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The Dutch Solution for Safer Sidewalks - Continuous Sidewalks

46 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
3 HN users recommended this explainer3 months2021–2024 score 3.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN users point to it as a vivid example of how simple, intentional street design makes a big difference for pedestrian safety.

A short Not Just Bikes video on continuous sidewalks in the Netherlands, where the sidewalk runs unbroken across side streets so cars must visibly cross pedestrian space. It places them within Dutch sustainable safety and Vision Zero efforts.

“talking about length of crossings on wide road, traffic signals, priorities, etc.” (HN, 2022)

1 strong recommendations · 2 recommendations · 1 citations · Explainers

4 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@scrollaway Sep 2021 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Uber must employ its drivers, Dutch court rules
My god, you weren’t kidding! I’ve been watching his videos since seeing your comment. His intro video immediately signals the fantastic quality of the channel. So far the guy did get me excited about sidewalks. [this video]
@inerte Aug 2022 Recommends
on HN thread Things people blamed on bicycles
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I remember I learned this on a "Not Just Bikes" YouTube video, but I can't find it now, but it blew my mind how simple intentional things make a huge difference. It was about the car lane, curb, and where people bike/walk in the Netherlands. In most countries, the car lane is lower than the sidewalk, and when they have to turn, the lane doesn't change - no bumps, or elevation. A pedestrian / cyclist going from their space into the car lane has to usually face a down slope, so it's very clear the person is entering another area. In at least this Netherlands city or video I watched, Not Just Bikes talked about how over there the car goes into ascent, as in, the car is entering the bicycle space. So it's not as smooth, or convenient, or the same mental model as the other way. edit: found the video [this video]
Shows how Dutch street design makes cars feel like entering pedestrian space
@jodrellblank Dec 2022 Recommends
on HN thread P-22 Has Died
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See the youtube channel Not Just Bikes[1], specifically videos like - "Why the Dutch wait less at traffic lights" - [link] argues that American traffic engineering is optimised for car movement, at the expense of pedestrians and bikes, whereas Dutch traffic engineering is to minimise conflict between vehicles and maximise movement of people overall. Leading to more complex but more efficient intersections. - "The Dutch solution for safer sidewalks - continuous sidewalks" - [this video] has crossings at junctions where cars and people intersect designed so the cars visibly have to travel over the sidewalk through the people's area, instead of designed so the people have to visibly travel over the road, through the car's area. - "Crossing the street shouldn't be dangerous, but it is" [in North America] - [link] talking about length of crossings on wide road, traffic signals, priorities, etc. [1] [link]
Continuous sidewalks make cars visibly cross pedestrian space

Citations, criticism and jokes

@k99x55 May 2024 Cites it
on HN thread A kids traffic mat in Elm
Good intention but car-centric infra is the worst example we can give to our children. You should teach how to build those streets for people first, bicycles second, public transportation third, cars last. Build for people not for machines. Bicycle are all age inclusive, all ability inclusive. Cars is the most discriminatory mode of transport. Those crosswalks should be continuous: [this video]
Continuous crosswalks as pedestrian-first design

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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