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375
Amsterdam prepares to ‘ban the fatbikes’ amid rise in serious accidents [The Netherlands] (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by HowRu68@lemmy.world to c/europe@feddit.org
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The safety organisation VeiligheidNL estimates that 5,000 fatbike riders are treated in A&E [ i.e Accident & Emergency] departments each year, on the basis of a recent sample of hospitals. “And we also see that especially these young people aged from 12 to 15 have the most accidents,” said the spokesperson Tom de Beus.

Now Amsterdam’s head of transport, Melanie van der Horst, has said “unorthodox measures” are needed and has announced that she will ban these heavy electric bikes from city parks, starting in the Vondelpark. Like the city of Enschede, which is also drawing up a city centre ban, she is acting on a stream of requests “begging me to ban the fatbikes”.

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[–] Alpha71@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Make it so they have to be licensed, insured and are legal on the roads. But then allow for the bikes to have speed increases.

Basically a really cheap electric motorcycle.

[–] xuakzon@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago

seen this in CH. (my first lemmy comment 🖖)

[–] blackbeans@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Cannot be done, as these bikes are not technically compliant for that. First you would need to upgrade the brakes, frame, lights et cetera and add mandatory features such as brake lights, a mirror, license plate holder and a horn. Then you would have to get type approval as this is mandatory for every motorized vehicle, which adds cost to every produced bike.

When you've done all that, your product is no longer affordable and will fall in the same price category as all other motorized scooters.

The problem is not that the product cannot be classified, the problem is that the product is being used in an illegal way such that its speed and power go beyond what is allowed, which creates safety risks for the rider and anyone else around.

[–] Mataresian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

Nono, don't allow them to have more speed. It doesn't seem you understand Dutch roads if you dat that. It will cause a lot more accidents.

Putting a license plate on it however will make it a lot easier to track stuff. And while we are on it make helmets compulsory. Then the convenience is gone and not as cool anymore.