Potsdam’s cyclists must continue to bike-safe rails in the curve of the tracks in Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße in Babelsberg. In response to a small request from the Left Party, the state capital responded that there is currently no suitable technical solution for tracks that could effectively prevent falls. “Therefore, the designers must first develop a promising bicycle-safe track so that a model test can be carried out in Potsdam,” the answer states. According to the Potsdam police, the curve of the tracks is the biggest accident and danger hotspot for single-vehicle accidents involving cyclists.
The city is finding out about model experiments in other cities, such as half-filled grooved rails in Ghent, Belgium, or fully filled grooved rails such as in Basel or Brandenburg (Havel). But: “It became clear that measures on the track cannot currently satisfactorily solve the risk of accidents.” Therefore, the city is initially relying on measures other than bicycle rails, which were already implemented in autumn 2022: “the transfer of bicycle traffic to the track area, the marking of a restricted area and a ban on overtaking cyclists”.
Since some cyclists still enter the track area very late and at an unfavorable angle, as a video analysis in 2023 showed, “the restricted area is to be provided with an island and the cycle traffic routing is to be adjusted so that cyclists then enter the track area at a more favorable location,” the city announced. This should take place “depending on the weather, if possible this autumn,” said a city hall spokeswoman. In addition, the road surface in the track curve area is to be replaced.
The Potsdam Left Party had also repeatedly pointed out in July that the spot is a safety gap, made worse by illegally parked vehicles in the bike lane, which makes evasive maneuvers necessary.
