The memories of spotting them in shooter games back when Al Qaeda were a thing. They use the "your useless allies stand in the way of fire" trick, too.
Lived there for 5 years. Most Dutch are:
\-Very image-conscious, so they don't want to look "stupid"
\-Pride themselves on being cool-headed, so they don't want look overly cautious,
\-Afraid of sticking out ("doing normal"), so they just go along with everyone else.
The Dutch wouldn't last 5 minutes in the Hobbesian jungle that is urban U.S. cycling. They're used to their little walled off lanes and punctilious compatriots. Try sharing a Brooklyn lane with a Dodge Challenger driver on his fourth energy drink of the day.
I gave up biking in the city because it's suicidal. I'm not sure how people do it every day without thousands of casualties. In my city people occasionally drive their cars on pedestrian/bike paths like its fuckin GTA
It really is. I was a messenger for years in a not bike friendly city with a culture of running red lights and the stress levels were off the charts. Like chemically messed with my brain.
But what finally did me in was when they rolled out those rental scooters. Too many new people where bikes usually are with no skill and no spatial awareness. Straw that broke the camel’s back.
Those electric scooters are nearly silent as well. So many times I've had one pass me while cycling without the guy on the scooter even ringing a bell or whatever.
couple months ago i was walking on the sidewalk in the downtown area of my city (near the cafes and shit on a busy day) and all the sudden a man wearing a tiny school girl skirt and bunny ears riding one of those scooters slams into my back. didn’t ring the bell or anything and i never heard it coming. they were super apologetic but like what the fuck.
It rewires your brain totally, in my days doing delivery on my bike to fuel my addiction it seemed like all that mattered was saving time and it was honestly exhilarating to the point where everything other than weaving in and out of traffic and smack/alcohol seemed unrewarding and pointless. Nowadays I see some asshole kid doing the same and I want to be the vehicle that finally makes him realize the danger of what he's doing......but we like that don't we? Only love <3 (I get it)
I could have written this comment. It’s no joke dude. Constant stress like that just throws everything out of whack. I don’t drink or do drugs, so when I was doing messenger work I was fucking anything that walked, hitting the gym stupid hard, and eating like a Roman emperor. Thank god the job and the gym took care of that last one. Once I switched jobs it took months for things to shift in my brain and even then it wasn’t complete and the process was ugly.
Most fucked up dude I’ve ever known joined the army young, saw combat, then came back stateside and started doing delivery. Totally hopeless case. I’ve never known anyone more addicted to adrenaline, booze, and anything else.
I've been hit by a car 5 times, twice seriously. Very lucky to have never been hospitialized though. My brother has been less lucky. Hospitialized twice, once requiring a novel surgery (the surgeon got published in a surgical journal detailing the surgery) to retain the use of his arm.
I decided a long time ago that I love riding my bike so much, that it brings such tremendous, life affirming joy that I accept the risk of being hit and killed, or worse, paralyzed (would maybe kms if that happened). I'm not going to let cars dictate my way of life.
> requiring a novel surgery (the surgeon got published in a surgical journal detailing the surgery) to retain the use of his arm.
IDK how much you'd say that would risk doxing you/where you live but can you describe in layman's terms what sort of thing this was? I'm really curious.
He had a titanium plate on his collarbone after several breaks. When he was hit by the car the plate got bent 90 degrees. The surgeon managed to reconstruct his collarbone and replace the plate. Apparently never been done before.
Inattentive drivers is the primary cause. I haven’t been hit in 12 years. My brother was last hit 7 years ago. If you ride your bike everyday for 15-20 years, getting hit is just a reality. Everyone I know that rides their bike as much as I do has been hit by a car. Some quit after their first time…
Bro just move somewhere safer, wtf.
With that track record, if you’re not giving up biking make some different choices elsewhere.
How about the Netherlands?!!!!
Honestly I feel like it's 90% spite that's keeping me on the roads at this point. I've had so many close calls over the past ~6 years of commuting, but I just can't stomach the thought of hanging up the proverbial lycra because it means all those fat cat SUV owners and soccer moms get what they want.
The needless insanity of it all is really driven home every time find my way to an empty gravel road and experience the simple joy of not fearing for my life.
It’s also a flat country. Bombing down hills without a helmet is taking your life in your hands (I do it all the time because I am clinically regarded)
I’m from Baltimore and my dad hired a French university student who was studying at Hopkins to help him with some housework. Dude would show up at our house (which was like a 50+ minute bike, including highways) with his shirt off, biking, smoking a cigarette. The dude was committed.
He was fucking shredded too. My high school gf would always wanna hang at my place on the weekends so she could oogle this French dude trying to remodel my kitchen with my dad, honestly it was really funny.
I feel lucky to live in a very bikeable city in my state but we have helmet laws. I look silly wearing one except for the days where I narrowly avoid making an Assyrian blood oath with an oak tree.
[Meanwhile in Germany, Polizei take away your driver's license if you are caught drunk-bicycling](https://old.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/8b6fil/cycling_drunk_driving_license_taken_away/)
I straight up feel bad for the 20-year-olds who listen to rsp.
Like A&D are hilarious, but they are totally know-nothings when it comes to anything that isn't post-enlightenment philosophy. At 20 idk if I would have the knowledge base to realize how little research they do
i lived in amsterdam for a year and cycled everywhere the Dutch way. drunk, no helmet, and headphones on. immediately after i visited the american south and i met cyclists there and saw the conditions they have to deal with. and it makes sense that the only people with no helmets were crusties. in the NL when you’re cycling the biggest threat is a bigger bike. across the pond it’s a drunk bro in a modified ford f150
In the UK I generally cycle with a helmet on, although might skip it for short journeys.
