What I Learned From Staring at 106,000 Cyclists

[@avryptickle]

Momentumists is a great word to explain that behavior. I commuted 17 miles to work here in LA, and the dead stops are what really kill you and kill your commute times. Keeping a little momentum going is really helpful.

[@skyearthocean5815]

I think my willingness to obey traffic laws is directly proportional to the equability of the urban design. I think the only place I've ever ridden where I really felt I was given fair access to the roads was Amsterdam, so I followed the rules there. I've not been to your fair city yet, and it looks nice, but not quite a nice as Amsterdam.

[@mennoltvanalten7260]

And the sensibility of the laws. I tend to break the Dutch traffic law of extending an arm before a turn a lot because as a kid I had pretty bad motor control so I couldn't do it without a lot of wobbling and swaying which is very unsafe, and now as an adult I only do it in busy places, especially for oncoming traffic and traffic from the sides, but not when eg. leaving an empty cycle path or turning on a crossing that is essentially empty. I wonder how much that played into his analysis of what % of people do stuff wrong?

[@elcarrerdelsgaivots1152]

19:40 Maybe it's not because you think "nobody is watching" but because you feel safer with potentially harmful actions in an empty street rather than a street where you have to keep an eye on tens of cars, pedestrians and bikes moving around. Something like crossing an empty street at night outside of a pedestrian crossing vs doing so in a bussy time of the day.

[@freudsigmund72]

Kopenhagen The worlds safest cycling city as voted by the people from Kopenhagen. The intersections shown would never fly in the Netherlands. They simply haven’t followed the rules for safe cycling infrastructure.

[@mkhtel]

Dutchie here. It's really interesting that he sais he had to school the city of Amsterdam on unified best practice design. When I see Kopenhagen in the pictures I see utter chaos. I've been to Amsterdam enough times to know it can be chaos there but at least you feel protected from cars at an intersection.

[@ynotnilknarf39]

remind me how many Dutch cyclists are killed when coming from segregated infra across a motor road again? Over 60 people a year are killed in Netherlands when they transit from segregated, it is the very nature of the segregation and maintaining the space for motorists that causes so many cyclist deaths in your country. We see how cycling has gone backwards and yet more deaths and more car purchasing, even with the huge purchasing of e-assist cycles there is fewer people cycling than before but no reduction in deaths. The intersections in Netherlands quite literally are killing zones, yet you are so determined that you way is right that you ignore the very thing that is killing and injuring the vulnerable! UK has no segregated infrastructure of note yet we have safer roads for cyclists, there is at least 4 x more motorised miles driven and yet UK has half the number of deaths. Yes the average distance per population head people on bikes travels is more in Netherlands but that isn't per cyclist. Add in four times more motorised miles in Netherlands and you would see a huge increase in deaths compared to UK on top of the 100% worse death toll already. As someone who has ridden in many European countries I'd rather cycling in Denmark than Netherlands, the motorists are less angry and have better awareness, Dutch drivers are worse than Uk drivers and that's going some!

[@ynotnilknarf39]

@@mkhtel Amsterdam has a shocking record for road traffic deaths ffs! Pure Ignorance on your part!

[@freudsigmund72]

@@ynotnilknarf39 before you start talking about statistics, please make sure you understand them. In the UK less than 1% of trips is made by bicycle yet 5,7% of traffic deaths are cyclists. If the UK had the same percentage of cyclists as the Netherlands has, that would account for 2800 deaths per year by bike. Besides that, the main reason give in the UK not to use the bicycle for transportation purposes is lack of safety. If you want to learn more about proper infrastructure, may I advise you to check out the youtube channel Not just bikes where a Canadian explains it all: kzbin.info/door/0intLFzLaudFG-xAvUEO-A

[@freudsigmund72]

@@ynotnilknarf39 Amsterdam has indeed about the worst cycling infrastructure for cyclists in the netherlands... and yet even though it is the main form of transportation, the number of casualties is limited. edit: the number of fatalities in Amsterdam as a whole has steadily been declining for decades. The number of cyclists getting killed in traffic is about 4 per year with more than 1 million people cycling at least every week.

