Michael Kranish wrote the book The World's Fastest Man: The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist Major Taylor, America's First Black Sports Hero. Major Marshall Taylor lived and rode 🚲 as life in the USA went from pedestrians and horses, to maybe 20 years of 🚲 supremacy, and then a lot of professional 🚲 riders helped bring in the 🚗 supremacy era we live in now.
"You have to build it before the behavior comes" isn't true, sadly. Amsterdam has excellent cycling infrastructure and a strong cycling culture. Silicon Valley has excellent cycling infrastructure and a weak cycling culture. Japan has almost no cycling infrastructure and a strong cycling culture. The cyclist deaths in Amsterdam and Japan are about the same. Silicon Valley has far more cycling deaths per citizen than Amsterdam and Japan. It's the cycling culture that must be changed not the cycling infrastructure. Changing cycling culture is effectively impossible so we just try to spend money to change the cycling infrastructure. Extremely sad. I have no real solutions. 😢 😢😢😢
When I see him thumbing through a dog-eared copy of John Forrester's "Effective Cycling", I'll know the cyclist advocacy Kool-Aid barrel has been drained to its dregs.
Nobody is forcing anyone into the middle of the road, the average bonehead driver decides to do that!!! If you come up behind a cyclist you slow down and wait until it is absolutely safe to pass and NOT any other time, it really is quite simple!
I was raised in The Netherlands. I have never heard of bikes being dangerous compared to cars. Biking is so much more efficient, faster, healthy, and fun here. Cars are expensive and get stuck in traffic everywhere. It's politics, influenced by the car lobby, and not facts, that lead public opinion in the UK.
I visit The Hague regularly for work and it blows my mind that two countries so close to each other can have such different attitudes. It's literally across the water.
Get stuck behind a bike for a couple of minutes and people lose their minds, sit in traffic for hours on end and its seen as acceptable because it can't be helped.
IMO, GCN being more of a "Global cycling network" instead of "competitive road cycling network" is a good change. This is the best journalism & content in general I've seen from the channel in a very long time.
It's really poor, pretty much propaganda. The guy doesn't understand basic road junctions. Bike brain....a person who refuses to accept they do wrong and see themselves as the victim in all situations
Whenever I describe the time I was hit by an SUV, on my bicycle, whilst on the greenway/bike path, with our greenway light green and the road light being red, (pedestrians and cyclist’s right of way)… and every time, I am asked back, “Why were you out there where you could get hit by a car? You must have been out on the road.” Yes, the assumption is always, it was my fault. Even when talking to a local journalist.
I very nearly got hit by a that run a stop sign. When I pointed that out the driver was quite angry and declared it was my responsability not to get run over
I hate how journalists often report that a cyclist has been in a collision with a car. To me this sounds as though the bike drove into the car when no doubt the opposite was true.
@@grahamaustin9085agree. Also the language indicates that the ‘accident’ was between a person ‘cyclist’ and a machine ‘car’, inferring the driver of said car has no level of responsibility.
Fucking ridiculous. Hope you've recovered. Our society is built around capitalism and keeping us sick. Cycling goes against that: Easily repairable, cheap, fun, great for your health. How dare we!
I got hit by a SUV turning left across a cycle lane. Police asked me if i had lights on 9am in August on a bright cloudless day...hey now i always use lights have to protect the blind ...pedestrians should probably also have lights in the summer too. On the plus side the Epolice insisted i got checked at A&E and after the report of my injuriesi was way more bruised than i thought i was they were way more concerned
Imagine you are waiting at queue to the till in Tesco. Somebody would shout at you to speed up or trying to jump in front of you or blocking the way so you can't put your groceries. That sounds mad but drivers are doing it every day.
Indeed, there was actually a video where actors in a grocery store acted like drivers and it was...hilarious and sad...and yet somehow it takes much more than that to "orange pill" folks.
I'm a cyclist in Brazil and it amazes me to see how much of this culture can be 'universal'. Many of the main arguments are almost exactly the same...it really just confirms that we live in this 'car dictatorship', where cars are symbols of power, wealth and status. Thanks a lot for sharing this, Si, it really takes some guts to expose this to the internet.
Yup. Thanks usa for this plaque too! It's not the only disease they let loose but one of the worst ones. I think the absolute worst is neoliberalism or libertarian as they call themselves.
I have a global study on this "cyclists are a bigger danger than drivers" nonsense and Brasil actually has the lowest numbers for this - even lower than the Netherlands, where basically everybody bikes. The highest (by far) are from Japan.
Here's the hard facts on pedestrian deaths in the UK www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-pedestrian-factsheet-2022/reported-road-casualties-in-great-britain-pedestrian-factsheet-2022 The numbers go down, though I find it interesting that the number of accidents where they blame the pedestrian is quite high. Maybe it's just easier to blame the dead pedestrian... Any further research is welcome, I know one on the accident cause "speeding" and the verdict was: It depends on the police officer at the scene what cause is logged.
I am writing this from a convalescent hospital in Castro Valley California, 12 days after being hit by a car riding my bike to the grocery store. I Have 3 fractured vertebrae and 8 fractured ribs. The cop interviewed me while I was lying in excruciating pain on the road. Somehow both the driver and an Independent witness “saw” me riding 19:24 in the opposite direction that I was, so I was found to be at fault for riding on the wrong side of the street! Cars can do no wrong. Somehow all accidents MUST be the cyclist’s fault. ( Doesn’t really matter as the driver that hit me was uninsured) . I have a long road to recovery and don’t know if I’ll ever be able to ride again. CARS SUCK!
'Regular' GCN is great, with the fun (ridiculous?) challenges, tests of endurance, equipment reviews, etc. This video feels like a new beast entirely, cycling journalism, and I am all for it.
The one that always gets me is when people say that bike lanes/cyclists hold up emergency services, weaponising blue lights against cycling infrastructure. I'm an NHS paramedic, I can count on the fingers of one elbow how many times I've been held up by a cyclist in my career: 0. Meanwhile I'm held up by cars a dozen times a job, literally hundreds of times a shift. The negative externalities associated with cars are enormous, and yet most people would sooner surrender their health than their driving licence. It's fucked.
Such a daft argument. Again just something peddled by the press. In Europe on motorways it’s obligatory to move to the side leaving a free lane in the middle during a big traffic jam for emergency services. That doesn’t happen here but do the drivers care then? No, do they fcuk. Hard shoulders are being removed now for bs smart motorways but do they complain?
I think it would be a great service if you could find a way to set up a dash cam and show a compilation of your interactions with the people in traffic around you.
Wow, such useful insight against what now obviously seems like a ridiculous arguement. Thank you. I wonder, are there paramedics on bikes? Would that work having a paramedic with a saddle bag medical kit that may be able to respond quicker and stabilise a person while waiting for an ambulance to fight through traffic?
@@RBradenG unfortunately I cannot access the dash cam footage without my manager's permission, but a guy called Chris Martin (not from Coldplay) makes great videos of his blue light runs on TH-cam, and he discusses the decision making behind his driving.
@@tubularG there are paramedics on bikes, but generally only at events (marathons and parades are the most common ones) because the amount of kit we have to carry largely negates the value of a small and light vehicle like a bicycle, especially over the long distances we may have to travel. London paramedics use motorcycles too, which are apparently fantastic. The sad reality is that the ambulance service relies on cars and vans to do our job at the moment, but I'd like to see more trusts look into using alternative means of transport, especially in urban areas.
@gcn shame that the Active Travel Commissioner is on a tax funded jolly to Paris. Had such hopes, only to be dashed. Where there is a will, there is a way. Such a shame those with the power, don't have the will.
@@jon_underscore I don't think it's a shame at all that Chris Boardman has gone to Paris, if that's the case. Paris and Mayor Hidalgo have been making great strides in recent months and years in improving the cycling provision of the city, and it's actually probably a better example than the Netherlands as the change is recent and has been rapid, which is what we need both in London and across the UK. If he can learn from what they have done and it helps them implement it back home, money well spent.
If you asked any person with common sense which would be more dangerous - a 100kg object moving at a max of 30km/h or a 1500kg object moving at 50km/h, or to simplify even more, a light object moving slow or a heavy object moving fast - no one in their right mind would have guessed the bike. It really blows my mind how ridiculous that sounds if you break it down into simple physics.
I only started to realise this when I came across a channel called "Not Just Bikes". This channel led to channels like "City Beautiful" and "CityNerd". These channels made me question the way our roads and cities are designed, and now I can't unsee the preferential treatment given to cars, along with all the negative side effects they cause (traffic jams, safety risks, (noise) pollution, etc.).
Great channels. Add "Climate Town" to that list and you pretty much can see how cities are built around the world and issues that arose from the decisions.
I would add 'the war on cars'. Opens eyes. Sometimes I wished I could go back to when I was brick-faced and car-industry-brainwashed, like all my friends are and basically everyone. Instead of suddenly seeing all of those major issues with our anti-person city planning.
th-cam.com/users/notjustbikes is an excellent channel. The reporter there says "cars vs bikes" is a false dichotomy, a phoney war to shift blame and distract from the real issue which is "how much longer can societies tolerate the dominance of cars".
@@brabrabarabra5027 agree, they’ve opened my eyes too. Love the podcasts on YT by Not Just Bikes called ‘Urbanist Agenda’ including one with Mrs NJB, and the War On Cars, great listening.
Just got honked at while I was cycling home with my 9 and 7 year old by an obese guy in a huge 4x4 because we dared to slightly impede his journey on a narrow suburban road. It’s a shame this brilliant video won’t be seen by him.
That was my school run with kids before high school. Mind blowing that they’d beep little kids on the road who were cycling in line just not at their speed. Me blocking the road legally, cycling by their side would infuriate them. F O.
I've had people yell at me or throw things at me, and I only ride on residential side streets and trails, unless I have to cut through a downtown on 25 mph roads. I drive 50,000 miles a year for work, but am never rude to cyclists. I really enjoy biking in my free time, but I suppose so many people just don't have experience bike riding, so they don't know how difficult it is to get to your destination without using roads at times.
I had a guy in a big range rover drive into the side street I was crossing last night. Completely oblivious of the fact that pedestrians had right of way there.
im 44 never had a license. I tried driving in my early 20's, without a license of course, and whiles its faster, the amount of stuff you have to do just to legally be able to drive it is wild. I love the freedom my bike gives me, I learned to travel by bicycle and never looked back. It's been years since i've even been in a car.
I highly recommend th-cam.com/users/notjustbikes for issues around town and road planning and how cars affect health and the quality of our living spaces.
The funny thing about the urbanist movement, is once your eyes are open to the damage cars can do, you can never go back to seeing the world the same again. Fortunately, the movement is picking up momentum, so I hope to see major changes in my lifetime.
i dont think thats the case sure more bikers are realizing thanks to bgn and seth and more but biking (especially mtb and road biking ) is not widespread or treated seriously but just like how f1 helps cars improve, pro bikers help fix problems before they hit normal people even global warming is less and less serious now and there are many people who just hate change even for the better media doesnt help here either, i hate media and i generaly advice people to never trust media as they can manipulate and even falsify
38 seconds in and I already lost it!!! Did this lady just say that people are being pushed into the car lane because they are trying to get out of the way of cyclist?!?! ‼️😡
People think they have the right to overtake a cyclist at any time they feel like. I was cycling through road works this evening, the speed limit with road works is 30kph and I was doing exactly 30, as a kind gesture to the cars following me. The lane was narrow with road cones either side, and the car behind me still felt the need to overtake... I should have been more assertive in taking the lane, but I also don't want to cause any frustration to the cars behind me, even though I'm well within my rights. What I'm really saying is that I ride my bike carefully so that I don't trigger any snowflakes in their cars.
If any video was bound to make me angry....The unjustified anger towards cyclists in the UK is insane. Imagine thinking someone on a bike is more dangerous than a car.
I commute everyday, yet cyclists seem to have a very low regard to road traffic laws, being seen and in general riding with consideration. Does the actions of one group negate responsibility of another? Of course not. Before shouting about cars maybe we should all look at our own riding first.
@@phil_d all the research on this topic does not support your claim (from California to Denmark). Cyclists tend to be way more rule abiding than motorists. Most motorists only notice cyclists who inconvinence them, and are appolagetic to other drivers, who bend traffic laws, as it is just a small thing, nobody got hurt, I would do the same... that's why some think cyclists never abide traffic laws (and of course some actually break the rules).
As a highways engineer and keen cyclists in the UK, thank you for posting this video! The amount of car-centric thinking in my industry is insane with both colleagues and policy makers. I deal with it on daily basis. I will be sharing this video around because it is so powerful to show what needs to change within our society, culture, and the way we design our transport infrastructure and built environment. Thank you!
As a middle aged woman on an upright bike, thank you! We are in dire need of your expertise. If it ever feels like a thankless task remember I’m cheering you on 👏👏👏
@@jessegee179 You're worse off in this situation too. None of the infrastructure in the UK is built for upright bikes. I used to live in Stockholm. The women looked so elegant, being able to cycle around town without breaking a sweat.. Even if cycling is encouraged in the UK, it's only more aggressive forms of cycling..
I was going to post something very similar. Civil engineer here. I think the industry is a bit split, we have transport planners and active travel designers who get this problem and you have 80 years of accumulated design experience that says make driving easier and that's still largely the case in highways design. Also in my experience many politicians are not evidence based but go on gut feeling. I have had discussions where I try and explain that resurrecting the design and route of a new road from the 70s is not a good idea will just induce traffic and won't relieve the gridlock they are complaining about
Agree, I've been involved in Transport Planning for 20 years, though there has been improvements, everything is still prioritising the car, despite certain paragraphs of national policy stating schemes should prioritise the most vulnerable travel groups first. Particularly challenging when I've been refused designs of schemes by Highway Authorities who say they are unsafe because they restrict cars etc. too much, or to scale back a scheme for pedestrians/people cycling as it is too comprehensive and too expensive to maintain over time.
It is called social conditioning. I think it is funny that they complain about the price of fuel but are unwilling to walk a km to go to the shops, always having to drive their cars there, only to get frustrated finding a place to park the car.
Big agree. When i was a child my parents drove me everywhere, but we mostly went To a mall and a park that were both 5km away from our appartment. It was only at 18 I realized the absurdity, also going to the grocery store 2.5km away by car while there is literally 5 shops including a pretty big supermarket within 500m. 😂
@@hadtopicausername or if you don't want to walk, take a bike. you can have bags on that you add to the back of the bike, or use a bakfiets. or even use one of those carts that you pull with your bike, the type you often see with a dog in them. if they are able to carry a 30kg Labrador they would be able to carry a load of groceries too. added benefit, parking a bike only takes seconds.
One thing is driving to shops. Another thing is people driving 1 km to the gym to run on the treadmill! I know people who do it! It’s in Norway so it’s not because of safety. It’s just normalized car use for everything.
Some of that is from pure laziness, and some of that is a status thing. They have to be B.M.O.C. for appearances. Being identified by the car is part of their ego. Perhaps that's more of a man's thing I'd allow. Women have different things and instinctive things driving them.
This was probably the best video from GCN. Riding on super expensive bikes in colorful lycra is fun, and exciting. But as cyclists we need space in urban commuting settings first. There are many channels out there who are promoting it, and i am glad that GCN puts its weight behind it, too.
