009jim

Seen this......what a rage!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-AbPav5E5M

Harutz

Very Orderly. It would have been perfect if the one guy hadn't decided to jump up on the curb!

The bikes all seem peculiarly similar. Are they government issue or something?

travelmama

The bikes are not government issued but typical Dutch bikes ridden in the Netherlands. Also, the video is old and has been posted many times before.

Harutz

Too bad, I was liking the idea of a national bikes-for-cars program, hehe

coldfeet

Can you imagine the mess if all those people had been in single occupancy cars?

gerv 

The Dutch have a tax benefit for those who purchase bicycles.

cyclokitty 

That looked great. One day I have to travel to Utrecht and rent a bike for sightseeing.

James1:17

it would suck to ride around that many bikes

exile

Yeah, I've seen it before travelmama, but I still enjoy watching it when it comes up.

coldfeet

Why?

You're just going to work right? That's what they are doing, they're not racing, joyriding or whatever. If they go out for a ride on the weekend, they'll tend to be out on the lanes, or the big bike highways between towns..

Consider the alternative, being stuck in a car, waiting for that dingbat at the front to get off the pot, this way, everybody's making reasonable speed, few worries about parking, get some fresh air, great!

Harutz

I'd much rather ride with a bunch of other bicyclists than a swarm of smog-spewers.

09hardrock

I watched several of the others as well, Rain, Snow...The 2 things I found interesting were Ithe lack of helmets (I didn't see one helmet worn), and in the snow video, how many small children were carried in baskets....

cooker

The bicyclists are very observant of traffic laws. The pedestrians are much more likely to go against the light.

009jim

Hey - you're right. I bet they don't have a government full of control-freaks either. What a refreshing idea!

James1:17

just because i enjoy riding fast everywhere i go...wasn't making an environmental statement.

GriddleCakes

I don't need to imagine it, I see it every day on the way to work.

Totally! Because riding with autos is so much more fun.

Traffic is traffic, and personally, I'd prefer traffic with a lower potential for lethality. Bring on the bike jams!

GriddleCakes

They are a socialist government, so I wouldn't be so sure about that. What they do have is a better understanding of the level of risk involved in day to day urban cycling, and how to make urban utility cycling both safer and more approachable for the masses. Huge networks of bicycle-only infrastructure, more bike parking and less car parking, and most importantly placing the burden of responsibility upon the more dangerous road user. When a motorist hits a cyclist or pedestrian, they are automatically at fault, which sends a message that people who pilot 4,000 lbs worth of motile mass around other less protected people should really, really pay attention to what's going on around them, and should yield and give way to more vulnerable road users.

If you want to read about how the Dutch bike like they do, you should check out the Copenhagenize blog. A warning to hardhat fetishists, the proprietor of the blog is avidly anti-helmet (not in the sense that he wants to take them away, just that he'll make fun of you for wearing one because he thinks that not only are they unnecessary, they are a barrier to convincing people that everyday utility cycling is a viable alternative to car travel).

Harutz

You mean their government exists to protect the People and not the greedy, amoral financial institutions?
That must be horrible...

badrad

i noticed some hoodies, but i think i counted 3 helmets in the entire clip.

GriddleCakes

I suppose I should say that they are unabashedly socialist. The US has been a socialist nation since the FDR's New Deal programs took effect, at least (which were implemented to protect its people from the damage done by an over-speculative marketplace run by greedy, amoral financial institutions; sound familiar?); we just have a hard time admitting it, to the point that socialist is a dirty word in this country.

Honestly, any government that recognizes the need to manage a commodity for the public good, be it roads, parks, drinking water, or health care, is socialist. It's all a matter of degree.

Drew Eckhardt 

Riding with autos going 25 MPH is a LOT more fun than navigating the slow moving morass on multi-use paths and presumably the somewhat less slow swarms of Dutch cyclists.

I want traffic in the same lane (or fraction of a lane) going as fast as I am which is a lot speedier than transportation cyclists in Amsterdam.

GriddleCakes

Whatever turns your crank. I like riding on the MUP a lot more than riding on the road; the scenery is better, no one harasses me, and to me 10-15 mph on a MUP is more pleasant than 20-25 mph on a road (speeds than I can't attain in the winter, or when heavily loaded with beer/groceries/whatnot, anyway). My view is undoubtably skewed by the fact that my MUP route is completely uninterrupted and never crowded except in the height of summer, and even then only along a few slow stretches, like around the disc golf course and anywhere near downtown (for which I have alternate routes for bad traffic times/days).

There is pretty much nowhere that I can go and be able stick to 25 mph roads, and I'd rather take a little extra time to allow for the occasional ped-induced slow down as I meander through tree-lined park than bust my ass trying to push hard enough to keep most motorists from harassing/killing me as I ride through filthy urban sprawl, sucking exhaust at every stop light and surrounded by the sound of traffic. The former is a pleasantly enjoyable experience in its own right, the latter is only enjoyable when compared to traveling the same road except by car.