Unfortunately, there are no laws of the Medes and Persians when it comes to road safety. Every traffic situation requires something different, according to an interview with Wendy Weijermars, head of infrastructure and traffic at the Institute for Scientific Research on Road Safety.
She has never been to this specific intersection in Uitgeest herself, but according to the expert, in general, there are clear principles to make a roundabout as safe as possible. Weijermars: “Bicycle traffic prefers to go in one direction, not two. And it is safest if motorists have priority over cyclists.”
Wrong?
The plan for the roundabout in Uitgeest is exactly different: cyclists go in two directions and they have priority over cars.
Is that wrong? Not necessarily, says Wijermars: “It is annoying if you create a one-way cycle path, while it is illogical for the cyclist to cycle that way, for example because it is a longer route.”
This would be the case at this roundabout for cyclists cycling from Akersloot (bottom right of the image) towards Uitgeest station (left). Straight ahead, the current route and also the shortest, will then be prohibited. But not everyone will care about that, with all the dangers that entails.
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