Always great to see videos like this. Being Dutch and living in The Netherlands, I always feel very privileged with how bike and pedestrian friendly our infrastructure has been made since the 70s.
As a wheelchair user traffic crossings are a massive danger for the reasons you pointed out, but also because I’m lower and less visible than a walking pedestrian. And as a hand cyclist, drivers get even more frustrated than they do with able bodied cyclists when I have the audacity to use their precious roads for my filthy exercise. I do so wish we lived in a post enlightenment world… but alas.
It doesn't take a wheelchair, any parent pushing their kid in a cart faces the same, though lesser, hurdles because those motorist make their own problem (parking) everyone's problem. If only local politicians and those working in the local govt traffic department would be forced to use a wheelchair for just one day every year, that might get a lot of small details get sorted quickly. I had to use a recumbent trike a few years ago after they had to bolt my hip back together after an accident, I did park in what motorists would consider "their" parking spaces. Fun times 🙂
Many years ago i used to see a guy in a wheelchair every morning on my way to work, going right down the middle of the right lane on 16th street into the center of DC. It was impossible then to travel on the sidewalk / pavement, as they had not yet started to lower the curbs at crosswalks, and were only just starting to mandate access to buildings. So he evidently decided to take things into his own hands and assert his rights, and so he took the lane on his way to work in the morning.
@@TomK32 Worse, I have seen some drivers treat parents with kid strollers worse than regular pedestrians. I am both cyclist and driver, but first of all a human being and it seems to me like somebody with a baby stroller has higher priority on the road than Mr. God hisself. To mistreat somebody disadvantaged is to choose to be less human.
I really notice the ramps at all intersections in the US are typically angled out into the traffic (because they don't want to build two ramps but rather just one to serve both directions). Of course most of the ramps are basically trash and impossible to use after a year or two...and I'd be scared as hell in a wheelchair or mobility scooter or whatever to try to navigate them with cars flying by going in excess of 20-30 mph OVER the 40 mph speed limit.
In the US it's cars, large pickup trucks, side-by-sides and ATVs and while I understand that many people need their cars because our suburbs are so spread out, most people who have large trucks, side by sides and ATVs don't actually need them. But the people who have those things have convinced themselves they can't live without them. And then there are the people who ride motorcycles and the ones who ride golf carts through their neighborhoods...
My mom went on pension a month ago. She was so used to have a car from the business (she worked for) and instead of buying an electric bike she bought a car because she doesnt get how you could use a bike to go to a store or other things.
@@CanItAlready probably wouldn’t have suburbs to the extent we do if it wasn’t for cars. It’s self-perpetuating (Edited a beautiful autocorrect of suburbs to ‘sunburns’ 😅)
@@peglor used to have a guy lived opposite who would drive 200 meters to buy a paper. took him longer open the drive gates etc then it prob would have walking
Here in Germany there is enormous pressure not to put a speed limit on the Autobahn. In reality, 60% of the Autobahn is already limited to 120km or less. On the remaining 40% you can't drive faster for more than a few seconds ( not minutes!! ) because there is so much traffic - night and day! When it comes to emissions, a switch to E-mobility will not help. There are just TOO many cars on the road. It doesn't matter if they are E or not, there are just too many. In my opinion, the car is the most abused technical advancement of our age. It has become a plaything, a show of social status. The destructive side effects are enormous when it comes to the general health of our populations .... and it's never questioned 😞
I totally agree. In Germany on the A1 and A7, which I regularly use, only at night, you can do more than 160 kph for more than 2 minutes, but usually just for 30 seconds before you have to slow down again. Now we have an electric car and only do about 130 on the Autobahn with farless hectic and stress, but in towns, we block the roads just like before 😢. Only bicycles, buses, and trains can help.
Njjarrh, yes and no. Last year during the later summer last year, when there were still plenty of tourists about, and people had gone back to work as well, I was able to blast away doing almost 200km/h for long stretches. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't. It's never "only one thing is true".
The amount of stupidity in the world today is absolutely staggering! I'm a truck driver in the good'ol US of A and it's literally idiot after idiot after idiot to infinity! People have absolutely lost control and have zero respect for one another! As a biker here I'm positively terrified to ride a shoulder anymore for fear of being targeted for hit and run! In Wisconsin where I live bike lanes are exhaustingly, slowly being introduced but people drive in them to protest! It's totally disgusting the amount of trumpability that occurs! People could care less for each other and even less for the biker. Thank you for making this!
@@Adventures4vida this. What kind of arsehole needs a 2t chariot to get them around, when they presumably weigh less than 100kg. Meanwhile 15t trucks roam our neighbourhoods carrying dozens of tons of cargo, and aren't even that efficient when compared to rolling stock or ships.
That's crazy! bike lanes benefit cars more than bikes. It seggregates bikes to allow cars to move faster but bike lanes are not as visible - reduced biker safety so cars can go faster.
This makes me glad that I live in Copenhagen where bicycles are always given top priority. A few years back, they had to do maintenance on a split bike/car bridge, and instead of compromising the bike lanes or reroute the bikes, the bridge got closed off for cars for a couple of weeks, and the car-section of the bridge was converted to temporary bike lanes during the maintenance of the bike-part of the bridge, as it was more important to keep the bikes flowing than the cars.
Cycling in Denmark is a joy. Really great infrastructure, and I never saw any conflict between cyclists and drivers. Active travel is encouraged - you can take your bike on buses, trains, and the metro.
Strange last time I was in Denmark it felt that bike friendlynes stoped at the City limit of copenhagen. I did ride the direct road towards Rodby and exprienced a lot of very tight overtaking :/ That was one right in the top-ten of most anyoying roads for that cycling holiday. To be fair on another trip there I was impressed by this one bike traffic light detecting me an switiching with perfect timinig.
@@tobias3919 Whilst I haven’t biked on Lolland, it is true that the great bike infrastructure like that of Copenhagen is primarily found in and around the major cities and not as much out in the countryside. And while again, I haven’t biked on Lolland, I do know that more and more bike lanes are popping up across the country, though it is a bit of a bigger undertaking to build bike lanes next to all major roads, than focus on a single city, especially because of the safety regulations we’ve imposed on ourselves regarding bike lanes. Without going to deep into the rules, if you are building a bike lane next to a major road, it HAS to be physically separated from the road and with a buffer margin; this means that the roads I used to ride to school, not too dissimilar from the type of road you mention, today has a dual-directional bike lane next to it separated by a 1m buffer area, but it also means that adding such bike lanes can be a political nightmare, as most roads are too narrow to simply be converted to this, and thus they often require a couple of meters of widening, which rarely goes down well with the residences whose front yard or driveway will be reclaimed for this purpose…
I recently biked in Denmark, both in Copenhagen and outside of the city in the countryside, and I kind of agree. Often overtakes in the countryside was rather fast. I never felt in danger but I must say compared to Sweden I think the Danish drove faster. But the infrastructure for bikes are just so much better in Denmark. The absolute best thing is the amount of bike lanes and how they always are separated from pedestrians and the bike lanes are basically always one way so you usually have bike lanes on both sides of the road. In Sweden we often combine bike lanes and pedestrians and that causes many conflicts and accidents. We should all learn from Denmark how it should be done
As someone who, just the other day, was on the receiving end of a motorist winding their window down and yelling at me to 'get off the road!' purely for nothing more than I was just there and he had to wait awhile to overtake. Those first few people have me absolutely raging. The stupidity and sheer ignorance is ASTOUNDING.
I had a motor bike do that to me just yesterday. Yelled at me to get off the road and into the bike lane... which is funny since they had just ripped up the bike lane. I guess he was triggered because I delayed him 10 seconds getting to the red lights.
@@ihaps1117 I live in a "usually" nice polite part of Canada, but yes, it happens far more than it should. It doesn't help that my city is VERY slow in getting decent bike infrastructure in place. We didn't even have an Active Transportation coordinator on staff until last year!
If only I could leave my nice bike outdoors the same way I leave my car, without worrying having it or accessories gone, not having to bring it inside through stairs, narrow passages and multiple doors, just like in Amsterdam. What makes me angry, is when I tell my friends stuff like this, they just shut me up with phrases like aren't you tired yet with your bullshit.
I recently experienced someone stealing my bike bags containing my spare tube, tire tools and cycling gloves. Now I won't be lea ving the gear on the bike, but I have used zip ties to make the bags non removable without scissors.
you can get a cheap bike for local stuff try getting a good walmart bike cuz cheap yet not as big as stuff like trek and others also i feel like people know less about bikes to even steal one in the first place (personalyl cuz i never lost a bike or got one stolen)
Excellent, excellent segment! My recurring discussion when in a car passing a bicycle: "Bicycles are dangerous on these roads." --"Are you afraid of being harmed by one?" "No, but they may get hit." --"So, you are the one that is dangerous and harmful."
I love how you managed to move GCN editorial choices towards more sustainability, urbanism, daily bike commuting, etc...topics. Rather than those boring consumerist cyclists topics. One of the greater contribution made on YT. Thanks!
There is a better way. A few years ago a busy main road where I live was closed for 2 weeks for resurfacing (it was a deep resurface), it was so nice to see people walking, children actually playing outside in the street, and of course the improvement in air quality was very noticeable. There are so many benefits to changing people’s perceptions. Well done GCN, top work.
It's good to discover that I'm not the only person looking at our streets thinking how much more pleasant our cities would be without all the noise, signals, signs, fumes, concrete and asphalt that go along with cars. My family think I'm a little looney when I ask them to stop for a moment and picture the street we're on with no car-related signs! That said I probably am a little looney, but for different reasons.
Yeah same here...sad stuff. Everyone gets so sad about their health problems and those of their families. Huge ol mess were in 😢 and even worse not many see it
Even as a cyclist, i understand why cars are an important and usefull tool for everyone, it's not that i want roads gone, but i do want people to respect me as another human being instead of raging at me for existing, there's plenty of people who actively disrespect our lanes and react like we're going to destroy the earth if we're seen literally going walking pace on the sidewalk. This is what they tell us "being a minority feels like" and yet i haven't seen someone insult or attack an african american for no reason, but i have seen plenty of people getting mad at cyclists for nothing, almosy running them over when they were suposed to yield and complaining about it along with plenty of other shitty behaviour. Most of us haven't done anything to deserve this other than tryng to enjoy a hobby.
@@Ferrari255GTO cars have a purpose, but most people use them to go around the block to go to the corner store. Gas should be very expensive for everyday drivers, Gas breaks given out to businesses that deliver goods, and special needs. We could easily do with 50 percent less cars on the road.
I like how it is in Japan where the car is almost always at fault when something happens. It might not seem fair at first but if you're driving a ton and a half around everywhere, you really should be extremely careful of your surroundings at all times.
@@gcn Great, as it should be. It's amazing how we've convinced ourselves that cars are safe even when they're the most dangerous mode of transport. Sure, you're likely to die on a motorcycle, but you're way more likely to kill with a car.
Technically it is the same in Germany as well (Betriebsgefahr Kraftfahrzeug), however, it seems that the Police, Prosecution and also to some extend the Judges go more and more in another direction, probably both to brainwashing as well as that some people never ride a bike or walk. This statement is regardless of inconsiderate to outright dangerous road users that occur amoung all forms of transportation.
I was talking about the merits of transit to a friend, and he mentioned that the subway system in my city has frequent disruptions, citing that as a definite negative compared to driving. I countered that every traffic jam as a result of construction, crashes, breakdowns and other stuff was the exact same, but they're so normalized that nobody thinks about them.
I’ve watched GCN for over a decade. And can say this is one of the best pieces they have ever produced. From a personal side, I’ve lived in large cities across the US , Germany and France over the years, and feel like I’m the one taking crazy pills on my daily 5-10km bike commutes while hundreds and thousands of people sit in the same traffic, alone in their cars, for 3-4 times the amount of time it takes me to get to point A-B. What compounds the dangers for cyclists and pedestrians as well, is the mobile phone addiction sitting in the car with the person while they are in traffic. It’s been proven our digital lifes cause anxiety, depression and loneliness. The sadness, anger, rage and inattentive disposition of someone behind a 2-3 ton killing machine gets amplified 10 fold on a daily basis, and the odds of hurting or killing someone increases greatly each passing day. No one has the balls, or fortitude, to stop the cycle of madness. So we will just keep living in a twilight zone episode.
It's a depressing situation, yes. I think the crash at 1:47 in this video was caused by mobile phone distraction, if you watch the car on the right, unless it was a passenger holding it.
I used to be quiet and sometimes even slightly ashamed that I didn't own a car and cycled everywhere. Now, I make it clear that it's a choice I've made on purpose and that it brings me joy, and I'm boisterous and loud about it. Being open about being a normal guy on a bike, and open about the abuse and dehumanization that occurs at the hands of drivers, has led to people that I work with telling me that they're more careful drivers now after hearing just how often I almost get hit on the way to and from work.
It only occured to me watching this that the reason my kids can't play in the front yard is because without a fence, it's unsafe...because of the road for cars! (Melbourne, Australia).
Yeah I was thinking, that's another one of those double standard questions you could ask where it's ok if it were cars near where children play, but not ok if it were "heavy machinery" or something of the like.
Whenever I look at pictures of my Dutch neighbourhood from the 1930s-1950s I’m always amazed by the amount of children playing in the street in every picture. That was possible, because there were only a few cars per street. No worries about damaging a parked car, no need to be afraid of getting ran over, as there simply weren’t enough cars to become a nuisance. The streets seemed so broad, too! Now the streets are getting increasingly tighter, with cars only getting bigger and bigger. Growing up in the 90s we’d often get angry neighbours if we’d accidentally kick or throw a ball against a car, causing no damage. I don’t think it’s just screen time that’s keeping children inside more.
@@DanDanDoe yes, not only screen time. When I was 3 years old I would walk a 1/4 mile alone to my friends house. From age 5 we would spend whole days roaming around the neighborhood and woods and come home only for dinner. I see the parks that used to be full of kids playing baseball and football and sledding in the winter now just empty, nobody goes there in the us now parents may even be arrested by police if their children up to age 12 are just walking down the sidewalk on their own, which is car culture gone completely mad
Usa here. As a person that recently almost died two years ago due to getting hit by a car. I completely agree with this.......Broke hips in 3 places, surgery where hip and spine meets, 2 broken ribs, damaged neck, severe brain damage, right eye no longer works right. I was Knocked unconscious and unresponsive on impact and Was on life support as a john doe in the hospital for a month. Im very responsible and highly observant but i cant say how i got hit cause my memory was affected 🤦🏾♂️. I lost everything behind this. My whole life changed.
@@elliotwilliams7421 stfu wit this sympathy bs. If you can read you see that I clearly wrote that the lady did not know she hit me. But I guess you can’t do that.🤷🏾 you need not speak either
@@elliotwilliams7421 keep it up and ima expose you for the narcissistic person you are. I had severe brain damage and also almost died because of that. So yeah I’m off my rocker. You might wanna watch how and what you say to people. Take it or leave it. Everybody not going to play wit you. Or take kind to your words. Me idgaf nomore. Ima bully you on here. Just stop it
After having a child I realized that even our quiet neighborhood is a danger zone. The first thing you need to teach your child is to stand aside for cars. Even after this, you still always need to be around to intervene just in case. Why isn't anybody instead teaching the drivers to drive at pedestrian speed when they see children?
