Cyclists behold: the municipality of Amsterdam is looking to impose a speed limit on bicycles.
“Not because we think electric bikes are stupid, but they have to maintain an appropriate speed,” reports alderman Melanie van der Horst to BNR.
Dutchies: slow down with that pedaling
While the speed limit is not yet known, the Fietsersbond, a Dutch organisation that represents the interest of cyclists, states that “there are bicycles that drive 35 kilometres per hour in the city, and that is not safe.”
For this reason, the Fietsersbond proposes a bike speed limit of 20 kilometres per hour.
While it is difficult to make sure people stick to this limit, there are many possibilities and techniques to consider.
Fun Dutch fact: they’ve had problems with ebikes because it means that suddenly old people can go fast. And the default traditional bike there is literally called “Grandma bike” <omafiets>. They’re heavy upright bikes, and people don’t break a sweat when biking. They just go slow
— jadeflame mastadon: @qu***********@to***.gay (@jadeflame4) September 16, 2022
According to van der Horst one option would be geofencing, a GPS tracking device for bikes, “You can ensure that the bike reduces speed with geofencing, but that technology is still in its infancy.”
Another option would be giving fines to people that go over the speed limit. However, this would require more people to enforce these speed limits because there are no license plates on bikes.
READ MORE | Where to buy a bike in the Netherlands: the ultimate guide
New infrastructures makes it safer to cycle
Apart from enforcing a new speed limit for bicycles, there is also a proposal in the Amsterdam City Council to reduce the speed for cars to 30 kilometres per hour.
This potential speed limit creates opportunities to look at the infrastructure of Amsterdam. Van der Horst reports that, “we don’t want people of a certain age to have to cycle on a street with cars.”
The speed limit for cars of 30 kilometres per hour in Amsterdam will be approved in December 2023.
What do you think about this new speed limit? Tell us in the comments below!