The design of Dutch roundabouts makes them safe and convenient for all road users, including people walking and cycling. More information in the blog post: bicycledutch.w...
Sadly, in the small US city where I live, cyclists and pedestrians just successfully lobbied against a new roundabout. I feel like this will become the trend going forward and we may never get another roundabout again. A traditional roundabout is claimed to be more dangerous for cyclists than a 4 way lighted intersection if cyclists are riding in traffic. Instead of improving the design of a roundabout to make it safer for non-car users, they give up on the concept altogether and revert to a design which is known to be very dangerous for all 3 user types. Very disappointing.
Guess it depends on the design of the roundabout. We have a few dozen in the city I live in and all are deadly for pedestrians and bicycle riders. Drivers simply will not slow down or stop of a pedestrian or bicycle wanting to cross. None here have any kind of road markings warning drivers to yield for pedestrians, or to even indicate they could be present. The worst one actually has stop signs for pedestrians and bicycle riders. If this was the kind of roundabout that was planned for your city it was a very good thing it was fought and they should always be fought unless properly designed for pedestrian safety, like the ones shown here.
They are far more dangerous for a cyclist because most traffic circles or roundabouts in America do not have walk ways and if they did the cyclist is strictly forbidden on using the walk ways. Both of these issues force the cyclist to share the same roads with heavy truck and car traffic. These are greatly feared locations right up there with arterial intersections with very long deceleration lanes. Again the same problem is lack of a lane for cyclists.
Phillip Mulligan drivers need to be patient for just a few seconds when a cyclist is on the roundabout, no cycle lane is necessary in that case, only after exiting the roundabout
Great video! I just got back from Netherlands, it was a shame I couldn't meet you but we really enjoyed cycling there. We used quite a few excellent roundabouts near Haarlem and rode on just about every possible sort of bike infra. A surprising amount of simple painted-on bike lanes and cycle paths that would simply vanish existed in Haarlem but as a very old city they only have so much space to work with. But even so, the ease of cycling was amazing. Most streets did not even need any special bike infra since they were extremely narrow residential streets that technically allowed cars but motor vehicles were extremely rare. I've been watching your videos for a long time but it was so great to actually experience dutch infrastructure in person!
I wish Canada had the same cycle paths as the Dutch. We're trying in Mississauga (Toronto's most populous Low density suburb at 720k) with Paved paths on one side of our arterial roads and adding Bike traffic lights, but it's far from perfect. I want choice, I like driving, but I want to option for Cycling too
Hi i much prefer your voice over videos thanks,love the country and its people i was there in August the people were very nice to me i look forward to going again.
I will give you guys an opdate about the first roundabout. Its near the city s'hertogenbosch. I noticed they removed the whole cycling path around the roundabout. Now there is a bridge (on the left side, out of frame), So cycling is even more safe. I think they made it safer because there is a strong descent from two sides. So cars woudn't see you as often as they should because of the high speed of the cyclists. Thats my experience anyway.
That dangerous multi lane roundabout in near the end of the video is now actually replaces with a huge traditional intersection (and a tunnel underneath for busses) - as explained in the video, multi lane roundabouts are not good :)
Unfortunately, the new roundabout in my city is at a highway interchange. The roundabout has slip lanes on all sides, eliminating safety benefits for pedestrians and cyclists.
I am from the Netherlands so I see lot's of these roundabouts. They are getting more interesting by the second and safer. But, the safest would be if people actually READ the goddamn rules. Which sadly doesn't happen enough thus causing traffic jams or even worse accidents. The government did what they could do to make it as safe as possible. But sadly still dangerous arise because some assholes won't listen or learn the rules. Though till now I do like the roundabout MORE then normal intersections. It's only harder for big traffic like busses and trucks to drive trough them, that is one bad thing of one. Though 1 misconception is that roundabouts are more clear for the drivers. Like in Rotterdam, at Feyenoord and the Weena. If you've never been there. It's just impossible to drive the right way. Which can lead to dangerous situations. Because there aren't interfalls to stop the lane changing. But they do look nice those roundabouts. The main reason I love roundabouts are NO fucking traffic lights. They make me very impatient and stop me from getting on time. Even if I go away at least 30 minutes before I actually should have left. I still almost get to late because of those goddamn traffic lights. They are turned on red TO long and when you can finally drive, because of a stupid new invention in those lights, you will certainly need to hurry or get hit by a car. Lucky some are turned off after 11 PM till 6AM. But still. I hate them./
A trucker friend told me that yes, it's a little harder for them to navigate the roundabout but they still prefer them because instead of cyclists in your dead (mirror) spot, you meet them at a 90 degrees angle. Much better visibility.
