[boulos]

The Dutch don't actually provide reasonably separated spaces in Amsterdam beyond the major wide roads. On the older streets (i.e., the ones you want to stroll along), it's basically mayhem with pedestrians in danger much of the time.

Copenhagen is much more "thorough" in this regard, but that's just because they have far fewer old streets. The fully separated, individual curbs between car, bicycle, and pedestrian works really well. It's just not "affordable" on old streets.

[Freak_NL]

Don't look at Amsterdam's city centre as a representative example of traffic in our country. The number of tourists combined with a total disregard for traffic rules on the part of the natives makes for a rather uncivilized mix.

[icc97]

I don't know how true this is, but I find that Dutch and Belgian drivers seem to have much less regard for traffic laws than the Germans and UK drivers. Things like not cutting corners and indicating at roundabouts.

One big difference I notice is the amount of space that is between cars. Germans and UK drivers leave much bigger time gap than Belgians / Dutch.

I spent 10 years driving in the UK and now 7 years driving in Belgium and occasionally across to Germany / Holland

[icc97]

Do you mean pedestrians in danger from cars or bicycles?

I guess that cars can't go as fast on the older smaller streets.