[@johnson941]

As a bicycle commuter and nothing else regarding urban planning, I think I am most likely to stick to the rules if I feel like my mode of transport is considered. I regularly ride on what starts as a big road for cars with two two-way bike paths on either side, separated by the road by a lot of greenery. Then, the bike paths meet the road, starts to run along side it, but then with only one-way on either side. Still, at this point, the road is a typical 1960's "let's revolutionise traffic with a two-lane road that is twice the width of the cars going on it" with nice wide strips of grass that separates the wide bike lanes. After a while like this, the road enters the city centre and the bike lanes start running side by side with the road, which have narrowed significantly. It's still a fine road if you're cycling, though. Then the last part of the road, which is in the densest part of the city, comes, and here, the bike lanes just randomly stop, annoyingly just as the road becomes the busiest. There is nothing but two narrow car lanes, where the drivers drive way too fast and there is no room for bicycles. Here, I, and many other local cyclists, usually start riding so far out on the road, that cars can't safely overtake us, so they have to drive behind the cyclists the entire time. That part is in my eyes a failure regarding traffic safety for cars, but especially for bicycles. It seems so irresponsible to just drop everyone into a narrow street with no regard to how they are going to come out of it. I think it is especially annoying since the road has been so bike friendly all the way into the city before that.

[@geertbuis154]

How do you feel about the Amsterdam approach of creating seperate 'hoofdnetten' for cars and bycicles, which are a 'soft' way of guiding the two types of traffic to use seperate streets? The KZbin channel 'Not Just Bikes' did a wonderful video on this.

[@geertbuis154]

Those box turns make me really uncomfortable... My city has a system where cyclists all get a green light at the same time - giving the whole intersection away for cyclists, and you're allowed to make any kind of turn you want. It's a bit messy, but I've never seen anything go wrong, as everyone is aware of the situation and considerate of other cyclists.

[@VulpeX2Triumph]

I remember a similar pedestrian light system from Glasgow in the UK! Sometimes I really miss the chance to just move diagonally over the crossing, because it is just so much more convenient.

[@james-p]

We have those here is Los Angeles - we call them "scramble crosswalks." All traffic signals for cars turn red, and the pedestrians and bicycles can go every way they want.

[@james-p]

On the other hand, overall, bicycle infrastructure here is crap.

[@cubeofcheese5574]

Interesting that he thinks Amsterdam planning is lazy. I'd like to hear more because thus far I've mostly heard that Amsterdam infrastructure is more cyclist centric than Copenhagen

[@ynotnilknarf39]

more segregated infrastructure does not equal safer, more segregation in fact causes so many other issues that are ignored by the segregationalists, such that more people die comparatively. Segregation allows motorists the same freedoms as before in NL, have you seen the nice wide roads that allow motons to travel where they like by car? Intersections between segregated lanes and motor roads is where the most deaths in NL occur, around a third of the 200+ deaths happen there each year.

[@henkoosterink8744]

Not in Amstardam, but in all the other cities of Holland. Copenhagen by the way sucks.

[@mikkoh5213]

@@ynotnilknarf39 You are missing few very important factors if you claim that cyclist segregation is more dangerous. Because all the studies (also all Danish studies that I've seen) about different types of cycling infastructure consistantly show that completely separated cycle path is by far the safest type of cycling route. Note that completely separated cycle path means a path that doesn't have any crossings with motor traffic. Separated cycle paths are also safer than mixed traffic or cycle lanes in road sections between intersections. The reason why many people claim that segregation is more dangerous, is because statistics show possibly increased risk at intersections. But that doesn't mean that segregation is dangerous, it means that intersection design is dangerous. There are suprisingly few studies comparing the safety of different intersection designs. But the majority of crashes between cars and cyclists at intersection involves a turning car. And that fact already shows the real problem with intersection design. Intersections even in Denmark and Netherlands are still designed in a car-centric way. Most effective way of improving safety at traffic light controlled intersections is getting rid of those light phases where cyclists and turning cars have green light at the same time. And at intersections without traffic lights, most effective way is to limit the speed of turning cars to walking pace with continuous raised sidewalks/bike paths (speed bumps) and tight turning radius. But these designs are still quite rare, because they slow down car traffic a lot.

[@peterpesch]

@@mikkoh5213 I'm not sure about that. Where I live, cyclists have a separate network of cycle paths, separated from the network for cars and the network for cars and the network for buses. So children never really learn how to deal with cars (and cars in our city will encounter much less cyclists than in the rest of the Netherlands). Which will cause dangerous situations when they move to another city. And of course those statistics will appear in the statistics for those other cities (with separated cycle lanes), and not for our city (with a separated cycle network).

