Cycling UK Forum

aspiringcyclist wrote:

jochta wrote:
I think it's a lot down to the liability laws, motorists actually give way to cyclists in situations that they definitely wouldn't do in the UK. I was very surprised how many narrow painted lanes there were in the door zone alongside parked cars, these are crap and dangerous in the UK and I don't see them being any better in the Netherlands.

BTW

1) the cycle path or cycle lane maintains priority across side roads and private entrances - unlike the UK

Is not always true. There were several occasions we encountered where the cycle path did NOT have priority over the side junction.

Doubt it's the liability laws which have only existed since the 90s.

Realistically cycle paths can only have priority when it poses no danger. If you have bad sightliness and a reasonably fast road, then it clearly is not safe for cyclists to have priority.

http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/20 ... lists.html

In the Netherlands it is not expected that cyclists should be mixed with motorized traffic on roundabouts. There is always a cycle-path or lane of some form.

TonyR wrote:

jochta wrote:On the whole the motorists are very patient and drive extremely safely around cyclists where roads are shared.

If you try to ride on a road that is not shared e.g. one with a cycle track alongside, they are quite capable of giving a punishment pass up with the worst in the UK.

Having now experienced cycling in The Netherlands I can honestly say it's not everything it's cracked up to be. We went fully Dutch and hired heavy sit up and beg bikes, wore normal clothes and no helmets.
The segregated paths away from roads are excellent, really great fun and like your own mini road system. With cycle ferries across rivers, bridges etc. However alongside roads they are less fun, busy and constantly being buzzed by mopeds (which are allowed to use the paths). On most roads cyclists are not allowed to cycle at all and have to use the paths.
Dutch roundabouts are a bit of a pain IMO. Sometimes you have right of way and sometimes you don't and you have to stick right to the outside if the space is shared, I would prefer to take position with the traffic. I actually felt less safe on some of them than I would on a normal roundabout in the UK.
On the whole the motorists are very patient and drive extremely safely around cyclists where roads are shared. We never encountered any bad driving. The strict liability laws probably has a lot to do with that.
The signage is excellent, you just follow a sequence of numbers to follow a route. The NCN in the UK could learn a lot from this system.
I would imagine being a road cyclist (we saw quite a few) in The Netherlands must be quite frustrating. Not allowed to use most roads, having to giveway at junctions a lot and weaving around mopeds and slower cyclists on the narrow paths. Club rides must be very hard to organise.
It was very rare to see a cyclist wearing a helmet (in fact all the ones we did see were UK tourists!), it's a shame the UK got duped by marketing into the "helmet is king" mentality. I would be surprised if there weren't collisions between cyclists, we saw one minor accident where a cyclist had been knocked off by a moped/cyclist. Normal clothing was de rigeur.
Overall some major plus points, especially for commuting and leisure cycling, and some minus points. The biggest challenge for the UK is the "us and them" attitude between motorists and cyclists plus the negative "cycling is dangerous" mindset.

1) the cycle path or cycle lane maintains priority across side roads and private entrances - unlike the UK

Will the lights/turn signals be visible during the day?
It depends. Like with any other bike light or car light for that matter, if it is broad daylight with direct sunlight, then the lights will not be very visible. The darker it is out, the more prominent the lights will be.

For the turn signals, you should always use hand signals and only use Lumos as a supplement to that, even at night. During the day this would be especially true as your hand signals would be readily visible.

Arm signals
For use when direction indicator signals are not used, or when necessary to reinforce direction
indicator signals and stop lights. Also for use by pedal cyclists and those in charge of horses.

Richard Fairhurst wrote:It tries to be clever about A-roads by rating each one with the actual traffic volume on the road - but there's some margin of error as the OpenStreetMap data doesn't always fit nicely with the traffic counts!

On the issue of that track - it's currently marked in OSM as having a grass surface. Would you say "dirt" is more accurate? If so, I can change it, which will further downrate it in cycle.travel's routing.