Scooters and hoverboards causing issues on Dutch bike lanes

Amsterdam’s cycleways are reportedly experiencing a breakdown in safety and law, as scooters, e-bikes, mini electric cars and hoverboards take over.

The problem according to Police is that all the different vehicles operate under different rules, leaving everyone confused.

On Tuesday Amsterdam announced that slower mopeds, known as a snorfiets, would be banned from the bike paths from April. Small four-wheeled electric cars that can travel at up too 50kmh will still be allowed.

In 2017, for the first time, the traffic death toll in the Netherlands was higher among cyclists than among occupants of cars. The Dutch central bureau of statistics found that 57 e-bike riders were killed. The figure was up by 17 on 2016, accounting for more than one in four of all cyclist deaths.

“It is impossible for the police to maintain it,” says Gerrit van de Kamp of the ACP police union. “I wonder whether citizens themselves know what the situation is in traffic. Police officers do not always know it either. It is a completely unclear situation.”

Cycle paths in the main cities of the Netherlands have become intolerably overcrowded in recent years, particularly during the rush-hour periods, and the range of vehicles on them has increased.

In the past decade, the number of mopeds in the Netherlands has more than doubled to about 720,000. Since the 1 July, the four major cities have been allowed to implement their own rules.