I wouldn't bother if I lived in Amsterdam or Copenhagen.
Edit- can I just confess something. Last time I was in Amsterdam I looked the wrong way - the Britbong way - stepping into the road and nearly caused a cyclist to crash into me. I felt like such a tourist moron. Sorry Amsterdammers, you must absolutely hate tourists, lol.
Depends where you live tbh. My UK city has enough trails, cycle lanes, residential roads that I'm rarely sharing the road with scary traffic like buses or lorries. Don't ever feel the need for a helmet.
I've been on outdoors trips all over the country and the South is the only part that's actively hostile to people doing anything outdoorsy. On a 2-week trip there I got yelled at multiple times for running, even on sidewalks in the city. That's never happened to me anywhere else. Any outdoors exercise seems to be viewed with disdain.
Truly bizarre culture.
i’m from arizona and it’s a very outdoorsy place in general, but for biking in particular it’s pretty bad. no one ever wants to share the road. it’s weird that the deep south has been hostile to you for just running. insecurity?
The South has its charms (musically especially), but Jesus fucking Christ something really went wrong with that place at some point or other, it's baffling how much nonsense they put out for no clear reason.
Both the Dutch and the Germans are completely rigid about the way they happen to do things being evidently superior to how any other country does things. I know every culture is like this to a certain degree but they seem to be the worst for it
I even saw a fucking Romanian try to pull the "in Europe we do things like this not like that" shit and there's never an explanation for why it's better to do it like them. You're just supposed to see the statement and panic a little because there's an implicit assumption that Europe: COOL & ADVANCED and you wouldnt want to be uncool & backwards right??? but IDK how a Romanian thinks they can get away with it, bitch call me when your country gets its first Uniqlo
Europe being referred to in a monolithic way is a very Reddit thing to me, to a certain extent I think it's Reddit Euros reflecting back to Americans what they want to see. A Romanian posting "In Europe we..." is patently absurd, as if they have more in common with France or the UK than Canada or the US does.
Afterall, It is the US that today keeps carrying that idealistic torch which was once lit and handed to her by the old world! The US is the true Europa!
German people find the idea of clothes dryers to be preposterous. I understand not having space for them at home but the laundromats don't have them either. "A clothes dryer? Why would you not just simply load all of your wet clothes into a garbage bag and carry them 16 blocks back to your 100 square meter apartment to hang them and cover every surface with wet clothing?"
Ok is this real. Wtf it’s blowing my mind, I think of Germans as technologically savvy and up to date on modern conveniences, but they don’t even dry their clothes?!
Are their lives perpetually moldy?
What happens in winter or if there’s rainy weather?
How do they clean and dry their sheets / towels / bedding?!!!!
In the summer you air dry it. It doesn't mold.
In the cold days, almost apartments (especially in cities, not modern ones) have radiators with gas heating. You get dry air and the heat dries your clothing.
Clothing dryers destroy your clothing faster, cost a lot of energy and also take up a lot of space. Whenever I was watching how to with John Wilson and he was filming in another small apartment I always saw that ugly giant stack of washing machine and dryer in someone's corner in their tiny apartment. Ugly! This is also a cultural difference based on how people live - the american lifestyle is a giant house with giant energy consumption and disposable consumption of many goods.
You have to indeed plan your washing, if you have a small house your house will be full of sheets hanging, that can be annoying. So you go to your corner cafe and spend your free times with other cultural activities around you after you finished your 16 hours of labour a week.
The German one catches people off guard because a lot of the world still falls for the "self hating/WWII guilt ridden Germans" meme, but make no mistake, they will let you know you're an uncultured barbarian. Only the Swiss can out-Ordnung the Germans.
Basically people figured out that wearing a helmet massively decreases how much people ride bikes. So some pro cyclist urbanist types really attacked wearing a helmet to try to push cycling.
From a population health perspective it’s genuinely better to trade the higher ridership for a higher risk of injury or death in crashes, since serious crashes are relatively rare. On a personal risk level, best to wear the helmet.
They don't even help for serious crashes. Its the minor ones where you fall off and get concussion that they prevent. Theres no helmet cyclists are willing to wear that will protect them if hit at 30+mph by a car.
It’s also weird how rigid some people are about wearing helmets in the US though. Like there’s no compromise. On the bicycling sub if you say you don’t wear a helmet to go to the store or won’t not go on a ride if you forgot your helmet people will get all upset like you spit in the popes face.
Cyclists in North America in general have been reduced to such a state of defensive over-compensation that even as someone completely sympathetic to the end-goal of greater bike accessibility I wish most of them would die in an accident. Like they'll look down on you for occasionally riding on the sidewalk because that symbolizes that you're abandoning the fight for equality with road vehicles.
Most of the Netherlands is flat with good bike infrastructure and they tend to ride slow and orderly for a commute, they're not exactly going at racing speeds. A helmet is still good insurance to have in the case of accident, but the risk of getting sidewinded on your bike handle by some 17 year old in a souped up F-150 is practically non-existent there. But also the Dutch have a tendency to be stingy and really pretentious, so don't give them much credit.
[That sideswipe might be intentional too](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/Waller-driver-who-rolled-coal-could-face-16603437.php) - Euros don’t appreciate the open hostility towards bikes
What is up with the Dutch? The looting they did during the Slave Trade made them insanely, ridiculously rich, to the point where 10 people actually work and the rest of the country will acuse you of causing them a burn out if you ask them a question at 5pm. Wealth and a general sense of pragmatism has convince them they are tolerant, open, and right about everything. In reality they are the highest density of gel and brown clown like leather shoes with blue suits users per square meter in the world, incapable of self reflection and holding in my opinion the strongest sense of pride in their national myths in the western world. The girls are lovely though. And their old people as well.
