Ruling coalition backs scooter ban on bike paths

The VVD and PvdA are pressuring Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen of Infrastructure and Environment to ban scooters and mopeds on bike paths, newspaper AD reports. The VVD wants to "do everything to deal with the antisocial behavior (of scooters, ed) once and for all", parliamentarian Barbara Visser said to the newspaper. "If it is necessary to seize scooters, then so be it", she added. PvdA MP Duco Hoogland agrees. "The emissions are a problem. The traffic on the bike path is a problem. And that they almost all drive to fast is also a problem", he said. A survey done by I&O Research among 1,051 residents of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht showed that 56 percent of the population is irritated by scooters and mopeds, much more than the 30 percent irritated by cars and 27 irritated by bicycles. The main reason given the annoyance created by scooters are dangerous driving, speeding, noise and odor. As of December 1st there were exactly 1,174,802 scooters and mopeds driving around in the Netherlands, according to figures from BOVAG and RAI Vereniging. That is an increase of 65 percent.