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From the point of view of road safety, the worst solution was chosen when designing the cycling infrastructure of the Grand Boulevard in Budapest. At the end of the summer trial period, the city administration, BKK and Budapest Közút, after consulting on the matter, decided to restore the 2×2 lane for motor vehicles in the busiest part of Nagykörút, Pest, between the Blaha Lujza square. and the Petőfi bridge. The bike lane thus replaces the cars parked in some sections. However
there is no parking lane at all places where the bike lane could be placed; in these parts, cyclists are brought to the sidewalk and then back into traffic after a few meters.
According to the current position, this will take place from the Blaha Lujza square towards the Pet puentefi bridge in the Rákóczi square and at the tram stops at the Thirty-second square, where there was no space for the parking lane and now for the lane bike. Other transformations are still in progress.
It is now a generally accepted basic truth in modern transportation management that in an urban (indoor) environment, a pedestrian and bicycle lane is not a good choice; It is no coincidence that in recent years (even decades) one has not been established in the center of Budapest. The trail and bike lane are essentially a bike lane stuck in the sidewalk with yellow paint (with or without a sign only – this is an undivided solution). Because much faster pedestrians and cyclists share an interface here, conflicts and even minor accidents are inevitable.
According to TRAFFIC, pedestrians and bicyclists must not obstruct or endanger each other on the undivided road, and on the divided road they must stay in the middle of the yellow stripe designated for them. As countless practical experiences have shown, this just doesn’t work. In Budapest, for example, conflicts are found in the divided sections of the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky highway and in the undivided and divided sections leading to the Buda Embankment.
It is hardly more dangerous than the right hook.
From a road safety point of view, a bigger problem is that motorists at intersections do not expect a fast vehicle to come to the curb, but rather a fast vehicle that must also be prioritized. This is no longer just a source of conflict, but a very serious source of accidents, especially in places where you can turn right by car and go straight on a parallel sidewalk by bike. In many cases, motorists may not even be able to see the cyclist come up to a relatively high speed behind them, on the right side, next to them, so they turn around. This is called a right hook, and several whitewashed wind balls in Budapest also commemorate the fatal accidents that occurred.
Now, on Baross Street in Nagykörút, this alignment has been deliberately created. Bicyclists on the sidewalk are driven back onto the road at the intersection. At peak times of the day, the situation is not so dangerous, with many pedestrians crossing the zebra, drivers carefully turn right from the ground up. But let’s say that in the evening, at night, a very large accident only needs very little attention.
One of the basic principles of transportation is “see and see.” Consequently, cyclists are in the utmost safety when driving on a road that is physically separated from motorized traffic (this is rarely possible in a central setting) or when driving as part of motorized traffic (either in their own bike lane. or not), visibly. The design of the Grand Boulevard ignores this principle.
They cut the sidewalk with momentum
The sidewalk bike path is itself a source of conflict and can be accident prone. On Grand Boulevard, the situation not only improves, but is exacerbated by the fact that the bike lane bounces up and down the sidewalk. However, on a connected trail and bike lane, pedestrians are also more cautious than when the sidewalk suddenly turns into a bike lane (too) in certain sections. Bicyclists, on the other hand, generally drive faster on the highway, in the bike lane, and in the Grand Boulevard solution, they go up the sidewalk at this higher speed.
Also, you are alone at intersections, that is, among pedestrians waiting on the zebra. In fact, two zebras are running towards the sidewalk, one crossing the Grand Boulevard and the other the street perpendicular to it.
Returning to traffic points is also risk-free if a cyclist takes the curve a little further and veers into the outside lane, possibly just when a car that is too far to the right arrives and the accident is ready.
In its reaction to the new order, the Cycling Club wrote extremely diplomatically only about “engulfing conflicts”, although, as described above, it doesn’t take much imagination to see engulfing accidents either. The Cycling Club, by the way, asks that where it is not possible to replace the parking lane with a bike lane, “signs be painted on the road parallel to the bike lanes that lead to the sidewalk. [kerékpáros nyomot – a szerk.]to reduce the cycling load on the sidewalks, at least for those who are more confident in traffic ”.