Because when you're in a car you're usually going somewhere important, where if you're walking you usually aren't. Parents keeping their children safe from the road isn't somehow bowing down to cars it's the same idea as keeping them safe from a river. This thing is inherently dangerous and very useful if used correctly, you're too young to use it correctly to stay away from it
@@johnmccrossan9376 Your very first sentence is a huge assumption. But even if it was correct, a driver going somewhere important does not giver them more rights compared to other citizens or other citizens safety.
@@squngy0 yes it's an assumption but it's a founded one. Driving costs money and people very rarely do things that cost money without a significant perceived benefit. Also the road is made for cars it's not as if you're taking rights away from someone else you're just using a space that is centred on motorists. If I was walking in a velodrome while people were trying to cycle you wouldn't say how dare they be annoyed at me getting in the way because that's not my space it's theirs.
@@johnmccrossan9376 So you would have no problem if we built velodromes over roads, so cyclists can go everywhere with no one in the way? And no, spending money does not prove importance, people spend money on all sorts of frivolous things.
The smell of car fumes is the worst thing I've encountered since starting to commute to work by bike. The world would be soo much quieter and fresher with less cars...
Had to deal with this every day when cycling to school as a teenager, even in Cambridge, which is supposed to be a "cycling friendly" city! Diesel fumes were especially bad!
When i walk in the main city all i smell if piss not really the Car fumes. But i never walk in the city that much. Just to many people and to much nosie.
This is an uncharacteristicly outspoken and opinionated video for GCN. Love it. More of this taking a stance on such an important public issue please!! ✌️🙌
I with them to be careful and respectful. That'll gain more traction. the sane case studies will eventually be herd too. Besides, we can't even get traffic circles here.
NotJustBikes, CityNerd, Streetcraft, Climate Towns, Global Cycling Network. Love these channels so much for opening my mind and other minds to alternatives beyond cars. They’re doing God’s work!
My next-door neighbor DRIVES her kid 1/2 a block to school, going the wrong way down a one way street every morning. It's three houses from hers to the corner on which the school is. It is SO infuriating!
The school district around me got budget approvals to build 3+ new schools. Watching all of them get built it saddens me that ALL of the infrastructure is about that adult parent driving their one child to school. They put token bike racks at the school my youngest went to, but it's a stroad with no shoulders whatsoever, and is a 3 lane road that is clearly built with ONLY cars in mind. Even the sidewalks on that side of the street end at the property lines of the school. Its honestly pathetic that my kids cannot safely ride bikes to school as I did, even if my biking to school was "safe" rather than safe
My neighbour works in the local village shop, the village has around 1,000 properties with low crime rate. She walks out of her front door and steps into the car, then has to drive to the end of the street, along the next street, then back down the next to get to the shop. There is also an open greenspace next to her house with a lit path along it, which would take her directly to the shop. It's around 100metres walk vs 1/2 mile drive plus traffic. I have absolutely no idea how some people manage to rationalise such behaviour
That's an extreme example, but to be fair, most of those parents that drive their children to school that's not even far, they do it because then they continue driving to get to work. At least it makes kind of sense if it's a small child that can't go alone.
I am studying urban planning in school right now and its crazy how hard it is to just try to get people to accept not driving every single place, and having immediate access to free parking in front of the place they are trying to go. I live in the US so its probably worse, but its bad everywhere. This video was much needed, thank you. Hopefully people see it that need to see it.
Cars parked with two wheels on the pavement always baffles me. They haven’t left the road clear for two vehicles to pass but have impeded pedestrians. Lack of enforcement is the issue
I recently saw a video made by a cyclist passing standing traffic, following another cyclist. When the traffic was blocking the road, the two cyclists went on an empty piece of pavement to safely get past the traffic. They went slowly, about the speed of a fast runner but definitely slow for a bike. The comments were full of people callimg them out for how dangerous they were riding, and how cyclists never follow the rules yet expect to be respected etc. None of the drivers in the comments even mentioned the illegally parked car, with two wheels on the pavement and two wheels on the road (with a double yellow line). People were even arguing with me that the car was parked alright.
There was a government consultation about pavement parking rules about 3 years ago, but the Tories just refused to publish the results/any response for 3 years. Hopefully labour will do something about it. Pavement parking is illegal in London, but not the rest of the country. Just giving us all the same rules as London would be a huge step forward.
The United Kingdom is a lost cause. Just reading this crap, what the hell is wrong with you all? Is there not a financial incentive for punishing these blatant law infringements? The government here in Croatia is extremely corrupt, and yet leave your car parked on the street for more than a few minutes, you'll come back to it missing.
I just rode my ebike from home to Walmart, 3 cars passed by me so close and fast and some honked, FIRST TIME with e bike and bicycle riding,first few days. I got scared went to the sidewalk, just to figure out its bumpy and broken and overgrown bushes everywhere, almost crashed several times. My motorcycle was stolen, i thought e bike was a good solution, but now im depressed with americas car centric view..
First time! Don't give up. When I started a few years ago I ran into a lot of the same problems. Try to find alternate routes, even if they add distance. Neighborhood streets are much safer and more pleasant than stroads, and you won't get dangerous passes as much either. Also, a safety vest is more important than a helmet. Drivers were noticeably less hostile to me after I started wearing the hi-vis vest
it is overwhelming but prob as scary as walking imo also for the bumps, change alteast the front fork to a suspension one and it will improve your ride (rear might be harder unless you got a pro bikeshop nearby, even then prob still hard to do), e bikes need suspension or atleast fat tires with low air cuz you need controll at high speeds
I removed myself from the CAR-CENTRIC CULTURE twenty five years ago. All happened , After a car accident with a truck. Afterwards, I gave my car away-- i felt the car was a monster which needed to be fed daily, and would drain my finances-- just to get around. Realized, that one day the car culture would KILL ME !!. Change of PLAN. i cycle to work daily and live close to where i can walk to shops, hospitals and restaurants. on weekends, i cycle to remote areas of historical interest. A far less stressful way to LIVE. The opposition from friends and family were huge. Everyone does accept the car culture as a way of living in the modern world. Growing up in the Antilles-Caribbean island where motor vehicles were only owned by the rich, gave an insight that vehicles are slowly killing us along with our planet. THANK YOU for bringing up this great topic . I always wondered if i was the only one out there---without a CAR..
I never took the plunge into car ownership, so it's always seemed foreign to me. But it's interesting that you mention coming from a place where cars were an economic class divide. Did you know that only 16% of the world's population own a motor vehicle. You are in the majority, like me. We live better, healthier lives because of it. And 'the rich' are slaves to the oil and automotive industries; spending huge amounts of their time alive on this planet at their jobs, in order to pay for their personal ~2 ton chariot.
@@senorfreebie Glad to know there are more of US Carless Citizens out there. The Two Ton Chariot kills more people 40,990 last year in the United States.
This video should be subtitled in as many languages as possible. In Poland unjustified road rage towards cyclists is something that we meet on daily basis. Very important material not only for cyclist and drivers, but for everyone. Thanks GCN 🙂.
I like where this is going:) Finally GCN realised theres more to cycling than the latest and greatest in consumer goods. I wish more cycling channels would have the courage to roport on transport policy 👍
As someone who has spent the last decade learning about how deeply car culture has brainwashed us, the content of this video was nothing new to me. But I have to give massive praise and gratitude for how well this video presented this information. I'm hoping it helps people challenge motornormativity.
This is the best video you've ever made. It's the one tackling the biggest elephant in the room. It's the one that should go under every single comment in every social media on earth that constantly repeats "yeah but bike riders" Thanks.
This has to be my absolute favourite video from GCN! I’ve recently moved to London and it’s incredible how much freedom I have when there is so much cycling infrastructure and public transport, with incentives like congestion charging to reduce car use. It’s better for both our health and the planet. I just wish more cities could be similarly focused on these issues
More videos like this please! The subtle messaging that vehicles are the way to go is everywhere, especially here in North America! Granted riding a bicycle in the winter is uncomfortable, it's not impossible
One thing you typically see people say about new cycle infrastructure is 'there's no one in these cycle lanes, they are empty'. Well when the first stretches of the M1 opened in 1959 traffic volume was very low, around 13,000 vehicles every 24hrs. When you look at pictures of the M1 from that time it looks essentially empty. Today 10 times as many vehicles use the M1 daily. So let's give cycle lanes the same opportunity to grow, those that look under used today will be heaving in a few decades. Incidentally the M1 opened without speed limits, hard shoulders, lighting or a central reservation. So we need continuous investment in cycle lanes too to keep them safe, flat and free of debris - is that happening?
Other have done this but if you sit at a junction with a cycle lane and film it, you'll quickly notice just how efficient the bike lane is. It moves a large number of people quickly so 'appears' empty but it's like if water passes down the plug hole fast, we don't say it's underused but motorists will look at an empty bike lane and claim exactly that (& then say something about how it's 'a war on motorists ')!
As I've tried to explain to many friends, it's not the best 10 km that makes you not willing to take the bike. It's the 1 km where you are afraid for your life that decides it. The goal should be that elderly and children are willing and allowed to take the bike. That was what made me most happy when I visited the Netherlands to see all the children and older people out on their bikes.
I have moved from Canada where there is a huge amount of hostility towards cyclists (I live in the Netherlands now). But even in Canada, I have never heard the claim that cyclists are responsible for cars killing pedestrians. I can’t even fathom the mental gymnastics one has to perform to come to such a conclusion.
I wish there would be a lot more public investment in cycle infrastructure.. They recently shut one car lane through my local village and built a really wide bike lane and footpath. The number of people that have started cycling down them! It's amazing to see! There are hundreds of children cycling to school in the morning, weekends are populated by people cycling to the city.. truly a triumph in my eyes. Just wish they'd implement such measures everywhere, so more people could be empowered to ditch the car once in a while.. Great video. Thanks! ❤
I went to centre Parcs for the first time this summer and it was amazing to see how they actively force you to move your car off the main site to make it a more pleasant place to walk and cycle and everybody just totally accepts it. If we said that had to happen in our towns and cities, people would be in uproar.
I do a ton of practical riding, and good-meaning family + friends tell me out of valid concern that I should be careful because cycling is dangerous. I often have to remind them that cycling is perfectly safe but they should be careful while driving. Every time they do it they risk killing someone.
This is the best most informative vud you have produced in a long time, thanks Simon! Like most I drive, cycle and walk, my main issue for not using my bike on more journeys is fear of theft of my bike, I won't take it into town. We need more secure bike storage in town centres. Government could also incentivise the public to not use there cars and use either public transport or foot and cycle.
If I ride to my local railway station there is no facility at all to securely lock your bike. In fact zero bike facilities at all. I comment occasionally that it is one of the quickest places to give your bike away. Nothing at the shops. Nothing at the doctors surgery. Almost everywhere I cycle there are no facilities for bikes. 1000 miles per year. Local authorities have done absolutely nothing in the 20 years since I moved to my current house. Nothing. I fear you are wasting your breath. Mostly everyone I know is pro-car and bugger the pedestrian and cyclist.
Fine and dandy but define incentivise. In every practical example it means punishing people for using their cars which they want to use. Make public transport or bikes or whatever as convenient or as useful as a car and people will switch willingly, but it is not up to you or the government to impose it's personal preference onto people's lives and limit their right to free movement, which for most people requires a car.
@@tattooedfred public transport is not free because by defenition you're not in control of it. You only go to the places the bus goes and when it wants to go there. Now that's fine in most cases but we can all think of times when it isn't, usually unexpected ones. As far as a bike goes that only works in a dense city. In every other situation it's too awkward to get sweaty, tired and wet to travel and many people are simply not able to. A bike is only a serious alternative to a car at about 3 times the distance that walking is, you would never say you can move freely just by walking where you need to go
Agree, it’s the last barrier to overcome. I was in Delft last year, there’s a free bicycle enclosure in the car free centre, manned by a chap with a tip hat, like a coat check service. Simple, cheap, and wish we had them here in the U.K.
Frankly I'm flabbergasted at that woman's comment about cyclists forcing cars to crash, by "forcing them over the centreline." Being a cyclist is why I became a driving instructor. Trying to stem this tide of dangerous thinking.
As a retired county council Cycling & Sustainable travel officer none of this is a surprise. One of the blockages to things changing is that while road planners were happy to help me design and plan 'traffic free' cycle paths they would not compromise car use in favour of cyclists and pedestrians at all. One clue is the term traffic free cycle path. Since when have cycles not been considered part of traffic?
Here in Lincolnshire, the council Highways department do everything possible to prioritise vehicle traffic flow. Cyclists and pedestrians are merely seen as a hindrance to that traffic flow.
Is it wrong to say Ian Walker looks like he could be Richard Hammond's Dad? Great, and very disturbing video. The Cyclist hatred is real in Australia, and even more so in regional areas.
@@tsubakisan1147 Motonormativity is also much stronger in Australia than Britain and it's going to take a long time to dig us out of this hole. It's a self-reinforcing vicious circle where we drive because the alternatives are bad and that causes the alternatives to become worse. The sad thing I see around Newcastle (Australia) is where they build new cycle lanes in the inner city, increase urban density and rezone for mixed use, but then at the same time build a new subdivision on the outskirts of the city, zoned for single-family homes, 5km from the nearest shops and upgrade the nearby roads from 2 lanes to 4. It's like they kind of get it but there's still so much momentum in the wrong direction.
@@tsubakisan1147 I disagree about the regional thing. I live in a remote part of East Gippsland and people wave to me, and go over the centre line to overtake. Some people find it strange that I live without a car, but I have never encountered road rage out here, let alone the myriad of other forms of aggression that I get when I ride in cities.
One thing I've observed is when there is a pedestrian crossing (without traffic lights), and someone is waiting to cross and a car stops to give way, then some people hurry over the road with apologetic body language, as if it was the pedestrian creating an inconvenient situation.
In India (and I suspect a lot of the global south) a car is also considered an aspirational means of transport. People saw me cycling in Mumbai and were shocked that I chose to cycle and didn't own a car while I could afford one! When I told them people buy cycles in the UK that cost more than a cheap used car would cost in India, it blew their mind!!!
India is full of this superficial classist status circlejerk, I've seen this first hand. People will sit alone in their car in not even a normal traffic but Indian traffic, only to go like 7-8 kilometres, hell it's not even about bikes, they have mopeds and motorbikes at home too, but they don't even ride those because it's seen as a "low status" thing to do. And god forbid if you are seen as someone riding a bike in india, people consider it as a subhuman thing to do because it makes you perceived to be from extremely low financial status. India is an extremely narrow minded and dogmatic society
Look at Cars like an addiction, then it gives you a clear answer: it's always more more more, we sacrifice everything for it and if you want to reduce it, people go insane. You can't have a rationale argument with an addict, that's why it's so hard to change the car centric system.
this is exactly what i've been trying to piece together in my head for the last few months, just started cycling last december to train for triathlon and i've never experienced more unfounded abuse from drivers in my life, it's nuts to think these people walk among us. Genuinely was nearly killed while riding in a group by a land rover who swerved at us and missed us by 1m maybe? all because we delayed him for 30-40 seconds before he turned off anyway. We need a group up countrywide school program to re-educate the new generation until the insane older ones die out.
