Between this and my kids actually being able to ride a bike around without getting mowed down by drivers I'm ecstatic to be moving there next month.
But I grew up in central California and surroundings in the 90's and rode my bike everywhere. And it was horrible. I nearly died multiple times, and drivers were sometimes furious at someone biking on the road. I rode from Sac to Folsom once over a narrow bridge with no shoulder and can't believe I lived.
I thought it might be better in cities, but Berkeley, while better, was still mediocre, and Santa Monica was bad. Really, everywhere in the US is somewhere on the spectrum from "merely horrible" to "dire hellscape".
Ten years ago my wife and I moved to Ireland. Ireland is also bad, but still massively better than anywhere I've lived in the US. But now we have young kids, and we don't want "better than the US", we want "good enough your child can bike to school, and when people kill children with their cars the people are angry with the driver, not sympathetic towards them". Which means the Netherlands, or perhaps Denmark. So that's where we're going. Ireland being wildly incompetent bureaucratically it took 4 years just to process mine and my wife's naturalisation applications.
What area are you moving to?
I live in a relatively (for the US) bike-friendly city (Tucson AZ). There's a lot of cycling infrastructure, but sometimes you have to ride on a 7-lane stroad with distracted/aggressive/inebriated drivers, many of them in vehicle types that are especially dangerous to get hit by. I'm envious of places that don't have the USA's car culture.
I'm curious how you'll find living in Netherlands as an American.
It looks like stick-built / Type V / combustible construction, and they're giving everyone an e-bike, which is mildly scary given the trouble NYC is having with structure fires started by bike and scooter batteries.
Maybe I'm being too harsh, and new housing without included parking is major progress in Arizona. Thanks for sharing in any case!
Teach your kids how to survive.
The problem isn’t people walking or cycling- it’s people driving and car manufacturers who make cars so big you can’t adequately see the space around them.
Until this is made a DUI-level offense with the same penalties, people will keep getting killed.
So, so many people touch their phones while they’re driving. Many hold it in their hands the entire time they drive. I live in a hands-free state!
It’s absolute madness at this point.
It's a disgrace. I really wonder why we must tolerate this, and who or what is behind the refusal to address it.