Should we be ‘going Dutch’ on all roads?
Lottie Gross tries out a new ‘car-unfriendly’ roundabout that gives priority to walkers and cyclists
Ilike to think of myself as a pretty good driver. I check my mirrors. I indicate. I never hog the middle lane of a motorway. And I know my way around a roundabout, having driven around hundreds, nay, thousands, of them in my time; Milton Keynes’s network of 130 holds no fear. Swindon’s Magic Roundabout? Easy.
And yet I still approached the new “Dutch-style” roundabout in Cambridge – the first in Britain to give pedestrians and cyclists joint priority over motorists – with some trepidation. For a little roundabout, the leafy Fendon Road circle has garnered quite a bit of interest
– and quite a bit more furore – from locals, as well as the rest of the UK.
“A multitude of accidents waiting to happen,” was one doomsayer’s conclusion on Facebook when it opened last month; “Put back a British style roundabout,” screamed another. The Dutch system, which has dedicated lanes and crossings for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists, was too much for some.
When a driver ploughed into one of Fendon Road’s Belisha beacons just days after the roundabout’s opening, closing some of its bike and pedestrian crossings, there was a veritable wave of “I told you so”s.
It might look rather intimidating, with its bollards and beacons and all manner of white markings, but the idea is, for Fendon Road, fairly simple: the roundabout itself is small, creating a tight bend designed to drastically slow the traffic. Cyclists are given a dedicated lane around the outside, marked in red tarmac, and their own exits. Pedestrians use the pavement and have right of way on zebra crossings at every turn-off. Essentially, normal road rules and sense applies – look, then go when it’s safe.
In Holland, roundabouts of this nature have become the norm for decades, with most municipalities having adopted them by 2010. Given 68 per cent of bicycle accidents happen at junctions, the prospect of making them safer has been welcomed.
Indeed, when the £2.3million Fendon Road project was announced, it was meant to be an important first step towards roads becoming more equitable for those using them without cars. “The council operates on a hierarchy of road users,” explains Cambridge city councillor Colin Mcgerty. “The most vulnerable, in this case pedestrians, are the most protected. If you’re crossing the road, car, cycle, whatever, [as a pedestrian] you’ve got priority and they should be stopping for you.”
I decided to try things out for myself, expecting a pretty seamless experience. On foot, I strutted across with ease while the traffic waited for my every step – until a cyclist came bombing down the red lane and failed to halt, despite locking eyes with me as I was about to cross. I suppose no amount of zebra crossings can stop a certain breed of MAMIL (Middle Aged Man in Lycra) from pushing their way past.
I then gave it a go on two wheels: with no cars on the road, it’s actually quite a pleasant ride. There’s something deeply satisfying about cycling on your own private, perfectcircle track – like it’s some sort of flat velodrome willing you to try it a little bit faster with each lap.
That’s not recommended, of course. The whole point is that the roundabout makes everybody a little bit slower. But one driver in a silver Corsa seemed pretty determined to reach top speed and had to really slam on the brakes as I smugly cycled past in my priority lane. I have to admit, I felt a small flash of terror when I thought they weren’t going to stop…
Road users have complained of several near-misses since the roundabout opened on July 31, Cllr Mcgerty tells me. “But those nearmisses don’t turn into fatal and critical accidents when speed is reduced, and it was the number of fatal and critical accidents at this roundabout in the past that meant taking action was required.” He makes a good point. Had this new design not been in place, would that driver have had time to stop? Would I have ended up just another cycling statistic? In 2018, the Department for Transport reported that more than 13 per cent of cyclist casualties, and more than one in 20 bike deaths on British roads, happened on mini and normal roundabouts. In Holland, fewer than one in 50 of the roundabouts giving priority to cyclists have recorded a serious cycling accident in three years. Infrastructure is being reimagined elsewhere in Britain. In Manchester, a £13.4million “Cyclops” – that’s a Cycle Optimised Protected Signals junction, obviously – opened last month to keep cyclists further from car traffic and allow more space for pedestrians; the angry Lea Bridge gyratory in Clapton, east London, is to be recast with protected pedestrians paths and cycleways as “a vital part of making the capital a safer, more pleasant place for everybody”.
For those behind the wheel, it has to be said that Fendon Road’s mini-holland experiment feels unusual – at least at first. You’re faced with an awful lot of road furniture on the approach, and immediately after a pedestrian crossing is the new bike lane. You’ve then got to contend with the other cars. That’s a lot to think about before you even get on the roundabout – and you’ve got the same challenge when you want to exit, too. It’s not impossible, it just requires a bit of extra road sense and some getting used to.
Having both cycled and driven across it, Cambridge resident Justin Holt says “it felt easy to use and well thought out, from my perspective. For a driver, the road markings are familiar, you should know to give way and stop for either cyclist or pedestrian.”
Cllr Mcgerty reckons the driverversus-cyclist divide is not as wide here as in other places because the city is home to so many people using both forms of transport. So if a Dutch-style roundabout like this is going to work anywhere, it’s bound to be Cambridge, surely?
It’s a solid theory, but local doctor Michael Wilson is worried about what will happen when rush hour resumes to its normal levels. He works at Addenbrooke’s Hospital where thousands of staff and even more patients are on site at any one time, just 700 metres from the roundabout.
“There are, ordinarily, queues at rush hour on that roundabout in the mornings, so I don’t know how that would change. I wonder if it will slow things down with the pedestrian crossings – there are a lot of pedestrians walking to Addenbrooke’s.”
It’s all very well me enjoying a leisurely cycle at 6pm on Wednesday during a pandemic – traffic is still incredibly low. But throw in a few hundred pedestrians, and the same number of cars and cyclists all vying for a spot on the roundabout and it’s anyone’s guess whether going Dutch was really worth it, after all.
‘As I step out, a cyclist comes bombing along and – despite locking eyes with me – fails to stop’