The most dangerous junctions in Assen and other Dutch cities. What makes junctions dangerous ? What can we do to address that danger ?

Though there isn't a huge amount of traffic at this location, and though speeds aren't particularly high (this is an intersection in a residential area between a 50 km/h road and 30 km/h roads), this is the most dangerous road junction in Assen for cyclists. It doesn't look like much - just a simple road crossing. But simple crossings like this can be dangerous for cyclists.

The problem at this junction is recognized. It led
to a redesign early in 2015 which makes the
junction look a lot smaller than it did. It is not
yet clear whether this will be enough to address
the safety issue in this location. Given that near
misses still happen here, I'm not sure that I believe
that enough has been done to solve the problem.

This junction was the scene of seven cyclist injuries in the six years between 2007 and 2013. Compared with other cities, especially in other countries, this number is low. For instance, I once wrote about how a single junction in Cambridge had seen 43 crashes with cyclists in six years and how another in London managed to ring up 89 cyclist injuries in just two years. Assen's most dangerous junction cannot compete with the danger faced by cyclists elsewhere.

This junction stands out in large part because cycling in Assen is very safe. Sedven cyclist injuries at one location is exceptional because in the same time period just 11 cyclists were injured at all of Assen's 28 locations with traffic lights put together and just two cyclists were injured across all 21 roundabouts.

The very good safety record of Assen's roundabouts is due to adopting a very safe design.

The traffic light junctions have a less obviously impressive safety record but this should be balanced against there being more traffic light junctions than roundabouts and due to traffic light junctions dealing with heavier motor vehicle flows than roundabouts. Many of the traffic light junctions used by cyclists in Assen have a design which is exceptionally convenient and particularly safe for cycling.

If Assen had not adopted such safe designs for larger junctions then it is likely that uncontrolled junctions like this would not be the most dangerous places for cyclists. But as a result of that policy elsewhere, the second and third most dangerous junctions in Assen for cyclists are also uncontrolled junctions - in this case where cyclists have to cross roads unassisted by traffic lights. These caused five and four cyclist injuries each (+ two fatalities - one of a cyclist and one of a moped rider).

Two weeks ago a follow-up study tour
group went to see why this junction is
dangerous. While we were there, both
Charlie and Mark photographed a near-
miss. The cyclist was not surprised to
be told that this was an unsafe junction.
The driver was shocked by her mistake.
Note that this happened after re-design.

Why uncontrolled junctions are dangerous
The problem with uncontrolled junctions is that they rely upon perfect driver and cyclist behaviour for their safety. If everyone always behaves correctly, everyone always manages to work out exactly what every other participant in traffic is doing, no-one is ever distracted or makes mistakes, then these junctions work perfectly. Unfortunately, these junctions actually have to be used by real human beings and people do make mistakes.

Dutch drivers and Dutch cyclists are not special. They're people too. Given them confusing situations and they'll make mistakes in just the same way as do people elsewhere.

The problem with this particular junction was illustrated vividly to us on a recent study tour when a near miss was caught on camera (above). This was a genuine SMIDSY ("Sorry Mate I Didn't See You") incident. The driver simply had not seen the cyclist. Luckily, she took a second glance left and stopped her car just in time so that no collision occurred. Both parties were shocked by what had happened.

Let us consider the pressures on this driver as she wished to pull out of this junction and turn right: At this position, the driver has much to too. She needs to check for cyclists in her own street who may try to overtake on either the left or right side of her car and who may potentially conflict with a right turn and also check the cycle-lane on her left for cyclists (including the one she missed). She also needs to bear in mind what drivers might do - both those approaching from behind (hesitation may result in being rear-ended) as well as those going both left and right on the road she's pulling into and also those approaching from dead ahead who may turn across her path. This requires a lot of concentration and also a lot of head swiveling in order to look in all directions at once.

The danger at uncontrolled junctions is due to many pieces of information to be processed at once.

The most dangerous junctions in other Dutch cities
Uncontrolled junctions are not the most dangerous locations in every Dutch city, but they do appear quite often. For instance, Groningen's most dangerous junction for cyclists is an uncontrolled junction which is also the most dangerous junction for all modes in the whole country. 12 cyclists were injured across both sides of the junction over a period of six years.

Second place in Groningen is a tie between two junctions, each of which injured six cyclists: One of these is a different uncontrolled junction and the other location is a roundabout of the unsafe design in an older suburb which allows through traffic (read more about suburbs further down the page).

This is the safe roundabout to copy.

Unsafe roundabouts:
The unsafe roundabouts in Groningen (see the last paragraph) follow a design where cyclists have priority over other traffic by using a concentric circle cycle-path around the main roundabout. Unfortunately, this is nearly as difficult for drivers to use correctly as an uncontrolled junction, with a requirement to keep track of cyclists and cars from several directions at once and involving nearly as much head swiveling as an uncontrolled junction. A study showed that this design offers cyclists only an 11% improvement in safety over an uncontrolled junction so it should be no surprise to us that roundabouts of that design also quite often appear amongst the more dangerous locations for cyclists in the Netherlands.

