The project was about problems in traffic infrastructure related to cyclists.
The ideas
The topic “A Cycle Path” has been chosen due to the fact that most of our students cycle on a daily basis and additionally the cycle path they use is part of an international cycling route named “Bike & Boat”. Apart from that, the structure of traffic signalisation is complicated, unnecessary and dangerous as well.
Our class brainstorming led us to the idea of checking whether this cycle path was built according to the rules published in March 2016 in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia (the Rulebook on Cycling Infrastructure). Interestingly, the cycle path was built last summer (2018). Then we came out to the cycle path and measured and compared the width of a path; we also checked the traffic signalisation on a newly built part. After that we went for a ride along all those crossings (there are 13 of them!) and asked ourselves why the cycle path wasn’t built on the other side of the road – in that case, there would have been only seven crossings, which is 46% less, meaning that there would be also 46% less risks of an accident.
The initiatives
We have chosen this particular cycle path because it is commonly used and because it crosses the international road E73 twice. It also passes through the biggest “T” intersection of the city of Beli Manastir. Moreover, this path also goes along two petrol stations. All of those complicated situations are utterly unnecessary – some of them are: a cycle path is on the wrong side, which is why it has a too small side spacing, a cycle path is one meter narrower than it should be, there are too many crossings, the intersection is unclear because we do not know who should go through it first.
In conclusion, this experience was very productive because our students became aware of how not to construct cycle paths and how to use traffic signalisation properly. Students also experienced happiness because of having a chance to do some real work.
