[622] More information in the blog post: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/?p=14050
Music: “The Builder” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
In the town of Boxtel we find this curious piece of cycling infrastructure Is that really a roundabout? Or is this a traffic garden, where children are taught how a roundabout works? A miniature version, to learn how to correctly use it? I’m afraid not!
This is seriously meant as a good intersection … between two bi-directional cycle ways. A right turn is not so bad, perhaps. But going straight on requires a lot of unnecessary turns. Again, turning right is easy, but what about a left turn? Did the designer really think …
Anyone on a bicycle would actually ride anti-clockwise … all around this roundabout? Like so? If you can take a shortcut? Let’s see! Her laugh is telling: what a ridiculous piece of infrastructure!
45 Comments
I can see it being useful if it was busy, I would take the shortcut if it was as empty as you found it though. It is nice to see such a large amount of space being used for cycle infrastructure.
Gewoon weer een keer een ambtenaar met een passer.
The Netherlands it good about trying something new and adjust it, change it or scrap it if it doesn't work. I think roundabouts work well for cars. Maybe not so much for bicycles. Still interesting to see 🙂 thanks for the video!
aww i hoped someone would just plough straight through the middle.
"KAN NIET GETEMD WORDEN!!" >:D
Good against drunken bikers.
This one is clearly ridiculous, but there were some bicycle intersections in the centre of Utrecht where I wished there were a roundabout because it was quite difficult to turn left with the extremely high traffic.
This is something that would occur where I am from: all about seeing who is in compliance (akin to the 'fish police' in ancient athens).
Some roundabouts around here (Ypsi-Arbor, Michigan, USA) have the center island just be a different paving material but not raised above the roadway. I believe it's because they small diameter roundabouts and to allow large trucks through and allow faster smoother passage of emergency vehicles….. But same idea could be used for intersections that see high traffic volumes for part of the day while being low volumes for most of the day to allow easier turns.
Perhaps, follow the Dutch ethic and simply legitimise what people are doing anyway?! Make it two-way on the roundabout as well? Its track width seems fully adequate. It just needs a dotted centre line in a ring around the circle..
We have some two-way roundabouts for motor traffic here in UK. Permitting travel in either rotary direction by the shortest route to exit is appreciated, especially on big roundabouts. Entry is controlled by traffic lights, or by mini-roundabouts, but neither would be neccessary for a cycle-only version. The rules all still apply, however. Priority remains with traffic in the roundabout just as is normal, but there may be TWO directions to check on entry, depending on which way around is chosen.
Hey, that's no problem. In these videos I have seen Dutch cyclists handling uncontrolled intersections. They are truly BRILLIANT at the arts of merging and yielding.
#FirstWorldProblems
Is this really a roundabout? Or is it a traffic garden.. Hahahaha, brilliant!
Only useful for very high volumes of traffic.
This could work if it were like a British mini-roundabout without the central grassy reservation. This would allow for cyclists to continue to go straight perfectly easily, and the left turn would only be very slightly longer. I agree that his is excessive for the low volume of traffic expected here.
Alas at least the Dutch have this most of us do not have cyclists infrastructure.😑😑😑
It all depends on trafic density…. a roundabout is a good solution for an intersection if it can prevent trafic lights….The current trafic load seems a factor of 100 too low to justify such a solution here. On the other hand an abrupt intersection requires some attention to avoid collisions. Probably this trafic sign which attemps to force a specific direction is just too much. Make clear it's an intersection and let people sort it out themselves how to deal with it.
The planner obviously didn't have the rather anarchistic nature of lots of Dutch cyclists in mind. I would like to see a group of ten or more teenagers cycling to or from school making the left turn. Clearly a waste of taxpayer money. A simple intersection will suffice.
Hello !I have a problem with the my "local commune" which has recently been building a lot of bicycle infrastructure. In recent years in Poland we have a boom for bicycles inf.and cyclists, and unfortunately "rural" or small municipalities are wasting this potential by extorting money from the European Union for investments like: a 1.5 meter wide bicycle-road through the whole village (4 km) at a completely new street with a new asphalt. This bicycle road it is just from one site of the road a must use that "thing" pedestrians. Today, a tunnel project under the railway tracks was shown. Where, alongside the new super road (local), there will also be one a 2.5-meter-width bicycle+pedestarians pavement, and the local authorities boast this is a European solutions. I am looking for a movie that would show them that they are very wrong. Also I will be happy to write subtitles in Polish. Regards
"I am a afraid not"? What is the problem?
