenSei]

@@JDarrylSSS palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy

[@DSiren]

The way I see it, the old way is the way America and Canada still do it. As the way you do it now is different, it deserves a name for the change that was done - that name is "traffic calming". I think it's an apt name aswell, since traffic always seems so hazardous, even as a vehicle here in the US.

[@Flyinghotpocket]

They are so dangerous, if you visit salt lake city and try to ride your bike your probably going to die. The people are aggressive and dont give a fuck about somebody not in a car.

[@sanssheriff3829]

Sometimes I think city planning in those countries are done by a city commity with no expertise in traffic planning and are just armed with an opinion, instead of the high requirements we have here for the job.

[@kurtthewurt]

Meanwhile in Southern California, the speed limit directly outside my apartment is 60mph (102kph), and people regularly go 80 (130kph). The road is 10 lanes across at the intersection, and is currently being widened to 12 lanes to accommodate the new triple left turn lanes. There is no public transport or bike lane available. I drive to the Starbucks across the street because I don’t feel safe crossing 20 lanes of traffic (with one high speed free-right turn). Dutch road design is a different world.

[@NotJustBikes]

A twelve lane city road is absolutely insane. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't even a highway bigger than six lanes in the Netherlands. And highways that big are normally for truck traffic, like that coming out of the port of Rotterdam. This is exactly what StrongTowns refers to as the "stroad". www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/1/whats-a-stroad-and-why-does-it-matter

[@izawalendowicz8105]

How many lanes again???? That's ridiculous

[@riley_oneill]

I am in Riverside and feel your pain. Bike lanes will be protested by super angry people who claim that there is a conspiracy to get us out of our cars and we should be widening traffic lanes so more cars and people who walk or ride a bike should just take a car. My major hope for the future that driverless taxis will make much more effective use of the road and will not be driven by lead poisoned sociopaths and we can redesign our cities to make them beautiful like this. Could you imagine how nice Newport Beach would be if we had roads like this? Newport Beach is absolutely beautiful but the traffic absolutely kills it. Newport Beach being a biking community like this would be totally awesome.

[@Alex-id5im]

Where exactly? I want to look that up on Google maps

[@airtrafficman972]

@@kurtthewurt Jesus christ you guys have really wide lanes. I live in Florida and didn't think they came any bigger but I was wrong.

[@NotJustBikes]

In addition to Amsterdam, this video has scenes from Zwolle, Diemen, Groningen, Ermelo, Haarlem, Leiden, and Lent (Nijmegen). I wonder if I'll still get those comments claiming that everything I talk about only happens in Amsterdam? 🤔

[@Down01986]

Not Just Bikes haha, It’s the internet, so you’ll never know. ^^ But these roads are everywhere here.

[@kirihitiana]

It took me a second to recognise the junction shown in 1:50 is where I cycle every day to work. It just looks so different during winter time without all the lush greenery around.

[@Craftypiston]

I feel personally called out, I did immediately notice the change in the title too 😀 So far so good, nobody complaining!

[@Bennie_Tziek]

Why is Nijmegen Lent? How did that happen xD

[@daanbakker1336]

How did you end up in Ermelo? I recognised the train station and the crossing directly

[@suzan6254]

You videos are making me understand this "helping an old lady cross the road" phenomenon that you see in American movies/shows sometimes. I'd never seen anyone do it here irl and it seemed kind of weird an unnecessary but now I get it.

[@dennisverweij4817]

As someone who grew up in Canada, and now lives in the Netherlands, the difference in road width is startling. For example, the suburban road that my parents live on in Canada is 10 m wide. Meanwhile, in the city I now live in the Netherlands we have a road that is 12m wide, which doesn't just has the lane in each direction, but a separate bus lane in each direction too. You could make a whole separate video on the difference in density as well. As if you need to do shopping in Canada you might as well take the car from one side of the street to the other side. That became painfully clear when I visited my parents last year.

[@Bennie_Tziek]

Yeah, it is funny that travelling by bike is as fast as traveling by car here in the Netherlands. In my city I can go everywhere within 20 minutes. When you take in account that you need to start up a car and park it, you're at 20 minutes as well.

[@Azivegu]

I grew up in Minnesota (so basically Canada) and moved to the Netherlands as well. Funny thing happened when I went to my mom (who still lives there) and I decided to walk to the store. It really was only a 15 minute walk, but the look of astonishment when I said that... It was like I was born in the stone age and hadn't heard of the invention of the car (and just a side note, I will regularly walk to the train station on a nice day, and that is about 20 minutes)

[@Bruintjebeer6]

bennie tziek I don’t know in what city you live but in the city I live a lot off times I’m quicker by bike then by car. A lot off times cars are not allowed in streets and after you parked your car you have to walk an distant They want cars to go around the city instead off in the city.

[@jmi5969]

@@Azivegu Could it also be about age and state of health? Ten years ago I could make the distance from my home to the subway station in twenty minutes. Today, it's at least forty minutes on a nice dry day, and almost infinity in snow/ice.

[@EquiliMario]

During my 5 week US West Coast road trip I felt empowered in the car and vulnerable outside of it. At home, in The Netherlands, I feel the exact opposite.

[@Inkling777]

Odd. Walking, riding an bike or driving a car I feel much the same. Perhaps that's because I'm good at all of them. Walking and biking are obviously easy. As for driving, in 56 years of driving I've had only minor accidents and my last accident and last ticket were over thirty years ago. We feel 'empowered' and comfortable doing things we're good at. Perhaps you should learn to drive better.

[@sandy_carpetsthesecond5013]

@@Inkling777 I'm pretty sure we feel empowered when we aren't stressed. The Netherland road designs are specifically made to make their drivers slightly anxious- Not to stress them out, but to make sure that they're not dissociating whilst driving so they can stay alert of their surrounding and not hit anything. On the other hand, America does the very opposite- Drivers feel so comfortable on roads that they often switch off and stop paying attention to their surroundings which makes them lose control of their vehicles. You should feel confident when driving a vehicle, but not entirely comfortable. If you get too comfortable, it causes you to stop paying attention and you're more likely to lose control of your car and ram into a nearby building- So OP here is actually less likely to crash their car between the two of you.

[@stardust-reverie]

i love how the canadian street makes SUCH a BIG fucking DEAL about being *Traffic Calmed* with basically nothing being done to the street while still having a 50kmh speed limit just goes to show ya how deadly of a disease carbrain really is

[@markvv596]

2:45 lol i was like “ he that looks just like the one in my village” then he said, “this is a crossing in ermelo”. So thats why... it is in my Village.

[@l.l.6407]

Ermelo would be considered a Town not a Village anymore.