Well, only in restricted situations, otherwise not. It is possible when you have another nationality and have dutch (grand) parents to obtain a dual dutch citizenship. When you are born with a nationality that cannot ( or difficult) be made undone, like moroccan or turkish. In other ocasions with naturalization it is not possible to hold dual citizenship (since plm 2005).. Becoming Dutch one has to give the original one. Obtaining another he Dutch citizenship has to be given up..
Yes, in theory all seem to be save. But you must take really good care on your bicycle. Put out your arm where you go. On a roundabout this can be 2 times. Even if you have the clear way, a car can over see that and you can have a big problem. It is not so ideal like you show us.
Roundabouts with cycling paths require extra alertness from the auto driver as there are two streams of traffic to yield to. I would not do well with them.
No you don't need really more alertness. As in the video mentioned there is usually some 6m between the bike/pedestrian crossing and entry/exit of the roundabout. So a car driver needs to yield to one flow at a time. At entry first the bikes/pedestrians and then 6m further to the traffic on the roundabout. If that is too much to handle, one should question one's driving capability. There are (usually older) roundabouts that don't have a separate bike path , but a painted bike lane on the roundabout. When leaving the roundabout ('turning right' ) he has to yield to cyclists who remain on the roundabout. And that is just the same as on a straight road. When turning to a sideroad traffic have to yield to other participants who go straight ahead ( A standard traffic rule in NL and other countries. The latter type of roundabout is not as safe as the separate one, because drivers are prone to make mistakes...
We have lot of roundabouts in Italy, but just a small fraction has a bike lane around. Moreover motorists don't give right of way to cyclists so I don't use them while cycling cause that's dangerous.
this si the secodn time in my life i ever saw a freakign bus give way to a bike, first time was when i was a kid and cut a school bus off with my bike, other than those 2 examples, i never saw a bus yeild for a bike
I'm not sure how you could safely implement this design in other countries where cars do not expect to yield to bicycles. In the Boston area, many rotaries (aka roundabouts) have had beacons installed at pedestrian crossings, with no apparent effect. Even with the beacons, less than 10% of cars will yield to pedestrians or cyclists when exiting the rotary. Given that the number of cyclists in most countries is quite low, and that drivers who hit pedestrians or cyclists are unlikely to face any real consequences, I do not think that roundabouts are a good option at this time in most places. Signalized intersections have plenty of problems, but at least drivers stop for red lights most of the time.
It's impossible to live a fulfilling life without any risks. It's about calculating your risks, and mitigating the risks when possible. I'm from the U.S. and only see roundabouts a fair amount of times in smaller towns. Been wanting to research this more. I get the impression that they are more efficient with traffic flow in low and medium traffic situations, and I feel that even if similar amounts of accidents happen, they'd probably be less dangerous when they happen generally (slower speeds, less likelihood of T-boning, etc.) I'm still have no idea what to think about which would deal with congestion better in heavy traffic, roundabouts or intersections. But roundabouts do seem to have their perks, even though they have their problems.
Roundabouts do not work here in the U.S.A. The idiots here in Trinity County, CA want to put one on highway 299. It will jam up traffic for a mile or more for no reason at all.
What makes you think a roundabout will jam up traffic? If it’s well designed it will keep traffic flowing far better than traffic lights which have repeated dead time when nothing is moving in any direction.
'Praise yourself lucky. Dutch traffic laws and the police are very rigid when it comes to using your horn without any need. But I can't argue about the mental test though. I was a driving instructor in the Netherlands for some years and had to witness how people who lacked any reasonable sense were given their drivers license. I can vividly remember how a boy who could only think in black and white was given his license. That boy woud have killed a bicyclist without any hesitation, just because the bicyclist wasn't driving fast enough to his likings.
I watch loads of these vids and Holland seems to have NO bad weather and NO hills. So obviously there are enough cyclists to justify to massive infrastructure spending. You could never do this in Britain or Ireland.
We do have quite some bad weather here in the Netherlands in my opinion, just not nearly as much as I hear Britain has. :P The Dutch are very used to ride the bike in most weather conditions though. The one hill we got in Limburg we call a mountain, because we're so used to everything being flat :)
Indeed we do not have hills, but the weather is comparable to that in most of England.When compared to GB as a whole the dutch weater is nicer on average. (Turns out it rains a ton in the Scotish highlands)
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