I never understood, as a pedestrian, why, when a road is clear of vehicles, when I press the button at traffic lights, I have to wait for a long time before they turn to green for me. Changing immediately won't even affect the precious cars (there are none). It seems solely designed to punish anyone who chooses to walk. (And it's not because they have recently given priority to pedestrians - this same logic happens if they have been green for cars for hours). If there are any traffic engineers reading, maybe you can explain why?
I've been banging on about this stuff for many years and couldn't understand why it wasn't obvious to everybody! The idea of Motornormativity is spot on, driving seems to be like a drug that desensitises people to reality. Ultimately, if you stop and think about it, the idea of personal transport in fast moving metal boxes is completely nuts on so many levels! Well done GCN, it's good to see ideas like this aired in more conventional arenas.
Been saying this for years. Now there's finally a video that sums up my daily frustrations. "Yes sir, yes sir, my apologies sir, I now see that you are in a car and are much more important than I - I shall grovel to cross the road, cycle anywhere or even just to walk down the pavement safely".
People will defend driving to the death but want to live somewhere peaceful, or go on all inclusive holidays or cruises where everything is in walking distance. Why don't they want that at home?
You can have both. Yes I want to live somewhere peaceful that's why I live somewhere that doesn't see a lot of traffic. I still like driving and I still want to see it given the priority it deserves
@@BellowFind because they're the most practical, and in many cases the only practical way to travel in a lot of situations. Sure for anything less than 10 miles or so the average person could probably get by with a bike, but every journey takes 4 times as long, more if the weather is against you or you're tired. It's completely uncomfortable you arrive wherever you're going tired and sweaty and you can't carry anything or take anyone else with you. I love cycling but it's a leisure activity. Driving is a necessity. Cars deserve priority for the same reason freight ships get priority over pleasure yachts, one does a more important job than the other.
I had enough of traffic in December and bought a 30 year old road bike and started cycling over 200 km a week (from zero fitness) for commuting and fun. Since mid December I have used less than two tanks of petrol.
Good going. I’ve been cycling to work for the past 3 years (sometimes I still use the car). On average I save about £20 a month on petrol. The bike I bought at the start has more than paid for itself and I’ve lost weight.
Even as an active and regular cyclist who does as many errands as I can on the bike (live in the USA in a city), If have to remind myself to get into cyclist mindset when I'm driving my car. The sense of entitlement is powerful, even for those of us who support cycling more and driving less! I cycle less than I used to because I've known of and even seen too many people get mangled in terrible crashes. I still walk and cycle enough, though, that I'm healthy. I'm almost 60 and take no regular medications. Part of this is luck of the draw, of course, but part of it is an active and healthy lifestyle. I wish policy-makers would do more to encourage this. We have built more and better bike infrastructure here in Pittsburgh, but it's a slow process. I've found the curve covered in the video to be true: A law will gain support--enough to be passed. People will freak out as it's implemented, and then, in time, they'll see it hasn't destroyed their lives and they accept it. Though they may still grumble. I'll say this much: if you live in a country with great bike infrastructure and policies and shake your heads at people in the US or UK who wear helmets and cycling gear, spend ride a few miles/kms in our saddles. It's no easy ride out there.
As a 60 year old, I really just thought this is the way it is. Then I started a Master's program at the University at Albany (New York State) originally focusing on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and learned just how wrong I was. I've commuted an hour or more to work most of my adult life. Imagine my surprise when I realized the reason for that is because of the low density high car use infrastructure built here in the US even for local travel. Just to get to university from my house would take two 15-mile bike rides and a 3-hour bus trip. The train, while an option, only stops twice per day neither of which are convenient to classes and still requires the 15-mile bike ride (not much of an option in upstate NY winters). Even by bus I'd be forced to sleep on a park bench somewhere because, by the time class ends, the bus route has shut down. The best way to ensure car culture is to atrophy all of the alternatives.
Since moving to the Netherlands it becomes more apparent in the UK, I have lived here 10 years and they began the movement to making life better for bikes in 1973, now you can travel everywhere on a seperate (mostly) cycle lane, or where there is mixing of traffic with bikes the speed limit it reduced, never 100 kph. The transitions from cyclelane over roads often (but not always) gives bikes the priority, so cars have to wait, and their lights sense when traffic is coming so they can shift to green easily for bikes or cars when needed. And the transitions are all smooth, butter smooth so no hopping over curbs etc. Its ingrained so much in the Dutch psyche that even when cars have priority many will stop and give way to bikes to make your journey easier. It's crazy, really crazy.
Just to note that at first the average Dutch citizen didn't like moving away from car-centric thinking at first. It took decennia to really embrace it. Now, just as the gentlemen stated in the video, our main reason for taking the bike (or going on foot) is because it's the most convenient way of travel. Not because we dislike the car. If anything: I hope the Netherlands can proof as an example that it might take a while but if you're willing to invest, it can be done and it will pay off to move away from car-centric thinking.
@@dapperedoodoo that’s kind of implied in my point about how long it will take, I think though the key is investment in infrastructure. Under the last UK government this was not going to happen, but now maybe. Plus in a world where everything needs to become greener it makes more sense to use cars less, cycling is cheaper on the wallet and the environment
Thank you SO SO MUCH for addressing this topic in this compelling way. This needs to make the rounds all over the world. Things don’t look any less dire here in Germany; spreading awareness is an indispensable puzzle piece to start with.
Two things. First, I am an aerosol scientist. The health and climate implications of aerosols are central to why I do what I do (I actually work on the chemistry that forms and alters the stuff in the atmosphere). Second, the external “costs” to government from extra health care burdens have an odd twist in the US, where those costs are a gain to the health care and pharmaceutical industries. I am NOT saying that evil execs sit in boardrooms and strategize about making people sick, but I am saying that the incentives to aggressively reduce those costs are real and have real consequences. In many ways, a good recipe for good policy is to put structures and policies in place that give incentives and recognizable rewards for doing the “right” thing, not the wrong thing (“tax bads not goods” is an economist saying).
Very true, in my industry safety culture is driven basically by corporate aversion to costs coming from injured employees, legal liability, or government penalties and regulations in various forms. Where this basic driver is absent (for example in various countries), safety culture can erode very quickly. Despite how often it's stated, concern for people is low on the priority list.
This was great and informative. During architecture school, I worked on a project about the "beast of the street." Streets used to be vibrant spaces for people to meet, celebrate, and engage with their community. However, the rise of cars has significantly altered this dynamic, often diminishing the sense of community. Nowadays, it's rare to even know your neighbors.
I'm glad to see that you have touched on this topic. As a cyclist (and pedestrian), I've been aware of motornormativity for a very long time. It is a deeply entrenched mindset fully supported by the majority of media outlets in the UK (as seen in your video by some of the newspaper headlines you showed). I normally watch channels like "Not Just Cars" or "Bicycle Dutch" which explore these topics in more detail and show some great examples where people are placed before cars.
How on earth is a bike more dangerous than a car?! I got hit by a bike before. Full-size bike with a teenager about 15-years-old ran straight into me at a fast pace. I just put my hands out and the bike stopped and the person flew over the handle bars. I am a stronger man, but if I did that to a car I'd be dead.
@angrygoldfish Tell that to the family of the lady run over and killed by a cyclist in London. And now, bikes are balloning with size and weight (electric), just like their riders.
@@phil_dthe horrible incident in London does not make the statement by @angrygoldfish wrong. Statistics support the statement that bikes are less dangerous than cars.
@chaoticsequencer Bikes and cars are perfectly safe; it's an idiot piloting one that make it not, which seems to have to lost by most of the commentators here with their pointy fingers at others to blame.
The Netherlands started building infrastructure for pedestrians and bikes in the 70s and it really shows: - Much more people using bikes or just walking to go about their daily business. - Healthier lifestyles. - Less noise and air pollution - and more... The youtube channel "Not Just Bikes" has a lot of videos about this topic. Especially the comparison videos between North America for car centric infrastructure and the Netherlands are eye opening.
It wasn't popular at the time. But law makers are supposed to make decisions that are in the best interests of all ,and that's what the Dutch have done. Now they are proud of what they have achieved. Most people are not logical when it comes to progress and change, we need brave leaders to show them the way.
@@StevenNassibian yea, but at least here in Germany it's smaller political parties that would steer in the right direction and they don't get majorities easily. The bigger, established parties need to say: Listen people, this is the way we need to go. You're not gonna like it at first but you'll thank us later. If you want examples of how your life will change, take a look at the Netherlands. I mean, I really don't get why so few parties and bureaus aren't looking at the Netherlands and taking notes. We don't even have to invent stuff. We just need to copy what's been established from them. They even have programs to teach infrastructure developers from other countries how it's done. I'm btw a car guy but also a bike rider and I still want this. I *want* separate infrastructure for bikes, pedestrians and cars because that's the only way everyone can feel safe and travel quickly and hasslefree.
@@wullxz Totally agree. It's the human condition it seems. I have always wondered why we struggle to follow the successful policies of other countries. It takes bravery. Unfortunately, many political parties want to do what is necessary to win the next election, to the detriment of good policy and the long-term welfare of the population.
I found this video to be really insightful and it confirmed some ideas I have about safety on our roads and in our communities. I drive and by am also a cyclist both for training and also to commute and take my son to childcare and I find it astonishing how roads are designed with generally only a passing thought to cyclists, pedestrians and other more eco friendly forms of transport. One of the hardest things for me as a parent is that I want to encourage my child to be outdoors as much as possible but the biggest obstacle to this is roads and cars. Reducing speed limits in our urban environment and redesigning roads should be a priority to get more people outdoors again which would result in huge public physical and mental health benefits. Excellent video Simon and GCN tackling a very important subject!
When I had a child in my life I was shocked to discover I took it for granted that a third of my urban environment could kill you with a moments inattention. Roads and cars are shocking wastes of infrastructure as well - 2000kg cars sit unused for 23 hours a day while roads are used mainly at peak times. Most roads are unoccupied most of the time and are extremely expensive to build and maintain.
One of the biggest factor is legislation. In German law the fluidity and safety of motorized traffic is a key goal. When a city/ community is trying to change speed limits or make roads less straight (slows down traffic) to make it saver for everyone to be outside of a car, it likely to get stopped in court. It's absolutely astounding that avoiding traffic deaths is NOT the no1 goal of traffic laws.
What are your thoughts on 'Motonormativity'? 🚘
More of this❤
Make more!
There is just no accounting for the number of morons there are in the World.
Michael Kranish wrote the book The World's Fastest Man: The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist Major Taylor, America's First Black Sports Hero. Major Marshall Taylor lived and rode 🚲 as life in the USA went from pedestrians and horses, to maybe 20 years of 🚲 supremacy, and then a lot of professional 🚲 riders helped bring in the 🚗 supremacy era we live in now.
"You have to build it before the behavior comes" isn't true, sadly. Amsterdam has excellent cycling infrastructure and a strong cycling culture. Silicon Valley has excellent cycling infrastructure and a weak cycling culture. Japan has almost no cycling infrastructure and a strong cycling culture. The cyclist deaths in Amsterdam and Japan are about the same. Silicon Valley has far more cycling deaths per citizen than Amsterdam and Japan. It's the cycling culture that must be changed not the cycling infrastructure. Changing cycling culture is effectively impossible so we just try to spend money to change the cycling infrastructure. Extremely sad. I have no real solutions. 😢 😢😢😢
Si's journey from pro cyclist to raging urbanist is my favorite political character arc of all time. Great video, GCN!
Oh, and this chapter isn't over yet...
@@gcnGood! Keep it up.❤
“Raging urbasnist”
When I see him thumbing through a dog-eared copy of John Forrester's "Effective Cycling", I'll know the cyclist advocacy Kool-Aid barrel has been drained to its dregs.
I don't feel Si is being political...just factual.
"The cars are killing people, because bikes are forcing them in the middle of the road and causing problems."
I've heard it all now.
Hysterical, it'd be funny, if not tragic,they must be russians.
It's so stupid it could be funny. But it's not. :(
And drivers lack the judgement and spatial awareness to do other than swerve around cyclists, I imagine.
That's coming from an old lady who's supposed to have a lot of wisdom, yet is the epitome of stupidity.
Nobody is forcing anyone into the middle of the road, the average bonehead driver decides to do that!!! If you come up behind a cyclist you slow down and wait until it is absolutely safe to pass and NOT any other time, it really is quite simple!
The mental gymnastics of "cars only kill people because bikes forced them to swerve"...
Cognitive dissonance observed in the field.
It’s genuinely terrifying that this seemingly nice lady has such a death wish for other innocent people.
Well we all remember how that bicycle in the tunnel forced lady Diana's limo to swerve :)
@@PRH123 ....and also cause cancer.
E-Bikes my dear
I was raised in The Netherlands. I have never heard of bikes being dangerous compared to cars. Biking is so much more efficient, faster, healthy, and fun here. Cars are expensive and get stuck in traffic everywhere. It's politics, influenced by the car lobby, and not facts, that lead public opinion in the UK.
I use a bicycle in the city and a honda duel sport for every thing else
I visit The Hague regularly for work and it blows my mind that two countries so close to each other can have such different attitudes. It's literally across the water.
@@neilbirch8431 just like in the U.S each state is differant
I have been to the Netherlands twice and really enjoyed my time there both on and off the bike !
I went to the Netherlands recently. Bike provision is outstanding. Cycled though the centre of Hague, felt safe.
Get stuck behind a bike for a couple of minutes and people lose their minds, sit in traffic for hours on end and its seen as acceptable because it can't be helped.
Well said.
Indeed. Cyclists are in their way but other motorists in queues are just unfortunately there.
Very good point
Not to mention road rage.
Here in Germany it's a matter of seconds, not minutes. Often even if the bike drives at speed limit.
"Cars kill pedestrians a lot"
"Well yeah, but lets be honest, its cyclists fault that they do"
Mind blown.
This one got me, too
Hahahaha. Jumped the shark on that one didn’t she?
my blood boiled at that idiotic women
@@mctrials23 I’ve heard that in America, it’s the bikes that make people become mass shooters
That lady can go step on a lego.
IMO, GCN being more of a "Global cycling network" instead of "competitive road cycling network" is a good change. This is the best journalism & content in general I've seen from the channel in a very long time.
I absolutely agree with you!
yes, definitely agree. This it probably the most important video GCN have ever made, in my opinion.
It's really poor, pretty much propaganda.
The guy doesn't understand basic road junctions.
Bike brain....a person who refuses to accept they do wrong and see themselves as the victim in all situations
I think it's much more interesting than small aero improvements in bikes noone can afford.
@@elliotwilliams7421 Well, you have just validated the point of the video, well done.
Whenever I describe the time I was hit by an SUV, on my bicycle, whilst on the greenway/bike path, with our greenway light green and the road light being red, (pedestrians and cyclist’s right of way)… and every time, I am asked back, “Why were you out there where you could get hit by a car? You must have been out on the road.” Yes, the assumption is always, it was my fault. Even when talking to a local journalist.
I very nearly got hit by a that run a stop sign. When I pointed that out the driver was quite angry and declared it was my responsability not to get run over
I hate how journalists often report that a cyclist has been in a collision with a car. To me this sounds as though the bike drove into the car when no doubt the opposite was true.
@@grahamaustin9085agree. Also the language indicates that the ‘accident’ was between a person ‘cyclist’ and a machine ‘car’, inferring the driver of said car has no level of responsibility.
