In the context of `sustainably safe' design of Dutch rural residential roads with a speed limit of 60 km/h, non-compulsory cycle lanes have been constructed or proposed by various road authorities. At various locations studies have been carried out in order to gain an insight into the effects of these provisions. This report describes a pilot study into the effects of red non-compulsory cycle lanes on the `Hoogweg' in the borough of De Lier. The study is aimed at road users' behaviour before and after the construction of these cycle lanes. The question was whether the behaviour (speed, distance between vehicles, position on the road) of cyclists and car drivers would change as a result of this measure. To determine this, speed measurements and behaviour observations were carried out. In the after-phase, measurements were made on two different days. As the results of the first after-measurement had only a limited use, a comparison was made between the before-measurement and the second after-measurement. The non-compulsory cycle lanes appear to have a small positive effect because: (a) the average speed declined very slightly, by 1.7 km/hour; and (b) the behaviour observations showed that, where there was a non-compulsory cycle lane, both motor vehicles and bicycles kept more to the middle of the road. This is a positive development, as far as motor vehicles are concerned. For cyclists results are not conclusive.
Samenvatting