[@Trazynn]

Ermelo is now G E K O L O N I S E E R D

[@euomu]

@@Trazynn nee, jij bent gekoloniseerd

[@DaveFlash]

@@euomu jullie benne gekoloniseerd hahaha

[@kacperwoch4368]

''A village of 27 000 people'' wait, WHAT?! This is a middle sized town, not a village. A true village is to my mind something like 200 people.

[@0h0h0h0]

I'm Dutch and what I love about our road system is that, because of the 'traffic calming', it is super easy to know how fast you're allowed to drive haha. Because often it's hardly possible to drive faster (in a comfortable way). I've never had a fine because of this. in 7 years of driving 😂

[@NotJustBikes]

Yes! That's because the road's design speed is the same as the speed limit! beyondtheautomobile.com/2021/02/16/how-is-design-speed-determined/

[@0h0h0h0]

@@NotJustBikes Yeah it's freaking amazing. :D

[@windmill1965]

3:50 "... humans will make mistakes ..." while two cyclists run into each other in the background.

[@Linda-hs1lk]

I saw that, funny. Nothing happened though.

[@rogerwilco2]

Ow, nice spotting that.

[@AMacProOwner]

That’s the fantastic thing. One made a mistake. But instead of a wreck, chaos and pain a few words sorted the situation. The savings are huge from the perspective of a country with hospital care, police, therapy, sick leave.

[@Partyaap050]

I love the interaction between the two as well. "wtf?" "sorry" "oh, ok" *continues life*

[@Engineer9736]

😂😂

[@bjornl.8447]

I moved to the Netherlands 15 years ago, and sneered at cobbled roads, because where I come from (Germany), they mean you're on a "Fußgängerzone" (Pedestrian zone, no cars allowed). Now, after so much time had passed, and after having discovered your channel, I am embarrassed at my own arrogance and ignorance, and notice more of the ingenious Dutch city design every day

[@NexuJin]

I came to appreciate the Dutch traffic system since I played Cities: Skylines and was trying to optimize the traffic and came to realize the traffic system in that game is based on the traffic system used in North America.

[@johanwittens7712]

Yep. I stopped playing when after the first expansion they still hadn't introduced functional car free streets or even pedestrian streets. The pedestrian paths in the game now are useless since no development can be built next to them. Even with all its options to reduce traffic, the game still is very car centered, even after all the expansions we've had... Pity

[@SiisKolkytEuroo]

It's a Finnish game, not American

[@johanwittens7712]

@@SiisKolkytEuroo If you know anything about software development you should know that doesn't matter much. Yes the company might be Finnish, but the people actually making the game are from all over the world. And the game is definitely inspired by car centric city design. Plus Finland has some stimulation of biking, just like other Nordic countries, but none come close to the comprehensive biking Infrastructure of the Dutch. Copenhagen is often cited as a great biking city, but compared to the Dutch they're decades behind. Even the smallest village in the Netherlands has better biking infra than Copenhagen. So the game having been developed by a Finnish company doesn't matter much. Finland itself is ok but not great at all for biking, and large parts of the game probably weren't developed by fins. But even then, the game speaks for itself. No functional pedestrian streets, no streets only for public transit+walking+biking, biking is tacked on to existing roads in painted lanes instead of in actual seperated lanes (especially on large roads), streets are always two way or two lanes, narrow one way streets don'texist, cars are allowed on every road you build, pedestrian paths are useless and pedestrianised areas are impossible to create, and so on. Yet all these things are quite common all over Europe and the world, especially in more historical cities, even in Finland. Even the city I live in in Belgium has a huge pedestrian area, an extensive public transit system with busses and trams (including trams on narrow one way streets and not just 4lane avenues like in skylines), and has large walking and biking infra all over the city. In fact in skylines bikes ride in the sidewalk if there's no bike lanes, which is illegal in my country... Yet the game doesn't include all these things, and what is included is very similar to American traffic systems. So yeah, the game is built for optimising car traffic flow, just like the typical American traffic system, and is very much American inspired. I mean you can design a massively complex highway interchange in skylines, but not a simple street intersection with simple protected bike lanes and bike crossings that you even find everywhere in my city in Belgium... In skylines an intersection is just a grey waste, even if the roads/streets have bike lanes. The game developers should definitely go on a study tour in the Netherlands, or should start watching the ''not just bikes'' and ''bicycle dutch'' videos to truly understand how to design and build a traffic system for all road users and not just cars. Don't get me wrong. Skylines is the best city builder I've EVER played. Sim city 2013 was an embarrassment. But I am really waiting for an expansion that makes it possible to create a true complex traffic system for all road users, with functional pedestrian areas on the top of my list. And it shouldn't be that hard to do. Just give us a little menu that allows you to determine what types of traffic are allowed on the street/road, and adjust the visual look accordingly... There's plenty of mods already that allow insane levels of traffic management for cars, why not make it official and include pedestrians and biking on this system?

[@glennvestjens6035]

You can do a lot of things to make it looks safer for bikes in skylines, even in the vanilla game. There are roads with bikelanes and bike only lanes. You can turn on a policy that makes it illegal for bikes on sidewalks. A lot of my main roads are not aloud for bikes. And cars make a longer trip via main roads than bikes do. So my citizens who biking have to travel a shorter distance what makes the citizens juice there bikes more often. Which means i have las traffic issues. You have too be creative with the things you get from the game. I even turned a +60k city whose runs on cars and a few mounts of public transport into a real cycling city.

[@johanwittens7712]

@@glennvestjens6035 I know. But it's mostly tacked on. Those bike lanes in the game would be considered dangerous in the Netherlands. Even in Belgium we try to avoid painted lanes right next to car traffic like that now. Cars are still allowed on every road, and full pedestrian streets are impossible. Bus only roads are impossible too. And so on. As I said, skylines is BY FAR the best city sim ive ever played. But for someone who's used to biking infra everywhere, narrow one way streets everywhere, a huge pedestrian area with no cars allowed, a complete traffic plan making it impossible to cross the city in a car, and so on... Skylines still feels incomplete. What you can do in skylines is what the Dutch were doing in the 80's and my city in Flanders did in the 90's. It still feels very limited and a bit outdated, with not enough options to get rid of cars all together in your city center... But as I said, still love the game for offering more than any other city sim ever has...

[@KarlPlesz]

This really speaks to me. I live in Calgary, a large Canadian city, and we have a serious problem with the safety of people not driving motorized vehicles. Stop signs may as well not exist, in fact our roads engineers admit that they only are obeyed 50% of the time. But they continue to use outdated approaches to traffic safety. I even joined a traffic safety committee in my neighbourhood, but even its leader has resigned to the fact that the City is ignoring the residents' pleas. There's a very vocal group here called Vision Zero who are trying to convince local roads departments to do the right thing. I hope they can make a difference.

