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Crowded Rush-Hour Roads in Utrecht

Via Donald Shoup. I could watch this stuff all day. Not a helmet in sight.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 8:16 am and is filed under Bicycles, Cities, Commuting, Congestion, Etc.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

15 Responses to “Crowded Rush-Hour Roads in Utrecht”

  1. Catharine Says:
    May 20th, 2010 at 8:24 am

    Also, very few cars. Many buses whiz by, but cars are few and far between.

    That looks like a lot of fun.

  2. Roberta Says:
    May 20th, 2010 at 8:29 am

    What you don’t see in this sped-up version is how slowly most of these cyclists are riding. As a moderately fast cyclist I found riding in Europe endlessly frustrating.

  3. Brent Says:
    May 20th, 2010 at 9:20 am

    Webcam of the same spot: http://www.cu2030.nl/webcam_2

    According to the guy who took the video, “Positie #13″ is where he recorded it.

  4. Jonathan Says:
    May 20th, 2010 at 9:47 am

    Also - very little signaling. Lots of cooperation. Love the guy with two bikes (unless one was stolen…)

  5. fred_dot_u Says:
    May 20th, 2010 at 4:08 pm

    I loved that video. I had the thought that if every one of those cyclists were each in a single motor vehicle, the roadways would probably be severely congested and look like a parking lot. I too noticed the very few “personal” motor vehicles.

  6. Hendrik Says:
    May 21st, 2010 at 6:29 am

    ow Roberta, how to take the fun out of something positive. Surely you must know that while you were doing your cycling for fun all those people in this video actually need to go to work or school. So working up a sweat is not what you want.
    But, rest assure, plenty of speeding bicycles…

  7. Jason Says:
    May 21st, 2010 at 7:34 am

    I’ve never been to Northern Europe, but now it’s #1 on my list. Fantastic. I wonder if the total absence of cars is why this video was selected. To what extent is this intersection unusual and to what extent is this sample unusual? It’s like a dream!

  8. Roberta Says:
    May 21st, 2010 at 2:43 pm

    Actually, Hendrik, I WAS doing all my cycling to go to school or shopping (I wasn’t working at the time). I’m a utility cyclist, not a racer. I’m also 20 years older than the people in this video, or most of the cyclists in the university town I lived in - and I was still significantly faster than almost all of them. Mainly because I knew how to shift gears. I’m much faster at home, and I don’t work up a sweat unless I want to.

  9. Jeroen van Wilgenburg Says:
    May 23rd, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    Funny you mention the lack of cars. I live in Utrecht and there are actually many cars and lots of traffic jams.
    I only see small traffic lights for the cars, that probably means the traffic lights are for public transport and taxi’s only. Another cause might be the reconstruction of that area and cars aren’t allowed there.

  10. Martin Barry Says:
    May 24th, 2010 at 2:42 pm

    Funny you mention the lack of helmets. Having come from Australia where they are compulsory, it was quite a surprise to see the safety concious Europeans shirking helmet wearing. While sitting for my driver’s licence here in Germany they showed a chart which indicated a horribly large percentage of injuries incurred by bike riders were to the head. “DUH” pretty well sums up my reaction. Thankfully most young riders under the age of about 10 seem to wear them, along with a handful of adults, but there is a steep drop off once you get to the image concious teens.

  11. Jos Cozijnsen Says:
    May 24th, 2010 at 6:04 pm

    Nice shot! Well this shot in the Public Transport area, just outside the Utrecht Central Station, indeed, unfortunately, not easy accessible by cars, that is why you don’t see many. The red cycle path comes just from a ‘fly under’ below the train tracks.

  12. Kris Says:
    May 27th, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    I loved biking to work when I lived in Holland, and really miss it… Speed wasn’t the thing - it was very relaxed & still way faster than bus or car. Now I’m in Londn (and use a scooter) - all the cyclists are nutters, uber aggressive, going far faster than they can handle… I see many nasty accidents. Plus, talking about utility cycling, everyone here is on a racing bike, no one has mud guards, so they all need to shower & change when they get to where they were rushing to. Less haste, more speed.

  13. Michiel Says:
    June 8th, 2010 at 6:33 am

    @Roberta: you’re right, many people go really slow, and turn without signalling and/or looking. This is my nr 1 annoyance while cycling in the Netherlands (NOT Holland btw!).

  14. Andrew Says:
    June 9th, 2010 at 2:55 am

    I live in Belgium and it is similar to this although our bike lanes are not as well defined as in the Netherlands. Still a lot of people cycle though.

  15. Jeannine McCloskey Says:
    June 12th, 2010 at 6:02 am

    So wonderfully disciplined and simple. Gosh I miss it. Never had to own a car over there, and I always got to work without sweating too. BTW, speed cycling should be done on a track, and not alongside these types of bicyclists. Thank goodness the europeans (most of them) have better manners. If more americans would trade their SUV’s in to do this, our obsesity rates would be cut in half.

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