War on Motor Vehicles

[Charlotte Berry]

Well, this explains things very well. Very informative video, but I like this latest one from Netherlands. This is amazing, truly cars get the shaft!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJhGSxDb5wQ

[Bike Chick]

The video explains it so well. I applaud the country's foresight. Could you imagine the uproar it would cause if they tried that in the United States? I don't think I will live long enough to see it happen here.

[Catrin]

I just can't imagine living in that kind of environment, how cool! They also know what winter is in the Netherlands! It would be great to see something like this in an American city or town, but I won't be holding my breath.

[Tri Girl]

That is SO cool- I can't imagine how wonderful that would bee to live there.
Think of how much congestion would be relieved in places like NYC if they did some of that.

We don't have the right mindset to ever do this in America. Granted, we have terrible urban sprawl here which prevents a lot of that from taking place. It could be done, tho. I see that it could be done in my own community, but it will never happen. We are such slaves to our cars that I just can't imagine people giving that up. Makes me wish gas would go back up to near $5/gal. again so it would be on the forefront of people's minds. Perhaps that's why European cities are so much more car-free; the price of gas is insane. It would do wonders for our country's waistline, too.
Sorry- mini rant over.

[marni]

oh that just made me so homesick for the Netherlands. I really miss the bike riding, commuting, did the whole thing with kids on the front and back of the bike while carrying saddlebags full of groceries etc. When the kids were older and in school, I used to just pick a direction, ride a couple of hours on paved bike paths next to roads, quiet country roads or bike paths in the roads, stop somewhere, have lunch, and then wander back home again. There is really no other way to see a country.

When we left there in 2004, gas was $5.00 a liter. It's so expensive they don't even measure in gallons. Of course the other thing to remember is that they also have incredible public transport systems with trains, trams and buses so that it is possible to be car free.

as you say, it will probably never happen in the US.

[Charlotte Berry]

It's very deep rooted in their culture like cars are here. Today they are probably also very aware of the madness or caos of having their country overwhelmed by cars, so they don't even remotely consider it. It's not just pollution, but the amount of space cars take up could gridlock their already over crowded country. In the USA we have all that space it seems, but most of it is not occupied or is unusable. So the problems exist like in the Eastern highways and the Bay Area where it can take hours just to travel a short distance in a car. You can get there much quicker on a bike or even on foot when bumper to bumper at 2mph takes forever, madness just madness. If you notice on TV, for every 3 or 4 commericals, two are car commericals and the other usually always a drug commerical, plus the odd one out. Very strange country, that land of the free!

[owlice]

All those bikes and ingrained in the culture, so why aren't there more bike racks? I found that very curious.

[Charlotte Berry]

All those bikes and ingrained in the culture, so why aren't there more bike racks? I found that very curious.

Not entirely sure. Probably like cars in a way, racks take too much space, clutter and eyesore. I notice in some videos, they just stack the bikes like pancakes. The utility bikes they use are cheap in quality and price so they don't care as much about scratches and such, or theft I guess.

I don't completely understand the culture. I do see some nice bikes here and there, but if you notice none of the bikes in the videos are like our. Our culture is mostly bent on racing type bikes even for casual use. There is much to learn indeed about this culture they have there. I'm wondering if it wouldn't be such a bad idea for bikes to be used like shopping carts. Common use, not personal and maybe that would solve a lot of problems with stalls and bike locks, etc. An extension of public utilities supported by the country or state.

[Eden]

There are places in the US that have tried common use bikes - it never seems to work out. It doesn't take long for the bikes to disappear or be destroyed....

[Catrin]

It also seems to me that our individual needs for bike fit differ so much that it would also present a problem. The older we get, the more physical issues some of us have that require certain features on a bike if we are going to be capable of riding it more than a couple of miles without pain.

[alpinerabbit]

When we left there in 2004, gas was $5.00 a liter. It's so expensive they don't even measure in gallons.

what a cute explanation for the metric system

They also know what winter is in the Netherlands!

well, kind of. I guess it rains there. Granted, the Grachten used to freeze over all the time.

Why exactly is this thread entitled WAR on motor vehicles?

[Catrin]

well, kind of. I guess it rains there. Granted, the Grachten used to freeze over all the time.

My bad, I thought that they had lots of snow, ice, and cold temps there

[DMC]

That's fantastic! I was thinking that NYC would be a perfect city to try separating the bike/car traffic (cars on specified main arteries with protected bike lanes, with trucks allowed to make deliveries on smaller streets during business hours, otherwise all other streets are for cyclists only), but our winters are so brutal, it wouldn't make sense to shut down so much of the city to traffic year round.

I wish they would just push through the legislation that would tax the hell out of traffic coming into the city, but there is too much pressure from the rest of NY state (not to mention NJ and Conn) to not do this.

[zoom-zoom]

Something I noticed while watching that...I did not see even a single overweight person. Hmm...

[Charlotte Berry]

Parts 1&2

Nicole Freedman, Boston Bike Czar...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us6fJNCk1q0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaTfsTdPsEs