Road rage on Dutch roads

The same spot two days later. Not the same cars or drivers.

This Thursday I had my first "road rage" incident since we moved here nearly four years ago. It's taken that many years, and about 40000 km of riding for one slightly unpleasant thing to happen to me. I used to expect it far more frequently in the UK.

On my commute, there is only one place where this could happen. Haren. This small town, just south of Groningen, is famous for its Shared Space, and I've also written before about how drivers ignore the speed limit on the very road where the incident occurred.

Many people I know, and myself too, avoid cycling through the Shared Space area because it's unpleasant to cycle through. I always take the back streets through Haren, avoiding the area with the shops in it (which also of course means that I've never bought anything from those shops). Many drivers also avoid it because it's horrible to drive through. The result is that Haren is the only place I've found so far in the Netherlands which has a problem with rat-running - drivers trying to avoid the Shared Space area instead drive aggressively through these back streets. Shared Space creates problems even outside its own boundaries due to these extra cars in the back-roads which ought to be properly be the preserve of cyclists and residents

The back roads have 30 km/h speed limits, but they are not arranged so that they are especially inconvenient for drivers to use as through routes. As a result of this, they have become de-facto main routes for drivers avoiding the Shared Space. Almost no drivers adhere to the speed limit.

Having given some background, here's what happened:

I was riding along Nieuwlandsweg at 36 km/h. This is well above the 30 km/h speed limit, but I've become accustomed to being overtaken by almost all cars here whatever speed I ride. As I approached the junction with Hertenlaan and Onnenweg, I could see a car in my mirror which was rapidly approaching from behind. When I got to the junction, there was traffic coming from the right which I had to give way to (that's the law - everyone gives way to the right). The first of these vehicles was a tractor pulling a trailer, and it was was followed by two cars. Due to having stopped, the car behind me caught up with me and stopped right behind me.

When the vehicles from the right had made their turn, I set off and almost immediately was close behind the second car. It turned out that the tractor was doing a maximum of 28 km/h and all of us were following it at this low speed. This didn't stop the driver behind me from becoming impatient and trying to overtake, but it was impossible so instead he/she went into the middle of the road, got 3/4 of the way past me and then started tooting the horn. I got in front and rode as close as possible to the centreline at 28 km/h (the speed of the cars and tractors in front of me) until first the car behind turned off to the left and sped down a side-street in the general direction of the shops and offices, and later on the cars and tractor in front turned down other side roads and I could get back up to a normal cruising speed.

As these things go, it was actually very minor. I wasn't crashed into or pushed off the road deliberately, nothing was thrown at me, no-one punched me. After I made it clear that I was staying where I wanted to be, the driver pulled back and didn't follow excessively close behind. However, these things which I've mentioned all happened to me when I lived in Britain, and they all happened a lot more often than once in every 40000 km of cycling. By comparison, cycling here has been miraculously free of hassle from drivers.

However, that's not because Dutch people behave particularly differently when behind the steering wheel of a car. As this incident shows, put people in the same situation and they behave in much the same way. In general, Dutch road designs call for design to be obvious so that correct, safe behaviour becomes the way that people will naturally drive. This incident occurred in a rare place where drivers and cyclists are crushed together, creating conflict.

I've long believed that the main reason why conflict between cyclists and motorists is rare in the Netherlands is that we exist mainly in parallel universes, and rarely have to directly interact. As a cyclist, either you're on a cycle path, or you're on a road which doesn't have cars on it. This rare exception shows how it should not be done.


Grotere kaart weergeven

Attack on critical mass in Brazil

An atrocious incident, whatever one's view of critical mass.

1 March update: If you want more news, The Urban Country has good coverage of what has happened since - as well as some rather unpleasant reader's feedback underneath the article.

Also I recommend Peter Miller's take on "What makes the news and what doesn't".

Cambridge. A crash and the public response

It's become quite common for cyclists in the UK to video their cycling in order to catch evidence of motorists misdemeanors. This video from Cambridge shows how a cyclist is hit by a car while cycling, and the remarkably unsympathetic response of the average BBC Look East (local news TV programme in Cambridge) viewer...

I used to commute along roads very near here myself when I lived in Cambridge, and just like Paul in this video, I'd occasionally have more than a close call and actually be hit by a car.

The comparison with cycling in the Netherlands is remarkable. While I cycle much more now than I ever did in the UK, not once have I had the least bit of hassle here due to a driver.

While Britain continues to ignore the need for decent cycling infrastructure, the situation will remain the same. The cycling rate will continue to flatline and cyclists will continue to be treated as outlaws with no legitimate place either on the road or on the pavement.

Copying Dutch infrastructure which gives cyclists direct journeys in safety is the only way of turning this around. Real action is needed. Not yet more empty promises.

I know of many Dutch people who make cycling videos, but not one of them records their cycle rides to catch "evidence". Rather, Dutch cyclists' videos are made to record pleasant experiences of cycling.

Isn't it better that cycling should be something enjoyable and full of good memories ? Something not only for commuting adults but that you're also happy for your children to do ? Compare the problems faced by British children with the freedom experienced by Dutch children.

There's also a blog post showing what happens when a similar incident occurs in the Netherlands.

I came across the Cambridge video on the I Pay Road Tax blog, thanks to a tip from Biking Brits.