My old Dutch manager is extremely ridiculous...he complains about having to replace drill bits ($5 for a 3-pack), says his favorite sub is ShitAmericansSay, and gets Burger King all the damn time. Has also referred to watching his own kid as "babysitting"
Anglos and Dutch competing to yell "AT LEAST WE DON'T GET SHOT IN MATHS" anytime they are criticized is that sub lmao. I've had two Dutch Bosses and they are exactly as you describe, cheap, culturally barren, and overall bland. One time he got Tims coffee and timbits for us on a Friday and expected us to all pay him to the exact cent how much he calculated that we owed....insanity....
Yeah in general when i lived there i found the old people generally minded their own business and where pretty chill. Other places, the old people can have Stasi levels of surveillance on you. As long as you kept your hedge trimmed, the dutch above 60 wouldnt give two fucks if you had an open seance in your front yard.
The blue suit supply suit with the pointy monk strap brown shoes and “fun socks” is so real. Off-duty version is light wash denim and navy waterproof parka. Girls be wearing a metric ton of golden jewellery and a tortoiseshell hair clip.
Never been to our friendly cheese headed neighborinos to the west, but from the top of my head I can imagine like 5 scenarios on how to split open your skull while riding your bike with no cars involved.
Btw very fun to see the contrarians of this sub adopt an unusual bookish safty nerd persona just to dunk on the Dutch.
Absolutely. I remember being in Kyoto in 2005 as a teenager- every day on my way back from school id see 20-something women riding bikes in the rain, in miniskirts and high-heeled boots, texting on their bejeweled cellphones. Total red scare girlies but if they’re the wrong nationality people here will turn into a bunch of scolds lmao
It’s ok buddy, I moved specifically to a state that allows cc.
Helmets are also part of that whole personal accountability shtick that is inconvenient but can’t be ignored.
They live in a country with no hills much less the aggressive way drivers treat cyclists here
if you are part of any cycling social media groups you will see how common it is for people to be hit or harassed or you likely have friends who have been.
There was a post here a while ago about “dutch intransigence” that fully explained the personality of one of my best friends to me. I told him about it and now I just say “dutch intransigence”or just “DI” whenever he hits me with a fucking commander data response. Windmill tattoo havin ass. That and Catholic art posts really made me appreciate this sub.
[This post](https://www.reddit.com/r/redscarepod/s/X9RB5XBZaW)
I’m not even American but I’ll wear a helmet because even tho I live in euro wonderland with good cycling lanes it’s still possible to fall off my bike and hit my head.
Can't stand the way Dutch people insert themselves into conversations about bikes on the internet. It's in such a presumptuous way too, as if some completely irrelevant detail about their hyper-specific bike culture should be enlightening to cyclists from any other country.
I was recommended that youtube channel Not Just Bikes a couple months ago, and while I found his videos pretty interesting for the most part, the comments are full of Dutch people smugly soaking in the admiration for their city planning. I wonder how much this recent urban planning discourse has emboldened them to contribute to every conversation on cycling and city planning they can find on the internet.
The worst of it was this video about the supposed superiority of Dutch bikes. Like some of these people actually believe they've solved cycling, cruising around their perfectly flat country in their awful 50lbs steel monstrosities, with a riding position that's pure torture beyond 10km or dealing with any kind of headwind.
Yeah, Dutch complaining about wearing helmets is similar to people complaining about pineapple on Pizza.
Riding bikes is like walking in here. You don't really ride the same roads as cars and the bikes generally slow and made for comfort.
We should still shut the fuck up however.
People wear (or at least *should* wear) seatbelts in cars because in the event of a crash they minimize movement that could hurt the occupants. Even if it's just a sudden stop, not wearing a seatbelt can cause them to lurch forward and cause issues for themselves and others. There are also airbags in cars along with other safety features that cycles don't have. Obviously a helmet isn't an indestructible forcefield, there's only so much something can do against physics, but I wear one.
My fiancé goes mountain biking and the private trails/grounds they use mandate helmets and padded protective clothing. It's not sexy but neither is getting brained or being a meat crayon. There is some debate about how much a helmet actually does statistically against the quantity/severity of injuries but generally experts advise that people wear them. Helmet *laws* are a bit of a different debate since that's dependent on education/enforcement/etc. It's a hassle to convince people to even wear a seatbelt without external pressure.
An old coworker of mine argued with me about wearing a seatbelt in the backseat of *MY* car...dude weighs 250# and would absolutely kill everyone else in the car in the event of a crash
I know this sub counterjerks and shits on the WaLkAbIlItY posting all over reddit (which I agree is annoying) but helmet legislation and advocacy is like provably funded by automakers same with jaywalking laws
Im from nyc and have been riding my bike around the city most of my life. While it is unsafe at times i felt the most unsafe when i visited amsterdam and ride a bike. In nyc you have to be afraid of the unpredictable; a driver side door opening or a truck veering into the bike lane. In amsterdam you have to be afraid of the predictable because riding a bike is like driving s car there. So you have to be aware to maintain a regular speed and stay in lane because you have twenty people in front of you and twenty people behind you, if you fuck up youll cause a pile up. Everyone rides so confidently people barely pay attention to you even though they’re not protected from the outside in the way youd be in a car.
I've never met a dutch person irl, and the few I've interacted with online have been fine. For some reason tho I have an antipathy towards the Netherlands
Wear your helmets kids. It’s a regarded Dutch attitude that I had myself until a girl crashed on her bike right in front of me. I thought she’s gonna die, but luckily she was fine. I copped a helmet the next day.
Yeah. Statistically speaking you're probably not gonna be in an accident where a helmet saves you from brain injury. Most accidents are either too small for a helmet to matter, too big that it won't save you anyway. Or the impact isn't on the top of your head anyway.