[@NotJustBikes]

Yep, that sounds exactly like the situation in Toronto, too. They have "Vision Zero" there as well, but it's only a name: they don't do any of the street redesigns that actual Vision Zero requires.

[@mr2_mike]

Calgary is very spread out. Netherlands is not a comparable city in any metric. Also you're biking in winter? Didn't think so. Actually more dangerous to bike than drive in the winter. I've causes bad falls on bikes. The reduced speeds recently will result in more suburb accidents as people expect slower driving and just pull out.

[@KarlPlesz]

@@mr2_mike Netherlands is not a city. Yes, people bike in the winter, you just don't see them on the streets in Calgary because riding a bike on the street is dangerous enough in the summer. But that wasn't really the point of the video.

[@huubvelthuis8988]

@@mr2_mike should be easier then, more space for more bikelanes. The Netherlands is a country. Yes we all bike until it gets to -10, then people start taking busses. not because its unsafe, but because its cold. sorry to hear you fell. dutch are born on the bike and we have level roads so its easy. no the reduced speeds will make you stop in time. the difference in stoping distance is exponential. come over and see it. it makes sense.

[@juliusvdl2204]

mr2mike I’m gonna correct you for a third time cause I feel like it, The Netherlands is not a city, it’s a country. Yes, the cities in the US and Canada are more spread out due to the horrible urban sprawl, though that still isn’t an excuse to not have bike infra. Literally every rural area in The Netherlands has bike lanes all over the place. You don’t have to loom for them, they’re just *there*.

[@medsuit1686]

I guess the difference is just the mentality of putting cars last on the priority list. As a car driver where i live, you are last on the foodchain. You need to yield to almost anything and everything everywhere, and the roads are designed with that in mind. This honestly makes driving also way more relaxed, because you are not bombarded with different scenario's. In turn this also encourages more people to use the bikes or walk short distances. You know your place and crossings or bike lanes are blasted into sight, you cant miss it.

[@Gooikes]

I disagree. The many intrusions on straight forward driving, make for a very irritating and stressful way of driving, because you are bombarded with different situations all the flippin' time. Driving without speedbumps, roadsigns, pedestrian crossings, narrow bits, speedcamera's, traffic lights, etc, is much more relaxing.

[@medsuit1686]

@@Gooikes well, lucky you are in a minority then and accidents happen way less frequently on those type of roads :)

[@JTF2402]

All car drivers in the Netherlands also drive the bike. So there is a lot more understanding from car driver towards bike drivers

[@GetPsyched6]

@@Gooikes last thing you should be while driving in a city is relaxed. The more unalert you are, the more careless you become. Relax on a highway, not in a city.

[@Gooikes]

@@GetPsyched6 I mean relaxed as in not stressed. There are so many people in city traffic that walk/cycle/run/drive around like headless chickens, trying to get there first at all time... My dad used to say that when you drive around in town, you save a live every second by driving calmly and relaxed. Motorway driving is much the same actually; at least here in the Netherlands. What I meant was that the overkill of messages and visual input in city traffic makes driving very unrelaxing.

[@kujiro_x8099]

i'm dutch and i literally didn't realise any of the things my country does were even special until i started watching your videos

[@amataazura]

Same here

[@jingyuanhu8802]

For the safety in traffic, I think there is another important factor which is the driving test. I had experience in China, got my drivers license in Norway, and had also driving test in California. The requirements in different countries varies a lot. It is way more strict in Norway (especially in Oslo) than in the US. There are many reasons behind that, politically, economically... But it is undeniable that how people perceive road safety and how they drive have a huge impact on road safety. Hope you will get some videos talking about driving in Netherlands.

[@amarsven]

You make me miss Amsterdam so badly. Here in my neighborhood in Berlin our MP made a petition for traffic calming like two years ago. Even he could not get a single street calmer.

[@x1Wolf101x]

"A village of 27,000 people" sounds like a regular sized town

[@Jelfs]

The village I live in has well under 1000 people. The whole gemeente has only 30,000...

[@tardvandecluntproductions1278]

Dutch don't have anything in between "village/town" to "city" and technically we don't hand out medieval city rights anymore, so they can become big :P

[@brad450]

Theres been a push here in Quebec for us to adopt more "European" styles of traffic calming, the problem in that the municipalities are seeing these new standards as too expensive to construct and are opting to simply reduce speed limits and heavily enforce speed fines vs investing in infrastructure to actually solve the problem.

[@Snaakie83]

It's partly a mentality change that's needed as well. Even though it seems in the Netherlands that the abundance of regulations and measurements aren't extremely popular, everyone using the infrastructure understands that's it's necessary to cope with the amount of traffic. Outside city bounds, between 60 and 100 km p/h (130 at night), cars are separated from other traffic. Within city bounds, cars yield to all traffic from right and practicality always to bicycles or pedestrians. 50 km p/h, main roads, usually separated from bicycle paths, no pedestrians outside crossing points with lights. 30km p/h, all traffic mixes, cars yield and have liability towards bicycles and pedestrians. Anyone outside his car is basically automatically a pedestrian or bicycle so also uses these privileges, therefore enforcing the necessity of yielding to 'vulnerable' travelers.

[@Lankpants]

Exact same thing's been done across Australia. The issue is that at night your nice, 40km residential street (probably too fast anyway, but whatever) becomes a 120km hooning street, with as many loud engine revs as possible. After all, the street is long and straight with no traffic calming, you can easily drive on it just as fast as you could a highway.

[@pierren___]

There will be less fines and speed when the infrastructures will be build.

[@sandy_carpetsthesecond5013]

I mean if your country is so worried about costs, why not just do the bare minimum and put a bunch of cones down in some areas until they're ready to invest? Not to mention that traffic calming costs less to maintain than actual roads do. It might be an expensive initial sum, but they'll regain significantly more money long-term.

[@PatriotResearchGal]

Why solve the problem when you can just increase a revenue stream and kick the can down to the next generation? “Solutions” like you describe drive me nuts. My first thought inevitably becomes how much are we going to pay quickly followed by where is the money going….because it will never be used to benefit the people. We need average citizens to be on city councils and on the planning boards. Career politicians are the ones who come up with bonehead status quo “solutions” of reduced speed limits and more traffic fines.

[@p1nh3dlarry72]

Being American, watching this channel is just me thinking “why the hell do we not have this?” Over and over again.

