There are five key ingredients that go into making Dutch Roads. Can you guess them?

Chapters
0:00 Intro
3:25 The Traffic Law
7:35 The CROW&SWOV
10:02 The Responsibility of Safety
13:25 Dutch Environmental Laws
16:05 Polderpolitiek

Sources
Toronto’s Protected Intersection
https://www.cp24.com/news/part-of-toronto-will-soon-be-transformed-into-a-dutch-style-intersection-here-s-what-that-means-1.6535544

Dutch Fatalities Per Year
https://theseus.swov.nl/single/?appid=ff63d041-cfdd-4ffe-a131-4307a5ec1b70&sheet=JWVrYK&opt=currsel%2cctxmenu

EU Safety Statistics
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_953

The WegenVerkeersWet 1994 (The Road and Traffic Law)
https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0006622/2023-07-01

RVV 1990 (Dutch Traffic Code)
https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0004825/2023-07-01

CROW Technical Library
https://kennisbank.crow.nl/kennismodule

PM10
https://rac.com.au/home-life/info/air-quality-perth

PM10 Health Effects
https://www.marlborough.govt.nz/environment/air-quality/smoke-and-smog/health-effects-of-pm10

Dutch Law on Air Pollution
https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0003245/2023-07-01/#Bijlage2

Dutch Law on Noise Pollution
https://www.atlasleefomgeving.nl/thema/geluid-in-je-omgeving/wegverkeer

Credit to other Creators

Toronto Intersection Rendering,

Copenhagen&Freiburg Footage,
Not Just Bikes

Leipzig Footage,
Adam Something

Stroomweg Footage,
Not Just Bikes

Bicycle Crossing Footage,

Dutch Polder,

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35 Comments

  1. Awesome video man! By far the best one so far and it keeps getting better. It’s coincidental that you’re talking about the PM regulations that exist here, i was recently diving into it and looking at their plans to reduce it even more, i’m just not sure how they plan to fix tire pollution and brake dust pollution. I guess we’ll see 😊

  2. "good luck if you go to Bochum or Hagen" I had to laugh so hard on that… It's actually the whole region and while they have a rather dense network, it's quality is complete shit. Comparing these to cities in Northern Germany it looks like they once where on the same level, but the "Pott" ran out of money to maintain and upgrade things around the 1990s.

  3. And another awsome good video! Very good explanation why the whole dutch traffic system is so uniform and good. By the way, compliments for your dutch prononsation ✅️

  4. It is related to all the wet lands and polders but not in this way. The video makes government far too big, both the polder model and the legal framework are much more citizen to citizen, or citizen insurance company.

  5. Awesome video. Very well researched. On the poldermodel, you got the essence. It is a bit more complicated than that, though. It would be nice to mae a video "out of scope" on the history of authority in the Netherlands from the year 400 (after the Romans left) until the 18th century. You will discover that that history is completely different from the rest of Europe and probably the world because of the geography and also the history.

  6. Please take into consideration that the Netherlands is the most densely populated country in Europe. That is why, if you compare it with sparsely populated Scandinavia, you see that there are relatively many deaths on the road.

  7. What's very important about the statistics is the same thing we see with wealth inequality: when you're known to provide "good" (not perfect) data, and the others are known not to, the results are to be taken with a grain of salt.

    Great video overall.

  8. It might be informative to note that Dutch traffic design, traffic law enforcement and infrastructure upkeep management are centered around three advancing principles, safety, free flow and sustainability (veiligheid, doorstroming en duurzaamheid). In that order of precedence. In practice it means that any change to or activity on the existing infrastructure has to significantly advance at least one of these three principles without significantly diminishing any other.
    12:58 lmao

  9. Finally someone mentions the traffic law! I've gotten tired of pointing it out as a cornerstone to all the people drooling over physical infrastructure. The law changed the mentality of car drivers towards bikes from squishes to The Bike Is Lava. Laws first, traffic calming second.

    I remember NJB mentioning it only once in passing and I'm still hoping for a full episode on it. Maybe he doesn't want to discourage North Americans. 😀

  10. 1:15 interesting side note that might be relevant in this statistic, is that all 8 countries with a lower rate of road-fatalities have a (far) lower population density than the netherlands.
    If you cross the path of less of your countrymen and -women on a daily basis, there is a lower risk of getting killed.

  11. The word that comes to mind after watching this is civilization (and the more convinced I am that the USA is a dying civilization) You talk about the SWOV in terms of being clear and unbiased and CROW providing recommendations that are proven empirically; for both statements to have any real meaning the population has to have a belief that the 'system' is working for the benefit of the whole, which you wisely touch on in part 5. The dividing lines are so great in the USA that anything said by any branch or level of gov't is now questioned, often times with the promise that the defense of one individual liberty will be backed up by firearms if needed.
    As the Dutch society changes and has more different faces and religions and a new fire breathing PM, it will be interesting to see if the 'civilization' can continue.
    Does anyone know what's the difference in income between the top 10% and the bottom 10%?

  12. Montreal has a biking culture and the best biking city in North america , with more than 1,000 km . Montreal is always in the top ranking on the Copenhagen index. Sorry, Toronto is not a biking city …

  13. Just a note on your edit, your voice over audio and intro audio volumes are mismatched, the intro is about twice as loud and a bit jarring. Just for future reference.

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