Europeans are better drivers cars are closer
Americans are horrible drivers roads are hella wide
I just realized that hey guys welcome back to foreign reacts I do hope you guys are having
a really good day and um today we're going to be doing another America compared to your comparison
so um yeah I'm now living in Europe so thank you Europe for um yeah existing and um yeah Finland
shout out to you I'm here in your country Finland but um yeah we gonna be doing this video and let
me just check if my audio is recording because I don't know okay so the audio is being recorded so
um yeah so we're going to be doing an American versus uh the European suburbs and why U.S suburbs
sucks okay I had no idea you a suburb sucks so um let's see what this video is all about thank
you for watching first of all please do subscribe share the video with your friends and family I got
a lot of playlists for France Germany and Finland Spain I got a playlist out here with lots of
videos that you guys can keep yourself entertained with so go check them out and uh enjoy your time
here at foreign ex man thank you for watching this is a typical American Suburban Street yeah
it's wide the houses are very far apart and look mostly decided there is barely anything
on the world Medicare loans post boxes a few trees or bushes and the occasional fire hydrant
now compare this to a Suburban Leipzig Germany what differences do you notice tight
no offense to Europe that's tight and no offense to you like I love Europe and there are so many
amazing things that I've seen and in Europe but I I kind of like this the the big gaps that are
in America I love the wide roads not saying that I have an issue with the um the type of road that
you'll find in Europe but I'm more of that because you know people are crazy man but Europeans Drive
much better so I can understand that and Europeans probably are much better Neighbors
if that makes sense so I guess everything is hand in hand
you know Americans are horrible neighbors houses are far apart Europeans are better Neighbors
houses are closer Europeans are better drivers cars are closer
Americans are horrible drivers roads are hella wide
I just realized that first off there is stuff around you the streetscape is very diverse and
mentally engaging in comparison the American suburb looks like a desolate Urban Wasteland
also in the European suburb the street is narrow there is a 30 kilometers per
hour speed limit and the buildings are close together do notice the tram tracks
in the suburb you can lift car free if you want to go to the center you can
either take the tram or ride your bike for 20 minutes on dedicated bike Lanes
or take yes bun because there is also a train station in the American suburb you have no option
but to drive head out onto the busy Strode and horrifying mix of street and Road onto the gemmed
highway and after an hour you'll be in the center searching for a parking spot that's that's true
how about going to a restaurant in the European suburb there are dozens of different unique
local restaurants reachable and food by bike or public transit in the American suburb you're an
hour walk away from a chain restaurant next tape is a Strode if you want to eat they're gonna get
it yeah that's that's that's true like that's really true like I I can't hold you not every
suburb in America is like that it's not right but um I actually do like there are certain things
um that America has done and it just it's I think it's addicting I guess and uh like drives
long drives I actually enjoy that you know but to go extremely far it kind of sucks right but
I don't know it's it's it's not a big issue for me if I'm supposed to get in a car and
um drive one hour away for a fancy restaurant not for McDonald's because
if I got to drive that far from McDonald's something's got to change your car
what if you have children in this European suburb there are three schools close by kids
can walk or bike there on their own and learn to be independent early on in the American suburb a
child could get to school after 35 minutes of walking mostly along a busy arterial Road or
having to cross a six Lanes Road and the sad part about American um you know roads is that
all that sidewalk non-existent I've done crazy things like um you know like Highway 501 that's
in South Carolina it's in other places too I think so yeah but um the point is and um I've
actually seen Europeans crossing the 501 and I'm like y'all trying to die that yeah you the 501 is
not something to play with you go check it out on the internet if you think I'm joking 501 man it's
crazy but um the part in South Carolina I speak for that part but um yeah it is really interesting
because you don't have sidewalks pedestrian cross you don't have those on busy streets in America
you don't trust me you don't right unlike Europe where I've practically seen it everywhere I go in
Finland and um yeah somehow I mean there's no crosswalk so kids have to be driven to schools
every day by Mommy and Daddy yeah that's a plus for you right there the same goes for
sports over here kids can take a 10-minute walk to the nearest sports field or a three minute
bike ride on calm Safe Streets on their own in the US it's a 40-minute March through a major
streets partially along a major Transit Authority yeah you gotta get in the SUV and let Mommy drive
you to practice this is where the term soccer mom originates from by the way people lament
today's children for being overly dependent on their parents but in such neighborhoods
children don't have a choice but to be dependent otherwise they cannot go anywhere they are stuck
at home in contrast in European suburbs kids can be let out safely to move around on their own to
go to places they want to without the need for the mommy and daddy Taxi Service Taxi Service
European suburbs tend to be a mixture of those and single or multi-family homes like on this street
okay
zoning in U.S suburbs only allows for single-family homes and they are usually
