Kempenaer wrote:
I am not aware of any speed limit here for motorized traffic around bicycles; only thing I can think of is a 25km/h speed-limit for mopeds/scooters on designated bike-lanes.
Furthermore you should know that by law all "weak" traffic (bicycles, pedestrians etc) are protected meaning that a motorist will always be liable to any accident involving such "weaker" traffic (best-case for the motorist is a 50-50 outcome when the cyclist or pedestrian was really negligent; in case of children, the motorist is always 100% liable!).
On non-regulated crossing; traffic from the right (bicyle, car but NOT pedestrian) will always have right of way.
Let me refine that. Art. 185 Wvw (dutch law) states that in case a motorized party (strong) and the non-motorized party (weak) have an accident, and the weak party is the claimant, than de strong party is liably. The one exception is in case of 'force majeure' (overmacht in Dutch) in which case the strong party is not liable. Force majeure is a reallllllllly seldom a succesfull defence, since it is clearified in case-law that you can only succusfully defend yourself if the behaviour of the weak party is utterly stupid. Normal 'stupid' behavior like crossing a red light, beining druk, no light, etc., is not rare enough to succesfully defence yourself with force majeure (ibaiscally meaning that the strong party should anticipate on this stupid behavior and therefore cannot claim force majeure, since the behavior of the weak party is more or less foreseeable).
If the strong party is liable (almost always), than there is the possibilty for the strong party to claim negligence on the part of the weak party. That can however only a maximum of 50% against 14+ persons, and is non-existant against minors under 14 years old.
Futhermore, if the outcome of the defence is 'not satisfactory' than a correction (in favor of the weak party) can be in place. There are certain criteria for that, but I won't I'll leave it at this for the moment.
BUT: art. 185 Wvw only applies directly if the weak party is the claimant. If the strong party is the claimant, than claim will be based on 6:162 BW. The weak party can be held liable for the damages of the strong party. However, normally not up to a 100%, because the spirit of art. 185 Wvw reflects on 6:162 BW (the 50% rule does not reflect).
Disclaimer for those Dutch people out there in the legal field: translating legal terms in English proved to be quite difficult :)
Disclaimer 2: motorized traffic is futher clarified in law and case-law. Electrified bicycles until 25Kph are regarded to be not motorized (an exception) in the light of 185 Wvw, faster e-bikes are regarded motorized. A motorized step or lawnmower are regarded (and are off course) motorized. A tram/metro is regarded not be motorized, but in case-law normaly is treated as being motorized (but over 6:162 BW, not via 185 Wvw).
[edit] More on-topic: helmets are normaly not worn by regular cyclists. Only by speed-pedelecs and MTB/Race-cyclists.