An unreliable traffic light on the Norgerweg between Huis ter Heide and Bovensmilde is causing annoyance among local residents and motorists. The province of Drenthe indicates that it wants to resolve the malfunction next week – after the school holidays.
When the first cars start honking in the morning, Jan van den Bor from Bovensmilde already knows what time it is. “Then they stop again at the traffic lights that don’t work.”
There have been problems ever since the traffic lights were installed, almost ten years ago. The traffic lights are at the intersection of Norgervaart and Domeinweg, along which the bus travels towards the Asser district of Kloosterveen. “The traffic lights on the Domeinweg are malfunctioning,” says Van den Bor. This sometimes results in cars being detected that are not there, causing unnecessary traffic congestion on the Norgervaart.
Alies Klomp, spokesperson for the province of Drenthe, endorses that reading. “The traffic on the Domeinweg (the road between Kloosterveen and the Norgervaart, ed.) is higher than expected,” she says. “The road is actually only intended for bus and freight traffic, but there are also other motorists who use the road. The municipality of Assen is looking for a solution for this.”
Van den Bor thinks that – because of these problems – a thousand motorists ‘stop for nothing’ every day. “And I’m not exaggerating. I walk past it twice a day with the dog and see it happening in front of my house. Every time it annoys me and then I call the province. But there is no solution.”
But the desired solution is close, according to Klomp. “The malfunction will be resolved next week. The current malfunction is from the past two weeks. Although it is known that there have been problems with the lights before.”
The traffic lights are not on now because it is the school holidays. There are now traffic controllers in the morning hours. The lights were installed in 2014 to create a safer crossing for school children on bicycles.
Resident Van den Bor hopes that – when the lights function properly – dangerous situations on Norgerweg will be over. “Sometimes the motorists who dared to do it simply drove over the cycle path. That only makes it more dangerous for young people.”