placed very far apart leading to low density and long distances this makes public transportation
non-viable over here in Europe hundreds of people live within walking distance of this tram stop in
the U.S if you put a trim stop here you'd have a few dozen people living within walking distance
meaning even if you build public transit here almost nobody would take it because no matter
how you build it people would be too far away from it it's only half an hour away on food from the
nearest tram stop you'll take your car instead and people I've seen that basketball hoop right now
they build rammed right into the city usually demolishing non-white neighborhoods in the process
the end result was mass motorization all across America constant traffic jams noise and pollution
but not for the Suburban lights it was the urban dwellers particularly those who were poor who
had to live near higher traffic areas in cheap low quality housing the suburbs also became a
growth Ponzi scheme where income from the suburbs couldn't cover a future infrastructure overhauls
so the city had to expand and sell new properties constantly to get enough money to maintain what
they already have not just bikes did a great video about this link in the description the suburbs and
core-centric development were useful political tools in the 1950s to enforce a Christian
conservative white nationalist hierarchy within American society where white men are on top women
are at home fully dependent on their husbands and where all resources are channeled towards
the white middle and upper class in the form of billions in state subsidies and the rest of
society poor people non-whites were left to fend for themselves in decaying Urban centers sucked
dry financially by the parasitic suburbs around them core-centric planning became a weapon of
choice for conservatives in order to maintain the unequal status score and this phenomenon
isn't unique to America in Europe as our cities transition away from Cars the opponents of this
change are almost always conservatives while the incumbent Paris mayor campaigned on eliminating 50
000 parking spaces her conservative opponent who looks frankly diabolical even by French
standards wanted to Halt decongestion measures in Prague a city overrun by cars conservatives keep
screaming about these cyclophascists ruining the city after a shadow is painted somewhere
meanwhile conservative District Mayors are busy turning sidewalks into parking lots in Madrid the
conservative City leadership canceled the ultra low emission zones leading to local protests to
bring them back in Budapest we have orban's far-right conservatives screaming about how
there is a Witch Hunt against drivers by the new center-lev mayor and complaining how an inner city
Budapest it's almost faster to walk now than to drive even in Germany Bavarian conservatives are
dumping money into highways while letting the rail network fall into this repair as a rule of
thumb in every city with decongestion measures you'll also find conservatives screaming about
the war on cars the symbol of hierarchy in transportation where the affluent Suburban
minority gets to occupy 80 percent of public space inside cities compared to the more egalitarian
space use of public transit and bicycles God forbid you have to get out of your giant SUV
of death and get on a train with the residents of course upholding the conservative hierarchy
isn't why suburbs are built today in the US it's mostly just a necessary continuation of the Ponzi
scheme that began with the first suburbs also it's due to faulty zoning codes not allowing
for mid-rise developments that would actually make more money for the city increase density and make
public transit viable in Europe our suburbs are mixed with both mid Rises single and multi-family
homes they're an organic part of the city and contribute fairly to the local budget there is
also subsidized affordable public transit all in all it's more egalitarian and if the U.S situation
sounds depressing in contrast as an American there are things you can do to potentially help change
things if there is a local Transit factors Union go join it look if there are any initiatives on
the ballot for traffic calming bike Lanes Etc show up to your local Town Hall meetings and
advocate for zoning reform ending parking minimums and so on if you're persistent enough your ideas
will be heard and you can help push America back towards sensible Fair more egalitarian
planning one neighborhood at a time that's what I would do if I were you thank you for watching
oh and by the way there is now a new membership option for my channel yeah that's crazy it's kind
of depressing I think about it that um you know as humans we always will and forever have division
you know because like crazy it's like obviously like if I'm if I'm ever supposed to you know speak
about anything I would definitely have to give pedestrians the right because pedestrians are just
super way more important than cars like do you see the size of a car compared to a human being like
you could fit five human beings in the average car like five like just think about fitting
five people in one car what does that tell you it tells you that a car takes up a lot more space so
um yeah it is what it is we just waste in space making more roads like I've not even seen in
Finland since I've been here I've not seen roads like continuous roads yes you I've seen you know
a road with two lanes but continuous roads like it just continues two row two lanes going that
way where that way I've not seen it not once and in my humble opinion it makes things much more
um you know better for the people you know because you have a lot more
productivity in terms of you can do a lot of things with that space that
you have that you really don't need to utilize you know what I mean for
um vehicles but uh yeah that's my two cents I'm out of here though guys so thank you for watching
a great video go check out the original Channel and we'll be in the description a lot of you guys