[@ctydecks]

I been enjoying your videos. And as a German avid cyclist living abroad for 30 years mostly in Anglo saxon countries. I been shocked how they treat cyclist in the UK & Australia. Most literally hate them. I got bottles thrown at me while out riding. I've been run off the street and violently threatened by drivers. I know of people being deliberately run off by vehicles and left for dead, these cyclist ended up with long term injuries and long Rehabilitations. And I watch how Sydney is building roads & tunnels for cars, but hardly considering cycling infrastructures. Check out how you have to carry your bike up the 55 steps of the syd harbour bridge. Pathetic, as we Europeans (mainland) started cycling from very small on the street. Australians take their bicycle in the back of their car to cycle around a park on a Sunday. Thanks for the video.

[@NotJustBikes]

Thanks for the comment, and I completely agree. I had similar problems in Toronto with violent drivers, so I just stopped cycling there. It's really sad.

[@noface9875]

As a Dutch person i thought this was normal and everywhere..

[@shinren_]

places in europe have it but not america or canada lol

[@grandbuba]

Just hop over the border and join us in Belgium. American road design right on your doorstep.. :-)

[@ishitrealbad3039]

dat komt omdat jij dom bent, kijk als je nou eens uit je lokale buurt komt en naar het buitenland gaat zie je nog eens wat...

[@shinren_]

@@ishitrealbad3039 rustig aan hoor mondige kneus

[@noface9875]

ishit realbad volgens mij ben jij echt de domme persoon hier, je gaat er van uit dat ik nog nooit uit mijn lokale buurt ben geweest en bent onwetend over het feit dat ik alsnog in 20+ landen geweest ben, en jij jezelf compleet belachelijk maakt met een aanname die complete bullshit is.🤡

[@xavier910000]

I live in an American suburb called Royal Oak, Michigan. Residents of our neighborhood had to actually organize and protest at the city hall against removal of traffic calming on our residential streets. I'm not sure what special interest wanted them gone because the top city planner was supportive of us, but the city had tried to get garbage men, the chief of police, and the top firefighter to testify and convince us that the traffic calming which had existed for 20 years prevents their vehicles from accessing our homes(Nevermind that they have never had a problem). It seemed like these city employees were pressured by politicians and were reading from a script but couldn't actually name an incident where the traffic calming prevented them from access.

[@albiceleste101]

these videos make me fall in love with the netherlands

[@tahirrizwan6759]

I never knew traffic calming was an actual thing, but seeing you video it all makes sense now lol I’ve lived in the U.S. for 8 years, went back to Holland for a year, and now live in Toronto. Man I’ve always wondered why walking felt dangerous in California. Forget biking, that’s a suicide mission. Biking in Toronto judging from observing feels about the same as in California. I find it so odd that there are no distinct markings to tell you whether you’re on a bike lane or not. We really take urban planning for granted back in Holland, and people dare to complain about the country all the time which also makes Holland so great at the same time. I mean if it wasn’t for the safety measures and traffic calming we’d be looking like Belgium.

[@jonaw.2153]

There's traffic calming in Belgium too! Although it's done with more... natural methods. Like potholes and bad roads!

[@lukesmith5018]

I remember chatting to some Americans once who were shocked that I walked somewhere half an hour away instead of driving - at the time I was confused as to why you wouldn't walk such a short distance, but watching your videos and reading these comments I can begin to understand their attitude.

[@rikwisselink-bijker]

It is a bit strange that a litigious country like the US has not more traffic calming measures implemented. Why doesn't everyone who sprains an ankle running across a stroad sue the city?

[@dominiccasts]

3:46 As a fellow Canadian, the idea that infrastructure would be designed around human fallibility rather than assuming perfection is welcome, but honestly a little baffling. I can hear shouts of "well if these idiots would just learn to drive/bike/walk properly we wouldn't need all this fancy traffic calming crap" in my head unbidden for how ingrained that attitude is.

[@ryanscott6578]

It's a cultural attitude of "personal responsibility" that's pervasive in all English-speaking countries. It's the same in the UK. People here love rules and signs and finger-wagging at pesky cyclists and motorists but almost never do anything to design the infrastructure such that accidents rarely occur. It's depressing.The urban planning philosophy of "get good" has never worked but we're so terminally car-brained that the only escape is, well, moving to the Netherlands.

[@QuebecFietser]

The most traffic calming I've seen in my Canadian city is a sing that says to watch out for kids. The sing is in light plastic and in the middle if the road on a rubber base, you can literally run over it and both your car and the sing won't have damage

[@Blackadder75]

Some Cities in SPain are getting very good at this too. I am not sure if it's just the tourist places at the costa del sol, but when I was there a few months ago I saw a lot of room for bikes / electric scooters and pedestrians and a lot of techniques to repel cars. Also quite a lot of streets where cars were totally banned. They make it nice for the tourists who are often on foot on on rentals

[@cherrytomato7711]

as a dutch person i can say that i am privileged and everytime i am abroad crossing roads scares me shitless, especially in bigger but not major cities as they're not as pedestrian friendly.

[@tardvandecluntproductions1278]

After watching you for 2 years now, I'm starting to realize all the traffic calming when I'm behind the wheel. Going above +10km/h above the speed limit outside a 80+ road, gets uncomfortable and stressful real fast. I really didn't wanted to speed any harder then that. Going at speed limit this whole feeling goes away and it feels very natural again. Absolutely brilliant design to keep our primate brains in check. (Yes I've tested this safely with speeding, I'm not speeding with other humans around me)

[@witoldschwenke9492]

lol I think what you just discovered is the concept of "fear", you move out of your comfort zone in which you feel in control. I partially agree with you, road design definitely is super important but personal confidence, ability and what you are driving matters as well, for example im a lot less confident in unstable cars like a front wheel driven vw whereas a bmw is much easier to handle at speed, better grip better braking, easy to drift in case you hit an oil puddle or ice.. , on a motorcycle its an entirely different set of confidence, its the confidence of being able to brake and navigate exactly as you want to unlike with cars where you are limited in agility and the performance is disconnected from your senses and intuition. On a motorcycle im also never afraid of overlooking someone but in cars, specially newer ones, the damn pillars are large like tree trunks! you can hide whole crowds of kids and bikes behind them! To make cars safer for others it would be better to have a no electric steering bc it diminishes road feel leading to over confidence like seen in many people who drive never cars way too fast on ice or in rain. Also smaller thinner pillars in the car to enhance visibility. i think we need better road design, cars less made for passive passengers safety but more for visibility and driver control, better drivers training, less time spent driving circles in drivers ed (on the road) more time spent on a track - just like how motorcycle licenses are trained for. in my car license i only had to do some super basic evasive maneuvers and braking. in my motorcycle license I had to do it on a circuit and demonstrate high levels of vehicle control. Car drivers would benefit greatly from that. Personally i don't get uncomfortable at speeds but hey I'm a motorcyclist... feeling confident and being extra aware of your surroundings is necessary as a motorcyclists, not as a car driver, car drivers seem to be sleep driving in my perspective , they notice almost nothing, only a fraction of what actually happens and rarely pay attention to their surroundings. That's my motorcycling experience anyway. No amount of design choices can change the fact that most people aren't even smart enough to be good drivers, i know so many people who rarely are present in the moment or often are stressed and overwhelmed by emotions and therefore drive badly, most people seem to be easily overwhelmed by small amounts of information such as driving and talking at the same time, or driving and actually seeing what their eyes are directly pointing at.. like I said they are sleeping! cars are too comfortable they make people day dream and drift away. Driving slower makes it worse, in Denmark on those slow 80kmh roads people fall asleep much faster at the wheel than in Germany, German drivers are more attentive, i think that is because the roads in Germany are much faster and feel less safe so people actually pay attention, too "good" road design makes people feel too safe so they don't pay attention anymore. same for low speed

