I feel the English speaking (and possibly other) countries have far
more interest in Monderman's shared space schemes than they should
have. This, sadly, seems to be particularly true of cyclists in those
countries, even though they have the most to lose.
His schemes are not nearly as popular here, where people have
experienced them, as they are overseas where people generally have
not.
We have a few Shared Space areas in Assen. Personally I avoid them as
they offer the least pleasant cycling conditions in the city. New
plans in he city are not for this kind of road, but for more
traditional Dutch fully segregated paths.
I’m not alone in finding these ideas to be a problem. Back in
November, the Fietsersbond newsletter was critical of these schemes as
exposing cyclists to additional danger and causing people not to
cycle. They described them as merely an “architects dream”, say that
they encourage bullying by drivers and bemoan that people are put of
cycling due to them.
Virtually all references to shared space which are written in Dutch
include at least some critical comments. e.g. the following:
On this page Hans acknowledges that he has been the subject of hype,
and the feedback is from someone who lives in one of the towns where
he lives and who doesn’t much like what has happened to it “Not
everyone is so enthusiastic about Monderman’s ideas” “I live in Haren…
now many residents find the situation is not so safe”:
Or this obituary in a quality national newspaper, which also includes
negative comments in the 4th paragraph: “But there are also criticisms
heard. Not all drivers like cyclists on the road…”
It is normally very rare to see cyclists riding on pavements over
here, but that’s what you see where these schemes exist.
In some situations these things might work. I think the initial
success is due merely to the novelty of it all, which soon wears off
and results in “might is right” taking over the roads.
Last Sunday I rode to Oosterwolde, a “Shared Space” town, to take some
photos of what a whole-hearted use of these principles results in.
It was very like entering a typical English market town. Just after
the town name sign I found myself leaving the (excellent) cycle path
I’d been on for the 25 km ride to Oosterwolde and found myself on a
road with speeding cars passing much too close. At a huge open square
I had to accelerate rapidly to get out of the way of a van which
emerged from a side street at considerable speed. Not pleasant at all!
On the other hand, this is a more normal Dutch city centre, served by
high quality segregated cycle paths:
Guess which location has more cyclists in it.
I’d really like to see the hyping of these ideas calm down a little so
that we can get back to trying to promote real safe conditions for
cyclists.
I’m sorry to hear of the death of Hans Monderman, but let’s not make
him a saint.