The safety organisation VeiligheidNL estimates that 5,000 fatbike riders are treated in A&E [ i.e Accident & Emergency] departments each year, on the basis of a recent sample of hospitals. “And we also see that especially these young people aged from 12 to 15 have the most accidents,” said the spokesperson Tom de Beus.
Now Amsterdam’s head of transport, Melanie van der Horst, has said “unorthodox measures” are needed and has announced that she will ban these heavy electric bikes from city parks, starting in the Vondelpark. Like the city of Enschede, which is also drawing up a city centre ban, she is acting on a stream of requests “begging me to ban the fatbikes”.
Die Befriffswahl ist äußerst unglücklich. Die Kritik hat nämlich nichts mit Fatbikes an sich zu tun. Die abgebildeten Modelle sind keine Fahrräder, da man mir ihnen nicht ohne Motor pedalieren kann aufgrund von Geometrie und Sattel.