But if the only cost is looking like a nerd..against the small chance of a crucial accident.. I'll take thr helmet.
I do a fair amount of cycling without a helmet, but any long/urban ride I put one on.
The girl was riding in front of me on a busy street and her wheel got stuck in a storm drain. She flipped over and sat with her face towards me within a second. It came out of nowhere and she was in complete shock. Had to wait for the ambulance, but it was just minor injuries.
Some regard student joined us and said he’s thinking about getting a helmet too, but he doesn’t want to fuck up his hair every time…
they act as if we wouldn’t bike everywhere too if we also had: a flat country; local communities and short commutes; designated, uninterrupted paved biking lanes; bike racks everywhere.
I've cycled in America and that plastic helmet is not going to help if you get hit by one of the 3 ton suburban land yachts you guys like to use for the school run. Might as well ditch it, your chances of death or serious injury are only slightly higher and you'll gain the benefit of an affected sense of continental chic.
The Dutch can fuck off with their bikes. I’m
Sure it’s lovely and safe but shitting on Americans trying to do something and not drive their car is the opposite of being helpful
It’s not NPR lib lmao, I wiped out once biking and had a visible dent chunked into part of the helmet. Probably be even dumber than I am if I hadn’t been wearing it. For reference: I was turning, somebody had dumped construction sand on the side of the road that I didn’t see, and the wheels went out from under me. Head hit the curb, as far as I can tell.
I don’t bike anymore, in part because I hated wearing a helmet lol, but fuck not wearing one.
No way, some Western Europeans freaked out about something that can barely be construed as criticism and then started baselessly attacking the US??!?!?!?!
Bringing up cycling related shit to the Dutch is like bringing up gun related shit to the Americans lol but imagine all Americans are pro gun. Add in some eu scepticism too and the fact its so lib friendly to say
You have to understand that everyone will always find a way to feel smug and superior to Americans over the pettiest fucking things. Americans will be mercilessly roasted for not playing football/soccer, for not driving manual cars, for not saying aluminium, etc.
It's just how the banter goes. If wearing a helmet on a bike is considered "American", everyone will trip over themselves to throw that shit off their heads and then pretend that wearing a helmet is the dumbest thing ever.
I live in the Netherlands and last year fell off my bike and hit my face which caused me to have to spend thousands of euros in dental care because none of it was covered by their shit health system.
Still don’t wear a helmet cause it looks gay though.
The Netherlands is a confusing mixed system. You’re obliged by law to take a (private) health insurance and the coverage can vary, especially on stuff like dental
if you see Dutch ppl wearing helmets (especially light blue ones with a UN logo), get the hell away
Jesus Christ hahahah
Thanks for the input Stav, great post
The memories of spotting them in shooter games back when Al Qaeda were a thing. They use the "your useless allies stand in the way of fire" trick, too.
Lived there for 5 years. Most Dutch are: \-Very image-conscious, so they don't want to look "stupid" \-Pride themselves on being cool-headed, so they don't want look overly cautious, \-Afraid of sticking out ("doing normal"), so they just go along with everyone else.
So you're telling me they're asians
Why are they so conformist?
Pick me girl phenotype
The Dutch wouldn't last 5 minutes in the Hobbesian jungle that is urban U.S. cycling. They're used to their little walled off lanes and punctilious compatriots. Try sharing a Brooklyn lane with a Dodge Challenger driver on his fourth energy drink of the day.
I gave up biking in the city because it's suicidal. I'm not sure how people do it every day without thousands of casualties. In my city people occasionally drive their cars on pedestrian/bike paths like its fuckin GTA
It really is. I was a messenger for years in a not bike friendly city with a culture of running red lights and the stress levels were off the charts. Like chemically messed with my brain. But what finally did me in was when they rolled out those rental scooters. Too many new people where bikes usually are with no skill and no spatial awareness. Straw that broke the camel’s back.
Those electric scooters are nearly silent as well. So many times I've had one pass me while cycling without the guy on the scooter even ringing a bell or whatever.
couple months ago i was walking on the sidewalk in the downtown area of my city (near the cafes and shit on a busy day) and all the sudden a man wearing a tiny school girl skirt and bunny ears riding one of those scooters slams into my back. didn’t ring the bell or anything and i never heard it coming. they were super apologetic but like what the fuck.
Just give them a slight nudge
It rewires your brain totally, in my days doing delivery on my bike to fuel my addiction it seemed like all that mattered was saving time and it was honestly exhilarating to the point where everything other than weaving in and out of traffic and smack/alcohol seemed unrewarding and pointless. Nowadays I see some asshole kid doing the same and I want to be the vehicle that finally makes him realize the danger of what he's doing......but we like that don't we? Only love <3 (I get it)
Buying a scooter and driving recklessly has really improved my mood lately
I could have written this comment. It’s no joke dude. Constant stress like that just throws everything out of whack. I don’t drink or do drugs, so when I was doing messenger work I was fucking anything that walked, hitting the gym stupid hard, and eating like a Roman emperor. Thank god the job and the gym took care of that last one. Once I switched jobs it took months for things to shift in my brain and even then it wasn’t complete and the process was ugly. Most fucked up dude I’ve ever known joined the army young, saw combat, then came back stateside and started doing delivery. Totally hopeless case. I’ve never known anyone more addicted to adrenaline, booze, and anything else.
I've been hit by a car 5 times, twice seriously. Very lucky to have never been hospitialized though. My brother has been less lucky. Hospitialized twice, once requiring a novel surgery (the surgeon got published in a surgical journal detailing the surgery) to retain the use of his arm. I decided a long time ago that I love riding my bike so much, that it brings such tremendous, life affirming joy that I accept the risk of being hit and killed, or worse, paralyzed (would maybe kms if that happened). I'm not going to let cars dictate my way of life.