[@TrustInTheShepherd]

Amsterdam is not that great, other parts of the Netherlands are much much better. But Amsterdam is better than anywhere else in the world, including any Danish city. You can really get anywhere by bike, think like a car road network but for bikes, anything above 30km/h typically has a seperate protected bikelane, anything above 50km/h certainly has a bikelane. Protected intersections, protected roundabouts, bike tunnels, bridges, synced traffic lights and sensors to give green for cyclists, traffic lights that give quicker green for cyclists if it rains. You name it.

[@klausbrinck2137]

In Germany there is an unwritten law, that if you disrespect a regulation while cycling at "walking speed" (5km/h or less), the police may not mind, since at less than 5km/h, you are about as dangerous as a pedestrian, and so, essentialy considered a pedestrian for that moment. That is very logical, cause if you are as fast as a pedestrian, why should the hell matter, that you use wheels instead of feet to move??? So, under the line, it´s all about high and low speeds, and not about using feet or wheels to move ... So, simply stop discriminating wheels (vs. feet ;-), and let some logic come into play, finally ! In crowded pedestrian zones, where the lenght of a bicycle becomes a problem, hindering pedestians from moving in dense crowds, the police, of course, wll not keep an eye closed...

[@peter_smyth]

I've seen some narrow paths and streets in the UK have cyclists dismount signs, but standing beside a bike to push makes them wider than if they rode slowly.

[@mortenreippuertknudsen3576]

Pretty much how the cyclists applies rules in Danish cities

[@ynotnilknarf39]

@@peter_smyth cyclist dismount signs are meaningless, put out by lazy authorities who impose sanctions against one group but not others. legally the signs have no force of law whatsoever and should be ignored.

[@michaelzariczniak9810]

Mikael, I don't comment often, but when I do, its pure love. I've watched your entire "Life Sized City" series. I've been enjoying #NotJustBikes lately, and I really enjoyed your rebuttal to the "best cycling city" debate. Since then, I've learned the difference between commercial extremism and democratic social development. Your insightful and evidence-based productions keep me informed and motivated. Thank you for what you do. Transferability!

[@emiel1976ep]

It us clear that he doesn't understand where bikes rule the road and where not. In Copenhagen they follow more the rules, because braking the rules makes it very dangerous by how the road is designed. In Amsterdam you can do wat you want, because bikes rule the road and not the cars like in Copenhagen. This makes it a lot safer and therefor people take way more risks. He didn't noticed that! But that is because he has limited info.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

The inverse is true as well: As more cyclists break the rules, that area becomes safer. This has one simple reason: Rulebreakers make drivers more careful, because they can't predict behaviour as well. Careful drivers are safe drivers.

[@emiel1976ep]

@@bramvanduijn8086 that is true, but it starts as people start yo feel safe. As they don't feel safe, they will kerp following the rules. The safer they feel, the more risk they take and in the end, create an safer environment. The more people follow the rules, the more dangerous a situation is.

[@LifeSizedCity]

I prefer conversations with people who know the profession. I've worked for Dutch cities and know the cultural and professional context. Come back when you're better equipped to discuss. /mikael

[@emiel1976ep]

@@LifeSizedCity I am, but it looks like you aren't.

[@moladiver6817]

English speaking countries have a legal structure based on personal accountability and the system tends to be entirely ignored. If an accident happens in a Dutch city there's a full blown investigation and the people or person involved are not the default focus. How and why did it happen, and how can it be prevented in the future? Those are the right questions authorities should ask. Then any necessary changes to the infrastructure are made. There's nationwide regulation for street layouts with enough safe space for all modes of transport that have made my country the cycling world champion. I grew up there not noticing anything special about being able to safely cycle by myself from the age of 8 to school, my aunt, my friends, or wherever I wanted to go. This was normal and widely accepted and we all took it for granted. Decades later and living abroad I now know how special that is. Thankfully the world is now slowly catching up. KZbin is exploding with channels about the common sense of cycling. Cycling is the best thing you can have anywhere if you want to create a more liveable area. Once people realize cycling isn't a sport but a serious mode of transportation then great things can happen.

