I want to say something about this, but these guys are to far gone I’m afraid. Since it is pay walled I may get the wrong impression from the HLN title, anyone who can screenshot this ?
Brussel tried this during covid and I didn’t see a single person obeying the law. Do these guys realize HOW SLOW 20km/h is? Most cars can’t even set cruise control / speed limiter below 30. At that point risking a fine is the much more attractive option for most car drivers compared to trying to balance your speedometer at 20. Not to mention thar bikes / pedestrians suddenly get priority, so they can jump in front of your car and get away with it.
As long as some smaller insignificant towns like Hasselt try this, I guess it’s fine. But this would cause huge issues in the main cities in Belgium.
I could actually see this being MORE dangerous than a zone 30. You want drivers to pay attention to the road, not their speedometer…
I assume this does not include the kleine ring.
To be honest, at the moment it is already a PITA to drive in the binnenstad and I only drive inside the kleine ring when I really need a parking spot in one of the underground parkings. So it won’t make much of a difference.
I bike a lot in Hasselt and I believe most streets are already fietsstraten, so we already have priority over cars. I have the feeling that 90% of cars obey the rules and don’t overtake me, so they already drive 20 when staying behind me.
What’s wrong with 30?
This thread is a great example of why most cities have gone for a pedestrian zone in their inner city instead of counting on the responsibility of car drivers to drive safely. Sadly, most drivers are simply incapable of doing so.
Yielding to pedestrians crossing the road? Inconceivable! Car drivers can’t be expected to look where they’re going! 20 km/h? Oh no, I suddenly lost the ability to drive at an appropriate speed without monitoring my speedometer at all times! And it’s too slow! Driving the 300 metres that you’ll realistically need to drive in this tiny inner city area will take 54 seconds, instead of 36, that’s 18 seconds lost! The government has gone insane!!!
Maybe it’s better if they just ban cars then, like they do in the inner cities of Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Leuven, … You can’t complain about having to pay attention to pedestrians if you’re not allowed near the pedestrians!
As someone who lives about 500m from this zone, and whose kids go to school in the zone: this is a good thing. The effective area is really small and more then half of the streets are already inaccessible to cars.
I practice it will not change much I fee like
Dear Hasselt, wtf is wrong with 30 LIKE IN ALL OTHER CITIES ?
Oh wait, I forgot this is Belgium where nobody gives a flying fuck about consistent traffic laws.
Currently living in the city center and drive my car to work everyday… NOT looking forward to this shitshow. Think we’re gonna start looking for a house sooner than planned.
Great precedent for everywhere else. Many cities and communes will now use this as an argument. “But our zone is just half as big as in Hasselt, that’s not too bad”, “Hasselt is doing it, so we should as well”, “Leuven, Gent and Hasselt are doing it, we cannot stay behind”, “everyone is used to zone 20 now”, …
And in a couple of years, you have zone 20 everywhere.
A couple of years ago a bill was proposed by Groen to turn all zone 30 into zone 20. The proposal was shot down immediately. This is the way you get in introduced all over the country.
Bah…
So the N-VA is now doing the thing that they fought tooth-and-nail against in places like Ghent and Leuven? I suppose better late than never, lol.
To be honest, zone 30 across an entire city center makes more sense than implementing a limitation for 500m in one street as is often done in school areas.
Consistency wins over random occurence and is easily remembered by most people.
If zone 30 would be then enforced, you’d already have a much better balance.
I don’t believe a zone 20 to be realistic though. Bikes, electric steps, regular steps, scooters, motorcycles, cars: they all regularly pass beyond this speed. Make it a zone 25 and every vehicle’s capacity falls into better margins.
Now, if you really want consistency across the board: change the urban area’s limit everywhere to zone 30 (or 25), unless a road has a segregated car, bike and pedestrian lane and/or unless stated otherwise.
16 comments
I want to say something about this, but these guys are to far gone I’m afraid. Since it is pay walled I may get the wrong impression from the HLN title, anyone who can screenshot this ?
