Cyclists' left turns on main junctions (Netherlands)

Five examples of left turns by bicycle on main junctions in the Netherlands.
See in depth explanation here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBwMRGxtZ9k

In this video main junctions between so-called Urban Distributer Roads and or Urban Access Roads. All these main junctions have physically separated cycle paths. These junctions were designed and built in the 1960s. Old fashioned design from the era of the decline of cycling. But even then the safety of the cyclist mattered. Nowadays more modern solutions (like roundabouts and multi-level junctions) are more commonly built.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• bicycle
• left
• turns
• junction
• design
• Netherlands
• bike
• cycle
• bicycling
• cycling
• biking
• junctions
• Holland

[DavidHembrow]

More modern junctions tend to work better for left turns, and often also prioritise cyclists with the timing of the traffic lights. However, it's worth pointing out that even on these junctions where you have to wait twice, that you don't have to wait at all for a right turn. As a result these are not as bad as the video makes them look: Your total delay if you make a journey with equal left and right turns is the same as if you had to wait once per turn to go either left or right.

[markenlei]

@DavidHembrow Yes what you say is true. The waiting times look worse than they really are. What is also worth noting is that these are all junctions with large urban distributer roads. The high volume of traffic on that type of roads causes longer waiting times. However I didn't edit out much time: 20 seconds can be too long for a YouTube movie, in real traffic that isn't very long. And for the junctions 2 and 5 you will see that the second green is almost instant (no time was edited out there).

[KrunchyJD]

This is fantastic, I wish they cared for cyclists like that in Australia. The one small criticism I would make of the Netherlands, from what I have seen on the video's is allowing petrol engine mopeds onto bike lanes. One thing that is nice about cycling away from traffic is clean air. I have no problem with electric assist etc, they dont create the fumes. Bike lanes should be reserved for slow electric assist vehicles and human powered vehicles, eg bicycles, but also velomobiles, tricycles, etc

[Mistrel]

This is so much fun to watch. "I've been there" is all I can think of ^^ I pass the Heineken junction every day!