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It's safe here. Good infrastructure and right attitude instead of helmets. |
"Build it, and they will come" -approach changed the car-centred transportation policies. The new planning ideology began improving the cycling infrastructure in the 70's – leading to a steadily rising amount of cyclist year after year. (See Wikipedia for current numbers.)
Bike lanes that are separated from other traffic and in many cases one-way; protected intersections with informative bike traffic lights; parking garages at railway stations... you name it. Now they have it all that the other countries are only planning.
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World's largest bike garage at Utrecht Centraal. |
True, some of the romantic and hipsteric air may be gone with the wind when cycling has become mainstream. In order to keep traffic flowing smooth, no fiddling around is accepted. I found this myself, eg. when I was stopping to take a photo at the wrong side of the bike lane.
Anyway, I learned to ride there in an instant and enjoyed every bit of it. On urban bike highways, on Oude Postweg in beech forest. Below's a short video on this after-work ride around Utrecht.