Dutch cyclists caught up in the wheels of success

[krebs303]

Dutch cyclists caught up in the wheels of success

THE HAGUE (AFP) – Fatal accidents, gridlock at the traffic lights: cycling's popularity in the Netherlands, where the number of bicycles outnumber the country's population, has brought with it its own problems.

"Sometimes there are so many people at the traffic lights that there are jams: not everyone has time to cross the street in one go," Hugo van der Steenhoven, president of the Dutch Cyclists Federation, told AFP.

"We are victims of our own success," he added.

 

[Polish]

In my little town we manage to get a few hundred riders across the road before the lights turn RED:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq2RNvjIU8Y
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[Izzy eviel]

In my little town we manage to get a few hundred riders across the road before the lights turn RED:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq2RNvjIU8Y
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If a health & safety officer saw that they'd have a fit!!

 

[pedaling squares]

In my little town we manage to get a few hundred riders across the road before the lights turn RED:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq2RNvjIU8Y
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Wasn't that you crossing the line at 0:07 in the T-Mobile kit with the basket on the handlebar?

 

[the student]

Yup sometimes you have real traffic jams on a cycling path... but its even worse on or highway systems... and our public transport isnt the fastest either...

You will still beat cars over relatively short distances on a bicycle... although they should add the popularity of electric bikes to the article... a lot of people go out and cycle on the electrically powered bicycles... usually elderly people...
but because of the electrical system their speed increases while their reaction time is still a lot slower...
so they are a lot more likely to crash...

 

[Christian]

I remember the first time I went to Amsterdam I always thought I could safely cross the street when I didn't hear a car coming and therfore almost got run over by cyclists a few times