From: hallstro@solan.unit.no (Lars Hallstr|m Eriksen)
Subject: Re: riding against traffic; bikepaths
Organization: Norwegian Institue of Technology
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 92 17:49:47 GMT

I've biked in both the Netherlands and USA, as well as my native Norway, so
perhaps I can add something to this thread.

In article <1992Sep5.205459.15294@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>, rvanderb@nyx.cs.du.edu 
(Rian van der Borgt) writes:
 > I almost can't believe that someone would even consider to ride
 > against traffic. Here (in the Netherlands, that is) noone would
 > ever think of it. I never heard of riding against traffic until
 > I read the thread in this newsgroup. The law here simply forbids
 > it. Only pedestrians are allowed to walk against the traffic,
 > if there is no sidewalk or bikepath.
 > So, noone would expect cyclists to ride against traffic. It is
 > considered to be _very_ _dangerous_.
 > I don't know what the situation is in the rest of (western)
 > Europe, but I don't expect it to be very different from here. 

Norwegians occasionally ride on the wrong side of the road for short distances if
it'll save them crossing the road, but nobody would claim that it's safe.  (It's
funny, Scandinavians drive cars like saints, but put him on a bike, and you get
one hell of a risk-taker...)

 > And now about the bikepaths...:)
 > Here most bikepaths are on the side of the roads and cyclists
 > (almost) always have to use them.
 > Again, no cyclist wouls consider to use the road when there's
 > a good bikepath. (The majority of the paths are in a reasonable
 > condition.) And the bikepaths are considered much safer than
 > the roads. And drivers are more 'bike-aware', I think. On
 > crossings, for instance they _do_ check the bike paths when they
 > turn right or left. (If they didn't, many accidents would
 > occur...the cyclists have the right of way in such a situation.)
 >  
 > I belive, from what I read in this newsgroup, that bikes here
 > (in the Netherlands :-) are used much more than in the USA.
 > Here, a bike _is_ considered as a means to go from A to B (to
 > go shopping, to go to work, to school, to go out, etc).
 > From my 12th to my 18th I rode to school (12 km) every day,
 > and so did 75% of the rest of the students (or pupils? what do
 > you call them?) (well, not everybody rode 12 km, of course :-)
 > Someone said that the number of cars would be about 100 times
 > the number of bikes on the road. Well, I think that here,
 > especially during rush hour, they are not far from equal.
 > (i'm not sure; I don't have any numbers to prove it right now
 > but in rush hour _really big_ groups of cyclists can be seen
 > riding to the university or school or the railway station or..)
 > [I just read an article in which was said that the number of
 > cyclists in traffic varies from 20% (Amsterdam) to 40% (Delft);
 > mmm...not bad]

In the Netherlands, unlike USA and Norway, road planners have a professional
attitude to bikers.  All but the most minor roads have bikepaths, usually on both
sides, which are well constructed with their own traffic lights, signs, etc. 
Now, as Thomas Kunich pointed out, distances in Holland are usually shorter than
in USA, and Dutch commuters are usually sedate (in Holland, "everybody" bikes;
not only the sporty bicycle fan minority as is more or less the case in USA), but
speed is seldom limited by the bikepaths (except traffic lights).

--
Lars Hallstroem Eriksen                    | E-mail:     hallstro@solan.unit.no
Student of Mechanical Engineering          | Paper mail: Stud.post 44
Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH),   |             N-7034 Trondheim-NTH
University of Trondheim (UNIT)             |             NORWAY

Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc