The Dutch are well-known for having one of the safest roadway systems, especially for cyclists. After hearing from various professionals in road safety planning and engineering at the Rotterdam Hoge School and SPOV (Institute for Roadway Safety) in the Hague, I learned that the application of a systems approach to road safety has helped the Netherlands bring down its road accident-caused casualties to a more acceptable level. What stands out with this approach, is that attention is heeded to the mistakes road users can make, an approach that has evolved in the last few decades of traffic analysis and planning. Instead of 'blaming the victim' in a traffic accident, by assuming them to have somewhat deviant behavior, roadways are made as safe as possible through infrastructure and maintenance. In addition, we heard from some roadway psychologists, who emphasize behavioral studies as necessary in order to create an environment where people are less prone to getting into accidents.
In Holland, in order to make roadways safer, particularly for cyclists, experimentation the credo the ultimate way to find out what works and what doesn't. "Just do it" is the credo the planners go by in Rotterdam and the Hague. In order to see if a street could become safer to cyclists and to slow traffic, Dutch traffic facility planners might go ahead and eliminate a portion of the road (without planning too far and advance) and witness the outcome. If the results are good, then the change could become permanent.
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