[@Leopold5100]

thank you for showing this to the world; I just never realised there was such a much better way to do things

[@damarmar1001]

The difference between the netharlands and some other countries is that we want to solve problems where we can. In the us they think about how to profit from it

[@2Fast4Mellow]

Not necessary profit, but how can safety measure be applied without hindering car traffic. It is the whole Dutch city style guideline package that makes everything work. Just placing a bicycle road here in the US won't work because most things you want to visit are far away. If you want to encourage bike use, you have to make sure that things are closer to your home. There is a big different between biking for 5 minutes to get to the supermarket or need 30 minutes to get there.. Some suburbs are also larger in size than the whole of Amsterdam. I've been living in the US for more than 10 years and never had an accident or was close to one. But I also haven't seen that many car accidents in the DC area (where I live). I actually liked the wide open streets (less change of a car in your A-pillar) and DC has a wheel and spoke grid design where Capitol is the center (1st street and A-street). Streets in west or eastern direction have a number (3rd street, 14th street, etc). When you go in Northern or Southern direction streets have a letter (M-street, K-street). Diagonal streets are named after states. All street also have a quadrant assign (NW, NE, SW or SE). It is an easy city to navigate. Manhattan in New York City also has a grid system, but most of the roads are 6-lane one-way streets. We have a secondary office on East 45th street (two blocks from the UN building) and I hate the commute to the NY office. Why do we have one, you might ask. Because we have a lot of clients active in the financial sector and they are all located in or near New York and they want partners that have a local field office. The car is still the fasted option (especially since we're close to the Pennsylvania border. But train and metro are not that much slower plus I can do some work during the commute. Car trains are here also more common. They consist of several (double decker) car, passenger and diner carriages. Most of these trains are also very long (40+ carriages are not uncommon). But these car trains are less accessible because you need special access ramps.. But everything here involves the car. But we do not live in a suburb, we live on a small branch of a state road and only has 12 houses. We're surrounded by golf courses and forests. There are a lot of trails here to bike. I often to mountain (E-)biking with my oldest daughter (2,5 years old) and she is constantly yelling faster, faster, faster! She does not have fear at all..

[@taoliu3949]

@@2Fast4Mellow The point is that streets in the Netherlands is designed for the people, compared to the US where all streets are built for moving cars in mind. Even in major walkable cities in the US it is the same thing. That concept needs to change.

[@aronchai]

Not really. The issue with urban design in the US is more often than not that city governments are too deferential to existing residents and small businesses who love their cars and their exclusive neighborhoods.

[@jasonisbored6679]

they are always scared to fix things, because the suburban car experiment is like propaganda to many, and they are so invested.

[@Hazzard0]

I love you Netherlands. Norway has a lot to learn from you guys. Not as much as Canada though.

[@inyobill]

I've driven in Canada (east and west coast). Yah, no, when it comes to out-and-out idiocy, you don't hold a candle to us Americans. One interesting thing to me is the difference in road culture that can exist in relatively close cities. I grew up in San Diego, and also drove a lot in Lost Angeles. L. A. drivers tend to be much more disciplined than San Diego drivers, IMHO. I'm living in Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany now. The difference in our area is in marked contrast to drivers in Mecklenburg-Vorpomern, _much_ more agressive.

[@Baily16]

Everytime I see a video like this, comparing The Netherlands to America or similar countries, I am reminded that I am very lucky to have been born here. I honestly can't name another country I would prefer to live in.

[@NC700_68]

pick your poison

[@treatmefavourably9825]

The Netherlands is a more than great country. It's one of the best countries in the world. I said that before I went travelling and I still say that afterwards. May the Gods bless all the countries.

[@NC700_68]

@@treatmefavourably9825 if the netherlands is the best country then the entire world is fucked. which it is. and there is no invisible man in the sky to help us.

[@kojimayuhay]

3:49 to see a minor collision between two bikes. Goes to show how safer it is to ride a bike in a proper bicyclepath, for even when you crash it with something that is still, the speed is so minor that you have time to react, brake and maybe avoid.

[@marcoferrao]

Let´s just hope not just Canada or the US watch your videos, but other places in the world as well, like Brazil...

[@marcoferrao]

@@موسى_7 Walking isn´t so bad around here, but we definetly need more protected bike lanes.

[@BarukNavy]

And that is exactly why, when I have been on a holiday anywhere, I just love coming home. Love seeing other places, doing things just that little different, but in the end I'm Dutch.

[@TheRampax]

Here in the UK there has been a very slow and reluctant government policy shift toward moving cars down the priorities list. Very little has been put into practice yet, as every proposal is met with huge pushback from motorists. Many local councils openly use statements like "We are happy to do everything possible to encourage active travel, so long as it doesn't take any space away from motorists". Attitudes seem deeply engrained. I can't see real change materialising any time soon.

[@NotJustBikes]

That's why I think ubiquitous traffic calming, built into the national road design standards, is the ultimate solution for places like the UK. Even in the Netherlands, streets with a speed limit of 30km/h (with traffic calming that actually _makes_ drivers go 30km/h) do not have dedicated cycling infrastructure. If traffic calming is just part of the street design guidelines, then every time a street gets redesigned or resurfaced, traffic calming gets put in "by default." It's not perfect, but if speeds are slow enough, it becomes safer to walk and cycle, and more people will do it. As more people do it, you'll get more support for low-traffic neighbourhoods and dedicated cycling infrastructure.

[@TheRampax]

@@NotJustBikes Yes, unfortunately local councils are simply not brave enough to enact real change in infrastructure, as it always appears initially unpopular. I don't think the councils should have any choice going forward. If they are given the choice they always back down in favour of motorists, because it's easier / quieter / cheaper.

