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Comment by teraku | Hacker News Reader

Regarding one-way streets: In Germany it's perfectly legal for bikes to ride against one-ways.

Not by default, no. The street must have a sign allowing it ("Radfahrer frei"). Many have them but quite a few which should don't.

TIL!

It's the same across almost everywhere in Europe

But then you end up with a lot of bikers hit by cars, because if you take a turn on the wrong side, you are practically invisible

Same in Japan, at least on neighborhood streets (自転車を除く signs）. Plus, unlike USA, major traffic is well-separated from residential roads. There are also plenty of bike routes, greenways, and bridges/tunnels above/below major roads.

I'll be moving there as soon as they re-open their borders, and I couldn't be more excited. It's cyclist heaven.

日本のトラフィックは緑です？

緑のトラフィックってなに？

If you're asking about greenways, here's [1] an article with some pictures. There's an extensive network of bike-able paths throughout the entire city,

If you're asking about pollution, Japanese cars are generally smaller and I believe electric cars are popular there. More trips are also taken by train / bike / moped, reducing overall emissions. Also, the roads + signals seem to be designed well, so there is less stop-and-go traffic.

[1] https://taiken.co/single/tokyo-greenways-the-forgotten-paths...

I used to bike a road that was one way for cars, two way for bikes. I almost got hit because I didn't have a stop sign and the crossing car stopped and didn't look my way. (There were stop signs for bicycles going either way elsewhere, but this intersection markings made it clear I wasn't supposed to have to stop so I didn't)

We have a two-way cycletrack on a one-way street here in Berkeley and it's basically a death trap for those on bicycles because the people entering the street only look up the street to check for cars and never look down the street to check for bicycles. This problem also exists every place there is a crosswalk where one-way streets meet. I'm sure people who walk in cities are familiar with the experience of having to wait for a car to pass while the driver stares in the opposite direction.

Is that a general rule? In NL that's also common, but it must be specifically declared on the road sign.

If you see this in NL, the road is also closed for cyclists (in this direction): https://verkeersregels.vvn.nl/verkeersborden-en-tekens/c02

But if this modifier sign is put below, it's a two-way street for cyclists: https://verkeersregels.vvn.nl/index.php/verkeersborden-en-te...

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