Third car drives into Utrecht underground bike garage; City considering measures
A car drove into the underground bicycle garage at Utrecht Central Station. It is the third time this year that motorists made the mistake, entering the bicycle garage on the east side of the station, next to the Hoog Catharijne shopping center. The municipality is investigating whether measures are necessary, RTV Utrecht reports.
Traffic expert Casper Stelling thinks the problem lies at the last intersection before the bike garage, some 200 meters before the entrance. It is not clear which area is intended for cars and which for cyclists and pedestrians, he said to the broadcaster. “I see a car here that is looking where it has to go. It can’t go right, and it can’t go straight ahead either. So it has to turn around and go back.”
“People are very distracted here,” said Stelling. “It is incredibly busy, and you have to pay close attention. So maybe people follow their navigation to determine where they are going. If your navigation says: you have to go in here, then I can imagine that you’ll do it.”
That is exactly what happened to tourist Muhamed from Spain, who narrowly escaped driving into the bike garage. “I had set my navigation to Hoog Catharinjen, and ended up here.” He realized in time that he couldn’t go straight through the intersection without ending up on the bike path to the bicycle garage, but it was a close call.
After the two previous incidents, both of which happened in January, the municipality still found measures unnecessary. The bicycle path is clearly marked and incidents are rare, the city argued. After the third incident, the city will look into whether anything needs to change. “We want to emphasize that the cycle path is clearly marked and there is signage indicating that cars are not allowed to drive there,” the city told RTV Utrecht. “Nevertheless, we understand that repeated incidents can indicate a possible lack of clarity.”
Traffic expert Stelling suggests clearer signage at the intersection before the bike garage. “A sign indicating that this is a dead-end road, or that the road is only intended for local traffic, could also help, because then confused motorists don’t have to turn around unexpectedly.” Indicating more clearly that the bike parking is only for bicycles would also not be amiss, he said.