[@mennoltvanalten7260]

Another thing to note about this practice of reacting to an accident by redesigning the roads: you end up with roads that might look more chaotic to an outsider, but that give everyone clear ideas of where to go AND give redundancy where if one party fails in detecting and responding to another the other can still save themselves. He mentioned that more people break the law in Amsterdam, and I expect a chunk of that is because it is safe to do so. For example many people don't stretch their hand out when making a turn (which is illegal) as a turn signal, but slowing down while moving to the left of your lane and someone in front of you stretching their hand means it isn't needed at all. In many places, infrastructure is designed to work for people following the law. Here, it is designed to work even if some people are not doing so. For example say you have a drunk driver. In the US, they can go wherever and at whatever speed they want. In a typical Dutch bike-centered intersection they will have to slow down as the road narrows and splits in two around a 'flight hill', then navigate a speed bump on top of which is the bike lane. A cyclist in this scenario is facing a slower driver on a more specific section of road, and the flight hill will dampen the impact of any car to cyclists or pedestrians waiting for it to pass. EDIT: By the way, in the field that I am studying in this is called robustness: A robust design can handle things that it wasn't specifically designed for decently, at the cost of a tiny bit of 'peak scenario' performance. This for example allows you to relax certain assumptions. In my field that often means relaxing the assumption 'the data here is distributed in this way' or 'all my variables have little to no correlation', but here it means relaxing the assumption 'all people are following the law' down to 'people are generally following the law and/or decently attentive and sensible'

[@klausbrinck2137]

19:20 This has also another explanation than yours: During congestion, deviating adds a bit of chaos that nobody can bear at that moment. You´ll not reach your time-saving-aim, while hindering innocent others to reach theirs, at the same time. It´s a netto-loss, for you AND for the herd. Deviating at low-traffic hours means, that the behaviour has almost next to zero negative consequences...

[@joseville]

It's also much harder to deviate, even if you want to, when there are a lot of other cyclists around to maneuver around.

[@klausbrinck2137]

@@joseville Exactly what I mean, you annoy others, while getting no gains yourself.

[@ashleyhamman]

Agreed, it's not that you are seen to deviate, so much as there's less room for error. Anyone who has had to drive for much of their daily transit knows that it's dangerous and dumb to deviate during rush hour, where there's plenty of room and time to deviate on a quiet weekend afternoon.

[@MeepMu]

This is really interesting, it's kind of crazy to me that something like this hasn't been done before. Great that you are getting it started!

[@emiel1976ep]

It has done already. Jyst go to the Netherlands. There they change intersections because of it! Copenhagen isn't that great with infrastructure compared to the Netherlands!

[@TrustInTheShepherd]

@@emiel1976ep Exactly!!

[@strangebird5974]

Hey, Danish person here. I find your videos fascinating. They remind me of the kind of behavioral studies that Pelle Guldborg Hansen is a proponent of. Using direct observation of how people act in their environment to gain clues as to how to improve the environment for safety and overall benefit. I hope you have the ear of city planners to keep making Copenhagen and other cities safer.

[@LifeSizedCity]

Tak! Kender godt Guldborgs arbejde. Nu har jeg jo arbejdet med alt det her i mange år i mange byer så ja, jeg hiver hårdt i de ører jeg har fat i. :-) /Mikael

[@mymemeplex]

Did you check with the Dutch cycling organisations for research? I find it strange there’s no data even in the Netherlands.

[@cliostronk2667]

Amongst others, the university of Groningen has an interdisciplinary research unit on traffic since 1977, now part of the psychology department. They also offer education in English: Traffic Psychology and Sustained Mobility www.rug.nl/research/heymans-institute/traffic-and-environmental-psychology/ Quick Google search and I found 3 other universities in the Netherlands that offer courses in traffic psychology

[@emiel1976ep]

Lol not in Denmark, but the Netherlands has it and a lot more knowledge and info than he has.

[@magnushmann]

It's not what he is talking about though. This type of thing exists in most countries.

[@TdaKraakGaming]

Copenhagen is one of the worst cities to observe. You should go to the Netherlands where cyclists cycle all over the country. Amsterdam isn’t recommended but the rest of the country is very good. Copenhagen is in development and not nearly as safe the Netherlands is.

[@TheNinetySecond]

You don't think Danes cycle everywhere outside of Copenhagen? _Of course we do._ I'd even say that provincial cycling, or even just any kind of cycling outside of Copenhagen is drastically different from big city cycling, and much more in line with what Danish cycling actually is. Same best practice principles, but a very different result.

[@emiel1976ep]

@@TheNinetySecond Copenhagen doesn't has that great of cycling infrastructure and outside the city, it isn't even close what the Netherlands has as bike infrastructure.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

@@TheNinetySecond I would be very interested in a study of Danish provincial cycling.

