Amsterdam fines 39 fatbike ban violators; Police begin campaign in Barendrecht
The municipality of Amsterdam has issued 39 fines and 94 warnings to people violating the fatbike ban in the Vondelpark. In Barendrecht, the police launched a campaign on Wednesday in which they check kids’ fatbikes on the way to school. A 12-year-old boy was caught with a souped-up fatbike during the press conference launching the campaign, local media reported.
Amsterdam banned fatbikes in the Vondelpark on May 11. For the first two weeks, enforcement officers only gave warnings. From May 25, they started issuing fines. The fine is €115 for people aged 16 and older, and €57.50 for teens aged 12 to 15. Children under the age of 12 can’t receive a fine.
The municipality is investigating the effect of the fatbike ban and will then decide whether to expand it to other locations in the city.
Other municipalities are also taking action against fatbikes. In Barendrecht, the police launched a campaign on Wednesday targeting school-going kids and their parents.
Police officers stopped many teenagers on the way to school on Wednesday morning and took them to a checkpoint on the square in front of the town hall to check their fatbike. The campaign also includes a “Fatbike Ready Checklist” for parents, indicating what they should look out for with their child’s bike.
The first bike checked, belonging to a 12-year-old boy, had a throttle that allowed the bike to go too fast, De Schakel reported. In front of the media and Minister Vincent Karremans of Infrastructure, on the square for the launch of the campaign, the police confiscated the boy’s bike and sent him off to school on foot.
The national government announced in April that it was working on a stricter approach for fatbikes. In addition to officially giving municipalities the power to ban these electric bicycles in specific areas, as Amsterdam and Enschede have done, the government also wants to make helmets mandatory and implement an age limit for fatbikes.
