After visiting the Netherlands recently I noticed an interesting phenomenon. It seems the Dutch don’t wear bike helmets. I learned that under 1% of cyclists use helmets. I also learned that overall injuries to cyclists are way less than any place in the world, so what gives? From what I gathered, cyclists and drivers are more experienced and courteous and the roads are engineered to keep all road users. This includes bike infrastructure throughout the country.
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"So did something interesting happen today, Hank?"
"Oh ja, mom, we photobombed this random guy filming on the street and now we'll be in this YouTube video with 800 000 views!"
The best thing that we can say about it is that all citizens off the Netherlands are bikers too!So when we meet in our car a biker we know wat to do to prevent a dangerous encounter with a biker.And one off the things to protect the biker is given them a good bike lane and so avoid most off the time that dangerous encounter with a car.And i mean a real good bike lane,not just a white stripe on the ground!That means in a lot off towns that there will be streets where no car is allowed!And stop signs to let the bikes through.If you dont then still a lot off bikers wil be killed or injured.
And then there is Denmark which makes you pay a 100$ fine if you don't wear a helmet, or have lights during sunlight. Basically whatever they can steal money off you
Dude, in Europe generally we don't…why? Car drivers usually are bike drivers too.
Btw, really, USE IT! You just fall down by yourself.
That's because they don't have big stupid American cars
Draw your own conclusion. In 2022, 291 cyclists were killed in traffic in the Netherlands. This was a steep increase compared to 2010 and one of the highest number of cyclists killed in traffic accidents in 20 years. In total, there were roughly 737 road fatalities in 2022
Conveniently missing from the discussion is the fact many physicians in this area of the world state the number of serious injuries to cyclists is under – repor ted .
never had i wore a helmet and thought " no problem i am protected lets do something stupid".
except only when i am skateboarding
2021. Holland. 209 dead. Uk with less cycling infrastructure and 4 times the population 101 dead cyclists.
2010 and probably similar now. Around 50% of UK cycling dead were self inflicted. 17% didn't involve a motor vehicle at all.
Oh and more cyclists with reserved lanes means less cars so more cycles in use explains nothing.
Someone needs to look at this, properly.
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Perhaps the have enough common sense to see that a tiny beanie perched on the top 2 inches (50mm) of your head isn't going to protect shit.
I'm an amateur mechanical engineer, looking at the size and position of bike helmets it's clear they only protect from impacts from "straight up" in relation to the head and up to 80 degrees either side or the back of head.
Any other angle of impact will just push the helmet to one side, I don't care how tight you wear it.
Damn I want to move there.
Helmet laws in North America = Victim blaming …pure and simple
Make cycling dangerous and compensate this with helmets. This is the wrong way, the dutch are right.
cars kill, helmets don’t protect from cars, infraestructure do.
We all hate helmets. But they work. Its interesting looking at top riders, best in the world, the most heavily trained in the world, and when they crash so often their helmet bounces against the pavement. Even they can't seem to stop their head from impact. If they weren't wearing a helmet many would die and almost all would have long term injuries, simple as that. Now I mention them just because of their experience on the bike, something few of us could match. There are always freak accident we experience occasionally. The key is to realize its coming and always have that helmet on in preparation. Find a comfortable helmet! They are very personal. Experiment with the padding til you get it right. Each head is a little different so don't expect the helmet to fit right away. Once its comfortable you won't even know its there.
Respect for others…crazy concept
The arguments are weak: "None wear helmets so we are more safe since all do it" – transfer that logic to seat belts, airbags etc. Wearing a helmet is a no brainer – wear it and have a chance to survive an impact that otherwise would have killed you. Accidents happen from objects, environment, other people, animals etc.
Most helmet looks like shit and they almost always annoying to wear. I'm honestly most likely to fall with an helmet than without.
Netherlands is FLAT. People ride bikes VERY slowly. LAWS are PRO-bikers. The whole infrastructure is pro bikers. In general, people are educated.
What a great ending. Those kids.. seemed so civilized and happy. I feel like if that were here in America they would've tried to knock the camera down.
I wear a helmet on my bike only cos I'm an idiot and am always falling off so I just like to be prepared to smash my head into the pavement and not get brain damage.
I hope to move to Europe someday, highly likely that will be the Netherlands. I hope I wont get nasty looks for wearing helmets even at slow speeds. Too much risk no matter what to not wear a helmet in my opinion
Why is everybody riding in slowmotion?
My impression is that the Dutch cycle at a quite leisurely pace, no more than about 13 km/h. I think just this aspect makes collisions between bicycles and single accidents much less serious. Of course, the reason people feel comfortable biking at a leisurely pace probably also has to do with good infrastructure, ultimately.
Just started wearing one. Riding here in Las Vegas cars constantly hit pedestrians 😢
And also on a personal level, cycling should not require you to wear as sporty as possible. Cycling should be as casual as walking and not felt like you are going for a race.
How about the head injuries when a cyclist falls on the ground?
For us bikes aren't vehicles but extentions of your legs
The US wanting a helmet law but refusing to make any laws at all to protect cyclists from cars: makes no sense!
Technically it’s the bikes fault if they’re going fast through pedestrian intersections where bikes aren’t allowed and vehicles are used to slow moving pedestrians
Hmmm this guys view is basically what I do in the US road bike I wear a helmet if I’m just going a leisure speed on a normal bike like back in college I never wore a helmet
I agree with the bald fella. But your perspective may change when you go talk to the neurological department of any Dutch hospital. I know a nurse in one of them, and she tells me a massive percentage of serious head wounds she encounters come from cyclists …
I don’t get it. I have been riding my bike in a low bike infrastructure city of Saint Louis in the US since the 80s. It is dodgy in general but quite navigable if you avoid busy streets.
In my few days in the Netherlands I surprised seeing aggressive and careless riding by locals. Smoking weed while or holding a beer while on the bike later at night. I recall going on the packed late night ferry and I would suspect maybe 80% would be considered full on buzzed by booze and another significant percentage stoned. I had seen a significant percentage of locals run both vehicular and bike red lights on the reg and just do pretty much whatever they want in terms of aggressive cutting through certain intersections. Cyclists definitely own the road in comparison to the trams and cars. Which is preferred but that hardly meant there weren’t crashes. I saw one guy eat it hard on the rail tracks and another gas scooter (courier maybe?) nearly take out several bicyclists. Saw electric bikes racing that scooter. Reminded me of my more scofflaw reckless days on motorcycles and bicycles in my youth in the 80s and 90s. All dangerous for sure.
Other times I heard cursing from scooters to pedestrians and sensed some level of understood aggression amongst the two wheeled machines. The slow and steady two wheels competing with the accelerating scooters, e bikes and motorcycles.
The Dutch created mindset of safe atmosphere regardless of the reality . If I avoid the main roads (regardless of built bike infrastructure) here in a standard relatively dense part of an urban city I feel about the same level of safety. I can often ride passing much fewer cars and still maintain a relatively direct path.
That being said I’m all for heavily leaning into a fully built bike infrastructure to the point of making the bikes own the road. Cars are difficult and create a less human scale.
They aren't as manic as the rest of us.