The border-free zone is called the Schengen area. There are still some EU member states that aren’t included. Euronews article
“Austria has blocked the accession of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen, the passport-free area that has abolished border checks between the vast majority of EU member states.”
Even some non-EU places are part of Schengen. Notably Norway and Switzerland.
Why can’t we have this with Canada and Mexico?
To be fair both the US and EU are a federation of states (the latter sharing aspects of a confederation as well [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union). In the US all state borders do look like this, so in a way free travel among the ‘independent’ states is allowed the same as in the posters picture.
1 ↩︎
Because America is in-between
/s
Actually if you leave Quebec towards Vermont, the pavement changes significantly and becomes pink-ish.
When you leave Quebec towards Ontario, the road is significantly less bumpy.
When you leave Ontario for Quebec, the road signs become incomprehensible.
Depends where lol, but it’s true in general.
Car in the bike lane
It’s a shared road. Not separated lanes. Hence the dotted lines.
That isn’t a bike lane, it is a bike suggestion strip (translated literally).
It’s a bike strip, since there is a bike icon.
A bike suggestion strip has no bike icon and has no legal status, it’s merely a suggestion.
They are different things.
Dutchie here to explain why that’s not ironic:
If its a dotted line cars are allowed to use it, but only if it doesn’t impede on cyclists. So while they didn’t have to be there, it’s not unlawful as there’s no cyclists.
If it was a single line, it’s a different story.
Just tagging @[email protected]
Pssh, we have that all over the US, big deal
(guys they mean the sudden changes in road quality)
The US probably has some rural bike paths, but I sure as shit haven’t seen any.
Knowing where the Netherlands begins?
Dutch bicycle lanes? And here I thought the US was car junkie hell.
He probably meant borders.
I thought he meant poorly maintained infrastructure.
The US is giant. Some places have better bike infrastructure than others but it’s surely not the standard
No, bad bike infrastructure is the standard.
Might want to add the /s lol
I mean… we have interstate travel and the US is massive. There are no real borders between states.
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Except for the similarities between both places having open borders… something explicitly mentioned in the post…
This post isn’t about open borders, it’s about the contrast in bicycle and road infrastructure between the Netherlands and other countries. The open border was just the setup.
The Netherlands has very specific urban/rural (re)design standards which are quite recognizable if you know them.
Oh do they? That’s interesting, do they have standardized bikes lanes everywhere?
Well, yeah. There are guidelines for new infrastructure, but that doesn’t mean everything is up to date everywhere. There are roads that haven’t been resurfaced for quite a while that aren’t up to date. But on the whole it is very similar everywhere.
It’s only a small country though.
There is a Canadian YouTuber who lives in Amsterdam who makes videos about it: http://YouTube.com/notjustbikes I’ve lived here all my life so it’s nice to get an outside perspective on this all.
Thanks for contributing information about your underrepresented country
It’s so eerily flat there, it’s unsettling. I don’t understand how people can stand it.
You shoulda seen my ex-wife!
HEYOOOO 😎🪩🍾
Simple, they stand up on flat ground
As someone who grew up somewhere super flat it really doesn’t get to you because it’s all you’ve ever known. However, now that I live somewhere with hills it drives me crazy when I visit home.
It’s even worse when the hills are alive and have eyes
I’m ok with it when music are what they’re alive with, though. As long as there’s no nazis 🤷
I can relate. I never imagined I would see someone complain or not understand what living on a flat area is like- it’s super easy! It’s the mountains and hills what’s difficult!
Hills are depth. They add character to any place for free. Oh you don’t like where you are right now? Just go up
I grew up in a very flat part of England, flatness to me is the default and I get genuinely excited by hills.
wat
You heard what I said.
Yes I did, I just didn’t understand it
flat (landscape) = bad.
Just seems weird to me. For context, I haven’t been anywhere terribly flat or mountainous
I mean you could look at the architecture but all you really needed is a level
Imagine half your backyard being in another country. Do you think they still mow it?
Wait til you find out about Baarle
“for convenience, every house number shows a flag”
I could live there my whole life and probably get them mixed up if it they didn’t do that. Not that I’ll ever even see the place, but still.
Ayo wtf? Crossing like 6 borders just to get to work and back home.
It’s just a little town (no more than 10,000 people). So more like crossing six borders to visit your neighbor and come back.
… while working remotely
This horse is beaten to death, but still jumping?
In Germany the streets are far too often a fight for survival. I miss the Netherlands, driving there, bike or car, was so much more relaxing.
But, you know, Germans and their cars…
In my experience the bike infrastructure was great, but driving in the city was more stressful than in Germany.
Cause they don’t want you driving in the city
as a car driver, i have no problems with bike drivers themselves. i hate whoever thought 1 lane and a thin sidewalk was enough road.
Gets you to slow down and pay attention to your surroundings, doesn’t it? That’s the point, if you build roads that feel cramped to drivers they’ll naturally drive slower (i.e. actually the speed limit). Building all streets like they’re highways is a good way to get people going 50-60 mph on roads with houses directly on them.
it’s also a great way to put people’s lives at risk. i don’t think anyone thought of what you’re describing.
Your feelings do not match actual reality.
No, that’s explicitly the reason for it, and it’s been shown to reduce the severity of crashes because people drive the speed limit when they feel it’s risky to go faster.
It is not even a joke. Every time we cross the border between the Netherlands and Belgium in a car, we laugh about how distinct it is.
If is not joke, why laugh??
Its the law. Visitors to the Netherlands are required to demonstrate contempt of everyone not currently in the Netherlands.
I know that place. The borders between the Ellestraat (Hulst, NL) and the Hellestraat (Stekene, BE).
The right side of the street on the Belgian part is actually Dutch for a few 100 meters. If you look around on street view the part with a bicycle lane is Belgian, the part without it is Dutch.
Ah, Stekene. Where are the days I just went to Crammerock to smoke weed on the camping. I saw Gorki there the year Luc De Vos died.
I knew that was a Belgian road, you can tell by all the cracks.
Caption should have been that you will always know when a Belgian road begins
the part without
The red lanes are the bicycle lanes.
In Europe you don’t need countries for this. The smallest federal country will have a clear difference on the road at the border of two federated entities. Worst, it can happen between municipalities in some countries.
Worst, it can happen between municipalities in some countries.
There are other countries as stupid as Germany? I thought we were alone!
Belgium checking in
Switzerland, Austria, … It’s more common than we think.
My favorite case is the resurfacing of the road in the first municipal territory and less than a year later, the second municipality does it on its side.
i don’t want SEX i want USABLE BIKE LANES that have enough SPACE to ride my bike SAFELY alongside other TRANSPORT MODES
I want sex. That other stuff is cool too
Por qué no los dos? 🤷
NON-CYCLIST DETECTED, EXTERMINATE
