The First Revisit & Deeper Dive…
…of my 2021 video “Why driving in europe is better than america"
If you’ve found your way here, there’s a good chance you’ve already seen my 2021 video, “Why driving in Europe is better than America.”
Even though I published this more than three years ago, to this day in 2024, every now and then I still get a few new comments on this particular video: Here’s WHY Driving in Europe is BETTER than America | An American’s Perspective!
To this day, I still have not fully rewatched this video and still cringe when I see it.
It’s crazy to think that this video, of all things, has taken off the way it has. As of this writing, it’s racked up over 1.2 million views and around 11,000 comments—definitely more than I ever expected.
When I first uploaded it, I had no idea this topic would resonate with so many people. The response has been overwhelming, and I’ve read every single comment, from the supportive to the critical, to the just plain curious. That got me thinking: why not take this discussion a step further? Instead of cramming all my thoughts into another video, why not start a blog where I can share more detailed reflections and insights? So here we go, I’m not a professional writer, so it may be more of a “stream of consciousness.” Bear with me, you’ve got to start somewhere, right?
So, the story behind this video…
Why did I make this video in the first place?
As I said in the video, it goes back to my experience as an American expat (and yes, the term expat is different from immigrant) who relocated to the Netherlands. Having lived all of my life in North America (mostly in the state of Florida in the good ole’ USA), moving to Europe has been an eye-opening experience in so many ways. But of course, as an automotive enthusiast, one thing that really stood out to me was the automotive world differences and culture around cars. It’s completely different from what I was used to back in the United States, and there’s so many things I want to capture that others may overlook. When I first moved, I kept thinking, “Man, I wish I had known some of this stuff before I got here.” That’s when I remembered something I’d heard or seen someone on YouTube: the best content to put out on YouTube is the kind of content you’d want to watch yourself.
So, I decided to share my experience. I figured if I found this interesting, maybe someone else on the interwebz would too. At that time in 2021, I was also heavily inspired by having recently discovered a couple of YouTube channels I follow—NotJustBikes and Tedward. NotJustBikes really captured a lot of the North America vs Europe/Netherlands/Amsterdam life, which I was experiencing, and Tedward had a 2021 video about some of his driving frustrations with the US and American drivers, which I was also experiencing a big difference with. I figured, why not combine the two? I wanted to create something that’s part rant, part exploration of the pros and cons of living in a place like the Netherlands, and of course, part driving experience. That’s why I made this video.
At some point after uploading this video, it got picked up by Digg.com at some point, and that’s when I really saw a spike in the views and comments. I was shocked. The icing on the cake? Tedward and NotJustBikes actually commented on this video!
Digg.com Post
YouTube Analytics from 2021
Evidently, this topic also did resonate with a lot of people who both agreed and disagreed. And people to this day still really let me know in the comments why. I appreciate that. Discussion is how we can learn from one another, and that’s the power of YouTube. So from these comments, there were many valid points and not valid points which I’ve grouped into the a couple themes themes that I want to revisit.
Criticism 1: Filming During COVID
One criticism I’ve received is that the video was filmed during COVID when there was much less traffic on the roads that I was showing. Fair point! The footage I used was more for B-roll visual purposes to overlay with my ranting, rather than to fully represent everything I was discussing. But there happened to be some observations I was able to speak to at the moment, but I could have done a better job with supplementing the video with B-roll from other places that represented a broader visual of other places across Europe.
Criticism 2: European Generalization and My European Driving Experiences
One thing that really stood out in the comments—and one of the biggest criticisms I received—was the idea that not all European drivers are as great as I made them out to be, and the points I was discussing were more reflective of Western Europe.
A lot of commenters pointed out that in places like southern Italy, southern Spain, and Greece, driving can be a bit more intense, or aggressive (or less rule abiding) and that the drivers there are not adhering to what I was describing. Sure, these countries are also part of Europe, but the drivers there have more aggressive driving styles that don't always align with the more disciplined approach you might see in, say, Germany or the Netherlands. It’s a fair point, and it’s something I should have addressed more clearly in the video. My experiences were much more Western Europe focused and implying “all of Europe” was a generalization. But, many of the underlying points I mentioned still apply to most European countries (age and requirements for obtaining a driver’s license, costs, public transportation and less car dependency, historic cities and infrastructure designed before the car, etc.).
So yes, you’ve got aggressive drivers and sometimes more chaotic driving conditions, but the bar for entry—meaning the process you have to go through to actually get your license—is generally higher than the requirements for obtaining a driver’s license in most US states. This was a key point I was trying to highlight in the video. Focusing on key underlying general fundamentals, which may not apply everywhere. While every country has its quirks and nuances, the overall level of skill and road awareness (on average) for European drivers tends to be higher than what I’ve seen (on average) back in the States.
Sometimes when Americans compare Europe to the U.S., these generalizations and trying to compare all of Europe to the US regularly come up. But I’d argue the reverse can be applicable for the United States as well…it’s like comparing New York to California, or Florida to Texas—they’re all very different, but when viewed from a distance, it’s easy to draw generalized conclusions and paint them with broad strokes. Driving in these different states can be very different, but at the same time, very similar, and similarly, driving requirements and underlying factors across many European countries are similar. I’ve since tried to touch on the contrasting points of North American driving culture and habits a bit in my videos in Toronto, Canada, Florida, Las Vegas, and New York, but most viewers of this 2021 video probably have not seen my other videos.
I still stand by most of these generalizations I mentioned after having driven thousands of kilometers in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Czechia, Italy, northern Spain, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria and the United Kingdom.
So, while the video might not have been perfect, I think it opened up an important conversation. If I made that same video again today, it would probably look a lot different, but I think a lot of the underlying principles would still apply.
I’m glad so many people engaged with it and shared their perspectives—it’s definitely given me a lot to think about for future videos. That’s what I love about YouTube; while the comment section can be a truly awful place, it can also be a powerful discussion forum that does not really exist in traditional media.
I hope this helps with some more context about where I was coming from when I made this video.
-kerleem