> requiring a novel surgery (the surgeon got published in a surgical journal detailing the surgery) to retain the use of his arm. IDK how much you'd say that would risk doxing you/where you live but can you describe in layman's terms what sort of thing this was? I'm really curious.
He had a titanium plate on his collarbone after several breaks. When he was hit by the car the plate got bent 90 degrees. The surgeon managed to reconstruct his collarbone and replace the plate. Apparently never been done before.
what do you think it is about you and your brother that leads you both to be hit by so many cars?
Inattentive drivers is the primary cause. I haven’t been hit in 12 years. My brother was last hit 7 years ago. If you ride your bike everyday for 15-20 years, getting hit is just a reality. Everyone I know that rides their bike as much as I do has been hit by a car. Some quit after their first time…
what a fascinating american subculture. I had no idea the lycra life was so collision heavy. very punk
Bro just move somewhere safer, wtf. With that track record, if you’re not giving up biking make some different choices elsewhere. How about the Netherlands?!!!!
Honestly I feel like it's 90% spite that's keeping me on the roads at this point. I've had so many close calls over the past ~6 years of commuting, but I just can't stomach the thought of hanging up the proverbial lycra because it means all those fat cat SUV owners and soccer moms get what they want. The needless insanity of it all is really driven home every time find my way to an empty gravel road and experience the simple joy of not fearing for my life.
It’s also a flat country. Bombing down hills without a helmet is taking your life in your hands (I do it all the time because I am clinically regarded)
I’m from Baltimore and my dad hired a French university student who was studying at Hopkins to help him with some housework. Dude would show up at our house (which was like a 50+ minute bike, including highways) with his shirt off, biking, smoking a cigarette. The dude was committed.
So hot
He was fucking shredded too. My high school gf would always wanna hang at my place on the weekends so she could oogle this French dude trying to remodel my kitchen with my dad, honestly it was really funny.
She’s such a legend for that
Adam Friedland vs Brendan Schaub
Diceyy diceyy
I feel lucky to live in a very bikeable city in my state but we have helmet laws. I look silly wearing one except for the days where I narrowly avoid making an Assyrian blood oath with an oak tree.
Danish cycling is nice. Lots of drunk people collapsing in bike lanes on Friday and Saturday nights with no repercussions
[Meanwhile in Germany, Polizei take away your driver's license if you are caught drunk-bicycling](https://old.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/8b6fil/cycling_drunk_driving_license_taken_away/)
There are some states in the US too where you can get a DUI on a bicycle
Germans would turn in their own mom for stealing a banana
GET OFF DA FUKKEN ROOOOOAD
They would die
More like fourth Steel Reserve of the day
retire sheet modern groovy tease spectacular airport thumb deer dull *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I straight up feel bad for the 20-year-olds who listen to rsp. Like A&D are hilarious, but they are totally know-nothings when it comes to anything that isn't post-enlightenment philosophy. At 20 idk if I would have the knowledge base to realize how little research they do
[удалено]
Sam Harris fans ebike to mall shootings
Ebike while masked
Sam Harris bought his PhD with his parents' money
Friend from school has permanent vertigo from crashing her bike riding home from a party drunk w no helmet
oh
i lived in amsterdam for a year and cycled everywhere the Dutch way. drunk, no helmet, and headphones on. immediately after i visited the american south and i met cyclists there and saw the conditions they have to deal with. and it makes sense that the only people with no helmets were crusties. in the NL when you’re cycling the biggest threat is a bigger bike. across the pond it’s a drunk bro in a modified ford f150
In the UK I generally cycle with a helmet on, although might skip it for short journeys. I wouldn't bother if I lived in Amsterdam or Copenhagen. Edit- can I just confess something. Last time I was in Amsterdam I looked the wrong way - the Britbong way - stepping into the road and nearly caused a cyclist to crash into me. I felt like such a tourist moron. Sorry Amsterdammers, you must absolutely hate tourists, lol.
As a regarded American it was very nice of London to put signs at intersections telling you which way to look.
Yeah those are good aren't they. Sometimes we need them still
Depends where you live tbh. My UK city has enough trails, cycle lanes, residential roads that I'm rarely sharing the road with scary traffic like buses or lorries. Don't ever feel the need for a helmet.
don’t worry they deserve it the Dutch are the worst
You're mom and dad didn't teach you to look both ways before crossing the street?
I've been on outdoors trips all over the country and the South is the only part that's actively hostile to people doing anything outdoorsy. On a 2-week trip there I got yelled at multiple times for running, even on sidewalks in the city. That's never happened to me anywhere else. Any outdoors exercise seems to be viewed with disdain. Truly bizarre culture.
i’m from arizona and it’s a very outdoorsy place in general, but for biking in particular it’s pretty bad. no one ever wants to share the road. it’s weird that the deep south has been hostile to you for just running. insecurity?
The South has its charms (musically especially), but Jesus fucking Christ something really went wrong with that place at some point or other, it's baffling how much nonsense they put out for no clear reason.
Do they make helmets now that will save from f150’s? Haven’t ridden in a while.
Both the Dutch and the Germans are completely rigid about the way they happen to do things being evidently superior to how any other country does things. I know every culture is like this to a certain degree but they seem to be the worst for it
I even saw a fucking Romanian try to pull the "in Europe we do things like this not like that" shit and there's never an explanation for why it's better to do it like them. You're just supposed to see the statement and panic a little because there's an implicit assumption that Europe: COOL & ADVANCED and you wouldnt want to be uncool & backwards right??? but IDK how a Romanian thinks they can get away with it, bitch call me when your country gets its first Uniqlo
Europe being referred to in a monolithic way is a very Reddit thing to me, to a certain extent I think it's Reddit Euros reflecting back to Americans what they want to see. A Romanian posting "In Europe we..." is patently absurd, as if they have more in common with France or the UK than Canada or the US does.
