Making Breda's cycling infrastructure safer

Current crisis
"Every three days, two cyclists die," emphasises Spapé. "Imagine if one of them were someone you know." Most fatalities occur after collisions with cars or delivery vans, prompting the five major cities of Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, and Amsterdam to call for regulatory changes. They want authority to ban fatbikes, electric cargo bikes, and mopeds from cycle paths, arguing that cycling infrastructure is becoming a "jungle" where vehicles of varying speeds and sizes increasingly collide.

Reimagining urban space
During their ride through Breda's city centre, Spapé highlighted fundamental imbalances in urban space allocation. "We count cars but not cyclists," she observes. "When you see how many cyclists there are and how much space cars get in terms of roads and parking spaces, the distribution is unfair."

On Teteringsedijk, a designated cycling street where cars are guests rather than priority users, Spapé demonstrates how cyclists should maintain their rightful position. "Cars must wait to see if they can pass. This concept still needs to penetrate Dutch thinking."

Design problems
Current cycling infrastructure suffers from significant design shortcomings, particularly in corner construction. "Cycle path corners are almost always right angles," Spapé explains. "If you approach on an e-bike at higher speed, you have to turn the handlebars immediately, creating a risk of falling. We design curved radii for cars to navigate corners safely at speed, why not for cyclists?"

The area around Breda's central station exemplifies poor cyclist prioritisation. Despite being the city's primary attraction, cyclists receive no priority when crossing towards the station entrance. "This is an impoverished welcome," Spapé notes.

Speed reduction 
Rather than supporting speed limits for cyclists on cycle paths, Spapé advocates for reducing car speeds instead. "Why don't we implement a 30 km/h speed limit for cars throughout Breda, except on ring roads?" This approach aligns with successful initiatives in Amsterdam and Utrecht, which will transition to this limit next year.

The scientific evidence supports speed reduction strategies. The combination of mass and speed makes collisions with cars potentially fatal for cyclists, whilst the likelihood of pedestrians and cyclists being involved in fatal accidents with each other remains extremely small.

Creating car-free zones
Spapé advocates for removing through traffic from city centres entirely. "How many of these cars really need to be here?" she asks while observing traffic on Stationslaan. Her vision for Breda's historic canal ring roads includes implementing one-way traffic systems and creating "robust, wide cycle lanes with beautiful green strips. Then you get a city in a park. Currently, Breda is a city in a car park."

The path forward
Spapé's comprehensive approach encompasses infrastructure redesign, speed limit adjustments, traffic flow modifications, and space reallocation. Her fundamental premise remains clear: cycling should be enjoyable and social rather than dangerous and stressful.

"Cycling should be pleasant," she emphasises. "It's something social where you can ride side by side and chat with each other. The danger comes from lack of space, not from the activity itself."
 

Source: Based on an article by Sjoerd Marcelissen, BN DeStem. Read the full article here (in Dutch).