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| It's here on Google Maps. |
They're larger than might be obvious from photos (especially photos with no cyclists in them). I measured this one at 10 m long by 3.75 m (32' x 12 '). 3.75 m is of course also the width of this cycle-path.
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| A drain built into the gutter prevents flooding. |
At normal cycling speeds, you barely notice that you've ridden over a speed-bump like this. If you cycle faster, then you do need to be aware of them.
I've found that 35 km/h is just about uncomfortable over this speed-bump. That's quite typical. I guess at that sort of speed the speed-bump ought to warn me as well as the mopeds about the upcoming road junction (behind the camera).
Note also the separate pedestrian path and the lighting to preserve social safety at night-time. The upcoming tunnel, which gives cyclists a short-cut under the railway line, is always lit.
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| Another set of speed-bumps at the junction of two main cycle-paths in Groningen. This is too new to appear on Google Maps, but the older situation can be seen here. |
Often people from outside the Netherlands, as well as those from inside the Netherlands, greatly overestimate the danger posed by bromfietsen - the small mopeds / scooters which are allowed on cycle-paths.
There are two classes of mopeds. The slow ones which can travel at up to 25 km/h (the same speed as an electrically assisted bicycle) and which don't require the rider to wear a helmet and which are allowed on the cycle-paths, and the faster ones which travel at up to 45 km/h, which require helmets and which are allowed only on some rural cycle-paths but not on urban cycle-paths.
Largely, mopeds are ridden by elderly people. However, they're also ridden by some younger people. They're not really fashionable and you'll rarely see them parked outside a school for the higher educational standards. And of course, some of these younger people ride their mopeds irresponsibly or alter them to make them faster. They get pulled up by the police for this quite often.
And their lethality ? Almost certainly less than you think. A Toby Sterling put it, "scooter deaths (amazingly!) were a rounding error." as well as pointing out that you are "more than twice as likely to be murdered in Amsterdam than killed while riding your bike." and that as the US murder rate is four times that of the Netherlands you are "certainly more likely to be murdered while living in the United States than to die while biking in Amsterdam." Note that Amsterdam is not all of the Netherlands, and in fact it's probably one of the more dangerous parts of the Netherlands.
To summarise, you're not actually at any great danger from mopeds even though they are a nuisance and they are disliked by so many people - including Dutch people. Nevertheless, mopeds need some control because this has become a subjective safety issue.
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7 comments:
ah, when I first saw the topic to this post I was like "why would cyclists need speed bumps?" 35kph is a good sensible speed to keep people to (unlike some of our paths that are shared with peds and the fastest you could safely go anyway is 20kph) - it's fairly unique that in the Netherlands there is a whole 'other' transport system (ie the bike paths) which can also be used by mopeds. The mopeds I noticed when I was in Utrecht & Amsterdam though were often riding 2-up and couldn't go much faster than 40kph in that configuration. In Perth, Australia, there's a common perception that 50cc scooters are 'dangerous' because they are 'slow' and 'hold up traffic'. Go to any Australian motorcycle forum and they advocate a 250cc minimum to be riding a motorbike on the roads. Just another example of how our road/transport culture is all wrong!
I personally do not like the mopeds sharing the cycle tracks. I was passed by a few in Copenhagen, where smaller motor bikes are also required to use them. It wasn't extraordinarily unpleasant and I was only passed by 3 the entire 4 days of cycling around. But the exhaust they give off is awful and they can go quite a bit faster than even the fast cyclists. I also didn't hear them approaching until a few meters away and was actual startled a bit 2 of the 3 times. They are also bigger and heavier and can cause greater damage to cyclist/pedestrians, etc.
Copenhagen has speed stripes. Some white layers across the cycle paths to indicate that you should stop or give way.
In front of bus stops where the passengers has to step down on the cycle path they are especially annoying to drive on.
@Tallycyclist:
Mopeds in Denmark are allowed to go 30 km/h and allowed to drive on the cycle path. There is a bigger kind of moped called the EU-moped, it is allowed to do 45 km/h, but the driver must be adult and it must drive on the road. But yes, they do smell.
I havent seen or heard of any such moped hitting a cyclist, but I am sure it has happened.
I can almost go as fast as a 30 km/h moped in my Mango velomobile. A more fit person would be faster than them.
@ Jon Bendtsen:
I probably made mopeds out to be more unpleasant than they are overall. I'm sure they would have been banned from the cycle tracks by now if they were causing large number of accidents/injuries. My experience with them was limited, but I would prefer cycle tracks to just be for human-powered vehicles.
My main issue with them is that they have the potential to go much faster than the average speed of most cyclist. I've read that this is something like 15 km/hr or less in Copenhagen. On paths that are only wide enough for people to ride 2 by 2, this speed differential can be quite unpleasant, and lower people's subjective safety. While there are definitely cyclist who can and do go as fast as 30 km/hr, most that I saw in Copenhagen do not get anywhere near that.
If they are allowed to go 30 km/hr, I don't see why they would ever go slower unless they physically had to, due to congestion, etc. Potentially, they could also go faster than this.
Is this much worst than another cyclist going 30 km/hr or faster passing me? Probably not. But in the grand scheme of things, bicycles and mopeds are not the same thing.
They are a good deal more unpleasant (noisy, faster, more alarming) than a fast cyclist coming past you. But as you say, it is probably more about subjective safety.
@Tallycyclist: The legal situation of mopeds in NL is complicated, or rather simple enough but with too many loopholes.
Firstly, there are two categories, both 50cc. One must be limited to 50 km/h, the other to 25 km/h. The first has a "real" number plate, yellow, the other a blue one to show that it is insured. Yellow plate moped riders must wear a helmet, blue plate ones don't. Both categories are too slow for main roads outside towns, so there they must take to the cycle path. Within towns, yellow plate mopeds should ride on the road, blue plate mopeds are allowed in cycle paths. All of this: unless signposted otherwise.
As it's all too easy to make a moped go faster than it should, and as it's always easier for a moped of either category to take the cycle path, you usually find all of them on the cycle path where they are a pest. There has been talk of sending them all over to the road, at least within towns, but such initiatives take their time.
Hello,
does anyone know if stripes and speedbumps can help controlling cyclist speed in gradient cycle paths? We have a downhill to a city centre in most ways and need to somehow slow down the cyclist before turn in the middle of the path.
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