12mph trial in the Netherlands

[steveindenmark]

I think that unless you are a road bike club rider, 12 mph - 20kph is a reasonable speed for most leisure or touring rider. It is certainly fast enough for me.

 

[Drago]

Dont be so quick to apply pyour personal standards to others. Im a long way from being a road club rider and my average speed is comfortably in excess of 12mph and im no maniac speed demon.

If I were forced to dawdle like that id think sod it, may as well drive instead.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

Dont be so quick to apply pyour personal standards to others. Im a long way from being a road club rider and my average speed is comfortably in excess of 12mph and im no maniac speed demon.

If I were forced to dawdle like that id think sod it, may as well drive instead.

Maybe in part it depends how widespread the limit would be. eg for cars we have 20 mph speed limits on short stretches of higher risk. Those don't stop people driving.

I doubt a 12 mph limit would be on all cycle paths across the entire country.

 

[Drago]

People can sit in traffic jams for hours rather than make a half hour cycle ride because theyre bone idle lazy and they're cocooned in comfort. Hardly a glowing recommendation for low speed limits for cycles.

 

[mjr]

You could also argue that speed limits on cycle paths and shared use paths may be needed, at least in urban areas, although anyone wanting to ride faster will then just use the road, this will annoy motorists.

Using the road is already illegal in NL if the cycle lane sign is round rather than rectangular. I thought it's the same in Germany.

This is a dumb law. The Belgian approach of free lessons for e-bike riding, mostly aimed at older riders, seems better. More likely to reduce casualties than a rule that many safer riders will break without trying and will probably only be enforced if the police take a dislike to someone or they do a crackdown for publicity photos.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

Using the road is already illegal in NL if the cycle lane sign is round rather than rectangular. I thought it's the same in Germany.

This is a dumb law. The Belgian approach of free lessons for e-bike riding, mostly aimed at older riders, seems better. More likely to reduce casualties than a rule that many safer riders will break without trying and will probably only be enforced if the police take a dislike to someone or they do a crackdown for publicity photos.

There are exceptions though they don't apply to many. On one occasion for convenience I was using road beside a mandatory cycle lane and got "told off" by a local ... until I explained their Highways Code to him and the exceptions.