I Learned to Cycle Like a Dutchman

Re:I Learned to Cycle Like a Dutchman by pmontra on Sunday September 15, 2019 @04:47PM (#20979410)

I recently saw a Dutchman explaining that they don't wear helmets because they don't cross paths with cars. Bike lanes are designed to keep cars and bicycles apart. From the article it seems that cars always give precedence to bicycles.

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Re:I Learned to Cycle Like a Dutchman by mcv on Sunday September 15, 2019 @05:21PM (#20979554)

It varies. Roads where cars are allowed to go over 30 kph tend to have separate bicycle paths (not always, but it's the goal). Slow streets, limited to 30 kph, often don't have separate bike paths, but since cars can't go much faster than bikes anyway, it's easy for them to give bikes the space they need.

Of course in many traffic situations, bikes really do have right of way. It wasn't always like that, though. In the 1980s, cars coming from the left on an equal intersection would have right of way over a bike coming from the right. Bikes were still explicitly "lesser" traffic. This was changed in the early 1990s I think, when bikes became truly equal to cars. These days the pendulum seems to have swung in the opposite direction, and some bikes bully cars around.

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Re:I Learned to Cycle Like a Dutchman by gambiting on Sunday September 15, 2019 @05:00PM (#20979468)

The worst accident I ever had was when I collided with another bike, not a car - I flew over my handlebars and hit my head directly on the edge of a concrete slab. There was a loud crack, and in half split my....helmet. I was pretty ok(apart from severe bruises all over).

My point is that whether you cross your path with cars or not is irrelevant - you're still travelling anywhere between 15-30km/h and your head is 1.5-2m above the road - it's enough of a speed and enough of a distance to kill you just from a fall, vehicles notwithstanding.

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Re:I Learned to Cycle Like a Dutchman by Kim_Bruning on Monday September 16, 2019 @12:34PM (#20985814)

Regular dutch (commuter) cyclists tend to ride a bit slower than 30. Sports cyclists DO wear a helmet!

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Re:I Learned to Cycle Like a Dutchman by dan_mctree on Sunday September 15, 2019 @05:00PM (#20979469)

Cars and bicycles are mostly equals in terms of who gets to get first. Though, in cities, it's indeed common for cars to take up a lower, more careful position and they will frequently let bikes go first even if the law may've said they were allowed to go first.

There's just so much stuff going on around you when you're driving a car in an inner city in the Netherlands, that it's wise to drive very carefully. In contrast, bikes have their own lanes, can use both sight and sound more easily and don't have to be so afraid of bumping into pedestrians, this means they have a far better grasp of the situation and possible risks. This combined with higher agility means they can move confidently and adjusted as needed.

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Re:I Learned to Cycle Like a Dutchman by nkootstra on Sunday September 15, 2019 @04:53PM (#20979441)

It really depends on the situation and the signs.

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