I know that place. The borders between the Ellestraat (Hulst, NL) and the Hellestraat (Stekene, BE).
The right side of the street on the Belgian part is actually Dutch for a few 100 meters. If you look around on street view the part with a bicycle lane is Belgian, the part without it is Dutch.
I knew that was a Belgian road, you can tell by all the cracks.
In Germany the streets are far too often a fight for survival. I miss the Netherlands, driving there, bike or car, was so much more relaxing.
But, you know, Germans and their cars…
as a car driver, i have no problems with bike drivers themselves. i hate whoever thought 1 lane and a thin sidewalk was enough road.
Gets you to slow down and pay attention to your surroundings, doesn’t it? That’s the point, if you build roads that feel cramped to drivers they’ll naturally drive slower (i.e. actually the speed limit). Building all streets like they’re highways is a good way to get people going 50-60 mph on roads with houses directly on them.
So, there’s a balance. If you don’t build enough room to do anything but drive slow to be safe, the moment someone is fast, the chances of a crash are very high.
If you build a road that has too much clearance, you end up with people driving faster, which is okay because there’s more room for people to be out of the way, likely reducing the amount of crashes. The drawback to this is, if people drive faster, the fewer crashes that do occur are at higher speeds, which are more deadly.
So the ratio of number of crashes to severity of crashes is what the end result is.
Granted, I live in the US where single lane country back-roads will have people in trucks going down at 50MPH randomly, so I don’t know if Europeans drive more cautiously. I know their driving tests are more comprehensive for sure.
it’s also a great way to put people’s lives at risk. i don’t think anyone thought of what you’re describing.
No, that’s explicitly the reason for it, and it’s been shown to reduce the severity of crashes because people drive the speed limit when they feel it’s risky to go faster.
In my experience the bike infrastructure was great, but riding the bike in the city was more stressful than in Germany.
Why can’t we have this with Canada and Mexico?
Because America is in-between
/s
It’s so eerily flat there, it’s unsettling. I don’t understand how people can stand it.
You shoulda seen my ex-wife!
HEYOOOO 😎🪩🍾
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Accidents happen in the Netherlands just like anywhere else. I’m half Dutch and my grandfather was hit by a car and killed there.
“The bicycle was the most dangerous mode of transportation in 2022, with a total of 291 fatalities. The car came in second place, with 225 victims. By comparison, that year 57 pedestrians and 20 truck drivers were also killed in traffic accidents in the Netherlands.”
I think you have to look at the rate, accidents per km. That accounts for dutch using bikes more than other countries
So, are those bikers fatal to themselves or are they killed because of other vehicles?
I’d ask but he’s dead
The numbers went up since the mass adoption of electric bikes. This caused especially elderly people to drive twice as fast as they could before, with heavier bikes they can’t control as well and they generally don’t wear helmets.
The next big problem are young people doing what young people do but now with electric assistance
I didn’t even think about that, but it makes sense why the numbers seem much higher now. My grandfather (Opa) was killed in the early 90s… somewhere around Eindhoven… can’t remember exactly
The Netherlands doesn’t have good bicycle infrastructure because of the fact that the country is relatively flat - they have it because they prioritized safe streets in the 70s following the stop de kindermoord-campaign.
As far as public safety campaign titles go, “Stop the child murdering” is fucking metal! 😄🤘👌
Simple, they stand up on flat ground
As someone who grew up somewhere super flat it really doesn’t get to you because it’s all you’ve ever known. However, now that I live somewhere with hills it drives me crazy when I visit home.
It’s even worse when the hills are alive and have eyes
I’m ok with it when music are what they’re alive with, though. As long as there’s no nazis 🤷
I can relate. I never imagined I would see someone complain or not understand what living on a flat area is like- it’s super easy! It’s the mountains and hills what’s difficult!
I grew up in a very flat part of England, flatness to me is the default and I get genuinely excited by hills.
In Europe you don’t need countries for this. The smallest federal country will have a clear difference on the road at the border of two federated entities. Worst, it can happen between municipalities in some countries.
Worst, it can happen between municipalities in some countries.
There are other countries as stupid as Germany? I thought we were alone!
Switzerland, Austria, … It’s more common than we think.
My favorite case is the resurfacing of the road in the first municipal territory and less than a year later, the second municipality does it on its side.
Belgium checking in
Yes, the country where you see on Monday who is going to visit you on Tuesday and where the highest hills are the dikes
I don’t see who any of this is a bad thing.
It isn’t, the only bad thing of the Netherland are the drivers with caravans on the motorways and roads in the rest of the EU, ah, well, maybe their beer 🤢
Does our beer have a bad reputation?
Only insofar as Heineken is associated with Netherlands.
Imagine half your backyard being in another country. Do you think they still mow it?
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Ayo wtf? Crossing like 6 borders just to get to work and back home.
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… while working remotely
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I mean you could look at the architecture but all you really needed is a level
Pssh, we have that all over the US, big deal
Knowing where the Netherlands begins?
Dutch bicycle lanes? And here I thought the US was car junkie hell.
The US is giant. Some places have better bike infrastructure than others but it’s surely not the standard
No, bad bike infrastructure is the standard.
He probably meant borders.
I thought he meant poorly maintained infrastructure.
Ya, the US doesn’t have the bike lanes everywhere but there are tons of shit roads that turn into great roads due to town/county/state invisible lines.
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I mean… we have interstate travel and the US is massive. There are no real borders between states.
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Except for the similarities between both places having open borders… something explicitly mentioned in the post…
This post isn’t about open borders, it’s about the contrast in bicycle and road infrastructure between the Netherlands and other countries. The open border was just the setup.
The Netherlands has very specific urban/rural (re)design standards which are quite recognizable if you know them.
Oh do they? That’s interesting, do they have standardized bikes lanes everywhere?
The US probably has some rural bike paths, but I sure as shit haven’t seen any.
Thanks for contributing information about your underrepresented country
You are most welcome.
Car in the bike lane
Dutchie here to explain why that’s not ironic:
If its a dotted line cars are allowed to use it, but only if it doesn’t impede on cyclists. So while they didn’t have to be there, it’s not unlawful as there’s no cyclists.
If it was a single line, it’s a different story.
It’s a shared road. Not separated lanes. Hence the dotted lines.
i don’t want SEX i want USABLE BIKE LANES that have enough SPACE to ride my bike SAFELY alongside other TRANSPORT MODES
Por qué no los dos? 🤷
Yeah, because there will be a nether portal and lava everywhere.
That’s the Netherworld. Common mistake.
Don’t mistake the Netherlands for the Nether Regions either.
I did that once, wasn’t so bad. The people at the embassy just politely referred me to the Red Light District 🤷
