In a comment on a Facebook post (July 30, 2025 by Richard Freierman — sorry, post not individually addressable). Arthur Gaer writes:
I am currently in Amsterdam. The cyclists—human and electric powered—are insanely aggressive, blowing through crosswalks against the lights, riding on pedestrian only sidewalks the wrong way, cutting off cars and daring the cars and pedestrians to hit them, or vice versa. No noticeable lights (or helmets). I haven’t seen the video you mentioned but even if Dutch bike lanes are great—and there’s plenty of them—the cyclists definitely are NOT great.
I just came from Copenhagen. The city also has tons of bike lanes and tons of cyclists. The cyclists AND the cars all follow the rules of the road. They all stop at bike and car traffic lights and for all pedestrians. The drivers, car drivers, bus drivers, truck drivers and cyclists, all wait for EVERYONE to cross at crosswalks before turning, and don’t blow through red lights or lights that just turned green. All the people on wheels of any sort and on foot are non aggressive (other than obvious tourists).
Copenhagen feels incredibly relaxed and safe. Amsterdam feels incredibly aggressive and unsafe. They both have a strong cycling culture and many well built bike lanes. I would much rather we emulate Copenhagen than Amsterdam. On bikes, in cars, and on foot.
Wow. Thanks for the report. The tendency among advocates in the US is to lump Amsterdam and Copenhagen together as model cities. Now, I wonder, how does the difference play out in terms of travel times, crash, injury and fatality rates? How does the difference reflect general cultural norms?
I haven’t been to the Netherlands since 1965, and never to Denmark, but I carefully watch and review videos of cycling there. In particular, check out the one about how children are taught bicycling in Dutch public schools. Good that they have bicycling education in the schools but I’m not impressed with what I saw.