The less safe roundabout design was first trialed in Enschede so perhaps it shouldn't be too surprising that Enschede's most dangerous junction for cyclists happens to be one of those roundabouts, where six cyclists were injured. Enschede's second most dangerous junction is an uncontrolled junction which injured five cyclists.

Heading west, the city of Deventer also uses the less safe roundabout design and there too the most dangerous junction is a roundabout. As in Enschede, their second most dangerous is uncontrolled.

Another city to use the less safe roundabout design is 's-Hertogenbosch. In this city, a roundabout which injured five cyclists and three moped riders is the most dangerous junction and second place is taken by another roundabout which injured another three cyclists and a moped rider.

Zwolle's most dangerous junction is another of those unsafe roundabouts, which injured seven cyclists, while second place is taken by an uncontrolled junction.

I have not been able to find a single example which where a roundabout of the safer design stands out.

Shared Space

The Laweiplein Shared Space in
Drachten, Many claims are made for a
low accident rate but it's the second
most dangerous place in the city.

Claims have often been made about improvements in safety in Drachten due to Shared Space junction designs. As it turns out, the most dangerous location in this small city is not a shared space, but another of those unsafe roundabouts, where four cyclists were injured and one cyclist died. However the second most dangerous place in the city, with three cyclists and a moped rider being injured, is a location which I've covered before: the Laweiplein Shared Space "squareabout" which has been central to many claims of improved safety in the past. Far from improving the safety of Drachten for cyclists, the Laweiplein is one of the main causes of danger.

Shared Space designs do not have a good record for cyclist and pedestrian safety nor for inclusiveness.

Traffic light junctions:
The most dangerous junctions in both Amsterdam and Rotterdam are large and traffic light junctions with an outdated appearance which include tram tracks and which have two-stage turns. These junctions, which injured ten and eight cyclists respectively, have similarities with those which have proven to be lethal in Copenhagen.

On the other hand, traffic light junction designs which remove all conflict from the junction don't stand out in these statistics.

Detail from the Amsterdam junction. The cyclist on the right of the picture is perhaps trying to reach the left turn box just left of the car. This really isn't a good junction design.

Dangerous streets
While it's relatively easy to find the individual most dangerous locations, it's more difficult to identify streets with an obvious line of injuries along them. I'll give just three examples from Assen and Groningen:

Weiersstraat in Assen. A location with a poor layout of on-road cycle-lanes causing conflict between all modes. I criticized this earlier this year (maps and data from the excellent ongelluken kaart).

Gedempte Zuiderdiep in Groningen. While buses get their own lane, cycles and cars are made to "share". An unpleasant street layout which uses cyclists as rolling traffic calming devices: resulting in a row of cyclist injuries along it.

Nieuwe Ebbingestraat in Groningen. There's plenty of width here for proper cycling infrastructure and this could be a pleasant road to cycle down, but none is provided. The street has much through motor traffic and many cyclists are injured both by moving cars and by parked cars, e.g. through dooring. Cyclists are again used as traffic calming devices here and the result is another string of injuries as seen above.

Video of Nieuwe Ebbingestraat: Groningen's most dangerous street for cyclists. The problems may look minor compared with some other places, but note now they arise for the same reasons as elsewhere: No or poor cycling infrastructure such as narrow cycle-lanes, advanced stop (bike) boxes leading to close over-takes, door zone cycling etc.
Whole suburbs can be made safe

Assen suburb of Kloosterveen.
Population 10000. No yellow:
No cyclist injuries recorded.

For the last 40 years or so, Dutch suburbs have been designed to have few connections by car and to discourage high speed driving. The result is that cyclists and pedestrian injuries are very rare within these suburbs.

We live in the Assen suburb of Pittelo, first to be designed along these principles and built between 1970 and 1975. There are many ways out of the suburb in all directions by bike, but just two exits by car, both of which go to the ring-road. As a result, there is no through traffic and there are no recorded cycling injuries over the last six years. The same characteristics are true of the very newest suburb of Assen, Kloosterveen, which also has zero cyclist injuries recorded.

Groningen suburb Vinkhuizen.
Population 11000. Cyclists
injured in several locations.

The Groningen suburb of Vinkhuizen has about the same population as Kloosterveen however it was built at the very end of the 1960s/beginning of the 1970s and came just too early to benefit from the new ideas about not allowing through traffic. This suburb has many more exits by car and allows through traffic both to an industrial area and another suburb. Many locations within Vinkhuizen have proven to be dangerous for cyclists, including both the roundabouts in this suburb, one of which is listed above as the second most dangerous junction in Groningen. Note that Kloosterveen has twice as many roundabouts as Vinkhuizen and that they appear on the busiest roads within that suburb. But these are all of the safer design and no cyclists have been injured at them.

Note that the most dangerous junction in Assen is also situated in an older suburban area, on a road which allows through traffic.

What is the role of infrastructure ?
Infrastructure of any type should be designed to serve the people using it. That may seem self evident, but time and time again we see infrastructure which is not designed in this way. e.g. streets in cities with a lot of cycling which ignore cyclists (as in the example shown in Groningen above, these can be dangerous). Infrastructure should be designed to accommodate the pattern of use which it is expected to receive, and should also be designed to take into account that human error is inevitable and therefore to reduce the likely consequences of error.