[@LifeSizedCity]

You have never been to Denmark, have you? Haha. Dutch nationalism in a nutshell. Say hi to Geert Wilders at your next meeting! /mikael

[@emiel1976ep]

@@LifeSizedCity I have! Did you ever bean in the Netherlands? And if so, where, because you compare one city with a complete country!

[@DJG1999]

HAHA! This is so spot on! I live in Copenhagen and have done almost exactly the same "momentumist"-deviations at the same spots, even with the same posture you are describing (standig up on the bicycle, while having a goofy expression). Definitely, going to buy your book!

[@Schindlabua]

Cyclists deviating less in crowds is not due to being ashamed I reckon. Rather, following the herd is easier -- with many eyes on the road the individual has to pay less attention and needs to make fewer decisions. However if you're alone and you have to put in a lot of conscious effort to keep track of all the surrounding traffic you might aswell take the shortcut if you deem it safe. That shortcut might not even enter your stream of consciousness if you're on autopilot in a crowd, because you're thinking about what to eat for dinner and not about optimal pathing. The herd does that for you. When I'm crossing a crosswalk and ten other people are crossing I have to admit I'll only quickly glance at oncoming car traffic. But of course I'm paying full attention if I'm the only one crossing because I don't want to be run over.

[@TheNinetySecond]

Completely agree. Only rarely have I been in large herds of cyclists, but it's kind of freeing just how automated the experience is. You just start and stop whenever everybody else does, and it's often a quite leisurely pace as well. Conversely, afternoon shortcuts make perfect sense, since there are fewer cyclists, pedestrians and drivers, and everyone is much more alert (if not *most* alert) at that time of day.

[@Spinnie1]

Well it's part of the bystander effect.

[@gwarlow]

I was quite surprised at the result. Fascinating study of social behaviour. Thanks for sharing.

[@rientsdijkstra4266]

Amsterdam planning is very very well thought out, and based on decaded of experience with thousands of streets and crossings. However part of this thorough analysis and planning is that sometimes organised chaos is BEST!

[@ronaldderooij1774]

Amsterdam cycling infrastructure lazy and therefore inducing lawbreaking? No sir. I don't buy that. Amsterdammers break many, many laws (not only traffic laws) more often than the rest of the country. It is just another culture of freedom and diversity over there. They say it is tolerance, but in fact I think it is the people that are lazy. For example if someone from Amsterdam walks in the supermarket and picks up the wrong product, he will just pick the right product without putting the wrong one back where he got it. In the rest of the Netherlands, people tend to put it back more often. And I have seen numerous videos criticizing the Kopenhagen bike infrastructure and prasing the Dutch. Now I am not nationalistic so really, I don't care who "wins" but it is good to know that opinions on this differ. Take a look here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpvdq4lodtCsmtU

[@LifeSizedCity]

Nice guessing and random theorizing. /mikael

[@ronaldderooij1774]

@@LifeSizedCity Not quite. I was born and raised 20 km from Amsterdam. I studied in Amsterdam. There was a huge difference in attitude in those 20 km.

[@TdaKraakGaming]

@@LifeSizedCity Another unprofessional comment huh? I don’t really think you are a certified city planner. All the things you spit out is bs.

[@LaustChristensen]

@@ronaldderooij1774 the plural of "anecdote" is "anecdotes" and not "data".

[@Merrinen]

For the question of when cyclists deviate I would've answered night time. There are so many reasons to not follow the rules. Here is one typical: no cars, red lights, you gotta stop and push that button? Meh, I'm gonna go. Preferably right through the middle of the car designed intersection, because I can, and it is free of snow and slush, too.

[@mkhtel]

Especially when you want to make a left turn this is a really interesting option. In most systems you're screwed as a cyclist when you need to make a left turn.

[@Molloy244]

Maybe it is a UK centric problem but night time is when I am more likely to be assaulted by car drivers. Being pushed by a car, van or lorry into the pavement or a ditch was a weekly occurance when riding at night, sometimes preceded or followed by with verbal abuse

[@Tartar]

By chance, have you gotten this research published in a journal?

[@nilsh3737]

20:01 I would say that deviating form the law during the non-rush hour time is also encouraged by the fact that there is less parameters to take in account (less cars, less bikes and less pedestrians, hence less possibility that your outlaw trajectory would be interrupted by some unpredictable element going through it). You feel that risk is more acceptable not only because the herd is not watching but also because you can absorb the parameters and anticipate each element's trajectory, whereas in the rush hour the trafic's statistic is not in your favor, it is riskier.