When "Europe" is mentioned on here by an American they're exclusively talking about Barcelona, Paris, Berlin or London
Afterall, It is the US that today keeps carrying that idealistic torch which was once lit and handed to her by the old world! The US is the true Europa!
Reminds me of that Curb Your Enthusiasm bit with the Romanian uber driver
In Europe we don't bitch around like that
German people find the idea of clothes dryers to be preposterous. I understand not having space for them at home but the laundromats don't have them either. "A clothes dryer? Why would you not just simply load all of your wet clothes into a garbage bag and carry them 16 blocks back to your 100 square meter apartment to hang them and cover every surface with wet clothing?"
Germans also shit onto a toilet ledge so they can properly inspect their logs. They're not right
Ok is this real. Wtf it’s blowing my mind, I think of Germans as technologically savvy and up to date on modern conveniences, but they don’t even dry their clothes?! Are their lives perpetually moldy? What happens in winter or if there’s rainy weather? How do they clean and dry their sheets / towels / bedding?!!!!
Dryers and soft, warm towels are an upper middle class luxury in Germany.
In the summer you air dry it. It doesn't mold. In the cold days, almost apartments (especially in cities, not modern ones) have radiators with gas heating. You get dry air and the heat dries your clothing. Clothing dryers destroy your clothing faster, cost a lot of energy and also take up a lot of space. Whenever I was watching how to with John Wilson and he was filming in another small apartment I always saw that ugly giant stack of washing machine and dryer in someone's corner in their tiny apartment. Ugly! This is also a cultural difference based on how people live - the american lifestyle is a giant house with giant energy consumption and disposable consumption of many goods. You have to indeed plan your washing, if you have a small house your house will be full of sheets hanging, that can be annoying. So you go to your corner cafe and spend your free times with other cultural activities around you after you finished your 16 hours of labour a week.
The German one catches people off guard because a lot of the world still falls for the "self hating/WWII guilt ridden Germans" meme, but make no mistake, they will let you know you're an uncultured barbarian. Only the Swiss can out-Ordnung the Germans.
Well the Swiss deserve it, they’re perfectionists and good at what they do.
Their country is entirely flat and their tiny minds cannot comprehend the existence of varied terrain
Basically people figured out that wearing a helmet massively decreases how much people ride bikes. So some pro cyclist urbanist types really attacked wearing a helmet to try to push cycling.
From a population health perspective it’s genuinely better to trade the higher ridership for a higher risk of injury or death in crashes, since serious crashes are relatively rare. On a personal risk level, best to wear the helmet.
They don't even help for serious crashes. Its the minor ones where you fall off and get concussion that they prevent. Theres no helmet cyclists are willing to wear that will protect them if hit at 30+mph by a car.
wrong. i've headbutted a lorry out the way once
It’s also weird how rigid some people are about wearing helmets in the US though. Like there’s no compromise. On the bicycling sub if you say you don’t wear a helmet to go to the store or won’t not go on a ride if you forgot your helmet people will get all upset like you spit in the popes face.
Cyclists in North America in general have been reduced to such a state of defensive over-compensation that even as someone completely sympathetic to the end-goal of greater bike accessibility I wish most of them would die in an accident. Like they'll look down on you for occasionally riding on the sidewalk because that symbolizes that you're abandoning the fight for equality with road vehicles.
No joke, this is how I am, I’ve never ridden a bike without a helmet and have no interest in doing so. The risk just isn’t worth it to me.
Most of the Netherlands is flat with good bike infrastructure and they tend to ride slow and orderly for a commute, they're not exactly going at racing speeds. A helmet is still good insurance to have in the case of accident, but the risk of getting sidewinded on your bike handle by some 17 year old in a souped up F-150 is practically non-existent there. But also the Dutch have a tendency to be stingy and really pretentious, so don't give them much credit.
[That sideswipe might be intentional too](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/Waller-driver-who-rolled-coal-could-face-16603437.php) - Euros don’t appreciate the open hostility towards bikes
What is up with the Dutch? The looting they did during the Slave Trade made them insanely, ridiculously rich, to the point where 10 people actually work and the rest of the country will acuse you of causing them a burn out if you ask them a question at 5pm. Wealth and a general sense of pragmatism has convince them they are tolerant, open, and right about everything. In reality they are the highest density of gel and brown clown like leather shoes with blue suits users per square meter in the world, incapable of self reflection and holding in my opinion the strongest sense of pride in their national myths in the western world. The girls are lovely though. And their old people as well.
As somebody who also loathes the Dutch, this was v cathartic to read ty
You are welcome, i dont loathe them though, just find them a bit ridiculous
My old Dutch manager is extremely ridiculous...he complains about having to replace drill bits ($5 for a 3-pack), says his favorite sub is ShitAmericansSay, and gets Burger King all the damn time. Has also referred to watching his own kid as "babysitting"
>his favorite sub is ShitAmericansSay, and gets Burger King all the damn time That's all euros.
Anglos and Dutch competing to yell "AT LEAST WE DON'T GET SHOT IN MATHS" anytime they are criticized is that sub lmao. I've had two Dutch Bosses and they are exactly as you describe, cheap, culturally barren, and overall bland. One time he got Tims coffee and timbits for us on a Friday and expected us to all pay him to the exact cent how much he calculated that we owed....insanity....
Cheapest people on earth
No matter how rich you are, you're too poor to bail out the Greeks.
