Cycling in London compared with Amsterdam : Wow a lot of parallels for South Africa commuting ...

[dancordt1]

The problem with cycling in the UK lies with the drivers. British don't like change. To change the attitude of the British driver will take a millennium and now that it is saturated with immigrants the driving standard is much much worse. A car driver will tell a cyclist that roads were built for cars and a cyclist will retaliate with the roads were built for horses. Then there is the argument that cyclists don't pay road tax. I am 100% in favour of a national cycling licence and mandatory insurance for cyclists. The biggest problem in the UK is that as cycling gets more popular the cyclist get less popular.

[urbanroyal]

Maybe it's because in the Netherlands if you collide with a cyclist you at fault....finish end klaar..here of course it's different. ....but then they have their lekka coffee shops and the Red light district. ..so everybody is super chilled....and to top it off...they closing prisons due to lack of convicts. ....wtf.....crazy place man....????????????

[durbanjacques]

The difference is that every man woman and child in Amsterdam/NL is a cyclist. When they drive their car its because they have to not because they want to. When they are at home their default way of getting anywhere is the bicycle. My 4 year old rides her bike next to my wife in the road to school every morning. When we go shopping its on the bike. When we go visit friends its on the bike. Its just a way of life that most South Africans don't understand.

[cfcjim]

The problem with cycling in the UK lies with the drivers. British don't like change. To change the attitude of the British driver will take a millennium and now that it is saturated with immigrants the driving standard is much much worse. A car driver will tell a cyclist that roads were built for cars and a cyclist will retaliate with the roads were built for horses. Then there is the argument that cyclists don't pay road tax. I am 100% in favour of a national cycling licence and mandatory insurance for cyclists. The biggest problem in the UK is that as cycling gets more popular the cyclist get less popular.

More sweeping statements Ugh.

 

Licenses and insurance will ensure there are fewer cyclists. Also it's VED (Vehicle Excise Duty) not road tax and is emission based. A car driver has no argument.

[dancordt1]

More sweeping statements Ugh.

 

Licenses and insurance will ensure there are fewer cyclists. Also it's VED (Vehicle Excise Duty) not road tax and is emission based. A car driver has no argument.

I'm English. Live in England. Am 45 and been racing/cycling 30 years. Not a sweeping statement at all. I've watched cycling change over 3 decades and people's attitude to cyclists. Make cyclists aware of their responsibility to other road users and vice versa. 3rd party insurance is included with British Cycling Membership.

[Bonus]

I'm English. Live in England. Am 45 and been racing/cycling 30 years. Not a sweeping statement at all. I've watched cycling change over 3 decades and people's attitude to cyclists. Make cyclists aware of their responsibility to other road users and vice versa. 3rd party insurance is included with British Cycling Membership.

Where in the UK are you Dan?

[dancordt1]

Where in the UK are you Dan?

Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire.

[Bonus]

Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire.

Nice area. I've been to Duxford museum a few times.

[dancordt1]

Not far up the M11. Did you go in Concorde?

[Antoo]

And here I am wondering why the need for 'safe cycling' lobby groups in all the 'utopian' countries, where, unlike sunny SA, cyclists are given a wide right of way.

 

When I google 'road rage cyclists' and the like, I get mostly well documented incidents in first world countries. ONLY IN AFRICA.

 

We see potholes(or evidence of fresh repairs) in European Tours. Team Sky were taken out by a pothole before last years Worlds in the States and here I was thinking that potholes just didn't happen in the States.

 

I've lived and cycled in the KZN Midlands for the last 10yrs and as the population density has evolved/increased, I've had more near misses on the 'quiet' Meander roads.

 

I watch the Tour Down Under and can't imagine it any different. But then again, ONLY IN SOUTH AFRICA????

[Bonus]

Not far up the M11. Did you go in Concorde?

 

 

I did. Loved all the planes there and went over to look at the Spitfire workshops.

[kosmonooit]

Never mind 'ole Blighty ...

 

https://youtu.be/qYGL80qx71g?list=PLb6Rs6rxw5i3kmtDi0APx1Rc02kLcYq0g

 

Compare this to all the mola spent on 'cycle lanes' in Joburg ... total waste of money.

[HappyMartin]

Population of London. Now listen carefully. 8,5 million. Population of Amsterdam 800 000.

 

Simple really. One is a city and the other is a large town.

[eccc whippet]

My sister lives in Deal...UK...she spent a few weeks here in SA riding our roads...she had a few things to say but not all bad.

 

She was telling me how she rides home at 10 pm from work and has no issue with cars or thugs...seems living out of the major centres like London do have benefits.

[NickGM]

Population of London. Now listen carefully. 8,5 million. Population of Amsterdam 800 000.

 

Simple really. One is a city and the other is a large town.

I thought the population of amsterdam was actually 7 hundred and 69, 8 hundred and...listen properly...7 hundred and 69 thousand...  

[Bonus]

I thought the population of amsterdam was actually 7 hundred and 69, 8 hundred and...listen properly...7 hundred and 69 thousand...  

 

eleventy five hundred and  . . . .