r/Glasgow Tools

Maybe it says more about how bad those places are, because we may be ahead of them but we are massively behind other nearby European countries.

It's tempting to blame it on an attitude change. Are people more selfish / impatient than 15, 20, 30 years ago? Specifically behind the wheel of a car? I don't expect so.

I'm convinced it's structural. Down to the physical infrastructure of our cities and roads, and the fact that people are encouraged or even forced into driving more than necessary.

There is a good YouTube channel called Not Just Bikes, by this Canadian guy who moved to the Netherlands, making observations about the differences in public realm design, road space usage, public transport, etc.

He has a fantastic quote which has really stuck with me since I heard it. It just so succinctly gets to a point I've never heard expressed before.

> "Driving *sucks* in car dependent places. There's so much traffic. There are people who obviously don't want to be there. People who are bored, they're looking at their phone..."

> "When you take everybody and force them to do something, *whether they want to or not*... It sucks! And you get all of the road rage and terrible driving. And this is where a lot of this comes from. But you *have* to do it. You have to do it to even feed yourself, to go to your job, to go to a doctor's appointment, anything... You need to go through this highly undesirable experience."

He talks about how in the Netherlands, due to the fact they have such a broad network of public transport routes, walking routes, cycling routes and pedestrian friendly spaces, driving is actually a joy there, compared to other countries.

Because the only people that are driving are the ones that want to drive or really need to drive.