Fucking ridiculous. Hope you've recovered. Our society is built around capitalism and keeping us sick. Cycling goes against that: Easily repairable, cheap, fun, great for your health. How dare we!
I got hit by a SUV turning left across a cycle lane. Police asked me if i had lights on 9am in August on a bright cloudless day...hey now i always use lights have to protect the blind ...pedestrians should probably also have lights in the summer too. On the plus side the Epolice insisted i got checked at A&E and after the report of my injuriesi was way more bruised than i thought i was they were way more concerned
Forgot to mention the road rage , honking and tailgating. Such aggression would never be tolerated normally.
It’s normalised in situations people aren’t face-to-face e.ge cars, internet,
Imagine you are waiting at queue to the till in Tesco. Somebody would shout at you to speed up or trying to jump in front of you or blocking the way so you can't put your groceries. That sounds mad but drivers are doing it every day.
Honking is just so aggressive and yet considered as kinda normal..
Indeed, there was actually a video where actors in a grocery store acted like drivers and it was...hilarious and sad...and yet somehow it takes much more than that to "orange pill" folks.
Fumes and mostly micro particules from brakes
I'm a cyclist in Brazil and it amazes me to see how much of this culture can be 'universal'. Many of the main arguments are almost exactly the same...it really just confirms that we live in this 'car dictatorship', where cars are symbols of power, wealth and status.
Thanks a lot for sharing this, Si, it really takes some guts to expose this to the internet.
Yup. Thanks usa for this plaque too! It's not the only disease they let loose but one of the worst ones. I think the absolute worst is neoliberalism or libertarian as they call themselves.
I have a global study on this "cyclists are a bigger danger than drivers" nonsense and Brasil actually has the lowest numbers for this - even lower than the Netherlands, where basically everybody bikes. The highest (by far) are from Japan.
In Rio, even stopping at red lights is optional, and generally doesn't happen.
@@kailahmann1823Could you link me this study?
A carrocracia é real e precisa ser combatida em todas as esferas, em todos os cantos do mundo mesmo!
That woman who went through wild mental gymnastics to still blame bikes for deaths caused by cars... woo... mental.
Sometimes I wonder how much drugs people need to take to come to the wrong conclusion even in black and white situations.
Yeah I was screaming at my phone...
Here's the hard facts on pedestrian deaths in the UK www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-pedestrian-factsheet-2022/reported-road-casualties-in-great-britain-pedestrian-factsheet-2022
The numbers go down, though I find it interesting that the number of accidents where they blame the pedestrian is quite high. Maybe it's just easier to blame the dead pedestrian... Any further research is welcome, I know one on the accident cause "speeding" and the verdict was: It depends on the police officer at the scene what cause is logged.
It's Si's Mum as well ! 😜
She clearly hasn’t taken her medication!
I am writing this from a convalescent hospital in Castro Valley California, 12 days after being hit by a car riding my bike to the grocery store. I Have 3 fractured vertebrae and 8 fractured ribs. The cop interviewed me while I was lying in excruciating pain on the road. Somehow both the driver and an Independent witness “saw” me riding 19:24 in the opposite direction that I was, so I was found to be at fault for riding on the wrong side of the street! Cars can do no wrong. Somehow all accidents MUST be the cyclist’s fault. ( Doesn’t really matter as the driver that hit me was uninsured) . I have a long road to recovery and don’t know if I’ll ever be able to ride again. CARS SUCK!
❤
'Regular' GCN is great, with the fun (ridiculous?) challenges, tests of endurance, equipment reviews, etc. This video feels like a new beast entirely, cycling journalism, and I am all for it.
I’d love to see him collaborate with Not Just Bikes, once you’ve seen those videos, nothing is the same again!
GCN is just an advertisement outlet
Yeah great video
Get some politicians involved labour should be all over this
@@Splozy That's why this video is so surprising.
The one that always gets me is when people say that bike lanes/cyclists hold up emergency services, weaponising blue lights against cycling infrastructure. I'm an NHS paramedic, I can count on the fingers of one elbow how many times I've been held up by a cyclist in my career: 0. Meanwhile I'm held up by cars a dozen times a job, literally hundreds of times a shift.
The negative externalities associated with cars are enormous, and yet most people would sooner surrender their health than their driving licence. It's fucked.
Such a daft argument. Again just something peddled by the press. In Europe on motorways it’s obligatory to move to the side leaving a free lane in the middle during a big traffic jam for emergency services. That doesn’t happen here but do the drivers care then? No, do they fcuk. Hard shoulders are being removed now for bs smart motorways but do they complain?
I think it would be a great service if you could find a way to set up a dash cam and show a compilation of your interactions with the people in traffic around you.
Wow, such useful insight against what now obviously seems like a ridiculous arguement. Thank you.
I wonder, are there paramedics on bikes? Would that work having a paramedic with a saddle bag medical kit that may be able to respond quicker and stabilise a person while waiting for an ambulance to fight through traffic?
@@RBradenG unfortunately I cannot access the dash cam footage without my manager's permission, but a guy called Chris Martin (not from Coldplay) makes great videos of his blue light runs on TH-cam, and he discusses the decision making behind his driving.
@@tubularG there are paramedics on bikes, but generally only at events (marathons and parades are the most common ones) because the amount of kit we have to carry largely negates the value of a small and light vehicle like a bicycle, especially over the long distances we may have to travel. London paramedics use motorcycles too, which are apparently fantastic. The sad reality is that the ambulance service relies on cars and vans to do our job at the moment, but I'd like to see more trusts look into using alternative means of transport, especially in urban areas.
Most important video by GCN in a while, maybe ever. Hope it spreads far and wide.
thanks for the love
@@gcn fantastic job 👍
Completely agree!
@gcn shame that the Active Travel Commissioner is on a tax funded jolly to Paris. Had such hopes, only to be dashed.
Where there is a will, there is a way. Such a shame those with the power, don't have the will.
@@jon_underscore I don't think it's a shame at all that Chris Boardman has gone to Paris, if that's the case. Paris and Mayor Hidalgo have been making great strides in recent months and years in improving the cycling provision of the city, and it's actually probably a better example than the Netherlands as the change is recent and has been rapid, which is what we need both in London and across the UK. If he can learn from what they have done and it helps them implement it back home, money well spent.
If you asked any person with common sense which would be more dangerous - a 100kg object moving at a max of 30km/h or a 1500kg object moving at 50km/h, or to simplify even more, a light object moving slow or a heavy object moving fast - no one in their right mind would have guessed the bike. It really blows my mind how ridiculous that sounds if you break it down into simple physics.
yes people are plain stupid.
Thing about common sense is that it’s not very common…
Yeah, that's exactly what their study showed. Remove car from the context and it becomes obvious.
Ah but pedestrians are protected by the curb!! 🤦
That's why marketers are paid so well.
I only started to realise this when I came across a channel called "Not Just Bikes".
This channel led to channels like "City Beautiful" and "CityNerd".
These channels made me question the way our roads and cities are designed,
and now I can't unsee the preferential treatment given to cars, along with all the negative side effects they cause (traffic jams, safety risks, (noise) pollution, etc.).
Great channels. Add "Climate Town" to that list and you pretty much can see how cities are built around the world and issues that arose from the decisions.
I would add 'the war on cars'. Opens eyes.
Sometimes I wished I could go back to when I was brick-faced and car-industry-brainwashed, like all my friends are and basically everyone.
Instead of suddenly seeing all of those major issues with our anti-person city planning.
th-cam.com/users/notjustbikes is an excellent channel. The reporter there says "cars vs bikes" is a false dichotomy, a phoney war to shift blame and distract from the real issue which is "how much longer can societies tolerate the dominance of cars".
Welcome to the rabbit hole! There’s plenty of room down here for us orange-pilled urbanists!
@@brabrabarabra5027 agree, they’ve opened my eyes too. Love the podcasts on YT by Not Just Bikes called ‘Urbanist Agenda’ including one with Mrs NJB, and the War On Cars, great listening.
Just got honked at while I was cycling home with my 9 and 7 year old by an obese guy in a huge 4x4 because we dared to slightly impede his journey on a narrow suburban road. It’s a shame this brilliant video won’t be seen by him.
That was my school run with kids before high school. Mind blowing that they’d beep little kids on the road who were cycling in line just not at their speed. Me blocking the road legally, cycling by their side would infuriate them. F O.
Wouldn't make a difference. These people are truly carwashed.
I've had people yell at me or throw things at me, and I only ride on residential side streets and trails, unless I have to cut through a downtown on 25 mph roads. I drive 50,000 miles a year for work, but am never rude to cyclists. I really enjoy biking in my free time, but I suppose so many people just don't have experience bike riding, so they don't know how difficult it is to get to your destination without using roads at times.
I had a guy in a big range rover drive into the side street I was crossing last night. Completely oblivious of the fact that pedestrians had right of way there.
That's America for you , I got a ticket for getting hit in a crosswalk that was indicated for me to cross.
Car free for almost 30 years. This is one of the most important videos I have seen. Ever. On any channel. Thank you.
Strong agree.. Yet even in this echo chamber there are signs of debate and push back around the facts which is such a shame to see.
im 44 never had a license. I tried driving in my early 20's, without a license of course, and whiles its faster, the amount of stuff you have to do just to legally be able to drive it is wild. I love the freedom my bike gives me, I learned to travel by bicycle and never looked back. It's been years since i've even been in a car.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I highly recommend th-cam.com/users/notjustbikes for issues around town and road planning and how cars affect health and the quality of our living spaces.
@@markhawkes8006 I'm a huge fan of Jason's. Great recommendation!
The funny thing about the urbanist movement, is once your eyes are open to the damage cars can do, you can never go back to seeing the world the same again. Fortunately, the movement is picking up momentum, so I hope to see major changes in my lifetime.
i dont think thats the case
sure more bikers are realizing thanks to bgn and seth and more
but biking (especially mtb and road biking ) is not widespread or treated seriously
but just like how f1 helps cars improve, pro bikers help fix problems before they hit normal people
even global warming is less and less serious now and there are many people who just hate change even for the better
media doesnt help here either, i hate media and i generaly advice people to never trust media as they can manipulate and even falsify
38 seconds in and I already lost it!!! Did this lady just say that people are being pushed into the car lane because they are trying to get out of the way of cyclist?!?! ‼️😡
Yep, staggering stupidity.
That was insane. I just can't understand that mentality.
People think they have the right to overtake a cyclist at any time they feel like. I was cycling through road works this evening, the speed limit with road works is 30kph and I was doing exactly 30, as a kind gesture to the cars following me. The lane was narrow with road cones either side, and the car behind me still felt the need to overtake... I should have been more assertive in taking the lane, but I also don't want to cause any frustration to the cars behind me, even though I'm well within my rights.
What I'm really saying is that I ride my bike carefully so that I don't trigger any snowflakes in their cars.
@@Metal-Possum Ahh the good old MGIF (must get in front)
She didn't want to learn anything, she wanted her feelings validated
If any video was bound to make me angry....The unjustified anger towards cyclists in the UK is insane. Imagine thinking someone on a bike is more dangerous than a car.
How’s a 2ton car going 60km an hour more dangerous than a 100kg cyclist at 30km an hour ?! Think my dude, think!!! /s
Same in Germany.. du to facebook and other social media the level of hate towards cyclist is so high!
Come to Argentina and see how much worst it can be. In Europe at least there is a bit of justice.
I commute everyday, yet cyclists seem to have a very low regard to road traffic laws, being seen and in general riding with consideration.
Does the actions of one group negate responsibility of another? Of course not.
Before shouting about cars maybe we should all look at our own riding first.
@@phil_d all the research on this topic does not support your claim (from California to Denmark). Cyclists tend to be way more rule abiding than motorists.
Most motorists only notice cyclists who inconvinence them, and are appolagetic to other drivers, who bend traffic laws, as it is just a small thing, nobody got hurt, I would do the same... that's why some think cyclists never abide traffic laws (and of course some actually break the rules).
As a highways engineer and keen cyclists in the UK, thank you for posting this video! The amount of car-centric thinking in my industry is insane with both colleagues and policy makers. I deal with it on daily basis. I will be sharing this video around because it is so powerful to show what needs to change within our society, culture, and the way we design our transport infrastructure and built environment. Thank you!
As a middle aged woman on an upright bike, thank you! We are in dire need of your expertise. If it ever feels like a thankless task remember I’m cheering you on 👏👏👏
@@jessegee179 You're worse off in this situation too. None of the infrastructure in the UK is built for upright bikes. I used to live in Stockholm. The women looked so elegant, being able to cycle around town without breaking a sweat.. Even if cycling is encouraged in the UK, it's only more aggressive forms of cycling..
I was going to post something very similar. Civil engineer here. I think the industry is a bit split, we have transport planners and active travel designers who get this problem and you have 80 years of accumulated design experience that says make driving easier and that's still largely the case in highways design. Also in my experience many politicians are not evidence based but go on gut feeling. I have had discussions where I try and explain that resurrecting the design and route of a new road from the 70s is not a good idea will just induce traffic and won't relieve the gridlock they are complaining about
Keep pushing dude you can change things 🎉❤
Agree, I've been involved in Transport Planning for 20 years, though there has been improvements, everything is still prioritising the car, despite certain paragraphs of national policy stating schemes should prioritise the most vulnerable travel groups first. Particularly challenging when I've been refused designs of schemes by Highway Authorities who say they are unsafe because they restrict cars etc. too much, or to scale back a scheme for pedestrians/people cycling as it is too comprehensive and too expensive to maintain over time.
'its no longer about facts, its about how people feel' goes hard
It is called social conditioning. I think it is funny that they complain about the price of fuel but are unwilling to walk a km to go to the shops, always having to drive their cars there, only to get frustrated finding a place to park the car.
Big agree. When i was a child my parents drove me everywhere, but we mostly went To a mall and a park that were both 5km away from our appartment. It was only at 18 I realized the absurdity, also going to the grocery store 2.5km away by car while there is literally 5 shops including a pretty big supermarket within 500m. 😂
And if you bring a decent backpack, you'll be surprised how much shopping you can carry with you home, without it being a pain to carry.
@@hadtopicausername or if you don't want to walk, take a bike.
you can have bags on that you add to the back of the bike, or use a bakfiets.
or even use one of those carts that you pull with your bike, the type you often see with a dog in them. if they are able to carry a 30kg Labrador they would be able to carry a load of groceries too.
added benefit, parking a bike only takes seconds.
One thing is driving to shops. Another thing is people driving 1 km to the gym to run on the treadmill! I know people who do it! It’s in Norway so it’s not because of safety. It’s just normalized car use for everything.
Some of that is from pure laziness, and some of that is a status thing. They have to be B.M.O.C. for appearances. Being identified by the car is part of their ego. Perhaps that's more of a man's thing I'd allow. Women have different things and instinctive things driving them.
This was probably the best video from GCN. Riding on super expensive bikes in colorful lycra is fun, and exciting. But as cyclists we need space in urban commuting settings first. There are many channels out there who are promoting it, and i am glad that GCN puts its weight behind it, too.
We try our best, thank you
Those interviews at the start are mind boggling
Always great to see videos like this. Being Dutch and living in The Netherlands, I always feel very privileged with how bike and pedestrian friendly our infrastructure has been made since the 70s.
As a wheelchair user traffic crossings are a massive danger for the reasons you pointed out, but also because I’m lower and less visible than a walking pedestrian.
