Biggest Dutch cities want to ban fatbikes, e-bikes, step scooters from bike lanes
The Netherlands’ five largest cities want the option to ban fatbikes, e-bikes, electric step scooters, and other electric vehicles from the bike paths. The varying sizes and speeds of vehicles on the bike paths endanger vulnerable road users, the cities’ aldermen wrote to parliament ahead of a debate on road safety on Thursday, the Telegraaf reports.
“Bike paths must remain safe for all cyclists, not just the biggest, strongest, and fastest,” the aldermen for Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, and Eindhoven said.
The cycling infrastructure isn’t designed to accommodate a fast fatbike and an 8-year-old on a regular pedal bike at the same time. The number of cyclists injured in traffic accidents is on the rise, and the regulations currently in the works don’t address this, the aldermen said. “Their starting point is: everything on the cycle path. That’s not right.”
“Municipalities should be able to move vehicles like large cargo bikes onto the roadway and locally ban other types of vehicles, such as e-step scooters,” the aldermen said.
The cities urged parliament to pause the permitting of even more light electric vehicles and make a 30-kilometer-per-hour speed limit the norm in municipalities. According to them, this improves safety and creates space to move certain faster vehicles from the bike path and onto the roadway.
