Monday, March 19, 2007

Bikes


The Dutch love their bicycles.
The first photo is the bike parking area near the Tilburg main station. I didn't see this many people while I was there. yet here are there bikes. I think they have extras just in case. It may be a crime in the Netherlands to go without one.
They are a tall and healthy people. They have a small country. Where would they put them all if these bikes were cars? They wouldn't need to drop them off at the train station. Maybe they have cars but don't drive them because they have no where to leave them when they take the train? We don't bother with that here in the states, we just don't take the train.

The second photo is plainly a stoplight. The interesting part is that it has separate signals for bikes and cars, something I hadn't seen prior to this trip to Amsterdam. I am not even sure that this light is even meant for cars at all. Reinforcing my belief that the Dutch are obsessed with bikes.
Travel tip: Don't you dare get caught walking in the bike lane. You will be hit or harassed. My discovery of this was in Tilburg. I was wandering about the main commercial/entertainment area of town. The bike lane is not in the road like in the U.S. or many other cities in Europe. While trying to find my way around the place, I heard a ringing from behind me. I was non-verbally being told to get the hell out of the way. I am glad I learned this in a smaller town than Amsterdam.
Popular chatter tells us that we will all be safer without these cars we hold so dear. I am far from believing that to be true.
I am no pro-auto lobbyist. I really don't like driving, but it isn't a bad necessity.
I ride my bike for exercise far from busy streets.
I am not sure I want to move to a European style of public transport. Riding ones bike in the rain holds no appeal.
More damage is done by a bus or a tram a lot than by a car. Cars stop faster.
Of course, one can spend a lot of money very quickly on gasoline.
One more of life's trade-offs we need contemplate.


At no time in writing this piece about the Dutch did I obviously rhyme bikes with the word that describes a wall built to protect human occupied lands from encroaching bodies of water.




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