The bike path would obviously help to ease the load on the sidewalks, but it would not solve the problems caused by the sidewalk bike path. Otherwise, it would be an option not to drive cyclists to the sidewalk, in which case they would have to be classified in the outer lane in these sections. Obviously, this solution would also lead to conflict, but it would be safer than riding cyclists up and down and down the sidewalk, as they would at least move predictably and visibly on the road.
Áron Halász, vice president of the Cycling Club a 444evaluated that in the current situation, “it is better to ride a bike on Grand Boulevard than a year ago, but this will require a lot of attention from pedestrians and cyclists.” Let’s add: bikers and bikers need to take care of each other at least as much, if not more, it will take.
You can’t have everything at once
Of course, the situation is not simple, since the width of the Grand Boulevard (from the wall of the house to the wall of the house) is fixed. The tram 4-6 track and the space occupied by the stops are also fixed. The remainder of the Grand Boulevard cross-section can be managed, and the transport function must be provided for motor vehicles, bicycles (and micromobility devices like the increasingly popular scooters) and pedestrians. In addition to the characteristics of the public space: places to stop, sit, chat, etc., including the terraces of the restaurants.
In other words, it is a political question of urban planning and organization, safety and traffic organization and, ultimately, of politics, of which of the limited available cross-sections, for what functions, with what solutions and with what solutions. . It is quite obvious that not everything can be at once. 2×2 car lane, parking lane, bike lane, wide sidewalk, street ball and outdoor stage cannot be accommodated at the same time.
Mayor Gergely Karácsony and BKK announced the new order as a commitment “ that preserves the very important achievement that the Grand Boulevard has become Budapest and at the same time one of the busiest cycle routes in the country, while also providing an opportunity for the Gran Boulevard to be filled again. cafes and community venues. At the same time, where traffic requires it, it provides two lanes for those who drive twice. “
An engagement according to Christmas
Of course, compromises can be made, it is a question of at what cost. In the southern part of Grand Boulevard, the city administration sacrificed the interests of pedestrian and bicycle traffic for the interests of automobile traffic. The local government (and BKK and Budapest Közút) only partially disclosed what traffic count data they were working on, and it is not known at all what models were used and what results they produced.
It can also be seen with the naked eye that car traffic south of Blaha Lujza Square is stronger (it always has been). So in that part, you want more sacrifice of car traffic if you can only drive in one lane. The question is, is it worth sacrificing walking and biking in return? And if so, is it really worth using an outdated infrastructure solution (shared footpaths and bike paths) that is perfectly unsuitable for local traffic?
Note: how it used to be (a month ago, a year, a century ago) is not an argument. The question is not whether we take a lane from motorcycles to give it to cars (or vice versa), but what kind of functionalized Grand Boulevard we want to see in the future. Of course, many people may experience the redistribution of a certain surface as a violation of their interests, but it is also worth noting that whoever is “driving” on Grand Boulevard on Monday may be “cycling” on Tuesday and “walking”. on Wednesday, depending on how they travel there.
Who is good if everyone is bad?
It is true that Gergely Karácsony won the mayoral elections with a program suitable for walking and cycling. But what happens in the southern part of Grand Boulevard cannot be called walk-friendly or bike-friendly. The last time these solutions were really in fashion (i.e. before the 2000s) was when pedestrian and bicycle traffic could not only be subordinated, but also subordinated to motor traffic in traffic management. Not only pedestrian and bicycle paths were built in the spirit of this philosophy, but also pedestrian underpasses, with downtown highways above them, such as Rákóczi or Üllői út.
It is also true that the mayor has already come under fierce attacks by the government for the temporary designation of bike lanes. The Budapest Secretary of State, Balázs Fürjes, directly accused him of “car chasing” (whatever that means).
According to Áron Halász, it was a “political party commitment” for the city administration to recover the two traffic lanes. It’s unclear what kind of compromise might be in the background. Christmas can reach maximum temporary agreements with Fidesz, since it has been accused of “car chase”, accused of “pedestrian chase” and “danger to bicycles”. Anyway, “not suitable”. It is true that even DK from the capital asked the city council to “avoid traffic jams”.
Of course, it could also be that Christmas simply implemented the geometric compromise: north of the Blaha Lujza square, it became more than the Cycling Club demanded and south of what the Automobile Club demanded. Then he will divorce, for whom it is good that everyone is bad.
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