This study of the effects of red non-compulsory cycle lanes in the borough of Hellendoorn has gained a place in the broader ‘Experimental data collection project - non-compulsory cycle lanes’ within the SWOV theme of ‘Road design and road safety’. Various road authorities participate in that experimental project, in which similar studies are carried out simultaneously at various locations. The present study has gained the character of a pilot study. Many people see non-compulsory cycle lanes as part of a possible implementation form of the sustainably safe, rural residential roads, with a speed limit of 60 km/h. A non-compulsory cycle lane comes into being when a broken side-marking at some distance from the edge of the road surface is introduced. It lacks a bicycle pictogram on the road surface, and, therefore, lacks the legal status of the real cycle lane; other road users may also use the lane. Non-compulsory cycle lanes are painted red, just as ‘real’ cycle lanes are. Non-compulsory cycle lanes are, together with the rest of the carriageway (i.e. that meant only for motorised vehicles), part of one and the same road surface. The research design is a before-and-after study and is aimed at road users’ behaviour. The question was whether behaviour of cyclists and car drivers (speed, distance between vehicles, position on the road) would change as a result of the measure. To determine this, speed measurements and behaviour observations were carried out. The observed behaviour was subdivided into five different types of events, e.g. ‘a car overtaking a bicycle’. During such an event, the ‘lateral positions’ were observed: the transverse positions of the road users on the road, in relation to the shoulder and marking. The lateral distances between vehicles was only measured when a car overtook a bicycle. In the before-study, the Poggenbeltweg (a rural road) had an axis marking. This had been removed in the after-study, and red non-compulsory cycle lanes had been introduced. Several raised junctions had also been introduced along the Poggenbeltweg. Both measures were meant to support the lowering of the speed limit from 80 to 60 km/h. During the after-period: - The average speed declined. This was, however, mainly the result of the raised junctions. - There was no significant change in cyclists’ behaviour. However, it appears that during the after-period, cyclists less often kept completely to the right; close to the road surface edge. - It did not appear that the motor vehicles driving freely adopted another position in the cross-sectional profile. - The average distance between a car and the cyclist being overtaken decreased by 6 cm. This is not a positive development, but it is not known how important this is in the causes of accidents; or to what extent this compensates the lower average speed. It seems, however, to indicate that, because of the cycle lanes, car drivers distance themselves farther from a cyclist that could be approaching from the opposite direction.
Samenvatting