[@jims1812]

I agree that cyclists need the right infastructure.I'm not convince that Copenhagen is safer than Amsterdam or the Netherlands in general thoughI've not been to either on a bike.I'm from England but have cycled in Dordrecht and I'm persuaded by The Not Just Bikes you tube channel that the Dutch are the world leaders when it comes to designing cities for cyclists.Its good to see that cyclists came out so well in your survey but I'm not sure that will stop some of our press in England vilifying cyclists though.

[@Pyjamas22]

Super fascinating talking about all of the insights in urban human behavior

[@mehdiconsulta]

Super cool video, thanks for sharing your experience with us. I am curious do you have any data or materials about Berlin cyclists behaviors?

[@okayolamax2min345]

Good work, great study.

[@peterpesch]

Deviation from the standard always includes taking some risk. When you do it during rush hour, you're taking a greater risk. So of course, most deviations are made when there's not much traffic. Also, if you do deviate during a rush hour, you still don't want the rest of the traffic to be surprised. So in that case you'll always try to deviate in some "normal" way, so that the rest of the traffic knows what you're going to do. That might also partially explain why you saw those people "making themselves big" - it's simply more safe. --- And of course, I was also surprised that you only saw 4000 out of 80000 cyclists breaking the law. As a Dutchman, I would have expected 5000.

[@blazeap8577]

Amazing! Thank you for your work and the sharing

[@stripping_architecture]

Awesome study. I can also share a secret. Inside the train station in Brussels you are not supposed to ride the bicycle cause of course you may cause accidents. But in the slower hours I prefer to sit side-wise on the bar of the bicycle and pull with the leg and if need it I can just get up. In that way I can control when and how much momentum I want to use. Awesome stuff is that this method of using the cycle doesn't bother the security. So it is kind a like flying low under their radar. :)

[@qwerty7573]

This was extremely cool!

[@Torsan1977]

Great work!

[@dengamleidiot]

This is surprisingly exciting!

[@TheJoergenDK]

Thanks again for all the things you do and have done - like the tilted bins that are so much easier to use without - losing momentum. Your videos have also shown me how elegant these people are on their bikes. The coolest people of all ages are bicyclists. It is like ballet sometimes, sometimes not so much. But always cool. Rockstar cool.

[@michaelpolitz1144]

Hmm, good study, but I wish you had taken a closer look at bike messengers. I know our style seems reckless but keep in mind that our pay is depends on how many deliveries we do in a week or two

[@LifeSizedCity]

I know many and I used to be one. I offer merely the observation that most Recklists were bike messengers. That's all. :-) /mikael

[@jonathanirons231]

Really great overview Mikael. Thanks for your patience doing this! Is any of this available to read in English?

[@MrCalls1]

Obviously youve spent much more time on this than I, but I’m a cyclist from Manchester/London. And I can’t describe myself as a momentumist. I’m a defensive. Often in Britain due to the lack of protected cross turns it is far safer to turn on red lights or pedestrian time. There’s a number of intersections involving busses, or I expect a HGV to pass through anytime,W where there’s a chance that if you cross turn on green you could become squashed between 2 passing streams of large heavy vehicles.

[@aaron7935]

I hope someone took the same video footage and studied the drivers and pedestrians as well. I'd be very interested to know about categorization and compliance by group for private citizens driving, police officers, and pedestrians in general.

[@karikling6751]

I'm curious if you have done any of these studies in the states because I routinely hear drivers say that cyclists flaunt traffic rules, and, to be fair, many of us do carefully run red lights. I think that has a lot to do with how dangerous our intersections are and how reckless some of the drivers are that we don't want to be in the middle of an intersection when we know drivers will also be there.

[@tednruth453]

Fascinating! Were there no observed collisions?

[@christill]

When I ride my Dutch bike I do tend to creep into quieter junctions. Whereas on my e-bike I tend to stop every time. But obviously don’t design infrastructure for e-bikes. All riders want to keep moving in general. And also I would be interested to know the law breaking percentage in my town in the U.K. Presumably it’s a lot more than 5% because a lot of the law abiding people are too scared to ride.

[@adamsterdam9049]

Super interessant video, dine bøger er i ønskelisten til sommer

[@Skvat69]

you say the deviation does not happen in the "morning rush hours". but your graph shows, that it happens in the rush hours after work.

