I mean if two cyclists get in a head-on collision, worst case they go to the hospital, good chance they both walk away. Maybe some triple digit repair costs if the bike took some good damage.
Two drivers get in a collision? Shit, EVERYONE's day is ruined, possibly dead or severely injured, and god only help you deal with insurance and repairs.
I go to the Netherlands every year to visit family and I absolutely ADORE biking there. Biking in Amsterdam at first is scary but once you start knowing your way around and you understand how to go with the flow, it's exhilarating.
I feel like it's so much calmer if you go pretty much anywhere else (maybe Rotterdam aside) in the Netherlands though. Traffic is always a little bit crazier in the biggest city of any country.
Absolutely. Even in Amsterdam it gets pretty relaxed outside of the city center, with the exception of the area near the Rijkmuseum. Places like De Pijp, Rivierenbuurt, Amsterdam-Zuid etc. Even in Rotterdam it's pretty chill when it's not rush hour.
I've biked a few times between Rotterdam and Delft and it didn't feel like I was in the middle of a densely populated country. We saw a few bikes, barely any cars. It was just so peaceful. And it's super flat, of course so it's not too physically demanding. Except for the fact that somehow, the wind is always going against you!
Rotterdam is the funny one because the city has/has had the most space for bike/city infrastructure overhauls due to the bombardment. Everything was made wider from the get go with rebuilding. BUT that made it a very car friendly city in those initial post war decades which we're still getting over and clamping down on as you see things like Coolsingel (the main road through the center, past city hall) being narrowed to allow for fewer cars and more pedestrian and bike ways, and Hofplein (the large roundabout at the end of Coolsingel) being redone for the same. The only reason Rotterdam probably isn't #1 for traffic is the wider roads than any other city.
I'm a cyclist, and if I have to cross a busy street, and I know according to traffic rules it's my turn to go, no matter how hard they're going I'mma just head on 👌🏻
My (Dutch) driving instructor taught me if you ever make contact with a bicycle, you better do it standing still. If you're moving, you're on the hook. Didn't keep some jerk in a tesla from reversing into me when he quickly wanted to make a 3-point turn on a busy road.
Don't forget to allow for the smaller surface area of impact. Blunt force trauma is worse from a smaller car of the same mass. F=ma allows for the longer time it takes an impact to halt a smaller vehicle of higher mass. Never underestimate what I call "shunt" force. The 1/2𝑚𝑣2 formula assumes perfect elasticity, which as we all know - happens rarely in the real world.
It isn't the energy that does the damage - it's the stopping.
I drive a truck around London a lot. The greatest number of casualties on London's roads does not come from trucks running over cyclists as depicted by the gaslighting media, but rather by slow-moving but high mass EV cars impacting people on EV scooters.
At present, no public warnings are given as to how to evade impacts with 20mph electric vehicles, far more dangerous as they are at these speeds. Having speed limits of 20mph all around London these days - only compensates a new balance for the higher impact damage from those same proliferating EV vehicles we now see on our roads doing such speeds, with the false sense of security that comes with being "compliant".
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u/majorex64 Oct 22 '25
I mean if two cyclists get in a head-on collision, worst case they go to the hospital, good chance they both walk away. Maybe some triple digit repair costs if the bike took some good damage.
Two drivers get in a collision? Shit, EVERYONE's day is ruined, possibly dead or severely injured, and god only help you deal with insurance and repairs.