Roosendaal has a turbo roundabout where many serious accidents occur. Maaike de Vries can talk about it. You suffered permanent brain damage twelve years ago, where Burgemeester Freijterslaan, Kade, Hulsdonksestraat and Wouwseweg converge. Council is now trying to make the area safer with speed cameras, but according to Maaike this is by no means the solution.
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“To die shit it changed my life, ”says Maaike. “I had a great job with a good salary and a lot of career opportunities. Until one day I was cycling home and woke up in the hospital ”.
A motorist did not give way to Maaike, so she ended up with her bicycle between her car and a hooked trailer. She suffered a severe concussion and the left side of her body was injured from head to toe. Her body slowly recovered, it took a year before she could get back on her bicycle. But her brain injury proved irreparable. You are unable to work, you have been partially unable to work for several years. The situation is also tense at home. “I get up pretty fit in the morning, but if I don’t rest in the afternoon, I can’t cook for my son in the evening.”
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“It’s just not clear there. A speed camera won’t really change that.”
A few years ago the roundabout was overhauled, but according to Maaike it hasn’t become clearer. “They’ve removed some vegetation and erected warning signs, but it remains dangerous.” Motorists enter the roundabout without cyclists, but with downhill cyclists, who also come from two sides.
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Recently, the municipality installed speed cameras on the infamous road leading to the roundabout. They will be put into use from Monday and speed drivers can expect a voucher. Maaike has to laugh really hard about it. “Accidents don’t happen because people drive too fast, but because they’re not careful. It is not clear at that roundabout. A speed camera won’t change that. “
This is also the opinion of councilor Selda Bozkurt of Burger Belangen Roosendaal. You have asked the council several times to change the traffic situation. “Put the lights back there as before. Those speed cameras won’t really help, but they still want to try. Waste of money. ”
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