Comments on: A Dutch Cycling Problem

By: Rodanthi

Rodanthi — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 23:00:09 +0000

haha….brave yes, but not so rare!!!

By: tejvan

tejvan — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 11:16:17 +0000

It’s a good point. I haven’t been to Athens yet. (though I was shocked at some European cities like Rome, where cyclists were rare and brave)

Perhaps the economic crisis in Athens will encourage people to cycle rather than pay for petrol.

By: VC

VC — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 09:13:39 +0000

@HP Are scooters allowed on the cycle path? Are they generally allowed in cycle facilities in the Netherlands? If not then wouldn’t it be better to catch and fine the scooter rides than put a barrier in that inconveniences those on a cycle?

By: Anthony Cartmell

Anthony Cartmell — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 07:04:58 +0000

I thought the Dutch had carefully-designed sinusoidal road humps for deterring high speed on cycle tracks? These make speeding very uncomfortable, but don’t affect bicycles much at all, at don’t block wider bicycles.

By: Amsterdamize

Amsterdamize — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 23:17:32 +0000

No brakes? What on earth are you talking about? And what does that in itself have anything to do with this post?

By: Rodanthi

Rodanthi — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 21:23:03 +0000

well that’s right off course, it is though unfortunate that here the cycle-nag sounds as a “joke” with all these s*** going on…..that’s it….i’m moving elsewhere =)

By: HP

HP — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 17:41:51 +0000

I think the barrier does serve well as an obstacle to slow down speeding scooters. I know the place and the scooters used to race by at >35 mph. To get past this thing, you need to slow down to maybe 7 or 8 mph, even if you try and go by the sides. So in that respect, it does work, especially at a crossing like this. The cars need to give way, and the motorists in Holland are used to slow cyclists, not necessarily to (speeding) scooters that suddenly pop up out of nowhere. So it’s for the scooter driver’s own safety as well.
Besides that: in a cycling country like The Netherlands, these scooters are considered a plague. They’re noisy, dangerous and are mostly driven by *ssholes, if you pardon my French.

By: twilwel

twilwel — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 17:24:56 +0000

@Rodanthi The one reason we in the Netherlands have such excellent facilities (not the one featured here obviously) is that we keep on nagging it is still not good enough. When we stop nagging we’ll soon have this kind of bullsh*t everywhere in our cyclepaths.

By: Rodanthi

Rodanthi — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 10:32:39 +0000

Dear friend,
I’m a cyclist from Greece and more particular from Athens. I cycle on a very frequent basis (both with cycling teams and solo), and what i am about to say here is meant in “the best of ways”….(please do excuse my english in case something it is incorrectly said). I don’t know if anyone of you has ever visited Athens (or any other Greek city), but i think that both “cyclists-in-the-UK” and “cyclist-in-Holland” (and any other european nationality cyclists) should ever complain about the cycling structure in their city (ok i’ve never been in the Netherlands, but i used to live in Leicester and i’ve also visited several european cities, so i can compare). Here in Athens we wish(!!) we could have obstacles like that, because struggling through car traffic and fighting with (taxi drivers mostly) all car drivers, bus drivers even motorists (who you may think they would sympathize us a bit more) is a cycling routine. As a cyclist and a European citizen, i envy the rest of you for the cycling culture that is developed over there and i really hope that one day things here will be half as good as over there. So be grateful
Take care & cycle carefully
Regards from Greece

By: Hurumph

Hurumph — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:20:43 +0000

I agree with Tejvan: I guess more than 300 cyclists go through these barriers and not one has a helmet on, not one has cycling lycra: they are ‘normal’ people, dressed normally and not separate and distinguished as being from another tribe – easier for car drivers to see them as ‘like us’ or ‘our’ children or siblings etc.