New push for measures against fat bikes after 96 emergency room injuries in one week

VeilgheidNL’s study registering 96 emergency room visits after fat bike accidents in one week resulted in new calls for measures against this specific type of electric bicycle. The safe traffic association VVN, several hospitals, and an Amsterdam alderman have all urged the Dutch government to take measures like implementing an age limit on fat bikes and obliging riders to wear a helmet.

According to VVN, fat bikes’ “unique characteristics” mean they do not fit into the bicycle categories. Therefore, they require specific rules to ensure road safety. “Fat bikes have the potential to reach high speeds, even without pedaling. In combination with the young age of the cyclists, this leads to major risks,” a VVN spokesperson told ANP.

For the VeiligheidNL study, all 82 hospitals with an emergency room in the Netherlands registered bicycle accidents for one week, recording the type of bike, the age of the victim, the severity of their injuries, and whether they wore a helmet. 96 of the 1,291 bicycle accident victims who came into the emergency rooms rode fat bikes. Fat bike riders were more likely than other cyclists to require hospitalization after the accident. Half of the fat bike victims were younger than 16.

Amsterdam alderman Melanie van der Horst called the results “shocking,” speaking to Parool. “And that it involves so many and such young children. There is a good chance that there are children who will suffer damage from this for the rest of their lives.”

The Amsterdam alderman called on Minister Barry Madlener of Infrastructure to implement a minimum age and helmet requirement on fat bikes as soon as possible, as well as provide better possibilities for the police to enforce the current rules. She wants to see a stronger focus on tackling the import of illegal fatbikes and the sale of tuning kits. She also urged parents to not get their children fat bikes. “Think before you give your child a fat bike. Fat bikes are easy to tune up unnoticed and that also happens in half of the cases. Children cannot assess these risks, so we have to do that for them.”

Marcel Aries, chairman of Doctors for Safe Cycling, also urged for measures, specifically an age limit to keep young children off of fat bikes. “This is not about abrasions, but about really serious injuries. Think broken bones, brain hemorrhages, and tears in the abdominal organs.” The severity of the injury has to do with the type of vehicle, he said. “The fat bike is a somewhat heavier vehicle compared to the regular bike and the e-bike and can go even faster.”

Children under the age of 16, the largest group among fat bike injuries, are “particularly vulnerable,” Aries told NOS. “This group of young people has vulnerable brains and a vulnerable abdominal wall. A fat bike can go up to 50 kilometers per hour. We are lucky that there have not been a lot of fatalities yet.”

Doctors, surgeons, and hospitals also advocate for an age limit and mandatory helmets. “Speed equals force equals injury is a dangerous formula in this case,” trauma surgeon Stijn Nelen of the Radboudumc in Nijmegen told RTV Oost. “So protect yourself against that with a helmet and a minimum age.” According to him, the figures clearly show that both measures are important. “Half of the accidents with fat bikes are children. And a helmet prevents serious injury or death in 70 percent of bicycle accidents.”

Last month, the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, adopted a motion for a 14-year age limit on fat bikes and mandatory helmets. Minister Madlener said that he would do his best to implement parliament’s wish, but warned that it may not be legally possible to distinguish between fat bikes and other electric bikes and that measures may have to apply to all e-bikes.