watch it: “Bicycle Rush Hour Utrecht (Netherlands)”

And not a single helmet!

No helmets - no high velocity collisions with cars! I was in Utrecht last week, and the provision of proper cycle paths is wonderful to a Brit's eyes. Mind you, I also admire how they have completely done away with those pesky, energy-sapping hills :-)

If only the cyclists here were so mannerly and followed the laws. Maybe it's just the ones in my area, but they are generally very rude and obnoxious, and completely disrespectful toward cars. It's a rare occurrence when they ride single file and stay within the bike lanes. Frankly I can't stand them.

I just had some friends get back from a trip, and some of the time was spent in Amsterdam, and they had nothing but bad things to say about cyclist etiquette. I'm glad they have more paths setup, but my friends almost got clipped a few times.

I just have animosity towards cyclists because most of them that I come across on the road want to be treated as another car, but then go break the rules at stop signs an intersections. They want it both ways.

Dear Leslie Carr (great name for this thread!),

Most cyclists (and everybody else, as far as I can figure) seem blissfully sure that someone on a bike is incapable of inflicting or receiving much damage unless a car is involved. I would just like to gently point out that it doesn't take a "high velocity collision" with a car to sustain a brain injury. My husband was stepping out into a crosswalk (with the light in his favour) last year when a cyclist knocked him down. Two days in hospital, one of them on the neuro-ward due to bleeding to the brain. I can't tell you how frightened I was when he kept asking the same questions over and over. Five weeks off work. Months of follow-ups to make sure he was all right. People still ask me about "when your husband was hit by a car", and seemed astonished when I say he was struck by a mere bike.

Granted, my husband was not wearing a helmet, and I'm not suggesting he should have been (although it would have helped enormously). However, neither was the cyclist who hit him. The cyclist was not going very fast, Leslie, but the cyclists in this video are going faster. I'd love to know what the statistics are for bike-on-bike collisions in Utrecht and how serious the resulting injuries are. I know a lot of people here in Canada who have been badly hurt (concussion, broken hips, etc) by cyclists. Since the injuries are not life-threatening (just seriously quality-of-life-threatening), these accidents get no press coverage whatsoever.

End of rant. (Sorry about that, Leslie.)

In Amsterdam, one of the greatest hazards is losing your bike to a thieving junkie. I've lived there for some 17 years and lost about five bikes in the process. (Cycling is a national pastime in Holland and only very protective parents bother with helmets for their offspring.)

If only the cyclists here were so mannerly and followed the laws

If you lived here you would in no way describe the general cycling traffic as mannerly and following the rules :D

Also Persephone is quite right. Most cranial injuries to cyclists that a helmet could prevent occur as self inflicted injuries as most cyclist crashes involve no other vehicle. Cycles are inherently unstable devices (2 wheels) that allow no protection to the rider, place the rider up high and in an awkward position (if anything goes wrong) and allow the rider to move at relatively high speeds. All of which quite easily spell head injury without the need for a vehicle collision.

The biggest independent safety authority in the Netherlands (SWOV - who are also quite internationally respected in terms of their scientific work) have been lobbying for helmets in the Netherlands for years. But it is politically unpopular.