What improves safety ?
It is not enough to put a lower speed limit on a dangerous road design. 30 km/h speed limits are more common in the Netherlands than in any other nation: a third of the whole road network has this speed limit or lower. Lower speeds help a little, but note that many of the examples above are in low speed limit areas. It has long been recognized that lower speed limits do not ensure safety of their own accord.

Infrastructure which relies upon perfect driver and cyclist behaviour for their safety can also not create a perfectly safe result. Human beings make mistakes. "Accidents" are inevitable. Create situations in which there are too many things to do at once, especially where drivers' heads have to swivel repeatedly to look in several directions for things to respond, and you've created a situation where accidents will happen.

Uncontrolled junctions are unsafe compared with controlled junctions, but of course it's not practical to add traffic lights everywhere. Roundabouts of the "with priority" design are somewhat safer than uncontrolled junctions for drivers, but offer only an 11% improvement in safety for cyclists so these are not a solution to the problem.

The genuinely safe roundabout designs and safe traffic light junction designs lead to real improvements if they replace a more dangerous junction design, but of course they won't fit everywhere either.

Luckily, these larger and more expensive designs of junction are not required everywhere. In fact, they're only required where there are motor vehicles. Without the added danger of motor vehicles, especially of through traffic, uncontrolled junctions can have perfect safety records too: The safe suburbs discussed above (Kloosterveen and Pittelo) both have many uncontrolled junctions. Neither of these suburbs includes any traffic light junctions and only one of them includes roundabouts (four roundabouts of the safe design in Kloosterveen).

Almost all significant danger to cyclists comes from motor vehicles and therefore restricting car, truck and bus access from where bicycles need to go is the most effective way to improve cyclist safety.

1. Residential streets should never be through routes by motor vehicle.
2. City centre streets can largely be closed to car access and should also not operate as through routes.
3. Main routes between these places which must be shared with drivers need good quality cycle paths and well designed junctions.
4. Routes from which motor vehicles have been excluded have less need for such infrastructure because they will already not have the same clusters of injuries along them as appear along roads where cyclists and drivers "share" the same infrastructure.
5. Data which exists shouldn't be ignored. We can tell from a map of where injuries have occurred where intervention is required.
6. New isn't always better. Wide pavements do not improve conditions for for cycling. Unfortunately, such designs are now quite common around the world, including in the Netherlands.
7. Shared Space where cars and bikes are mixed is not a success for improving safety.
8. Paths shared between cyclists and pedestrians lead to conflict.

The most effective way to improve safety of cyclists is the same as it's always been: remove motor vehicles from where cyclists need to be and give cyclists their own space This not only improves safety for cyclists but also enables improvements in efficiency for cycling.

Sometimes it's necessary to build new roads or new bridges for cars in order to improve conditions for cyclists.

Study Tour

Study Tours. Click for booking information.

Since 2006 we've demonstrated the difference between safe and unsafe infrastructure on study tours of Dutch cycling infrastructure. We offer independent advice. See many examples in real life.

Update: Dutch Drivers
A news item published two days after this blog post includes the interesting fact that over 21000 speeding fines were handed out to drivers in Assen last year, who paid over €1.2M in fines as a result.

As I pointed out many times before, including above, Dutch driver behaviour is not different to that of drivers elsewhere. Safety for cyclists in the Netherlands comes primarily through good infrastructure design, not better driving.

Den Bosch becomes Netherlands' "Fietsstad 2011"

Updated with a video of the celebrations!

's-Hertogenbosch (a.k.a. Den Bosch) won the honour title 'Fietsstad 2011' or 'Cycling City 2011' in the election organised by the Dutch Cyclists' Union. The expert jury was unanimous in its decision. Last August, the city had been selected as one of five nominees, which were in turn selected from a long list of 19 cities that had entered the competition.

School children with the award on the steps of city hall:
signs with the title "Cycling City 2011"

The director of the Fietsersbond (Cyclists' Union) states the following: "In recent years 's-Hertogenbosch has given cycling an enormous boost in a short time with a lot of energy, ambition, creativity and money. That is very good for a city in the South of the Netherlands where cycling levels on average are lower than in the rest of the Netherlands." The Jury was also very positive about how cycling facilities were integrated in the historical centre of the city.

The award ceremony took place at City Hall in ’s-Hertogenbosch. In their speeches the jury and the director praised the city for their efforts to stimulate cycling. From the results in the short time it was obvious to them that this was a deliberate decision by the local government. The jury found it especially good that the city listens to the wishes of the citizens, even children could give their input about the cycling facilities around their schools. In stead of trying to change behaviour of cyclists by educating and training them, Den Bosch decided to facilitate what cyclists apparently want: if they all ride agaist traffic it proves better to make the cycle path wide enough for two way traffic, rather than to try and stop them from doing it. From a mediocre cycling city Den Bosch has now become a rising star that shot up to the top of the list.

For subtitles in English click CC.

It was a fortunate coincidence that a delegation of Velo-city was also present. Today of all days they visited the city to investigate the candidacy of 's-Hertogenbosch to organise Velo-city 2013 (bidbook in English).
I have informed you about the recent very positive developments in the cycling infrastructure and climate of the city on several occasions.

