A Smartphone Cycling Ban is Coming

Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen of Infrastructure department is working on a law that will ban using a smartphone while cycling. Yes , they were first just thinking about it and now they’re bringing it – no more tindering and whatsapping while riding a bicycle. Is a smartphone cycling ban a feasible thing?

Talks about a smartphone cycling ban have been going back and forth for a while now. The Dutch statistical office (CBS) released some numbers indicating that 185 cyclists were killed in traffic last year, the exact same figure as the previous year (although only 9 percent of the accidents could be attributed to the usage a smartphone). Confronted with this non-dropping number Schultz has now decided to go for the smartphone cycling ban after all. In a letter to parliament she also announced a ban of the use of a smartphone on your handlebar. The reasons behind all of this was that using a touch screen while cycling results in a dangerous risk according to experts.

The problem of a smartphone cycling ban

The fining or other punishment that will result from getting caught while tindering are yet unclear. And the proposed law still has to pass through both chambers of Dutch politics. During the election season it is always extra uncertain if laws like that make it through.

But obviously the problem of a smartphone cycling ban is how to impose it. Who ever dared to enter the full-on cycling world of the Dutch has already noted the masses of cyclists without working lights, speeding traffic lights or generally not giving a flying fiets over the traffic rules. Heck, did you knew it’s officially prohibited to cycle while being drunk? Many thought that drunk cycling is the whole reason why cycling is so popular here.

And really VVD? For a liberal party which always complains about all the ‘regulations’ your quite ‘legislation-happy’- do we really need another law which will be impossible to enforce?