[@markuslh]

Very cool! I love biking as a mode of transport in the city. You should consider studying Münster, in Germany, famous for its bike use as well

[@williamcheek7206]

Incredible work! do you think there are metrics or dimensions to urban cycling behavior that are often not understood or not well represented in municipal urban planning analysis? Love your series, cheers

[@AzogDefilerFromMordor]

I dont know how to solve it but thing that is wrong is that if car want to go somewhere on intersectionm it has to wait on light once, but pedestrians and cyclist often twice. It shows who is prefered in trafic.

[@LeHosko]

I love how the presenter presents with such passion and vivacity for his work, it makes the video many times more interesting, and the study is interesting enough in itself, however, a dry presenter could've killed the message easily. Well done.

[@Skvat69]

12:17 this is a legal left turn for the bike, just make sure its clear

[@lapland123]

Biggest problem of Denmark is when you're not in Copenhagen you're not on a cycle track. Nothing out there.. Come to the Netherlands outside of Amsterdam. You'll see the Denes are lazy. And even Copenhagen is poor by Dutch standard. Come over, please.

[@lapland123]

BTW the Dutch are known for "not to comply" to the rules. So that is also a thing.

[@LifeSizedCity]

You should travel more in Denmark before commenting. I've worked for several Dutch cities. /mikael

[@LarsPallesen]

You're only revealing that you haven't been around in Denmark because what you're saying is obviously false. In fact I dare you to show me a Danish city or town with no cycle paths.

[@lapland123]

@@LarsPallesen it’s about beteeen a city and a village. Yes I’ve had a lovely vacation in Denmark.

[@nicolasmancuso6564]

Me encantan tus videos. Le estoy quemando la cabeza a la gente para que los vea!

[@DougGrinbergs]

15:10 conclusions.

[@Caelum23]

Amazing. As a geoscience student data collection is a big part of field work and has nearly the same level of addicting monotonous tasks... if thats a thing haha. Thanks for the insight into your little study!

[@groomboek1978]

"The world's safest cycling city" According to insurance company Luko that would be Utrecht in the Netherlands

[@piros100]

I started cycling regularly in Budapest recently. Before I did it only occasionally, and thought that most people here are biking pretty recklessly. my opinion changed however, maybe because more people are cycling due to covid and more people started working in food delivery since lockdown and they are not that experienced or confident to break the rules, so the biking culture is getting better here. I just really hope the roads will be maintained and the potholes fixed because some of the main roads are in such bad shape that I constantly bite my tongue on my way home. our mayor is a biker himself and promotes this method of transport, so we have good chances.

[@someguyik]

Do you think it's possible for bicycles to become a primary form of transport in incredibly crowded cities such as Tokyo. Or in incredibly hilly cities such as Seoul? I couldn't help but notice that most of the places where biking is a popular form of commuting, it's mostly cities that aren't very crowded and are relatively flat. Also, what about cities with extreme weather conditions such as Ottawa? I really enjoy your channel, keep up the great work!

[@bramvanduijn8086]

The more crowded, the more useful a bike is since you will be making more short-distance trips. Though at some point pedestrians win, because they take up even less space than cyclists. Extreme hills would be a problem, but moderate hills aren't. It might change the type of bike used. Extreme weather is not a problem as long as it is weather you can dress for. -50C would start to be an issue, as would +50C. The only thing you really need cars for is goods transport, emergency services, and some taxis to fill any gaps.

[@LarsPallesen]

Crowded cities certainly don't become less crowded if everybody drives cars in stead of bicycles. Just imagine how much space 50 cars take up in traffic vs. 50 cyklists.

[@vaiyaktikasolarbeam1906]

nice explanation video thx

[@dengamleidiot]

I would love to see this in a non-bicicle city

[@klausbrinck2137]

16:08 "5%...! This is not Ragnarok, this is rather uneventfull" ;-) ;-) ;-)

[@GMiller75]

Only been tricycling for a short time but I would say I am a mix of momentumist and conformist. I like to keep momentum when going uphill if it is safe to do so or if I can cross a road via pedestrian routes where there is space to do so and it feels safer but will stop at traffic lights and lanes especially if there is oncoming traffic as I can't predict what kind of driver I am going to come across. Most are considerate but there are those who are more focused on their phones and other things. I do prefer cycle only lanes though as I feel safer riding on them knowing that most traffic will not go into it.

[@veg7nlif376]

Im the momentumist. I cant help it, I NEED that mommentum.