Stupid idea 😂
This would make sense in the middle of a big city where thousands were trying to get through that same intersection per day. But in what's clearly a more suburban / rural setting this is just silly. Just make it a normal intersection and give priority to one path.
Bedacht door een ambtenaartje die zelf nooit fietst.
Reminds me of the bicycle roundabouts at University of California Davis
Sommige fietsrotondes kunnen werken om de snelheid eruit te halen. Bijvoorveeld op een kruispunt waar flink wordt doorgereden met onoverzichtelijke plekken erin vanwege begroeiing of een doorgaand pad waarveel scooters doorrijden. Daar zijn echter al andere oplossingen voor in de vorm van fietsdrempels of een korte strook zeer vervelende straatstenen. Dit ziet er misschien esthetisch beter uit, maar het ziet er ook achterlijk uit. Dan kunnen ze beter voor een soort fietsvierkant gaan met wel van die mooie booglijnen van driepuntskruisingen. Een soort van twee driepuntskruisingen tegen mekaar aan gezet zeg maar.
Yep, Double Dutch, ignore the rule and over regulations 😎
BTW, this isn't the most useless bicycle roundabout out there. This one in Lelystad is: https://goo.gl/maps/L9urZkTYr9P2 It's a bicycle roundabout with just one exit and that's the entrance. The whole roundabout is a bit tilted, because it's next to a bicycle bridge, but the hill isn't connected to the hill of the bike bridge which means there is a ditch of 4 metres deep between the bridge and the roundabout. The roundabout has a cant though to make the left turn safe after going downhill. However, exiting this roundabout is pretty hard, because due to the cant and the entrance path being designed to enter the roundabout on top without braking (just think of water entering a water wheel) it's pretty hard to exit the roundabout.
I beleave it is great, imagine the fluent traffic when there is rush hour
Misschien werkt het wel als het heel druk is…
Roundabouts are necessary for cars and trucks because of the higher amount of energy, momentum, weight etc.. Totally unnecessary for bikes on a bike route. A simple through path with yields on the side approaches (whichever routes have less traffic) would be quite adequate.
Didn't you show roundabouts in Goes and Eindhoven that seem to work?
What a shame trees had to be cut to have this stupid piece of infrashit. And in winter and fall it will be quite slippery with snow, ice and falling leaves.
Bier rotonde..
But it does make a 360 degree turn easier.
I don't understand why this is ridiculous. If this was on a quiet intersection for cars, would you also try and justify improper use because "it's faster"? I don't think you would.
The cyclists are using it wrong, but that doesn't mean the idea isn't good.
Dozens of people must have seen the plans beforehand.
And none of them raised an objection?
لا قوة إلا بالله
Whether you shortcut a left turn depends on how crowded it is.
I think when racing bikes have to stop then this can make some situations much safer.
In Leiden zuid-west heb er ook een
pindakaas
1:25 I know this kid omg
When I bicycle 2 miles to see my girlfriend, I pass through seven (7) roundabouts mostly on a college campus. I'm a big fan. The alternative would be intersections, with the inevitable waits and the possibility of crashes .
They take at most a second or two longer.
The music is brilliant 😸
If you watch the video and you have some questions you might find the aswers in the blog. Link in the description box. 😊
The first kid is literally shook at how stupid that is.
And yet… there is an university educated consultant somewhere that somewhow thought this was a good idea
I've had time to reflect on this video, and I stand by what I said originally. I've even had the good fortune of cycling in Amsterdam since then, and it hasn't changed my opinion. This roundabout is justified on principle, even though the Dutch cyclists don't use it.
Correct use and good design are of course related, but the cyclists here incorrectly using the roundabout made me think of the famous video of American car drivers using a roundabout (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krYuIP8mmag). Both are confused, but we wouldn't say that the car roundabout is a bad idea just because Americans didn't use it correctly. I'm told that after getting used to it, the Americans do indeed use the roundabout as efficiently as their European cousins.
I've crashed into other cyclists at more basic 4-way intersections. And while the injuries will always be less severe than an auto crash, I still think the cost/benefit is in favor of cyclist-only roundabouts like in this video.