Comment on Rush hour traffic in Utrecht, Netherlands

unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• Valmond@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  And accidents are rarely fatal.

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  • Rothe@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    As long as you wear a helmet.

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    • okwhateverdude@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Not really that necessary in NL. Most people are cruising the city at 18-20kph. The fietsers on the ebikes obviously go faster, but in heavy traffic, you’re not gonna go full speed anyhow.

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      • errer@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        This is just wrong, head injuries are very common in the Netherlands. theguardian.com/…/the-brain-is-very-vulnerable-du…

        Just wear a fucking helmet, looking like a dweeb is better than brain damage.

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    • strlcpy@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      These are bikes only, very low speed interactions. The sort where if you do bump into someone, it’s just a foot on the ground at worst.

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      • stiephelando@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Landing on your head at low speeds is still very dangerous. A helmet is not a bad idea.

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      • TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Times are changing though. These days there are loads of annoying kids on fatbikes. Often they go faster than allowed while these kids are even a danger to themselves and others while walking. There’s a step rise in accidents but due to the laws they can’t do much about it as they fall into the category of bike instead of scooter or moped. Now there’s a minimum age (14 I think?) for fatbikes but that barily works preventing accidents. Now with the rise of e-bikes the average cycling speed is also increased which is something everyone needs to adjust to. Drivers too, as cyclists are sooner at an intersection as they used to be. This also causes accidents. This is how I broke my collarbone because a driver thought he had enough time to cross the cycling path but this caused me to crash into him with 25km/h. Without helmets the chance of serious head injuries is greatly increased with speeds of 25km/h. And there are many fatbikes going 45km/h.

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    • sik0fewl@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Helmets are promoted in North America so that when a car kills a cyclist they can blame it on the cyclist if they aren’t wearing a helmet instead of blaming it on the shitty cycling infrastructure.

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    • kugel7c@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Nah im not gonna carry a liter of foam around to cut a 10^-5 chance in third, you do you of course, but this risk is small enough and the inconvenience of carrying around a helmet is large enogh for me to not care for cycling as transportation.

      I find the fear mongering around this topic to be supremely annoying. Just let adults ride their bikes however they want. If you try to get your child, employee, or participants in a sporting event to wear a helmet, that’s completely reasonable. But assuming the vast majority of dutch cyclists to be idiots for cycling without a helmet is just asinine.

      Everyone seeing cycling as a normal mode of transport is never gonna work if everyone is scared of cycling to the point of never considering it without a helmet. Mandatory helmet laws seem to be one of the most effective measures to discourage cycling, so don’t try to make a bike culture that effectively acts like one.

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      • krooklochurm@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        See what happens when you don’t wear a helmet?

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