[@tes8771]

Getting your drivers license in the Netherlands is next level complexity as well :")

[@simonh6371]

That's a positive thing, the way people drive here in the UK, I think driving licences are found in packs of cornflakes.

[@julianreverse]

Compared to the US it is almost everywhere. A friend of mine spent 90$ in LA for her driving license while she was studying there, when she came back to Germany she lost it within two weeks :-D A German license costs around 2000 to 2500€ and takes at least 12 hours of theoretical classes, 12 hours of driving with a teacher (they usually need more, up to 30 in some cases - a trailer license requires 5 additional hours) and a theoretical and practical exam.

[@therealdutchidiot]

@@coastaku1954 If you think you're a good driver on those requirements, stay in Ontario, pretty please.

[@therealdutchidiot]

@@coastaku1954 Apparently, it is, because I've never seen more of a shitshow of people pretending to "drive" than when visiting the US.

[@checkerist]

I award you a "Quality Content" badge 👏👏👏

[@NotJustBikes]

Don't forget to share, like, and subscribe! 😂

[@williamgeardener2509]

This guy is basically saying that every Dutchie can be a traffic safety consultant in every country and earn big bucks by just teaching them some common sense. Love it.

[@Kurgosh1]

Can't earn big bucks selling your expertise if nobody wants to buy it. And America definitely does not want safer streets.

[@rimurutempest9479]

Another thing: having drivers drive on brick instead of asphalt makes them feel like they are in an walking area and not on a billion lane wide stroad.

[@hahka-0168]

Every time I watch another one of these vids, I visibly smile at the background footage. And I don't smile a lot, usually only when I hear that others are happy. So it's significant.

[@sanssheriff3829]

1:49 Funnily enough, this is considered a dangerous and troublesome car-bike intersection. It's both an important car thoroughfare and a high speed bike lane to campus. It's design has changed a few times over the last years and we can't seem to get to the 0 accidents level. Shown in the video is the current design, after the latest redesign was retracted within a few weeks after a horrible accident (for dutch standards). Groningen is considering separating the two traffic streams completely by using an underpass or overpass, but that has its own problems (not enough free space being one). I just thought to give you my personal experience with it :)

[@NotJustBikes]

Yes, I know this! The whole reason I went there was because of this video by Bicycle Dutch: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpO6amCEhN-rabM

[@sanssheriff3829]

@@NotJustBikes Ah nice! :) Although a tunnel was promised in 2018, they are silent about it right now. They are working on making other bike routes to the campus more attractive to use, as an intermediate solution by decreasing traffic at this junction. That doesn't solve the problem, but should make it slightly less problematic. In the end, this is the Dutch version of not really going for a real change, as Bicycle Dutch also writes in his blog. There are real world examples in the Netherland to give more clear signals to drivers, but Groningen opted for the lazy options of red paint and a quick reversal of the situation.

[@philo8035]

On top of good traffic calming, the Netherlands has MUCH better education for drivers. It is mandatory to take driving lessons, and they are very strict when it comes to the rules. Compare this to the US's "you are 16 and got a couple hours of 'instruction from your mom', here is your license" mentality.

[@FlorisBos]

All of your vids make me love my country even more and more!!

[@NotJustBikes]

Glad to hear!

[@joyl7842]

Notice the white street-tiles on the right at 2:50. They are ribbed as an indication for blind people that they are at a crossing. These can be found in all areas where significant numbers of blind people live and on every train station and at every modern bus-stop.

[@Doggchief]

at 4:38 the red car cuts off the pedestrian with the buggy. He was supposed to let her pass because she stood at the beginning of a crosswalk.

[@maartendetemmerman393]

actually, technicly he has to lets her cross if she is waiting. she wasn't waiting yet while he was approaching the crossover. by the time he can see she wants to cross he wouldn't have sufficiant brakingdistance to make a safe stop. So he didn't make any mistakes. As a pedestrian you also need to see if cars stop before crossing even if you have the right of way. You can't just throw yourself on the street and then be suprised if a car can't brake intime

[@Engineer9736]

Maarten De Temmerman Exactly.. It’s a seconds subject. The car was too close already when she turned the buggy towards the zebra crossing.

[@MM-vr8rj]

yeah but she turned quite suddenly to cross the road so the driver didn't want to brake hard so just went before the lady was walking on the road.

[@Rolgi]

@@coastaku1954 For a simple low traffic street as this there is no need for traffic lights. Those would only cause unnecessary jams and slowdowns.

[@californialiberationmoveme180]

Front Street in Lahaina, HI is fully-calmed. As a result, even late at night, when the street is full of drunk people crossing the street willy-nilly (there are many bars on Front Street), accidents are rare. There is also a lot more on-street parking available, because two of the old traffic lanes are reserved for parking.

[@jacqslabz]

Funny what happens when you put human lives above profits of companies marketing fast cars.

[@drood78]

The crossing on 1:50 is in Groningen paddepoel/Selwerd. They decided on one point it would be great to make cars have to stop for the bicycles. Without a warning just one day bam changed. Needless to say some people went flying trough the air because no one knew they changed the crossing. they changed it back after a few accidents.

[@NotJustBikes]

Yes, that's actually why I was filming it, because I learned about the history of it from a Bicycle Dutch video.

[@jenniferbates2811]

This is so awesome! I live in the Northeastern part of the United states. I would love to have these kinds of streets. I would love to visit the Netherlands. 💚💙❤💜🧡💛

[@Crustenscharbap]

I've seen almost all your videos. Maybe other viewers could think driving is horrible in the Netherlands but its GREAT. The streets have really, relly high quality and no road is broken. It seems that all roads in Netherland were built last week. I don't know how the dutch can reach that.

[@luuk341]

Didnt even consider that this was intentionally done here. I always thought that this was just the way streets were here. So thanks for teaching me!

[@danidejaneiro8378]

I’m so glad you clearly defined what _traffic calming_ is before expecting us to know what exactly is it we’re looking at....

[@huubvelthuis8988]

ues brain. TINKh

[@danidejaneiro8378]

@@huubvelthuis8988 - derpy derp

[@Populiervogel]

As a ex-Amsterdammer it was nice to see my old neighborhood, they did a great job, thanks for the footage!

[@camjkerman]

The London Assembly need to take note of this whole channel. The cycle "superhighways" were a good start- they copied everything about Dutch cycle lanes down to the red asphalt- but mean absolutely nothing once the cycle lanes end, or on the roads they parallel. There are so many small roads in The City that could easily be turned into autoluw roads, and it surely wouldn't cost much or take much time to change the road signage and paint to prioritise those not driving.

