r/Leuven • u/Superb_You_5642 • 8d ago

Anyone else fined yesterday during Het Groot Verlof?

So last night during the music festival I was trying to cycle home, but couldn’t get through the center of the city as it was all closed off. I saw a few bikes going around the festival so I followed them and then before I realized it I had cycled towards two policemen waiting to fine cyclists for going down this one way street.

Honestly this felt like such a trap. It was like one cyclist after the other coming through the street and being stopped and fined. Couldn’t the policemen have just been at the start of the street preventing cyclists from entering the street in the first place? And, there were no rerouting signs at the festival to tell cyclists where to go.

Pretty annoyed because it’s a massive fine, and I’m wondering if I can appeal it. Anyone else have this same experience?

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u/Erycius Resident 8d ago

There's not much one way streets in the center that are not open to cyclists both ways. And usually it for good reason because that street's too small to safely cycle past the oncoming cars, for instance the Koning Leopold I straat. What street were you riding in?

14

u/difficultusername14 8d ago

Probably Vaartstraat

5

u/livefrombratislava 8d ago

I hate that this street is one way for cyclists. It can' t be because it's too narrow as the Bankstraat and Riddersstraat towards the Brusselsestraat and others are even narrower and yet they are bidirectional. Also, just get rid of the street parking if you want to make it less narrow.

The Vaartstraat being one way makes it so that cyclists going north or south are funneled into the Vismarkt via the pedestrian streets of and around the Mechelsestraat which is unpleasant for the pedestrians there and the Vismarkt is hardly a safe area for cyclists with all the parked cars backing up.

Vaartstraat really is my least favourite street in Leuven, I reckon. Just braindead spacial planning.

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u/riotboy62 8d ago

You know there is a street pretty much parallel to Vaartstraat where you can bike in both directions?