And as a hand cyclist, drivers get even more frustrated than they do with able bodied cyclists when I have the audacity to use their precious roads for my filthy exercise.
I do so wish we lived in a post enlightenment world… but alas.
Thank you - not something I’d thought of.
It doesn't take a wheelchair, any parent pushing their kid in a cart faces the same, though lesser, hurdles because those motorist make their own problem (parking) everyone's problem. If only local politicians and those working in the local govt traffic department would be forced to use a wheelchair for just one day every year, that might get a lot of small details get sorted quickly.
I had to use a recumbent trike a few years ago after they had to bolt my hip back together after an accident, I did park in what motorists would consider "their" parking spaces. Fun times 🙂
Many years ago i used to see a guy in a wheelchair every morning on my way to work, going right down the middle of the right lane on 16th street into the center of DC. It was impossible then to travel on the sidewalk / pavement, as they had not yet started to lower the curbs at crosswalks, and were only just starting to mandate access to buildings. So he evidently decided to take things into his own hands and assert his rights, and so he took the lane on his way to work in the morning.
@@TomK32 Worse, I have seen some drivers treat parents with kid strollers worse than regular pedestrians. I am both cyclist and driver, but first of all a human being and it seems to me like somebody with a baby stroller has higher priority on the road than Mr. God hisself.
To mistreat somebody disadvantaged is to choose to be less human.
I really notice the ramps at all intersections in the US are typically angled out into the traffic (because they don't want to build two ramps but rather just one to serve both directions). Of course most of the ramps are basically trash and impossible to use after a year or two...and I'd be scared as hell in a wheelchair or mobility scooter or whatever to try to navigate them with cars flying by going in excess of 20-30 mph OVER the 40 mph speed limit.
People will go to spectacular lengths to defend things that are convenient to them
In the US it's cars, large pickup trucks, side-by-sides and ATVs and while I understand that many people need their cars because our suburbs are so spread out, most people who have large trucks, side by sides and ATVs don't actually need them. But the people who have those things have convinced themselves they can't live without them.
And then there are the people who ride motorcycles and the ones who ride golf carts through their neighborhoods...
My mom went on pension a month ago. She was so used to have a car from the business (she worked for) and instead of buying an electric bike she bought a car because she doesnt get how you could use a bike to go to a store or other things.
@@CanItAlready probably wouldn’t have suburbs to the extent we do if it wasn’t for cars. It’s self-perpetuating
(Edited a beautiful autocorrect of suburbs to ‘sunburns’ 😅)
The insane thing is for most urban areas cars aren't even convenient, just a default choice that has not been examined at all.
@@peglor used to have a guy lived opposite who would drive 200 meters to buy a paper. took him longer open the drive gates etc then it prob would have walking
People like the lady at the start 0:35 are a great example of public health improvements we have seen from removing lead in pipes in the 1970s.
And leaded petrol
😂😂😂😂👍
Lead pipes replaced with social media and advocacy masquerading as journalism
Here in Germany there is enormous pressure not to put a speed limit on the Autobahn. In reality, 60% of the Autobahn is already limited to 120km or less. On the remaining 40% you can't drive faster for more than a few seconds ( not minutes!! ) because there is so much traffic - night and day! When it comes to emissions, a switch to E-mobility will not help. There are just TOO many cars on the road. It doesn't matter if they are E or not, there are just too many. In my opinion, the car is the most abused technical advancement of our age. It has become a plaything, a show of social status. The destructive side effects are enormous when it comes to the general health of our populations .... and it's never questioned 😞
I totally agree. In Germany on the A1 and A7, which I regularly use, only at night, you can do more than 160 kph for more than 2 minutes, but usually just for 30 seconds before you have to slow down again.
Now we have an electric car and only do about 130 on the Autobahn with farless hectic and stress, but in towns, we block the roads just like before 😢.
Only bicycles, buses, and trains can help.
Well with the state of A7 north of Hannover it's difficult to even get to 120.
ignorance is our downfall.
Njjarrh, yes and no. Last year during the later summer last year, when there were still plenty of tourists about, and people had gone back to work as well, I was able to blast away doing almost 200km/h for long stretches.
Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't. It's never "only one thing is true".
I'm optimistic that the fact driving doesn't really work will bring change.
The amount of stupidity in the world today is absolutely staggering! I'm a truck driver in the good'ol US of A and it's literally idiot after idiot after idiot to infinity! People have absolutely lost control and have zero respect for one another! As a biker here I'm positively terrified to ride a shoulder anymore for fear of being targeted for hit and run! In Wisconsin where I live bike lanes are exhaustingly, slowly being introduced but people drive in them to protest! It's totally disgusting the amount of trumpability that occurs! People could care less for each other and even less for the biker. Thank you for making this!
One of the few people who should actually be driving a motor vehicle in a sane world...
@@senorfreebie its should be used to carry cargo, city driving should be heavily discouraged.
@@Adventures4vida this. What kind of arsehole needs a 2t chariot to get them around, when they presumably weigh less than 100kg. Meanwhile 15t trucks roam our neighbourhoods carrying dozens of tons of cargo, and aren't even that efficient when compared to rolling stock or ships.
That's crazy! bike lanes benefit cars more than bikes. It seggregates bikes to allow cars to move faster but bike lanes are not as visible - reduced biker safety so cars can go faster.
The US seems to be a lost place.
This makes me glad that I live in Copenhagen where bicycles are always given top priority.
A few years back, they had to do maintenance on a split bike/car bridge, and instead of compromising the bike lanes or reroute the bikes, the bridge got closed off for cars for a couple of weeks, and the car-section of the bridge was converted to temporary bike lanes during the maintenance of the bike-part of the bridge, as it was more important to keep the bikes flowing than the cars.
This is amazing. I can't imagine this ever happening in the US
Cycling in Denmark is a joy. Really great infrastructure, and I never saw any conflict between cyclists and drivers. Active travel is encouraged - you can take your bike on buses, trains, and the metro.
Strange last time I was in Denmark it felt that bike friendlynes stoped at the City limit of copenhagen. I did ride the direct road towards Rodby and exprienced a lot of very tight overtaking :/ That was one right in the top-ten of most anyoying roads for that cycling holiday. To be fair on another trip there I was impressed by this one bike traffic light detecting me an switiching with perfect timinig.
@@tobias3919 Whilst I haven’t biked on Lolland, it is true that the great bike infrastructure like that of Copenhagen is primarily found in and around the major cities and not as much out in the countryside. And while again, I haven’t biked on Lolland, I do know that more and more bike lanes are popping up across the country, though it is a bit of a bigger undertaking to build bike lanes next to all major roads, than focus on a single city, especially because of the safety regulations we’ve imposed on ourselves regarding bike lanes.
Without going to deep into the rules, if you are building a bike lane next to a major road, it HAS to be physically separated from the road and with a buffer margin; this means that the roads I used to ride to school, not too dissimilar from the type of road you mention, today has a dual-directional bike lane next to it separated by a 1m buffer area, but it also means that adding such bike lanes can be a political nightmare, as most roads are too narrow to simply be converted to this, and thus they often require a couple of meters of widening, which rarely goes down well with the residences whose front yard or driveway will be reclaimed for this purpose…
I recently biked in Denmark, both in Copenhagen and outside of the city in the countryside, and I kind of agree. Often overtakes in the countryside was rather fast. I never felt in danger but I must say compared to Sweden I think the Danish drove faster.
But the infrastructure for bikes are just so much better in Denmark. The absolute best thing is the amount of bike lanes and how they always are separated from pedestrians and the bike lanes are basically always one way so you usually have bike lanes on both sides of the road.
In Sweden we often combine bike lanes and pedestrians and that causes many conflicts and accidents. We should all learn from Denmark how it should be done
As someone who, just the other day, was on the receiving end of a motorist winding their window down and yelling at me to 'get off the road!' purely for nothing more than I was just there and he had to wait awhile to overtake. Those first few people have me absolutely raging.
The stupidity and sheer ignorance is ASTOUNDING.
I had a motor bike do that to me just yesterday. Yelled at me to get off the road and into the bike lane... which is funny since they had just ripped up the bike lane. I guess he was triggered because I delayed him 10 seconds getting to the red lights.
Happens every single time I'm out.
@@ihaps1117 I live in a "usually" nice polite part of Canada, but yes, it happens far more than it should. It doesn't help that my city is VERY slow in getting decent bike infrastructure in place. We didn't even have an Active Transportation coordinator on staff until last year!
they yell at you because they have to wait a little? I got screamed at even though the road was completely empty and car could pass me instantly.
Get a camera and report. It's quite fun.
If only I could leave my nice bike outdoors the same way I leave my car, without worrying having it or accessories gone, not having to bring it inside through stairs, narrow passages and multiple doors, just like in Amsterdam.
What makes me angry, is when I tell my friends stuff like this, they just shut me up with phrases like aren't you tired yet with your bullshit.
Are you sure they're friends?
I recently experienced someone stealing my bike bags containing my spare tube, tire tools and cycling gloves. Now I won't be lea ving the gear on the bike, but I have used zip ties to make the bags non removable without scissors.
you can get a cheap bike for local stuff
try getting a good walmart bike cuz cheap yet not as big as stuff like trek and others
also i feel like people know less about bikes to even steal one in the first place (personalyl cuz i never lost a bike or got one stolen)
Excellent, excellent segment! My recurring discussion when in a car passing a bicycle:
"Bicycles are dangerous on these roads."
--"Are you afraid of being harmed by one?"
"No, but they may get hit."
--"So, you are the one that is dangerous and harmful."
Cars and trucks are dangerous. Bicycles are vulnerable, just like pedestrians.
One of, if not THE best GCN Video! 👏
Agreed, this should be shown in schools.
Thank you all ❤
I love how you managed to move GCN editorial choices towards more sustainability, urbanism, daily bike commuting, etc...topics. Rather than those boring consumerist cyclists topics. One of the greater contribution made on YT. Thanks!
There is a better way. A few years ago a busy main road where I live was closed for 2 weeks for resurfacing (it was a deep resurface), it was so nice to see people walking, children actually playing outside in the street, and of course the improvement in air quality was very noticeable. There are so many benefits to changing people’s perceptions. Well done GCN, top work.
It's good to discover that I'm not the only person looking at our streets thinking how much more pleasant our cities would be without all the noise, signals, signs, fumes, concrete and asphalt that go along with cars. My family think I'm a little looney when I ask them to stop for a moment and picture the street we're on with no car-related signs!
That said I probably am a little looney, but for different reasons.
You’re not looney, or alone, my family think I’m weird too. They are the worst drivers, it’s embarrassing.
Yeah same here...sad stuff. Everyone gets so sad about their health problems and those of their families. Huge ol mess were in 😢 and even worse not many see it
Even as a cyclist, i understand why cars are an important and usefull tool for everyone, it's not that i want roads gone, but i do want people to respect me as another human being instead of raging at me for existing, there's plenty of people who actively disrespect our lanes and react like we're going to destroy the earth if we're seen literally going walking pace on the sidewalk. This is what they tell us "being a minority feels like" and yet i haven't seen someone insult or attack an african american for no reason, but i have seen plenty of people getting mad at cyclists for nothing, almosy running them over when they were suposed to yield and complaining about it along with plenty of other shitty behaviour. Most of us haven't done anything to deserve this other than tryng to enjoy a hobby.
Of course the car is important, just not to the detriment of absolutely everything else.
@@Ferrari255GTO cars have a purpose, but most people use them to go around the block to go to the corner store. Gas should be very expensive for everyday drivers, Gas breaks given out to businesses that deliver goods, and special needs. We could easily do with 50 percent less cars on the road.
One of the most important topics you could tackle!
Please make more of this!
And congratulations - it takes a lot of courage to do so publicly.
Thanks for the support, it’s very important to us
I like how it is in Japan where the car is almost always at fault when something happens. It might not seem fair at first but if you're driving a ton and a half around everywhere, you really should be extremely careful of your surroundings at all times.
Pretty sure it is a similar situation in Belgium too
@@gcn Netherlands as well
Denmark as well
@@gcn Great, as it should be. It's amazing how we've convinced ourselves that cars are safe even when they're the most dangerous mode of transport. Sure, you're likely to die on a motorcycle, but you're way more likely to kill with a car.
Technically it is the same in Germany as well (Betriebsgefahr Kraftfahrzeug), however, it seems that the Police, Prosecution and also to some extend the Judges go more and more in another direction, probably both to brainwashing as well as that some people never ride a bike or walk.
This statement is regardless of inconsiderate to outright dangerous road users that occur amoung all forms of transportation.
I was talking about the merits of transit to a friend, and he mentioned that the subway system in my city has frequent disruptions, citing that as a definite negative compared to driving. I countered that every traffic jam as a result of construction, crashes, breakdowns and other stuff was the exact same, but they're so normalized that nobody thinks about them.
I’ve watched GCN for over a decade. And can say this is one of the best pieces they have ever produced. From a personal side, I’ve lived in large cities across the US , Germany and France over the years, and feel like I’m the one taking crazy pills on my daily 5-10km bike commutes while hundreds and thousands of people sit in the same traffic, alone in their cars, for 3-4 times the amount of time it takes me to get to point A-B. What compounds the dangers for cyclists and pedestrians as well, is the mobile phone addiction sitting in the car with the person while they are in traffic. It’s been proven our digital lifes cause anxiety, depression and loneliness. The sadness, anger, rage and inattentive disposition of someone behind a 2-3 ton killing machine gets amplified 10 fold on a daily basis, and the odds of hurting or killing someone increases greatly each passing day. No one has the balls, or fortitude, to stop the cycle of madness. So we will just keep living in a twilight zone episode.
It's a depressing situation, yes. I think the crash at 1:47 in this video was caused by mobile phone distraction, if you watch the car on the right, unless it was a passenger holding it.
I used to be quiet and sometimes even slightly ashamed that I didn't own a car and cycled everywhere. Now, I make it clear that it's a choice I've made on purpose and that it brings me joy, and I'm boisterous and loud about it. Being open about being a normal guy on a bike, and open about the abuse and dehumanization that occurs at the hands of drivers, has led to people that I work with telling me that they're more careful drivers now after hearing just how often I almost get hit on the way to and from work.
It only occured to me watching this that the reason my kids can't play in the front yard is because without a fence, it's unsafe...because of the road for cars! (Melbourne, Australia).
Yeah I was thinking, that's another one of those double standard questions you could ask where it's ok if it were cars near where children play, but not ok if it were "heavy machinery" or something of the like.
Whenever I look at pictures of my Dutch neighbourhood from the 1930s-1950s I’m always amazed by the amount of children playing in the street in every picture. That was possible, because there were only a few cars per street. No worries about damaging a parked car, no need to be afraid of getting ran over, as there simply weren’t enough cars to become a nuisance. The streets seemed so broad, too! Now the streets are getting increasingly tighter, with cars only getting bigger and bigger. Growing up in the 90s we’d often get angry neighbours if we’d accidentally kick or throw a ball against a car, causing no damage. I don’t think it’s just screen time that’s keeping children inside more.
@@DanDanDoe yes, not only screen time. When I was 3 years old I would walk a 1/4 mile alone to my friends house. From age 5 we would spend whole days roaming around the neighborhood and woods and come home only for dinner.