[@vklaus8702]

In Germany it's just the same like in Canada when it comes to traffic calming: Even when it comes to school routes, they onyl consider traffic calming at locations were accidents are happening on kind of a regular basis. Roads are designed for middle-aged adults driving a car, actually...

[@BeauVerwijlen]

But in Germany it is way better than in Canady. European roads are other when you look to the rest of the world.

[@nellekeglansdorp1595]

I'm Dutch and we moved to Germany 10 years ago. I'm still surprised by the bad road designs here. Even in newly developed arias. Crossings with such bad visibility you have to stand halfway on the road before you know if nothing is coming. No designated parking spaces available and no-parking signs everywhere and still people are parking there cars on top of sidewalks, because that is where they are supposed to park. Madness. Even when the sidewalk is a designated school route 300 meters away from the school, so heavy foot traffic by young children. Cycle lanes on 100 km streets that suddenly stop because the road gets smaller. Why? Who thought that was a good idea?

[@vklaus8702]

You‘re so right! In Germany it‘s always „cars first - people second“. In my city I had to walk at a 4 lane street with my stroller a few times, because sidewalks were parked. I asked the municipality to remove the parking lots at that sidewalk because of that and the answer was: Sorry, but we can‘t take away the peoples parking. I mean WTF?! No space to walk on sidewalks, that „the people“ can park their private car everywhere for free?! But this is Germany...

[@Blueberryminty]

germany sounds like belgium :))

[@GG-si7fw]

In the neighborhoods I lived in the the Midwest USA, everyone is always complaining about the speeds of cars in the neighborhood and the streets are almost 10 M wide to allow for the occasional street parking on both sides and bibdirectional driving at the same time. I kept thinking narrow streets and speed bumps were the solution but I see that having trees near the streets and winding roads with sharp 90 degree corners help traffic calming.

[@elin0s]

I live 1.5 hours from the Dutch border (in Germany) it is so funny to discover the different approaches. Here on Germany we have a mix between the American and the Dutch system. When I brought this topic to my family they all said the Dutch system is good, but what if you need a car. The car is so focused on here

[@futurerails8421]

Public transport is a third option in Germany as even the car centric former Western Germany kept far more trams than any other western nation including The Netherlands. You will find only 1 trolleybus network outside of the coastal metropolitan area (Randstad) in Arnhem and as France shows in Cities like 100k Caen there is no excuse for just focusing on bikes and not building trams in at least some of Cities like Den Bosch, Eindhoven, Enschede, Groningen, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Roermond. They were even some places where cross border tramtrains could be built and since the EU likes those projects they would probably found it.

[@scrambledeggschef7787]

Holy shit! You visited my freakishly small hometown Ermelo! That's so cool!

[@moicus29]

Hmm. Here I have to drive 15 min to get to a park to feel safe and human riding, walking, or hiking. It never occured to me the neighborhood could be designed to do these things.

[@smallday]

Wonderful and very helpful! We love getting an inside look into Amsterdam from someone who has moved there. ❤️

[@StagnantMizu]

I am dutch and I honestly tought it was normal for roads to be designed like this, I geuss the jokes on me since I was never aware of it abroad.

[@davidjohnson1569]

I've recently moved to Arizona in the US and first heard the term traffic calming about two days in when I passed a sign that said, "TRAFFIC CALMING AHEAD," and I thought to myself, "wtf is that?" Then proceeded to hit a speedbump at a probably too high rate of speed. After that and before watching this video, I just assumed that traffic calming was just a fancy way to say speedbump.

[@defeatSpace]

Where I live in Illinois, they actually implement a pretty good amount of Dutch style traffic calming. AMERICA NEEDS MORE!!!

[@peddler931]

In Canada, most municipalities use 4-way stop signs as a traffic calming measure. This automatically makes the street unfriendly to bicycles and causes motorists to brake hard, make a perfunctory stop, then put the accelerator to the floor. None of this has a calming influence on any of the participants.

[@mikekeenan8450]

Winnipeg has replaced some of those with mini-roundabouts, but we still have a lot of them here.

[@Mrwter]

Once again a great video! Here in the Netherlands they think 5 times over something before we gonna actualy do it. And maybe think and talk about it 5 more times.. if we are not satified yet. Thats how we get quiet asphalt, save roads, smart cityplanning. All that for more quality of life. In the citys we all have buildings and street with cars. let the streets be of the pedestrians instead of the cars. A car is just a device to get from a to b. why do we need our whole world to be shaped for the cars to drive in. we have come al long way, but we have still a long way to go.

[@Alex-fc8xn]

Off topic: but your voice is ear-calming. What a soft and pleasant accent and gentle but easy to process way of speaking. My autistic ears would like audiobooks that sound like this.

[@boium.]

1:50 oh god das de Eikenlaan in Groningen. I haat het om daar over te steken als het druk is, zowel als fietser en als automobilist.

[@NotJustBikes]

Precies! Bicycle Dutch heeft er een filmje over gemaakt: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpO6amCEhN-rabM

[@Grunn007]

Volgend mij staat dat punt ook als hrt meest fietsonvriendelijk punt van de stad bekend.

[@Random.ChanneI]

I’m happy to live in the Netherlands. And your videos are amazing!

[@Aeternum_]

what amazes me the most is how there's no pavements or.. "sidewalks" in residential areas at all.. literally nothing but road and then grass. That's so weird

[@witoldschwenke9492]

We have that in Denmark too, its really terrible,! Like wide roads cutting through residential zones with no sidewalks but still it has bus stops so you have to walk on the road where cars go 60-80..

[@JohanHerrenberg]

I recognise that crossing Minervalaan/ Stadionweg at 3:50 and a few seconds later, at 3:57, the Beethovenstraat, both in my native Amsterdam. Great vid about something I take for granted!

[@tobeytransport2802]

In the UK it’s like a halfway house, we have a lot of the Dutch techniques but they are only usually found on private roads and estates and quieter streets.

[@Pinkpenguinsausage]

Great content. We need more of this here in New Zealand

[@sebasdejong5226]

Greetings from original zeeland

[@Kevin-nr7rw]

1:59 My hometown, the station is behind 😃 And 2:37 Is the street where I live. It's funny to see 😆

[@walterbyrd8380]

On a bicycle, in a US city, my greatest fear is being "doored." Bicycle paths are put along rows of parked cars. Eventually, somebody who is not paying attention with open their car door right in front of you, or even broadside you.

[@matthijsblomjous3671]

2:29 I was so confused to see the crossing I practically live next to

[@Bossi22]

Great videos, tnx youtube recommended. Like others said, we take a lot of things we consider standard for granted, soon you will tell us this februari weather really isn't that bad. I would love to see videos of what dutch cities do not do well compared to other cities in different countries. Keep up the great content!

