The Netherlands: Europe's number one biking country, becoming unsafe for bikers as higher speed mopeds and scooters are also allowed on bike paths

Scooters and Mopeds,
danger on Dutch bike-paths

There are more bicycles than residents in The Netherlands, and in all the big Dutch cities up to 70% of all journeys are made by bike.

To make cycling safer and even more inviting the Dutch have also built a vast network of cycle paths.

These are clearly marked, have smooth surfaces, separate signs and lights for those on two wheels, and wide enough to allow side-by-side cycling and overtaking.

In many cities the paths are completely segregated from motorised traffic. Sometimes, where space is scant and both must share, you can see signs showing an image of a cyclist with a car behind accompanied by the words 'Bike Street: Cars are guests'.

But there is a major danger now lurking on these beautiful bike paths, Molpeds and scooters,the Dutch call them "snor fietsers",  and these also include, what one biker called the "silent killers", electric scooters, who are also racing silently over these serene bike-paths, at high speeds.

Very often Scooters and Mopeds go at speeds of 50 km per hour or even more, specially when the engine is "souped up".

Also Pizza delivering persons on scooters have a reputation of always going too fast.  To make matters worse, because these scooters are on the bike-path, they also don't have to wear a helmet.

In December 2017 a majority of the Dutch parliament approved  a city of Amsterdam request to move mopeds and scooters from their municipality bike-paths to the open roads and highways. 

Unfortunately not many, if not any, of the cities in the Netherlands, have taken any similar action as Amsterdam so far.  It is also well known in the Netherlands, that local police is not very agressive, when it comes to writing out "tickets" against moped and scooter riders, who are going too fast on the bike-paths.

As one bike-rider in the city of Almere noted: how many more bikers will need to get serious accidents, before our Municipality takes any action?

EU-Digest 

The Netherlands: Police Force City of Almere Asleep When It Comes To Biking Traffic Violations

The city of Almere, one of the Netherlands most modern architecturally designed cities in the Netherlands,  and probably also of Europe, has a police force which  hardly ever patrolls the numerous bike paths in and around this beautiful modern city.

One biker complained that when night falls probably half of the bikers, and mopeds, know as bromfiets in the Netherlands,  have no lights and become a hazard and often also cause accidents for both bikers and pedestrians, on or crossing these bike paths. 

"Worst of all, there is very little action taken by the police in Almere when it comes to these offenses by bikers. I have hardly ever seen any policemen on these bike paths checking, or handing out tickets to bikers,who don't have a light, or mopeds driving at high speeds. If they did, the city of Almere could be making a lot of money", she said.

Almere-Digest