When 's-Hertogenbosch was announced to be one of the nominees I made a video to support the city. One of the jury members made public that she was impressed by it. I would like to think that it helped my hometown just a little to win the title...

* There is an old Dutch children's song titled  'That (party) goes to Den Bosch'. I imagine the jury singing it all the way to Den Bosch...



Before and after: more improved cycling infrastructure (2)

In an earlier blog post I have shown you examples of changes to the cycling infrastructure of 's-Hertogenbosch. The city has started a city wide update of the cycling infrastructure in 2009 under a six year plan. Almost three years into the plan it is becoming very clear all over the city that the update was not just mere talk and paper plans, no, there really is a great change for the better becoming visible.

Below I will show you two more examples.

Missing link: this narrow old path formed the missing link between existing wide cycle paths. The route -away from motorised traffic- has now been completed.

A main cycle route from the North-East connects a suburb to the centre of the city. Many commuters and school children cycle this route. There was one piece 'missing'. Of course it wasn't really missing but it was not up to the latest standards. It was too narrow and the surface was really bad and needed a good makeover. This was done and now the route is complete. The cycle route now has priority on every junction. This means that cars that merge into the part of the route that is shared space have to give priority to cyclists already on the cycle route going straight on. For that some junctions were changed in such a way that this priority is clear. The cyclists go straight on, motorised traffic has to merge and swerve, not the other way around.

Comfort and safety comes from details. A smoother asphalt and a 'forgiving kerb'.

The last example shows that quality improvement is in the details. The 'only' difference is that this cycle path got a new surface. Both at the beginning and end of the video the connecting cycle paths already had smooth red asphalt. The cycle path in between still had an older type of surface: concrete tiles. The smooth red asphalt is now continuous. Another thing that was changed was the kerb. It is now less likely that cyclists accidentally riding onto the kerb fall, because of the new type of kerb.

Closer look to a 'forgiving kerb'. It has a shallow angle. Less dangerous than the older kerbs with a more common 90 degree angle. A cyclist accidently hitting this new type of kerb is less likely to fall.

With all the updates 's-Hertogenbosch was chosen as one of the five nominees running for cycling city 2011 in the Netherlands. I have reported about this before. The final decission will be made in November by an expert jury but there is also a popular vote in which the city is not doing well. 's-Hertogenbosch is now in a shared 3rd position and when you look at the before and after videos you will have to agree that that is clearly undeserved.

Before and After: more improved cycling infrastructure (1)

A number of cities in the Netherlands is currently updating cycling infrastructure. The 'Fietsbalans' (the thorough check of the 'cycling climate' and infrastructure of municipalities by the cyclists' union) may be one reason for this. The Fietsbalans ('Cycling Balance') reports on subjects like the quality of cycling infrastructure (safety, directness, comfort, etc.), the demographics of people cycling (who, when, why, where) and other aspects like population density and how satisfied people are with the cycling policies of a municipality. It also gives municipalities advice on specific subjects scoring low so they can be remedied. Many cities did indeed follow at least some of the advice. Comparing the newest check with the older ones a city can now see whether things have improved and also how they compare with other cities in the Netherlands. If necessary cycling policies can be further improved.

's-Hertogenbosch is one of the cities which has started a city wide update of the cycling infrastructure in 2009 under a six year plan. Almost three years into the plan it is becoming very clear all over the city that the update was not just mere talk and paper plans, no, there really is a great change for the better becoming visible. I already gave you some examples, but I have four more videos with further examples of improved cycling infrastructure. Planners from other countries could learn a lot from the Fietsbalans reports and the improvements to cycling infrastructure that are being made all over the Netherlands. I will show the first two videos this week and the other two in an upcoming blog post.

Stills from the first video: from old fashioned recreational path to wide main cycle route away from motorised traffic.

The first video shows a new main route approaching from the South of the city. Because of a new circular road the canal and the dike next to the canal had to be moved sideways. The city took the opportunity to build a far better cycle route on the new dike than had existed on the old dike 100 meters to the East. This new cycle route forms an alternative to an existing route next to a busy road. It is now a well used route for commuters and school children.

Still from the second video: The cycle path already had priority over cars, but the junction design was updated: no more (dangerous) bollards and an even clearer priority with the also smoother coloured asphalt.

The second video shows a main route from the East of the city. The route was nice already until it hit a service road. The service road is now converted into a cycle street. This means cyclists have priority and cars are guests. The cyclists now also have priority over every side street. In the before situation all the side streets from the right had the right of way:  the ground rule under Dutch traffic law. Two major junctions were converted to be even clearer. But the city seems to have forgotten one traffic light that is very odd. It gives motorised traffic a head start of two seconds which is most unusual and unwanted.

In an upcoming blog post the two other videos.

With all the updates 's-Hertogenbosch was chosen as one of the five nominees running for cycling city 2011 in the Netherlands. I have reported about this before. The final decission will be made in November by an expert jury but there is also a popular vote in which the city is not doing well. 's-Hertogenbosch is now 4th and when you look at the before and after videos you will have to agree that that is clearly undeserved.

Roundabout with safe cycling facilities

The design proposed in this guest blog post is not the safest possible. In fact, the design promoted in this post is known to be responsible for dozens of injuries each year in the Netherlands. This design causes seven times so many injuries as the best Dutch roundabout designs. Please see a later blog post which shows the safest roundabout design for cyclists.