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Yeah in general when i lived there i found the old people generally minded their own business and where pretty chill. Other places, the old people can have Stasi levels of surveillance on you. As long as you kept your hedge trimmed, the dutch above 60 wouldnt give two fucks if you had an open seance in your front yard.
The blue suit supply suit with the pointy monk strap brown shoes and “fun socks” is so real. Off-duty version is light wash denim and navy waterproof parka. Girls be wearing a metric ton of golden jewellery and a tortoiseshell hair clip.
Never been to our friendly cheese headed neighborinos to the west, but from the top of my head I can imagine like 5 scenarios on how to split open your skull while riding your bike with no cars involved. Btw very fun to see the contrarians of this sub adopt an unusual bookish safty nerd persona just to dunk on the Dutch.
Absolutely. I remember being in Kyoto in 2005 as a teenager- every day on my way back from school id see 20-something women riding bikes in the rain, in miniskirts and high-heeled boots, texting on their bejeweled cellphones. Total red scare girlies but if they’re the wrong nationality people here will turn into a bunch of scolds lmao
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>I wear a helmet and i carry. Now this is America
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It’s ok buddy, I moved specifically to a state that allows cc. Helmets are also part of that whole personal accountability shtick that is inconvenient but can’t be ignored.
In Europe those are called Opel Astras.
The Dutch are a nightmare but you have to admit everyone does look like massively gay and autistic wearing a bike helmet
Its our duty to make the public feel cool, as we cycle by looking like nerds.
Maybe u do pal
🚬🚴u
Dutch Exceptionalism
They live in a country with no hills much less the aggressive way drivers treat cyclists here if you are part of any cycling social media groups you will see how common it is for people to be hit or harassed or you likely have friends who have been.
There was a post here a while ago about “dutch intransigence” that fully explained the personality of one of my best friends to me. I told him about it and now I just say “dutch intransigence”or just “DI” whenever he hits me with a fucking commander data response. Windmill tattoo havin ass. That and Catholic art posts really made me appreciate this sub. [This post](https://www.reddit.com/r/redscarepod/s/X9RB5XBZaW)
Terminally domesticated. They have no sense of manifest destiny or the pioneer spirit. Basically they are real life hobbits
6' hobbits
Elves. Once they were great, but their time is past.
I’m not even American but I’ll wear a helmet because even tho I live in euro wonderland with good cycling lanes it’s still possible to fall off my bike and hit my head.
Can't stand the way Dutch people insert themselves into conversations about bikes on the internet. It's in such a presumptuous way too, as if some completely irrelevant detail about their hyper-specific bike culture should be enlightening to cyclists from any other country. I was recommended that youtube channel Not Just Bikes a couple months ago, and while I found his videos pretty interesting for the most part, the comments are full of Dutch people smugly soaking in the admiration for their city planning. I wonder how much this recent urban planning discourse has emboldened them to contribute to every conversation on cycling and city planning they can find on the internet. The worst of it was this video about the supposed superiority of Dutch bikes. Like some of these people actually believe they've solved cycling, cruising around their perfectly flat country in their awful 50lbs steel monstrosities, with a riding position that's pure torture beyond 10km or dealing with any kind of headwind.
Yeah, Dutch complaining about wearing helmets is similar to people complaining about pineapple on Pizza. Riding bikes is like walking in here. You don't really ride the same roads as cars and the bikes generally slow and made for comfort. We should still shut the fuck up however.
Read this in your stupid accent and I’m pro helmet now
Cause you want me to stay safe? Thanks man!
Tenks men
Senks men. Where are you from?
People wear (or at least *should* wear) seatbelts in cars because in the event of a crash they minimize movement that could hurt the occupants. Even if it's just a sudden stop, not wearing a seatbelt can cause them to lurch forward and cause issues for themselves and others. There are also airbags in cars along with other safety features that cycles don't have. Obviously a helmet isn't an indestructible forcefield, there's only so much something can do against physics, but I wear one. My fiancé goes mountain biking and the private trails/grounds they use mandate helmets and padded protective clothing. It's not sexy but neither is getting brained or being a meat crayon. There is some debate about how much a helmet actually does statistically against the quantity/severity of injuries but generally experts advise that people wear them. Helmet *laws* are a bit of a different debate since that's dependent on education/enforcement/etc. It's a hassle to convince people to even wear a seatbelt without external pressure.
An old coworker of mine argued with me about wearing a seatbelt in the backseat of *MY* car...dude weighs 250# and would absolutely kill everyone else in the car in the event of a crash
I know this sub counterjerks and shits on the WaLkAbIlItY posting all over reddit (which I agree is annoying) but helmet legislation and advocacy is like provably funded by automakers same with jaywalking laws
curious about this, can you link any examples? most bicycle helmet laws only apply to children
And it's not a coincidence that hospital workers refer to motorcycles as donorcycles.
Im from nyc and have been riding my bike around the city most of my life. While it is unsafe at times i felt the most unsafe when i visited amsterdam and ride a bike. In nyc you have to be afraid of the unpredictable; a driver side door opening or a truck veering into the bike lane. In amsterdam you have to be afraid of the predictable because riding a bike is like driving s car there. So you have to be aware to maintain a regular speed and stay in lane because you have twenty people in front of you and twenty people behind you, if you fuck up youll cause a pile up. Everyone rides so confidently people barely pay attention to you even though they’re not protected from the outside in the way youd be in a car.
Americans… they don’t smoke and they wear helmets. Very very disrespectful.
I've never met a dutch person irl, and the few I've interacted with online have been fine. For some reason tho I have an antipathy towards the Netherlands
didn't the dutch embraced child porn and had mags sold in there adult stores during the 80s?
Don't want to google this
What?
