Rush Hour in the Netherlands

Where: Utrecht, Netherlands (Population 300,000)

According to a Rutgers study, 27 percent of trips in the Netherlands are made by bicycle. That’s a huge distinction from the U.S., where bike commuters make up just one percent of the population.

What’s more, cyclists in European nations can often (safely) forgo helmets because it’s significantly safer to ride there than say, in the U.S. Specifically, the Netherlands, in addition to having the highest rate of bike commuters, also has the lowest non-fatal injury and fatality rate, according to the same study mentioned above. Another comparison–the U.S. non-fatal injury rate is 30 times higher than that for the Netherlands.