A view at one of the more recently built roundabouts in the city of 's-Hertogenbosch in the South of the Netherlands. This roundabout came in the place of an ordinary four arm junction with traffic lights. When the city announced that the junction would be changed into a roundabout people had a hard time believing this would be possible at all. They thought there would not be enough space. But it proved to be very possible indeed. Traffic now flows very smoothly.

Interestingly enough Google Maps shows the before situation, but once you start StreetView it shows the current situation.

Before: a junction with traffic lights and separate cycle paths.

After: roundabout with separate cycle paths, the lights were removed. Note that this roundabout design is responsible for dozens of injuries per year in the Netherlands.

The waiting times for all traffic decreased at this particular junction. So it proved to be a good decision to change the junction into a roundabout. I have showed you another roundabout in 's-Hertogenbosch in an earlier post. There the priority for cyclists on Dutch roundabouts is also explained.

Update: It seems people are taking this design presented by a guest blogger as something to aim for. Please note that this is not the safest design of roundabout which is possible and we do not suggest copying the design shown in this blog post. The particular example shown here closely resembles a roundabout in Groningen to which we take people on study tours in order to see how NOT to design a roundabout. This relies too much on drivers being perfectly behaved. and on cyclists having eyes on the back of their heads.

Other posts on this blog show safer roundabout designs where cyclists either don't interact at all with cars on the roundabout or where they give way on those arms where there are interactions. These other roundabouts provide a better example for other nations to follow.

Fietsstad (Cycling City) 2011 nominees announced

The Dutch Fietsersbond (Cyclists’ Union) has announced the five nominees that will compete to be chosen as Fietsstad (Cycling City) of the Netherlands for 2011. The jury chose the five cities out of a long list of 19 cities that had entered the competition.

’s-Hertogenbosch, the city I have been living in for 16 years now, is one of the five nominees.

Over the past 16 years I have seen a lot of development in the cycling infrastructure and climate of this city. Especially in recent years it went from mediocre to very good in my opinion so it will come as no surprise that I wholeheartedly support this nomination.

This election took place 3 times before. It is connected to a nationwide investigation into the cycling climate in the cities and villages of the Netherlands. Veenendaal, a small town in the centre of the Netherlands won in 2000. Groningen, 8th largest city of the Netherlands and home to a large university with many cycling students, was cycling city in 2002. In 2008 Houten was pronounced cycling city in the last competition. Interestingly enough both Houten and Groningen are nominees again this year. Together with Harderwijk (again a small town in the center of the country) and Pijnacker-Nootdorp which really is a commuter suburb of The Hague.

Tough competition, but I think ’s-Hertogenbosch does stand a good chance. From the nominees and previous winners it is the only city in the (originally catholic) South of the Netherlands. A region that strangely enough on average sees less cycling than the (originally protestant) North. The jury will put emphasis on the situation for school children. The theme for this year’s competition is ‘onderweg naar school’ which would loosely translate as ‘on our way to school’. In 30 years the average age of children starting to cycle to school on their own in the Netherlands has risen from 6 to 9 years old. Something which alarms the Cyclists’ Union. The city that best makes it possible for children to cycle to school on their own will have a good chance to win this year’s title.
’s-Hertogenbosch has put forward two examples of how they make cycling to school safer and more attractive. A primary school with a new side entrance and a new two way cycle path makes it possible for the school children to avoid contact with cars on the street altogether. A secondary school on the city’s busy circular road got a cycling bridge over that road so crossing it became much safer. The cycle paths around that school all became bi-directional. This makes crossing the road unnecessary for many children. Good examples of what a council can do to improve cycling conditions around schools.

I have put together a video to support the nomination of the city of ’s-Hertogenbosch.

Update: on 17th November 2011 's-Hertogenbosch won the title!

Another cycling infrastructure update

This is another before and after view in 's-Hertogenbosch. And it is an interesting street because in the before situation there was no cycling infrastructure at all, which is rare for a more important street in the Netherlands. But also in the after situation the city of 's-Hertogenbosch choose to build cycle lanes and not cycle paths. There are far less cycle lanes than cycle paths in the Netherlands but here they were deliberately chosen.

This will have to do with the fact that the number of cars using this street is relatively low. Because although it is a main route for cyclists, it is not a main arterial route for cars. For motorised traffic this is just a 'neighbourhood connector road'. Meaning it serves as the access road for a particular part of the city but it does not provide a fast through route for cars that need to be in a different part of the city.

The remaining car lanes are narrower than the cycle lanes.

What is also interesting to see, is that the minimal width of the cycle paths was maintained even if that meant that the remaining space for the car lanes was too narrow to even fit a car. (As can be seen in the picture above.) This means that motorists will sometimes have to drive over the sides of the cycle lane. But because of the colour they know they are invading the space of cyclists while they are driving at that narrow spot. Most if not all drivers will sub-consiously reduce their speed and look out for cyclists. The red of the cycle lane is not paint, it is a coloured asphalt so it the colour will not wear off. Which is especially important now that cars drive over it in part.


The street (in black with arrow) is just a tiny fragment of the city's main cycling network.