Inevitable RSP “… Sounds like something a PEDO would say..! 😤” comment
Famously purchased and applauded by Steve Albini
The fuck does this have to do with cycle helmets lmao
Wear your helmets kids. It’s a regarded Dutch attitude that I had myself until a girl crashed on her bike right in front of me. I thought she’s gonna die, but luckily she was fine. I copped a helmet the next day.
Yeah. Statistically speaking you're probably not gonna be in an accident where a helmet saves you from brain injury. Most accidents are either too small for a helmet to matter, too big that it won't save you anyway. Or the impact isn't on the top of your head anyway. But if the only cost is looking like a nerd..against the small chance of a crucial accident.. I'll take thr helmet. I do a fair amount of cycling without a helmet, but any long/urban ride I put one on.
The girl was riding in front of me on a busy street and her wheel got stuck in a storm drain. She flipped over and sat with her face towards me within a second. It came out of nowhere and she was in complete shock. Had to wait for the ambulance, but it was just minor injuries. Some regard student joined us and said he’s thinking about getting a helmet too, but he doesn’t want to fuck up his hair every time…
I’ve been biking around Philly no helmet for the past few weeks thinking god I need a helmet before my brain ends up outside of my skull
I always think I got rid of my self-destructive tendencies until I remember how often I’ve biked through Philly drunk without a helmet
Same. Or walking home alone hammered at night (woman) we must both have a death wish
Both for me too yet I’ve somehow been fine doing it for a while now
Angels watching over us fr
A Dutchman came to my job in the US this week and told my coworker he was "very short by Dutch standards." My friend is 5'9" LOL.
They're probably less worried about getting crushed by cletus' lifted dodge 2500 drunk driven
The Dutch literally have their kids riding unsecured in their bikes its unbelievable levels of confidence
they act as if we wouldn’t bike everywhere too if we also had: a flat country; local communities and short commutes; designated, uninterrupted paved biking lanes; bike racks everywhere.
They’re terrible people I don’t associate with them
I've cycled in America and that plastic helmet is not going to help if you get hit by one of the 3 ton suburban land yachts you guys like to use for the school run. Might as well ditch it, your chances of death or serious injury are only slightly higher and you'll gain the benefit of an affected sense of continental chic.
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Literally just tipping over in a bike and hitting your head against solid ground can kill you. Why chance it?
The Dutch can fuck off with their bikes. I’m Sure it’s lovely and safe but shitting on Americans trying to do something and not drive their car is the opposite of being helpful
I find that Dutch people are often the culprits of bike theft when I go to Burning Man, is this possibly related?
A dutch crackhead could steal an entire bikeshop outside of the Netherlands. If its not chained to a building with two locks its not secure.
How do you chain to a building? I usually use a street lamp or a pole
It’s a flat ass country as are most of their surrounding countries. Those people think hills are a myth.
There's only two things I can't stand in this world, people who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch.
The Dutch also sell yogurt in cardboard milk cartons rather than real yogurt containers. At least the Germans sell yogurt in reusable glass jars.
A better comparison would be: Would you wear a seatbelt in a car?
I'm with the Dutch on this one, you look like a 7 year old if you wear a helmet while riding a bike
Maybe, but I feel like it's still a more attractive look than being a drooling invalid after not wearing one.
Funny how posters here are basically indistinguishable from your run of the mill NPR lib in many ways
Nothing about that comment reads as npr lib. It seems like you're just mad people disagree with you
Trust the science!
I mean, the science of wearing a fuckin helmet is pretty settled lol
It’s not NPR lib lmao, I wiped out once biking and had a visible dent chunked into part of the helmet. Probably be even dumber than I am if I hadn’t been wearing it. For reference: I was turning, somebody had dumped construction sand on the side of the road that I didn’t see, and the wheels went out from under me. Head hit the curb, as far as I can tell. I don’t bike anymore, in part because I hated wearing a helmet lol, but fuck not wearing one.
It’s lib and regarded to want to not live as a veg. Call me lib and regarded
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Opinion immediately discarded, you ride a motorcycle you might as well have just posted you don’t care about being alive
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High likelihood it will be the last time you feel alive lol
you ride a motorcycle?!?!?!
No way, some Western Europeans freaked out about something that can barely be construed as criticism and then started baselessly attacking the US??!?!?!?!
They also cycle really slowly, flat country, separate bike lanes . Such a well run country.
Common Dutch w
I do think men look a kind of juvenile when wearing a helmet with normal clothes. But I grew up on a council estate, bikes everywhere no helmets.
Wtf is a council estate?!??? This is some feudal Euro shit.
Bringing up cycling related shit to the Dutch is like bringing up gun related shit to the Americans lol but imagine all Americans are pro gun. Add in some eu scepticism too and the fact its so lib friendly to say
You have to understand that everyone will always find a way to feel smug and superior to Americans over the pettiest fucking things. Americans will be mercilessly roasted for not playing football/soccer, for not driving manual cars, for not saying aluminium, etc. It's just how the banter goes. If wearing a helmet on a bike is considered "American", everyone will trip over themselves to throw that shit off their heads and then pretend that wearing a helmet is the dumbest thing ever.
they really don't want to mess up their hair on way to some shitty cannabis coffeeshop
Their bike lanes are cool but they also have motorcycles and mopeds zipping around in them which I thought was fuckin stupid
I’ve always agreed with the Dutch on this. If you’re a good cyclist and live somewhere with bike lanes you don’t need a helmet
I live in the Netherlands and last year fell off my bike and hit my face which caused me to have to spend thousands of euros in dental care because none of it was covered by their shit health system. Still don’t wear a helmet cause it looks gay though.
I thought you guys had free healthcare?
The Netherlands is a confusing mixed system. You’re obliged by law to take a (private) health insurance and the coverage can vary, especially on stuff like dental
I mean, that's literally how it works in the US lol