I see the parks that used to be full of kids playing baseball and football and sledding in the winter now just empty, nobody goes there
in the us now parents may even be arrested by police if their children up to age 12 are just walking down the sidewalk on their own, which is car culture gone completely mad
Usa here. As a person that recently almost died two years ago due to getting hit by a car. I completely agree with this.......Broke hips in 3 places, surgery where hip and spine meets, 2 broken ribs, damaged neck, severe brain damage, right eye no longer works right. I was Knocked unconscious and unresponsive on impact and Was on life support as a john doe in the hospital for a month. Im very responsible and highly observant but i cant say how i got hit cause my memory was affected 🤦🏾♂️. I lost everything behind this. My whole life changed.
@@IamKingFace1 yoinare so desperate for sympathy it's actually sad.
Were you at fault??
@@elliotwilliams7421 stfu wit this sympathy bs. If you can read you see that I clearly wrote that the lady did not know she hit me. But I guess you can’t do that.🤷🏾 you need not speak either
@@elliotwilliams7421 keep it up and ima expose you for the narcissistic person you are. I had severe brain damage and also almost died because of that. So yeah I’m off my rocker. You might wanna watch how and what you say to people. Take it or leave it. Everybody not going to play wit you. Or take kind to your words. Me idgaf nomore. Ima bully you on here. Just stop it
@@elliotwilliams7421 and can you leave me alone and let me enjoy my birthday🤦🏾♂️. I’m waking up to your nonsense on my bday.
@@IamKingFace1 wanna be victim
After having a child I realized that even our quiet neighborhood is a danger zone. The first thing you need to teach your child is to stand aside for cars. Even after this, you still always need to be around to intervene just in case. Why isn't anybody instead teaching the drivers to drive at pedestrian speed when they see children?
Because when you're in a car you're usually going somewhere important, where if you're walking you usually aren't. Parents keeping their children safe from the road isn't somehow bowing down to cars it's the same idea as keeping them safe from a river. This thing is inherently dangerous and very useful if used correctly, you're too young to use it correctly to stay away from it
@@johnmccrossan9376 Your very first sentence is a huge assumption.
But even if it was correct, a driver going somewhere important does not giver them more rights compared to other citizens or other citizens safety.
@@squngy0I don't think there's any point trying to discuss this with somebody who is proving the entire point of the video. He's brainwashed.
@@squngy0 yes it's an assumption but it's a founded one. Driving costs money and people very rarely do things that cost money without a significant perceived benefit. Also the road is made for cars it's not as if you're taking rights away from someone else you're just using a space that is centred on motorists. If I was walking in a velodrome while people were trying to cycle you wouldn't say how dare they be annoyed at me getting in the way because that's not my space it's theirs.
@@johnmccrossan9376 So you would have no problem if we built velodromes over roads, so cyclists can go everywhere with no one in the way?
And no, spending money does not prove importance, people spend money on all sorts of frivolous things.
The smell of car fumes is the worst thing I've encountered since starting to commute to work by bike. The world would be soo much quieter and fresher with less cars...
Had to deal with this every day when cycling to school as a teenager, even in Cambridge, which is supposed to be a "cycling friendly" city! Diesel fumes were especially bad!
The best thing about the disaster of 2020 was that the air cleared up REAL quick when there were hardly any cars on the road.
and the heat!! omg, biking in Austin TX if i'm behind a car i can FEEL the heat coming out of the exhaust.
@@kelseyhuse Even in the UK that can be pretty unbearable if you're behind a bus
When i walk in the main city all i smell if piss not really the Car fumes. But i never walk in the city that much. Just to many people and to much nosie.
This is an uncharacteristicly outspoken and opinionated video for GCN. Love it. More of this taking a stance on such an important public issue please!! ✌️🙌
I with them to be careful and respectful. That'll gain more traction. the sane case studies will eventually be herd too. Besides, we can't even get traffic circles here.
NotJustBikes, CityNerd, Streetcraft, Climate Towns, Global Cycling Network.
Love these channels so much for opening my mind and other minds to alternatives beyond cars.
They’re doing God’s work!
They are propaganda channels for corporate companies and investors.
Devils work more like
My next-door neighbor DRIVES her kid 1/2 a block to school, going the wrong way down a one way street every morning. It's three houses from hers to the corner on which the school is. It is SO infuriating!
Don't know about your country, but typically driving the wrong way down a way one street is illegal. Record it and send it to police.
The school district around me got budget approvals to build 3+ new schools. Watching all of them get built it saddens me that ALL of the infrastructure is about that adult parent driving their one child to school. They put token bike racks at the school my youngest went to, but it's a stroad with no shoulders whatsoever, and is a 3 lane road that is clearly built with ONLY cars in mind. Even the sidewalks on that side of the street end at the property lines of the school. Its honestly pathetic that my kids cannot safely ride bikes to school as I did, even if my biking to school was "safe" rather than safe
You gotta drive your kid to school to protect them from the other parents driving kids to school...
My neighbour works in the local village shop, the village has around 1,000 properties with low crime rate. She walks out of her front door and steps into the car, then has to drive to the end of the street, along the next street, then back down the next to get to the shop.
There is also an open greenspace next to her house with a lit path along it, which would take her directly to the shop. It's around 100metres walk vs 1/2 mile drive plus traffic.
I have absolutely no idea how some people manage to rationalise such behaviour
That's an extreme example, but to be fair, most of those parents that drive their children to school that's not even far, they do it because then they continue driving to get to work. At least it makes kind of sense if it's a small child that can't go alone.
I am studying urban planning in school right now and its crazy how hard it is to just try to get people to accept not driving every single place, and having immediate access to free parking in front of the place they are trying to go. I live in the US so its probably worse, but its bad everywhere. This video was much needed, thank you. Hopefully people see it that need to see it.
Cars parked with two wheels on the pavement always baffles me. They haven’t left the road clear for two vehicles to pass but have impeded pedestrians. Lack of enforcement is the issue
I recently saw a video made by a cyclist passing standing traffic, following another cyclist. When the traffic was blocking the road, the two cyclists went on an empty piece of pavement to safely get past the traffic. They went slowly, about the speed of a fast runner but definitely slow for a bike. The comments were full of people callimg them out for how dangerous they were riding, and how cyclists never follow the rules yet expect to be respected etc. None of the drivers in the comments even mentioned the illegally parked car, with two wheels on the pavement and two wheels on the road (with a double yellow line). People were even arguing with me that the car was parked alright.
There was a government consultation about pavement parking rules about 3 years ago, but the Tories just refused to publish the results/any response for 3 years. Hopefully labour will do something about it. Pavement parking is illegal in London, but not the rest of the country. Just giving us all the same rules as London would be a huge step forward.
Imagine this in reverse with pedestrians casually blocking part of the road for some reason. The abuse would be off the charts!
The United Kingdom is a lost cause.
Just reading this crap, what the hell is wrong with you all? Is there not a financial incentive for punishing these blatant law infringements?
The government here in Croatia is extremely corrupt, and yet leave your car parked on the street for more than a few minutes, you'll come back to it missing.
I just rode my ebike from home to Walmart, 3 cars passed by me so close and fast and some honked, FIRST TIME with e bike and bicycle riding,first few days. I got scared went to the sidewalk, just to figure out its bumpy and broken and overgrown bushes everywhere, almost crashed several times. My motorcycle was stolen, i thought e bike was a good solution, but now im depressed with americas car centric view..
First time! Don't give up. When I started a few years ago I ran into a lot of the same problems. Try to find alternate routes, even if they add distance. Neighborhood streets are much safer and more pleasant than stroads, and you won't get dangerous passes as much either. Also, a safety vest is more important than a helmet. Drivers were noticeably less hostile to me after I started wearing the hi-vis vest
it is overwhelming
but prob as scary as walking imo
also for the bumps, change alteast the front fork to a suspension one and it will improve your ride (rear might be harder unless you got a pro bikeshop nearby, even then prob still hard to do), e bikes need suspension or atleast fat tires with low air cuz you need controll at high speeds
GCN and NotJustBikes collaboration when?!
Get GCN over to Netherlands for a cycling infrastructure special!
Big hour long carspiricy we can spread and everyone should see! Again showing the alternative can help people change their perspective e.g. Denmark
I removed myself from the CAR-CENTRIC CULTURE twenty five years ago. All happened , After a car accident with a truck. Afterwards, I gave my car away-- i felt the car was a monster which needed to be fed daily, and would drain my finances-- just to get around. Realized, that one day the car culture would KILL ME !!. Change of PLAN. i cycle to work daily and live close to where i can walk to shops, hospitals and restaurants. on weekends, i cycle to remote areas of historical interest. A far less stressful way to LIVE. The opposition from friends and family were huge. Everyone does accept the car culture as a way of living in the modern world. Growing up in the Antilles-Caribbean island where motor vehicles were only owned by the rich, gave an insight that vehicles are slowly killing us along with our planet. THANK YOU for bringing up this great topic . I always wondered if i was the only one out there---without a CAR..
I never took the plunge into car ownership, so it's always seemed foreign to me. But it's interesting that you mention coming from a place where cars were an economic class divide. Did you know that only 16% of the world's population own a motor vehicle. You are in the majority, like me. We live better, healthier lives because of it. And 'the rich' are slaves to the oil and automotive industries; spending huge amounts of their time alive on this planet at their jobs, in order to pay for their personal ~2 ton chariot.
@@senorfreebie Glad to know there are more of US Carless Citizens out there. The Two Ton Chariot kills more people 40,990 last year in the United States.
This video should be subtitled in as many languages as possible. In Poland unjustified road rage towards cyclists is something that we meet on daily basis. Very important material not only for cyclist and drivers, but for everyone. Thanks GCN 🙂.
I like where this is going:) Finally GCN realised theres more to cycling than the latest and greatest in consumer goods. I wish more cycling channels would have the courage to roport on transport policy 👍
As someone who has spent the last decade learning about how deeply car culture has brainwashed us, the content of this video was nothing new to me. But I have to give massive praise and gratitude for how well this video presented this information. I'm hoping it helps people challenge motornormativity.
This is the best video you've ever made.
It's the one tackling the biggest elephant in the room.
It's the one that should go under every single comment in every social media on earth that constantly repeats "yeah but bike riders"
Thanks.
This has to be my absolute favourite video from GCN! I’ve recently moved to London and it’s incredible how much freedom I have when there is so much cycling infrastructure and public transport, with incentives like congestion charging to reduce car use. It’s better for both our health and the planet. I just wish more cities could be similarly focused on these issues
More videos like this please! The subtle messaging that vehicles are the way to go is everywhere, especially here in North America! Granted riding a bicycle in the winter is uncomfortable, it's not impossible
One thing you typically see people say about new cycle infrastructure is 'there's no one in these cycle lanes, they are empty'. Well when the first stretches of the M1 opened in 1959 traffic volume was very low, around 13,000 vehicles every 24hrs. When you look at pictures of the M1 from that time it looks essentially empty. Today 10 times as many vehicles use the M1 daily. So let's give cycle lanes the same opportunity to grow, those that look under used today will be heaving in a few decades. Incidentally the M1 opened without speed limits, hard shoulders, lighting or a central reservation. So we need continuous investment in cycle lanes too to keep them safe, flat and free of debris - is that happening?
Other have done this but if you sit at a junction with a cycle lane and film it, you'll quickly notice just how efficient the bike lane is.
It moves a large number of people quickly so 'appears' empty but it's like if water passes down the plug hole fast, we don't say it's underused but motorists will look at an empty bike lane and claim exactly that (& then say something about how it's 'a war on motorists ')!
As I've tried to explain to many friends, it's not the best 10 km that makes you not willing to take the bike. It's the 1 km where you are afraid for your life that decides it. The goal should be that elderly and children are willing and allowed to take the bike.
That was what made me most happy when I visited the Netherlands to see all the children and older people out on their bikes.
On the same theme, the M6 Toll was pretty much empty for years - and still isn't all that busy.
11 years of commuting by bike in London Vs £3000/year travelcard, I can't believe more people don't wake up!
I have moved from Canada where there is a huge amount of hostility towards cyclists (I live in the Netherlands now). But even in Canada, I have never heard the claim that cyclists are responsible for cars killing pedestrians. I can’t even fathom the mental gymnastics one has to perform to come to such a conclusion.
and what we would give to have Montreal levels of cycling infra down here in the states!
You are Jason Slaughter and I claim my five pounds! :-)
I wish there would be a lot more public investment in cycle infrastructure.. They recently shut one car lane through my local village and built a really wide bike lane and footpath. The number of people that have started cycling down them! It's amazing to see! There are hundreds of children cycling to school in the morning, weekends are populated by people cycling to the city.. truly a triumph in my eyes.
Just wish they'd implement such measures everywhere, so more people could be empowered to ditch the car once in a while..
Great video. Thanks! ❤
I went to centre Parcs for the first time this summer and it was amazing to see how they actively force you to move your car off the main site to make it a more pleasant place to walk and cycle and everybody just totally accepts it. If we said that had to happen in our towns and cities, people would be in uproar.
@@thrillhous8888 I believe Walt Disney intended to do the same with Epcot and the city of the future.
I do a ton of practical riding, and good-meaning family + friends tell me out of valid concern that I should be careful because cycling is dangerous. I often have to remind them that cycling is perfectly safe but they should be careful while driving. Every time they do it they risk killing someone.
What if It was a motorcycle would they say the same?
This is the best most informative vud you have produced in a long time, thanks Simon!
Like most I drive, cycle and walk, my main issue for not using my bike on more journeys is fear of theft of my bike, I won't take it into town.
We need more secure bike storage in town centres.
Government could also incentivise the public to not use there cars and use either public transport or foot and cycle.
If I ride to my local railway station there is no facility at all to securely lock your bike. In fact zero bike facilities at all.
I comment occasionally that it is one of the quickest places to give your bike away.
Nothing at the shops.
Nothing at the doctors surgery.
Almost everywhere I cycle there are no facilities for bikes. 1000 miles per year.
Local authorities have done absolutely nothing in the 20 years since I moved to my current house. Nothing.
I fear you are wasting your breath. Mostly everyone I know is pro-car and bugger the pedestrian and cyclist.
Fine and dandy but define incentivise. In every practical example it means punishing people for using their cars which they want to use. Make public transport or bikes or whatever as convenient or as useful as a car and people will switch willingly, but it is not up to you or the government to impose it's personal preference onto people's lives and limit their right to free movement, which for most people requires a car.
@@johnmccrossan9376you don't require a car for free movement, you are choosing the car for it. You can easily chose to take a bus, train, bike or walk
@@tattooedfred public transport is not free because by defenition you're not in control of it. You only go to the places the bus goes and when it wants to go there. Now that's fine in most cases but we can all think of times when it isn't, usually unexpected ones. As far as a bike goes that only works in a dense city. In every other situation it's too awkward to get sweaty, tired and wet to travel and many people are simply not able to. A bike is only a serious alternative to a car at about 3 times the distance that walking is, you would never say you can move freely just by walking where you need to go
Agree, it’s the last barrier to overcome. I was in Delft last year, there’s a free bicycle enclosure in the car free centre, manned by a chap with a tip hat, like a coat check service. Simple, cheap, and wish we had them here in the U.K.
Car is not just culture, but even more religion.
Frankly I'm flabbergasted at that woman's comment about cyclists forcing cars to crash, by "forcing them over the centreline." Being a cyclist is why I became a driving instructor. Trying to stem this tide of dangerous thinking.