The city of 's-Hertogenbosch is updating its entire cycle network under a 2009 cycling plan. This street is just a tiny fragment of the network.

Google streetView shows the 'before' situation.

Just some people cycling in Den Bosch

While I am enjoying my holidays: here's something I prepared earlier.

The setting: a sunny Saturday afternoon in June, about 3 in the afternoon, an arterial route from the centre of the city of 's-Her-togenbosch to its suburbs. There are people passing in cars, on foot and on many bicycles.



What you can see in the video is an ordinary street in the Netherlands with ordinary cycling facilities and a normal amount and type of traffic. There is motorized traffic, cars and buses, some mopeds and a lot of cyclists and some pedestrians. Each type of traffic with its own part of the street. The central two lanes are for motorised traffic, there are wide one way cycle paths on both sides shielded from that motorised traffic by a meter (3ft) wide strip of grass and there are sidewalks on both far sides. This type of arterial streets is inviting to cyclists and this is the type of infrastructure that makes cycling very convenient and easy.

This six minute view in this street shows you not only that there are a lot of cyclists but also that they are very different. They are of all ages, cycle on a whole range of bicycle types and from what they have with them you can tell they cycle for a variety of reasons. We see a person carring a large musical instrument, people carrying groceries and there are people wearing sports outfits. You could also say they're all simply going from A to B. This is the face of mass cycling: relaxed and easy.

If you are interested to see the exact location in Google street view you can click the link below.


This street in Google StreetView



From cycle path to cycle route

As part of an elaborate cycle plan the city of 's-Hertogenbosch is currently updating its cycling infrastructure. The city wants to raise the modal share of cycling from 33% to 44% of all trips (Note that these figures are  not reliable. They are not for "all trips" but result from not including walking as a transport mode and only considering cycling within the city). David has already written about this 2009 plan before and he has shown some of my video's with parts of the plan. Some weeks ago I showed you how (also as part of this cycling plan) new red asphalt was rolled out in another street.

This blog post wil focus on one of the updates that was also finished. This was a street with a collection of cycle paths and service streets. In the new plan this street had to be updated with the latest minimal requirements to be a real main cycling route. With the update finished we see it can indeed be called a main cycling route now. We see this shift in thinking about cycling infrastructure all over the Netherlands. Governments in charge of road building (from the State, to the Provinces to the municipal authorities) think and plan much more in routes rather than in individual streets or paths. Which really is an improvement and gets the grid complete.

  

Before: cycle path ends in shared service street

After: cycle path continues as bicycle street where cyclists have priority and cars are guests

While the streets had to be redone completely, the city took the opportunity to also change all the sewer pipes, the telephone, data and electricity cables and the water and natural gas pipes. This is the usual thing to do in the Netherlands. There is good coordination between all the companies responsible for all these systems under supervision of the city or municipal authorities. This dates back from the time (not so long ago) that all these services were run by the councils themselves. Since all cables are underground in this country it is a very good thing that there is this coordination. You wouldn't want streets to be dug up separately by all the different companies.

All new cables and pipes for natural gas, electricity, water, telephone, television and data.

All the sewer pipes were also renewed.

The elaborate works took place late 2009, early 2010 and the below video gives a short overview. Not only were service streets completely redone, where necessary the existing cycle paths got a far better surface as well.

To see the full impact of this updated route, you can see the before and after situation in the video below. 

To be able to read all the annotations it is best to watch the video on YouTube in a larger size. (The annotations are not fully shown in the window below.)

Now that so many of the works were finished, two years after the cycle plan became active, the city of 's-Hertogenbosch apparently felt confident enough to be a candidate city in the election of 'cycling city of the Netherlands 2011'. It is one of the 18 cities in the long-list in this election by the Fietsersbond (Cyclist's Union). This summer five of the cities will be chosen to go to the final election.

Note that the figures for cycling modal share in 's-Hertogenbosch

When the shops close on a Saturday

Dutch shopping habits are often frowned upon by foreigners. Shops close early (6pm on working days) or are even closed all day (on Sundays). This means that most working people can only go shopping on a Saturday. At least before 5pm, because shops close even earlier on a Saturday...

What's that got to do with cycling? Well... why don't we stand on a street corner one such Saturday from 4 to 5 pm and see all the people coming back from that very shopping trip. The whole demography of a Dutch city cycles by right before our eyes! And it's pretty!



Many people carry bags. A lot of the bags are just hanging from the handle bars. Officially that is illegal, but that would not be widely known.

Note that all ages are represented. Not just the 20 to 40 year old commuting males. In fact that age group seems under-represented in this video. And, since this is a Saturday, hardly anyone is a commuter in this video anyway. Many children cycle on their own, some are even also unaccompanied. A great number of the cyclists are over 60, men as well as women. The weather wasn't very good that day, just 16 degrees (61F), it was very windy and it had rained off and on... but that didn't stop any of these people from taking their bicycles to go shopping.

All signs of a healthy cycling culture. But it may be under threat.