[@NotJustBikes]

Thanks for the comment! With respect to what Dutch cities do not do well: I have been researching about cities for over a decade and it's pretty clear that Dutch cities are the gold standard for just about everything. Nowhere is perfect, but it's very hard to find anything that Dutch cities do not do well. They are constantly being used by urban planners in other countries as a examples of the right way to do things.

[@louislopez55]

Do city planners/traffic engineers know about these methods in the U.S. and Canada? If they do, why don’t they implement them? Who or what is preventing improving our lives? I sent a link to one of your videos about “stroads” to the traffic planner in our town. (Gilbert, Arizona) I never heard from him about it.

[@glynnspinn]

Applying the principal of poka-yoke to roads makes so much sense!

[@GoatBlaat]

I was always aware of certain designs of the streets in the Netherlands, but now I actually know the word for it xD Brilliant. They all do make me aware of the different situations on the roads, and make me adjust to the design.

[@marcelmoulin3335]

A Dutchman by birth, I grew up in Palo Alto. (Recently retired, I have returned to the fatherland where I live in bicycle-friendly, calm Middelburg.) You are right to say that Dutch towns and cities provide an oasis for the pedestrian and cyclist. In general, they are also serene unlike the plethora of chaotic, hectic North American cities which emphasise car use. The Dutch also possess a superb public transport system which allows most people to move about without getting into a car. The North American transport experts and city planners would be exceedingly wise to spend time in The Netherlands. Perhaps then, they may one day replicate the magic that we Dutch sometimes take for granted. "Ja, de Nederlanders doen 't goed."

[@BrendanBoner]

One of my first words I learned in Eindhoven was "drempels". Drempels everywhere.

[@seuscen]

Love your videos man! Hoping to visit The Netherlands soon and live the experience. New subscriber :D greetings from Mexico

[@frankhooper7871]

Since the coming of the current pandemic, the town I live in has put in plastic bollards between _some_ cycle lanes and the car lanes. I then heard someone complaining that he felt the need to slow down when driving as he was closer to oncoming traffic [rather than hugging the cycle lane!] - excellent! I've been saying for years that 40mph (~65kph) is way too fast for a road with houses on both sides - not to mention too fast to make a simple painted line safe for cyclists.

[@takatamiyagawa5688]

This is where I think "traffic annoying" is a more accurate descriptor than "traffic calming". If the road geometry is clearly capable of supporting higher speeds, and is clearly being held back by artificially inserted annoyances like speed humps or bollards, then it is only logical that one would complain and feel that the presence of bollards is wrong, even if they're doing more than annoying a driver. Compare the street at 4:57. You have to drive slow here because it's narrow. Space is being used by parked cars, parked bikes, and trees, and there's also a pedestrian crossing. There's nothing artificial about these things, so drivers accept them. They have not been inserted just to slow a driver down, but they do. The list at 4:31 has plenty of ideas for how to convince drivers to slow down without making it look like artificial obstructions have been added to an otherwise sensible road design.

[@cameronnorby3905]

Just a few days ago someone came down my residential street going about 40/mph instead of the posted 30/mph. If the street wasn't 20 feet wide and had some infrastructure like this, that would never have happened. He's lucky he didn't run over one of the many kids frequently in the street.

[@Crosaysheya]

really love your videos! I thought you might be intrested in the 'Stop de Kindermoord' movement in the 1970's (Stop the Childmurder). There was alot of social outrage over increased traffic deaths and especially (child)cyclists. Just one of many factors that have contributed to these awesome features you show in your vids!

[@NotJustBikes]

Yes of course! You can't read the history of cycling in the Netherlands without Stop De Kindermoord! Bicycle Dutch has a good video about it (so I probably won't do my own).

[@Waterlooplein1]

I saw a KZbin video once where a village in Netherlands had a gate to slow down the number of bicycles that tended to cross the village during rush times. So they would not be bunched up.

[@XEinstein]

It's pretty amazing how designing our country around safety is ingrained into our nation psyche so much that for us it is just 'gewoon'. But I guess that comes from centuries of fighting against the sea. It's equally amazing how abnormal this is for other countries.

[@jannetteberends8730]

I think it has more to do with all the action groups in the past. Starting with PROVO, and their white bicycle plan. Picked up later by de kabouters and Oranje Vrijstaat. And groups like the ENWB and Rover. There has been so much pressure, that the mentality of people changed of the years

[@vulpesinculta3238]

@@jannetteberends8730 It wasn't a matter of policy or activism at first; it was a matter of (1) money, (2) access to cars and (3) existing infrastructure. The policy/activism angle is a matter of hindsight. 1. The Netherlands was fairly poor, especially compared to the United States, before World War II. Industrialization had barely happened there in the 19th century, and its economy was not able to compete with the economies of Britain, Germany and the US. What's more, the rigorous austerity measures needed after the 1929 crash meant that road building was a low priority; only a handful of car tunnels and car bridges were built before World War II. 2. Continuing on the matter of money, far fewer Dutch households were able to afford cars before World War II. By the 1930s, about 60-65% of American families owned a car, compared to less than 5% of Dutch households. Cars remained a luxury product, owned only by doctors, lawyers, military officers, national-level politicians (local politicians, even from old patrician families, often could not afford a car) and succesful businessmen. There was never a 'car culture' in the Netherlands prior to World War II (or, for that matter, prior to the 1960s/1970s). 3. The Netherlands had an existing network of roads, railways, towns, cities, fields and canals. Smaller towns and villages had developed organically over the centuries: a main road with a church, some shops and more expensive houses, with narrow side streets for cheaper houses, allotments and storage sheds/barns. Even further, you'd find canals and fields for cattle and crops. The landscape was also dotted with canals, and roads usually followed these canals and were meant for small horse buggies if that. When there was finally a reason for the Dutch government to invest seriously in roads, after World War II, it had to build around these things, whereas in America the government could often build towns around roads.

[@jannetteberends8730]

Vulpes Inculta it not hindsight, I lived it. Every Saturdays we went demonstrating through the city to get the cars away. That was in the seventies. In that time the Netherlands were not poor anymore. Everybody had one or two cars. That was just the point. People from that time went in the politics and became influential. And kept going on with it. On the website of bicycle Dutch you can find the whole history. bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/how-the-dutch-got-their-cycling-infrastructure/

[@MeriaDuck]

And for good reasons, traffic death toll has decreased from 3500 to about 500 annually since the seventies despite (car)traffic increasing. See Wikipedia about Verkeersveiligheid

[@MeriaDuck]

@@jannetteberends8730 thank you for your effort! ☮️ 🌈

[@brandonking1737]

And in Canada, the drivers complain constantly about the traffic calming measures that do get implemented.