[@roozoe]

Following many of the comments, I don't believe it's possible to extract how much cyclists break laws outside the larger context. In Montreal, not only is the cycling structure bad, but we are renown within the Canadian context as being lax in general when it comes to rule of law. This is because we believe rebellion is important. We are more Latin/French and actively resists assimilation to the Anglo-Saxon context and we proudly rebelled against the authoritarianism of Catholicism in the 70s. A Montrealer submitting blindly to a timer with a light when there is no danger to anyone is shameful, you look foolish. I expected low times to have more breaking of the law because that's when you can easily assess the situation, there are less moving parts. So as much as we have terrible cycling infrastructure, it cannot be taken out of context. The bike infrastructure is also different because the strategy shifts with every new Mayor and because of snow (only in Montreal, a winter-fat-tire-unicyclist blasting metal from his Bluetooth speaker is normal)

[@kailahmann1823]

I don't think, it's the "herd", what keeps people obeying the rules during rush hour - it's probably more the risk. That car right at the beginning is a very good example: If he'd do that during the rush hour, an accident would be guaranteed. But early in the morning, when you are basically alone on the road?

[@sfdint]

This is brilliant research. As a committed "momentumist" (thanks for giving me this dignified label, I had to smile at your description of the look on our faces when we know we are technically violating the rules, and are asking for understanding since it's no big deal.

[@poulmadsen7969]

106,000 cyclists? I like your estimate - I presume it's an estimate - and I'm to know how you calculated it. I would actually have guessed the number should be higher considering how much you've worked with bikes both in Copenhagen and internationally in the last how many years? 15? You've been a great bike ambassador to Denmark

[@ImranShaikh-gh2wd]

Great overview - I think we need this objective data when trying to defend the use of cycling infrastructure here in the Uk. I'm definitely a momentumist - in cycling and in life Please you tube recommend this video to anyone that loves cycling. Thanks again, Mikael.

[@mariadebake5483]

By far not as good as in the Netherlands.

[@LifeSizedCity]

A Dutch nationalist like you will HATE the latest upload! /mikael

[@james-p]

11:27 - Pickup truck, trash thrown on the street... Obviously an American! As an American, I know us when I see us...

[@tonzelle2720]

If you want to no more about cycling, Just ask the Dutch... ENFB, A NWB or VVN, among other institutions...

[@LifeSizedCity]

I know them well and have worked on projects in Dutch cities who want to be better. /Mikael

[@Thomas_TdK]

Lazy and no uniform design in Amsterdam. Yeah right. The netherlands has great standards

[@LifeSizedCity]

Oh yeah. Sure. Hahaha

[@TdaKraakGaming]

@@LifeSizedCityMikael, show me data, I only respond to data.

[@banzooiebooie]

I hope I am a momentumists, but there is more recklisist than I like inside me. Look for Goofy Mr Walker and Mr Wheeler, yeah sometimes that is me!

[@rileynicholson2322]

Seems like a bit of unnecessary shade for Amsterdam. There's a lot of potential reasons for lower rates of compliance that aren't bad/lazy design. Off the top of my head: different intersections observed, older/outdated designs, different traffic laws to be broken, safer streets with lower traffic loads allowing more safe non-compliance (similar to off-peak hours effect), cultural differences, etc. Idk, I'm sure you have your reasons for that opinion, but considering how difficult it is to actually elaborate on something like that in a KZbin video, perhaps it would be better to not make snide comments like that with nothing to back it up. You leave your audience in an awkward position of having to simply take your word for it or question your credibility.

[@hoegild1]

What the....!!!! I open a random youtube video, and see the very crossroad where I used to live! I can name the inn in the store right under the camera! Spooky...

[@ThreeRunHomer]

He’s the William Whyte of bikes. 👍🏼

[@user-ys3qq6rf6z]

he looks like queen drummer

[@Rayver112]

Tried to give you another chance, but this video has another 5 minute intro with irrelevant analogies

[@MeepMu]

Norwegians!

[@user-ys3qq6rf6z]

and metallica drummer

[@HoopHopi]

Copenhagen is the best place to cycle. Good for you ;). be cool

[@sofusrnstruppilehave8179]

I drive through that intersection everyday, well i did before covid (🤬)

[@emiel1976ep]

Lol and the people of Copenhagen find tgat a great cycling infrastructure. It's a joke.

[@renlow]

The bicycle momentum problem disappeared after i got an e-bike 🥸 My daily commute is now a joy ride, instead of battling the momentum problem.