Brussel tried this during covid and I didn’t see a single person obeying the law. Do these guys realize HOW SLOW 20km/h is? Most cars can’t even set cruise control / speed limiter below 30. At that point risking a fine is the much more attractive option for most car drivers compared to trying to balance your speedometer at 20. Not to mention thar bikes / pedestrians suddenly get priority, so they can jump in front of your car and get away with it.
As long as some smaller insignificant towns like Hasselt try this, I guess it’s fine. But this would cause huge issues in the main cities in Belgium.
I could actually see this being MORE dangerous than a zone 30. You want drivers to pay attention to the road, not their speedometer…
I assume this does not include the kleine ring.
To be honest, at the moment it is already a PITA to drive in the binnenstad and I only drive inside the kleine ring when I really need a parking spot in one of the underground parkings. So it won’t make much of a difference.
I bike a lot in Hasselt and I believe most streets are already fietsstraten, so we already have priority over cars. I have the feeling that 90% of cars obey the rules and don’t overtake me, so they already drive 20 when staying behind me.
What’s wrong with 30?
This thread is a great example of why most cities have gone for a pedestrian zone in their inner city instead of counting on the responsibility of car drivers to drive safely. Sadly, most drivers are simply incapable of doing so.
Yielding to pedestrians crossing the road? Inconceivable! Car drivers can’t be expected to look where they’re going! 20 km/h? Oh no, I suddenly lost the ability to drive at an appropriate speed without monitoring my speedometer at all times! And it’s too slow! Driving the 300 metres that you’ll realistically need to drive in this tiny inner city area will take 54 seconds, instead of 36, that’s 18 seconds lost! The government has gone insane!!!
Maybe it’s better if they just ban cars then, like they do in the inner cities of Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Leuven, … You can’t complain about having to pay attention to pedestrians if you’re not allowed near the pedestrians!
As someone who lives about 500m from this zone, and whose kids go to school in the zone: this is a good thing. The effective area is really small and more then half of the streets are already inaccessible to cars.
I practice it will not change much I fee like
Dear Hasselt, wtf is wrong with 30 LIKE IN ALL OTHER CITIES ?
Oh wait, I forgot this is Belgium where nobody gives a flying fuck about consistent traffic laws.
Currently living in the city center and drive my car to work everyday… NOT looking forward to this shitshow. Think we’re gonna start looking for a house sooner than planned.
Great precedent for everywhere else. Many cities and communes will now use this as an argument. “But our zone is just half as big as in Hasselt, that’s not too bad”, “Hasselt is doing it, so we should as well”, “Leuven, Gent and Hasselt are doing it, we cannot stay behind”, “everyone is used to zone 20 now”, …
And in a couple of years, you have zone 20 everywhere.
A couple of years ago a bill was proposed by Groen to turn all zone 30 into zone 20. The proposal was shot down immediately. This is the way you get in introduced all over the country.
Bah…
So the N-VA is now doing the thing that they fought tooth-and-nail against in places like Ghent and Leuven? I suppose better late than never, lol.
To be honest, zone 30 across an entire city center makes more sense than implementing a limitation for 500m in one street as is often done in school areas.
Consistency wins over random occurence and is easily remembered by most people.
If zone 30 would be then enforced, you’d already have a much better balance.
I don’t believe a zone 20 to be realistic though. Bikes, electric steps, regular steps, scooters, motorcycles, cars: they all regularly pass beyond this speed. Make it a zone 25 and every vehicle’s capacity falls into better margins.
Now, if you really want consistency across the board: change the urban area’s limit everywhere to zone 30 (or 25), unless a road has a segregated car, bike and pedestrian lane and/or unless stated otherwise.
Finally, a city road network that [separates neighbourhoods on peoples political beliefs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Political_Compass_yellow_LibRight.svg).
We have entered a new age of enlightenment.
Also a rule for electric bikes and pedelecs?
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In 2e blijven bollen check! Wel een goed ding, woon tussen de kleine en de grote ring en 50km/uur kennen ze hier niet.. Je word gewoon omver gereden!