On June 22nd many people in the Netherlands became rather concerned by news reports that the European Commission would want to make it mandatory for all these cyclists to wear high visibility vests. For the Dutch an alarming thought. One Dutch member of the European parliament immediately stated: "This [report] implies that cycling is dangerous when in reality it is the safest means of transport. Cyclists should not be yellow canaries". Which from the Dutch view point is understandable. Just imagine all the people in the above video in those vests or even worse, the ones in this rush hour video. It would blind everybody! So is this really what the European Commission wants? It is always good to go back to the source of such reports. I found the press release and the message is not quite what it became in the Dutch press: "High-visibility reflective vests should be carried in vehicles for all occupants, say MEPs. Cyclists, too, should be encouraged to wear helmets and reflective vests after nightfall, they add".

"Encouraged" and "after nightfall". So not mandatory and not at all time. Still, from a Dutch view point a ridiculous idea going against everything cycling stands for in the Netherlands, where road deaths have already decreased enormously by investing in good cycling infrastructure.

Let’s cycle to the beach

Thousands of people took their bicycles and went to the beaches last weekend in the Netherlands. For many it was a long weekend starting with Ascension day on Thursday. The weather was more typical for August than for early June and so it was perfect for a day to the beach. Not only the North Sea but also most lakes in the Netherlands have beautiful sandy beaches. And they are often more easily reached by bicycle than by car. Which only enhances the relaxed atmosphere around these pleasant beaches.


People on their bicycles around two of the city’s beaches in ’s-Hertogenbosch (a.k.a. Den Bosch) on Saturday 4th June 2011.

After all the focus on infrastructure in our past few blog posts it is maybe time to see the people again for which all this infrastructure was built in the first place. It is obvious that Dutch cycling infrastructure is being used in high numbers and by people of all ages, all classes and all backgrounds. When you are used to taking your bike for your trips, be it for commuting or running errands, you are much more likely to use your bicycle for your leisure activities too. And nobody seems to be doing it on their own. You see families, friends, young and elderly couples, large groups, you name it, all on their bikes having a good time together. And doesn't it look good!

 

Rolling out a red carpet for cyclists

This blog post does not show an example of good cycling infrastructure. Please see the note at the bottom of this guest blog post which explains why.

The red of the cycle paths and lanes in the Netherlands is really standing out. It makes clear where the realm of the motorists stops and that of cyclists starts. Some people think the red is paint but that is not the case. It is actually a thick layer of very smooth red asphalt.

The video below shows how a Dutch street with separate red cycle lanes is created. Four rolling machines were needed for this street. Two roll out the red asphalt for the red cycle lanes and two the black asphalt for the lanes for motorised traffic.

The road was resurfaced because it wasn’t up to the very high Dutch standards anymore. Workers spent about two weeks scraping off the old top layer and then in one weekend the four machines rolled out the new top layer in a single sweep. According to the local newspaper about 700 metric tonns of asphalt for the 1 kilometre long street.

Before: earlier repairs clearly visible and an uneven surface.

After: new lids and a very smooth surrounding road surface.

The road is now very smooth again and the cycle paths are very clearly marked with a un-interrupted white lane (which means motorised traffic may never enter the cycle lanes, so there is “no stopping at any time”).

Before: an uneven and worn surface due to years of use.

After: very smooth new asphalt with a bright red cycle lane.

It may be interesting to know that this whole resurfacing exercise is only a temporary measure as the road is expected to be changed into a 30kph (18mph) zone within the next 5 to 10 years. The surface and width of a 50kph (31mph) road that it is now will not be suitable when that happens. A 30kph zone should have traffic calming measures like raised junctions and lanes for motorised traffic that are a lot narrower.  

A before-and-after ride from beginning to the end of the resurfaced street.

Cycle paths or lanes are not always red. There is no law regulating the colour of cycling infrastructure. It is for every municipality to decide. The city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch decided as follows:

• main cycling routes are always red;
• secondary routes can also be black (asphalt) but on ‘points of conflict’ they have to be red.

So that leads to the conclusion that the red is there for more than one reason. To make clear to cyclists where the main routes are and to other road users where they may encounter cyclists.

Note from David

Nothing prevents Dutch drivers from
swerving into on-road cycle-lanes and
causing danger to cyclists.

While Mark thought this facility worthy of praise, I'm less sure of its merit. I think it's unhelpful to show examples of infrastructure like this to a global audience as this gives the impression that on-road cycle lanes are a worthy type of cycling infrastructure. Such lanes do not keep cyclists safe in the same way as do cycle-paths away from the road and in many cases their existence excuses having not unravelled motor routes from cycle routes.

In the Netherlands, just as elsewhere,
people do not feel an adequate degree
of subjective safety due to on-road
lanes. They would often rather cycle
even on a pavement with a truck
parked on it than on the road.

In the Netherlands just as in other countries, lower quality infrastructure such as on-road lanes are associated with less pleasant and often more dangerous cycling.

Please see a future blog post which illustrates how all the problems which are caused by building on-road cycle-lanes elsewhere happen just as often in the Netherlands.

Please also read a blog post showing actual red carpets used to preserve space for pedestrians in a city full of bicycles.

Priority for cyclists on roundabouts in the Netherlands

This post by a guest blogger is informative but draws an incorrect conclusion about the safest way to design roundabouts for cyclists, favouring a design proven to be seven times more dangerous for cyclists. Please see a later blog post which explains the safest design and provides a comparison of casualty rates at the type of roundabout proposed here vs. the safest design.

