Warning lights should be placed here, according to the Cyclists Union. Photo Guy Ackermans Following two accidents on and near the campus, Resource invited the Cyclists Union to check out the safety of cyclists. Leo van den Berg, one of the union’s core members, rates the campus a seven on a scale of ten for safety.
According to Van den Berg, warning lights should be installed at each bus lane crossing to prevent a repeat of the accident where a cyclist was hit by a bus on the bus lane behind Orion. ‘The situation is confusing’, says Van den Berg. ‘You have a good view of oncoming busses, but on the other hand, busses are getting quieter. You may get hit if you are talking or not paying attention. The warning lights should also have sound, he says. There are already lights near Campus Plaza.
Van den Berg also criticises the entrance to the campus near Hoevestein, where cyclists cross the Nijenoord Allee. It is there that an 18-year-old student died in a collision with a car on 18 January. The Gelderland Province’s Beter Bereikbaar Wageningen plan for a more accessible Wageningen (which is to improve the traffic flow around the Nijenoord Allee and the Mansholtlaan, ed.) envisions lights at the spot where the fatal accident occurred. ‘As Cyclists Union, we say: order and install the lights now. They will then have to be moved when the project starts in two years, but at least it will be safer until then.’
Read the report on cyclist safety on the campus in the new edition of Resource tomorrow.