Bike Commuting help Dutch meet physical activity guideline

http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/7/1/89

by harscoat • 16 years ago

25 19 16 years ago

kleiba• 16 years ago

I always find it absolutely fascinating to see how many people ride their bikes whenever I'm in the Netherlands. Where I come from, I think you'd have a really hard time seeing somebody ride a bike in public who's older than 30 years. It's probably already difficult to find someone who's older than 20 and not a student.

In the Netherlands however, people of all ages ride a bike on a daily basis. It's not unusual to see more bikes on the bike lane than cars on the street. I remember once I was walking through a Dutch city and had to wait for more than a minute before I could cross the street, because there was a huge chain of bikers passing by, they just kept coming one after another. And that wasn't a sports event, just regular people. Oh, and they go hella fast and ride up really close to the one riding before them.

Really cool!

NiekvdMaas• 16 years ago

Here's a sample video shot in the city where I live (Utrecht): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-AbPav5E5M

At times (e.g. 6PM workdays) certain routes can be even busier. If you're interested, here are a lot more videos on this subject: http://www.youtube.com/user/markenlei#p/u

lenni2• 16 years ago

I ride my bike everywhere all year round here in Berlin and I find the main point of making it more enjoyable/safer for cyclists is having many other cyclists. It raises drivers awareness and provides a critical mass. I know this is some kind of chicken and egg situation but I find it to be true.

When I was living in England the Cycling Touring Club there deemphasised separate bike lanes arguing that they were for the convenience of drivers and not cyclists. For a long time I wanted to believe this but now I have arrived at the conclusion that integrated bike lanes (the ones on the same level as the actual road not behind a line of trees) are actually useful and it makes me feel safer using them.

beoba2• 16 years ago

I likewise feel the same in the US. In areas where cyclists are common, I am more confident that cars/etc are more used to cyclists and know how to 'handle' them. I've noticed that cyclists have become more common since ~2008 when gas prices spiked, and car drivers now tend to be more accommodating of them.

I think bike lanes are more useful as indicators of bike traffic on a given road. The bike lane tells drivers that there may be many cyclists on that road, and to watch out for them. The lane's typical proximity to parked cars (prime 'dooring' territory), pedestrians, and debris can often make it less useful as an actual lane for cyclists.

VB6_Forever5• 16 years ago

The Dutch reclaimed a large proportion of their national territory from the sea, presumably because they needed more space and then proceeded to allow large scale immigration from Morocco. I wouldn't like to live in Holland. They're packed like sardines there. Not cycling is probably not an option

Luc2• 16 years ago

I'm baffled. Someone even upvoted this. I guess it's performance art!

VB6_Forever5• 16 years ago

Can I ask you to explain what you mean?

lenni2• 16 years ago

Sorry, that was a fat-fingered downvote that turned into an upvote.

tybris2• 16 years ago

Reclaimed land is primarily used for farming. The Netherlands is among the largest exporters of farming products, particularly flours and vegetables. Immigration from Morocco and Turkey was invited to fill low-end job as education levels rose and the economy went up the service chain. While family reunions caused immigration to be larger than anticipated, it is likely that additional immigration would otherwise have been necessary. The Dutch economy gets a lot of leverage from the Germany economy and one of its typical problems is overheating, causing a big shortage of workers. High-end job can be filled by the highly educated native population (including third+ generation immigrants), low-end jobs can be filled by new generations of immigrants. Societal problems have arisen from this throughout history. However, today's problem's are relatively minor compared to some of the problems with Moluccans in the '70s.

If you think the Netherlands has become hateful of immigration, guess again. The EU now gives the Netherlands access to a large supply of immigrants whenever the economy needs it. The Dutch are loving their cheap Polish construction workers. The Polish will start causing friction and change in Dutch culture at some point, like many generations of immigrants before them. The Dutch won't mind that much though. While it is in their nature to complain, they are among the wealthiest and happiest people.

What you're seeing is the result of 400 years of tradesmanship, not stupidity.

_delirium• 16 years ago

> If you think the Netherlands has become hateful of immigration, guess again.

It doesn't seem to be a majority view, but politicians running on "zero immigration" platforms, like Pim Fortuyn and Geert Wilders, do seem to have done fairly well at various times. At least, we hear a lot about them in the international media...

Starmonkey• 16 years ago

I would suspect that the density leading to more walking also aids greatly in that guideline, much like the denser US cities on the East Coast.

My wife's grandmother lives in Den Hague, and she has a Great Aunt who lives in a tiny town called Terneuzen (which apparently I never pronounced correctly, judging by native reaction). Two years ago, we went all over Holland, starting with a few days in Amsterdam. The biking culture was quite the shock to the system. Not just people biking to and from work, but everywhere. I remember riding trains and seeing bike lanes between cities. Kind of a revelation to me. I found it completely fascinating. The bike racks overflowed with so many bikes that I have no idea how folks keep track of where they left their bike.

I've unfortunately let my tech skills get rusty by moving into a project management position these last few years, and I don't speak Dutch. That said, I would immigrate there in heart beat if I could figure out a way to do so that wouldn't break our finances (I'm trying to get up to speed on Ruby to perhaps the point where I could consult/work remotely). Everything just seemed to make sense in that country, very logical people. Not only the biking, but their attitude towards social programs and families I found very refreshing.

Tot ziens!

beoba2• 16 years ago

If you're interested in biking more often, the easiest way is to ensure that you live a short distance from where you work. Then, at least when its nice out, it'll be easy to make your commute more interesting.

Bike Commuting help Dutch meet physical activity guideline

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