Last year my family and I spent a week camping near Alkmaar in North Holland, so we experienced the Netherlands from the car, as pedestrians , and then, for an afternoon, by bicycle. I noticed some key differences that make travelling by road there much less tense than what we experience around Dublin.

1. Continuous Bike Lanes

We cycled for miles without the bike lane merging into traffic on the road. In some places we had to cross roads, but these crossings had good visibility and were intuitive. There were some (rare) places where we did have to merge with roads, but these were in 30kmh zones, and everything was very clear to passing motorists, who were expected to give way.

2. Clear Road Markings

There were no surprises. Everything was consisted, and it was clear what motorists and cyclists were supposed to do at all times. Not like Dublin where sometimes there is a red and green light for cyclists at the same time and cycle track markings evaporate where there is less space.

3. Nobody Wears a helmet in the Netherlands.

A bit of plastic on your head protects you if you fall on your head, but does not stop people in cars crashing in to you and knocking you over. The Dutch know this and as a result, and as a result of the other points on this list, you don’t see helmets on cyclists in the Netherlands.

4. Traffic Lights make sense

In the Netherlands people on bicycles are not left waiting while there is no other traffic crossing the way they need to go. They do not have the head scratching that you get in Dublin where you can be looking at a green light and a red light at the same time (e.g. Edge’s Corner). The traffic lights make sense, and that means that people obey them

5. Everybody Indicates (including cyclists)

Pretty self explanatory, and it seems to happen in the Netherlands, but not in Dublin.

6. Less people die or are hurt in cycling accidents.

Well, when you look at the totals, the Netherlands are near the top in terms of cycling related deaths per million population, Ireland did not provide figures, which on the back of an envelope, 7-10 per year for a population of 5.1 million is lower than the Netherlands. However, given the much greater number of cycling journeys and km cycled in the Netherlands, our record is much worse. Deaths will generally be roughly proportional to the number of serious injuries, and the effect on better health and mobility is also not taken into account,

7. Bikes are heavier

The Dutch seem to like the heavier more upright bicycle. In my years of cycling here, it has been more about either racing or road bikes, or mountain bikes, with more recent use of fold-ups and ultra light hybrid bikes. Not every journey needs to be a trek or a personal best, so the Dutch style where your steed is just a mode of transport, and simply does the job, seems a lot more sensible!

8. Bike lanes were not littered with manholes and drains

They are in Dublin

If you have experience cycling in the Netherlands, or elsewhere on the European continent or the world, where there is better infrastructure or better anything, do feel free to let me know about it in the comments below.