As a retired county council Cycling & Sustainable travel officer none of this is a surprise. One of the blockages to things changing is that while road planners were happy to help me design and plan 'traffic free' cycle paths they would not compromise car use in favour of cyclists and pedestrians at all. One clue is the term traffic free cycle path. Since when have cycles not been considered part of traffic?
Since always. A bike is an oversized child's toy a car is something you need. Cyclists are pedestrians in funny clothing
@johnmccrossan9376 Blud completely missed the point of the video. Looks like someone’s brainwashed
@@envixxsy I THINK he's being sarcastic?
We need more envisioned road planners, wish I was twenty again. Appreciate everything you did, against the odds 👏👏👏
Here in Lincolnshire, the council Highways department do everything possible to prioritise vehicle traffic flow. Cyclists and pedestrians are merely seen as a hindrance to that traffic flow.
The psychologist is Ian Walker, not Ian Driver... I'd say it is a biased research 🫢
incredible banter!
😂
Is it wrong to say Ian Walker looks like he could be Richard Hammond's Dad?
Great, and very disturbing video. The Cyclist hatred is real in Australia, and even more so in regional areas.
@@tsubakisan1147 Motonormativity is also much stronger in Australia than Britain and it's going to take a long time to dig us out of this hole. It's a self-reinforcing vicious circle where we drive because the alternatives are bad and that causes the alternatives to become worse.
The sad thing I see around Newcastle (Australia) is where they build new cycle lanes in the inner city, increase urban density and rezone for mixed use, but then at the same time build a new subdivision on the outskirts of the city, zoned for single-family homes, 5km from the nearest shops and upgrade the nearby roads from 2 lanes to 4. It's like they kind of get it but there's still so much momentum in the wrong direction.
@@tsubakisan1147 I disagree about the regional thing. I live in a remote part of East Gippsland and people wave to me, and go over the centre line to overtake. Some people find it strange that I live without a car, but I have never encountered road rage out here, let alone the myriad of other forms of aggression that I get when I ride in cities.
One thing I've observed is when there is a pedestrian crossing (without traffic lights), and someone is waiting to cross and a car stops to give way, then some people hurry over the road with apologetic body language, as if it was the pedestrian creating an inconvenient situation.
In India (and I suspect a lot of the global south) a car is also considered an aspirational means of transport. People saw me cycling in Mumbai and were shocked that I chose to cycle and didn't own a car while I could afford one! When I told them people buy cycles in the UK that cost more than a cheap used car would cost in India, it blew their mind!!!
India is full of this superficial classist status circlejerk, I've seen this first hand. People will sit alone in their car in not even a normal traffic but Indian traffic, only to go like 7-8 kilometres, hell it's not even about bikes, they have mopeds and motorbikes at home too, but they don't even ride those because it's seen as a "low status" thing to do. And god forbid if you are seen as someone riding a bike in india, people consider it as a subhuman thing to do because it makes you perceived to be from extremely low financial status. India is an extremely narrow minded and dogmatic society
Look at Cars like an addiction, then it gives you a clear answer: it's always more more more, we sacrifice everything for it and if you want to reduce it, people go insane. You can't have a rationale argument with an addict, that's why it's so hard to change the car centric system.
That's a good point!
this is exactly what i've been trying to piece together in my head for the last few months, just started cycling last december to train for triathlon and i've never experienced more unfounded abuse from drivers in my life, it's nuts to think these people walk among us. Genuinely was nearly killed while riding in a group by a land rover who swerved at us and missed us by 1m maybe? all because we delayed him for 30-40 seconds before he turned off anyway. We need a group up countrywide school program to re-educate the new generation until the insane older ones die out.
But I like cars I think there cool and you can have fun with them
@@thess9198 People like loas of things that have negative impacts on society.
@rob-c., @thess9198 yes, negative impacts on society, and also on themselves as individuals!
I never understood, as a pedestrian, why, when a road is clear of vehicles, when I press the button at traffic lights, I have to wait for a long time before they turn to green for me. Changing immediately won't even affect the precious cars (there are none). It seems solely designed to punish anyone who chooses to walk. (And it's not because they have recently given priority to pedestrians - this same logic happens if they have been green for cars for hours). If there are any traffic engineers reading, maybe you can explain why?
I've been banging on about this stuff for many years and couldn't understand why it wasn't obvious to everybody! The idea of Motornormativity is spot on, driving seems to be like a drug that desensitises people to reality. Ultimately, if you stop and think about it, the idea of personal transport in fast moving metal boxes is completely nuts on so many levels! Well done GCN, it's good to see ideas like this aired in more conventional arenas.
Been saying this for years. Now there's finally a video that sums up my daily frustrations.
"Yes sir, yes sir, my apologies sir, I now see that you are in a car and are much more important than I - I shall grovel to cross the road, cycle anywhere or even just to walk down the pavement safely".
People will defend driving to the death but want to live somewhere peaceful, or go on all inclusive holidays or cruises where everything is in walking distance. Why don't they want that at home?
I think this all the time.
People sit in traffic complaining about the traffic without realising that they ARE the traffic.
You can have both. Yes I want to live somewhere peaceful that's why I live somewhere that doesn't see a lot of traffic. I still like driving and I still want to see it given the priority it deserves
@@johnmccrossan9376 why do cars deserve priority more than anything else?
@@BellowFind because they're the most practical, and in many cases the only practical way to travel in a lot of situations. Sure for anything less than 10 miles or so the average person could probably get by with a bike, but every journey takes 4 times as long, more if the weather is against you or you're tired. It's completely uncomfortable you arrive wherever you're going tired and sweaty and you can't carry anything or take anyone else with you. I love cycling but it's a leisure activity. Driving is a necessity. Cars deserve priority for the same reason freight ships get priority over pleasure yachts, one does a more important job than the other.
I had enough of traffic in December and bought a 30 year old road bike and started cycling over 200 km a week (from zero fitness) for commuting and fun. Since mid December I have used less than two tanks of petrol.
Good going. I’ve been cycling to work for the past 3 years (sometimes I still use the car). On average I save about £20 a month on petrol. The bike I bought at the start has more than paid for itself and I’ve lost weight.
Even as an active and regular cyclist who does as many errands as I can on the bike (live in the USA in a city), If have to remind myself to get into cyclist mindset when I'm driving my car. The sense of entitlement is powerful, even for those of us who support cycling more and driving less!
I cycle less than I used to because I've known of and even seen too many people get mangled in terrible crashes. I still walk and cycle enough, though, that I'm healthy. I'm almost 60 and take no regular medications. Part of this is luck of the draw, of course, but part of it is an active and healthy lifestyle. I wish policy-makers would do more to encourage this.
We have built more and better bike infrastructure here in Pittsburgh, but it's a slow process. I've found the curve covered in the video to be true: A law will gain support--enough to be passed. People will freak out as it's implemented, and then, in time, they'll see it hasn't destroyed their lives and they accept it. Though they may still grumble.
I'll say this much: if you live in a country with great bike infrastructure and policies and shake your heads at people in the US or UK who wear helmets and cycling gear, spend ride a few miles/kms in our saddles. It's no easy ride out there.
As a 60 year old, I really just thought this is the way it is. Then I started a Master's program at the University at Albany (New York State) originally focusing on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and learned just how wrong I was. I've commuted an hour or more to work most of my adult life. Imagine my surprise when I realized the reason for that is because of the low density high car use infrastructure built here in the US even for local travel. Just to get to university from my house would take two 15-mile bike rides and a 3-hour bus trip. The train, while an option, only stops twice per day neither of which are convenient to classes and still requires the 15-mile bike ride (not much of an option in upstate NY winters). Even by bus I'd be forced to sleep on a park bench somewhere because, by the time class ends, the bus route has shut down. The best way to ensure car culture is to atrophy all of the alternatives.
Best GCN video ever. Please continue to pushing this kind of content.
Since moving to the Netherlands it becomes more apparent in the UK, I have lived here 10 years and they began the movement to making life better for bikes in 1973, now you can travel everywhere on a seperate (mostly) cycle lane, or where there is mixing of traffic with bikes the speed limit it reduced, never 100 kph. The transitions from cyclelane over roads often (but not always) gives bikes the priority, so cars have to wait, and their lights sense when traffic is coming so they can shift to green easily for bikes or cars when needed. And the transitions are all smooth, butter smooth so no hopping over curbs etc. Its ingrained so much in the Dutch psyche that even when cars have priority many will stop and give way to bikes to make your journey easier. It's crazy, really crazy.
Just to note that at first the average Dutch citizen didn't like moving away from car-centric thinking at first. It took decennia to really embrace it.
Now, just as the gentlemen stated in the video, our main reason for taking the bike (or going on foot) is because it's the most convenient way of travel. Not because we dislike the car.
If anything: I hope the Netherlands can proof as an example that it might take a while but if you're willing to invest, it can be done and it will pay off to move away from car-centric thinking.
@@dapperedoodoo that’s kind of implied in my point about how long it will take, I think though the key is investment in infrastructure. Under the last UK government this was not going to happen, but now maybe. Plus in a world where everything needs to become greener it makes more sense to use cars less, cycling is cheaper on the wallet and the environment
Thank you SO SO MUCH for addressing this topic in this compelling way. This needs to make the rounds all over the world. Things don’t look any less dire here in Germany; spreading awareness is an indispensable puzzle piece to start with.
Two things. First, I am an aerosol scientist. The health and climate implications of aerosols are central to why I do what I do (I actually work on the chemistry that forms and alters the stuff in the atmosphere). Second, the external “costs” to government from extra health care burdens have an odd twist in the US, where those costs are a gain to the health care and pharmaceutical industries. I am NOT saying that evil execs sit in boardrooms and strategize about making people sick, but I am saying that the incentives to aggressively reduce those costs are real and have real consequences. In many ways, a good recipe for good policy is to put structures and policies in place that give incentives and recognizable rewards for doing the “right” thing, not the wrong thing (“tax bads not goods” is an economist saying).
Cool story bro
Look at historical cycles for 2 minutes isn't it...............
Thank you - thought provoking.
Very true, in my industry safety culture is driven basically by corporate aversion to costs coming from injured employees, legal liability, or government penalties and regulations in various forms. Where this basic driver is absent (for example in various countries), safety culture can erode very quickly. Despite how often it's stated, concern for people is low on the priority list.
Total government cintrol you mean
This was great and informative. During architecture school, I worked on a project about the "beast of the street." Streets used to be vibrant spaces for people to meet, celebrate, and engage with their community. However, the rise of cars has significantly altered this dynamic, often diminishing the sense of community. Nowadays, it's rare to even know your neighbors.
Let's just remember 2/3 of the UK are either overweight or obese, we need more people on bikes.
And 95% of the people in the US are tragically obese and addicted to cars.
🚴♀💨
These people wouldnt exercise to save their own life.
And Denmark is one of the least obese countries in Europe. 🤔
@@samskisamsonofso true, they don't.
I'm glad to see that you have touched on this topic. As a cyclist (and pedestrian), I've been aware of motornormativity for a very long time. It is a deeply entrenched mindset fully supported by the majority of media outlets in the UK (as seen in your video by some of the newspaper headlines you showed).
I normally watch channels like "Not Just Cars" or "Bicycle Dutch" which explore these topics in more detail and show some great examples where people are placed before cars.
How on earth is a bike more dangerous than a car?! I got hit by a bike before. Full-size bike with a teenager about 15-years-old ran straight into me at a fast pace. I just put my hands out and the bike stopped and the person flew over the handle bars. I am a stronger man, but if I did that to a car I'd be dead.
@angrygoldfish Tell that to the family of the lady run over and killed by a cyclist in London.
And now, bikes are balloning with size and weight (electric), just like their riders.
@@phil_d That's really sad. I'm sorry to hear that.
@@phil_dthe horrible incident in London does not make the statement by @angrygoldfish wrong. Statistics support the statement that bikes are less dangerous than cars.
@@phil_d I don't think anyone's saying bikes are perfectly safe. The point is they're ~100x safer than cars.
@chaoticsequencer Bikes and cars are perfectly safe; it's an idiot piloting one that make it not, which seems to have to lost by most of the commentators here with their pointy fingers at others to blame.
This is one of the best and most important videos you guys did in a long time! Thanks for that!
The Netherlands started building infrastructure for pedestrians and bikes in the 70s and it really shows:
- Much more people using bikes or just walking to go about their daily business.
- Healthier lifestyles.
- Less noise and air pollution
- and more...
The youtube channel "Not Just Bikes" has a lot of videos about this topic.
Especially the comparison videos between North America for car centric infrastructure and the Netherlands are eye opening.
It wasn't popular at the time. But law makers are supposed to make decisions that are in the best interests of all ,and that's what the Dutch have done. Now they are proud of what they have achieved. Most people are not logical when it comes to progress and change, we need brave leaders to show them the way.
@@StevenNassibian yea, but at least here in Germany it's smaller political parties that would steer in the right direction and they don't get majorities easily. The bigger, established parties need to say: Listen people, this is the way we need to go. You're not gonna like it at first but you'll thank us later. If you want examples of how your life will change, take a look at the Netherlands.
I mean, I really don't get why so few parties and bureaus aren't looking at the Netherlands and taking notes. We don't even have to invent stuff. We just need to copy what's been established from them. They even have programs to teach infrastructure developers from other countries how it's done.
I'm btw a car guy but also a bike rider and I still want this. I *want* separate infrastructure for bikes, pedestrians and cars because that's the only way everyone can feel safe and travel quickly and hasslefree.
@@wullxz Totally agree. It's the human condition it seems. I have always wondered why we struggle to follow the successful policies of other countries. It takes bravery. Unfortunately, many political parties want to do what is necessary to win the next election, to the detriment of good policy and the long-term welfare of the population.
I found this video to be really insightful and it confirmed some ideas I have about safety on our roads and in our communities. I drive and by am also a cyclist both for training and also to commute and take my son to childcare and I find it astonishing how roads are designed with generally only a passing thought to cyclists, pedestrians and other more eco friendly forms of transport. One of the hardest things for me as a parent is that I want to encourage my child to be outdoors as much as possible but the biggest obstacle to this is roads and cars. Reducing speed limits in our urban environment and redesigning roads should be a priority to get more people outdoors again which would result in huge public physical and mental health benefits. Excellent video Simon and GCN tackling a very important subject!
Now a collab with NotJustBikes and/or Adam Something would be cool.
A colab with Adam something will just end with building a train line 😂
A shoutout to Tom from Shifter as well
@@Konskeert train line for bikes )))
@@Konskeert Techbros & Cryptobros "but have you heard of the Hyperloop?"
Totally. The Not Just Bikes videos are fantastic
When I had a child in my life I was shocked to discover I took it for granted that a third of my urban environment could kill you with a moments inattention. Roads and cars are shocking wastes of infrastructure as well - 2000kg cars sit unused for 23 hours a day while roads are used mainly at peak times. Most roads are unoccupied most of the time and are extremely expensive to build and maintain.
One of the biggest factor is legislation. In German law the fluidity and safety of motorized traffic is a key goal. When a city/ community is trying to change speed limits or make roads less straight (slows down traffic) to make it saver for everyone to be outside of a car, it likely to get stopped in court.
It's absolutely astounding that avoiding traffic deaths is NOT the no1 goal of traffic laws.