Will cyclists in Meppel ever get priority on the roundabout again? That question remains unanswered for the time being. However, the subject is still being discussed in detail.
The issue of priority for cyclists on roundabouts in Drenthe in general and in Meppel in particular is so complicated that you would take the car out of misery. The thing is: throughout Drenthe the policy is that motorists have priority at roundabouts. So cyclists have to anchor.
Except in the municipality of Noordenveld. But in Meppel. Quite special in the cycling province of Drenthe, says Anouk de Vlieg, councilor of GroenLinks in Meppel.
Policy destroys more than you would like
Yet another proof that policy destroys more than you would like is that the opposite is true in neighboring (Overijssel) municipalities such as Staphorst and Steenwijkerland. There, cyclists have ample space on roundabouts and cars wait. In contrast to the Drenthe municipalities (except Noordenveld).
This is even more important in Meppel, because many students paddle from Steenwijk and Staphorst to Meppel every day and then at the municipal border are expected to switch the switch in their adolescent brain regarding priority at roundabouts.
‘Cars are dangerous’
That is why GroenLinks and CDA believe that Meppel should actually follow the stubborn Noordenvelders and also give ample space to cyclists on roundabouts. “Because,” Anouk de Vlieg of GroenLinks summarizes, “cyclists are not vulnerable, cars are dangerous.”
But priority for bicycles on the roundabout is a bridge too far in the Meppel city council. That much had been clear for some time.
GroenLinks and CDA therefore submitted an extremely cautious motion, calling on the municipal council to communicate at ‘all appropriate moments’ – where possible in collaboration with the municipality of Noordenveld and certainly at the Drenthe traffic and transport council – that the municipality of Meppel is open to it. to make the transition from priority for cars at roundabouts to priority for bicycles’.
This motion passed the council. There is therefore a lot of discussion about bicycle priority at roundabouts. But for the time being, cyclists must continue to give priority to cars in Meppel.