“Roundabouts are safer than intersections because they reduce the number of potential conflicts between road users and lower the driving speed. In the Netherlands, replacing a four-arm intersection by a roundabout is estimated to reduce the number of severe casualties by approximately 70%. The traffic flow is usually better on roundabouts than on intersections, and exhaust emission and noise decrease, certainly when compared with signalized junctions.”[1]

Potential conflicts on intersection types.
cross roads | T-junction | roundabout

In the Netherlands cyclists have priority over motorized traffic on most roundabouts in built up (urban) areas even when they are on the ring shaped separate cycle path around the roundabout.
Cyclists generally have no priority on roundabouts outside built up (in rural) areas.

History

There have long been roundabouts in the Netherlands. But they were large with only a small center island so cars could easily pass each other at high speeds. These old fashioned roundabouts were not very safe and because of the priority rules they were not particularly effective either. Under Dutch law all traffic on the roundabout had to give entering traffic –coming from the right– priority. This led to a standstill on the roundabouts when there was a lot of traffic.

Old fashioned roundabout in 1960 in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
clearly visible the lighter colored cycle lanes on which cyclists did have priority over motorized traffic exiting the roundabout

In the mid 1980s the priority rule was changed to be more in accordance with other European countries. From then on traffic on the roundabout had priority over traffic entering it. But because of the much higher number of cyclists in the Netherlands the question of how to arrange their priority arose. At first cyclists on the roundabouts and those on cycle lanes on the roundabouts had priority. The ones on cycle paths on the outside of roundabouts had to give priority.

Since the speed of motorized traffic on a modern roundabout is so low (around 30kph/18mph), the city of Enschede started an experiment in 1990. They reasoned that with those speeds it would perhaps be no problem at all to give cyclists on a ring shaped cycle path around a roundabout priority over motorized traffic that enters and exits that roundabout. The experiment was successful and soon other municipalities followed. This led to differences in priority between different municipalities and confusion with road users. Confusion leads to unsafe situations so this was unwanted. The government initiated action to remedy this.

Who gets the right of way

After thorough investigations CROW (Dutch technology platform for transport, infrastructure and public space) finally came with recommendations to harmonize the dimensions and the priority rules on Dutch roundabouts in 1993. They were supported by the minister of transport, the provinces, most municipalities and organizations like VVN (‘Safer Traffic Netherlands’), ANWB (Dutch Motorist’s Union) and the Cyclist’s Union. The recommendations marked the end of the experimental phase of priority for cyclists on roundabouts in built up areas.

An underlying investigation showed how road users best understand who has priority:
1 by the so-called ‘shark teeth’ markings on the ground (which are more clear than traffic signs);
2 by having the color of the cycle path continue across the drive way of motorized traffic.

Roundabout in 2011 in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
with priority for cyclists on the separate cycle path around the roundabout
Note that this is not the safest roundabout design used in the Netherlands. This design is known to be responsible for dozens of injuries a year in the Netherlands.

By 2010 the recommendations were adopted by most municipalities. Cyclists did no longer have priority on nearly all of the rural roundabouts. But it is different for urban roundabouts: some municipalities refuse to adopt the recommendation even though they were repeatedly asked to change the priority on their roundabouts by even the minister of transport.

This could have to do with the fact that first investigations revealed that roundabouts where cyclists have priority were "slightly less safe" than those where they do not have right of way. However both situations are considerably safer than traditional cross roads junctions. Apart from SWOV (Institute for Road Safety Research) all the other institutes were therefore in favor of priority for cyclists in built up areas.

On VVN’s website this is explained: Although it is supposed to be safer for all cyclists to not have priority, Veilig Verkeer Nederland (Safer Traffic Netherlands) does not find this desirable. It would have negative consequences for the mobility of cyclists. Especially in built up areas cycling is to be preferred over driving. This should be reflected in the right of way.

Now that the rule has been in force for over a decade and all traffic users could get used to the priority rules, the Cyclist’s union sees a high and growing appreciation for these roundabouts. Interestingly cyclists also report a decreasing number of “near misses” and they give high marks for comfort.
The most important type of roundabout is the single-lane roundabout. It can handle 20,000 – 25,000 vehicles per day. With a steady arrival of vehicles, a roundabout can have a shorter waiting time than a signalized junction.

In general, the waiting time for cyclists and pedestrians is shorter on a roundabout, even without priority, than at signalized junctions.

When an intersection with traffic lights is replaced by a roundabout, the emission goes down by 29% for CO and 21% for NOx. The noise emission decreases in both cases.

[1] Information for this blogpost was gathered from the Factsheet Roundabouts from SWOV and websites from the Cyclist’s Union, VVN, Fietsberaad and other institutions.

Important note: Assumptions made by the author and other organisations about the safety of this roundabout design have proven to be incorrect in the light of actual crash statistics. While this roundabout design is safe for drivers, it has almost no benefit at all for cyclists over an un-signalled junction. What's more, it has been proven to cause seven times so many injuries as the safer Dutch roundabout design.

See all posts about roundabouts in the Netherlands including examples of real designs and a discussion about what is truly the most safe design including statistics about real life examples.