{"id":22027,"date":"2026-01-25T16:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T16:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/2026\/01\/25\/amsterdam-prepares-to-ban-fat-bikes-due-to-increase-in-serious-accidents-netherlands\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T16:29:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T16:29:00","slug":"amsterdam-prepares-to-ban-fat-bikes-due-to-increase-in-serious-accidents-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/2026\/01\/25\/amsterdam-prepares-to-ban-fat-bikes-due-to-increase-in-serious-accidents-netherlands\/","title":{"rendered":"Amsterdam prepares to ban fat bikes due to increase in serious accidents | Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

o<\/span>During a busy lunch hour, an electric bicycle with thick tires speeds through the green streets of Amsterdam’s Vondelpark. But these vehicles, which the Dutch call "fat bikes”, have been banned in some parts of the Netherlands after a notable increase in accidents, especially involving children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s nonsense!\u201d Henk Hendrik Wolthers, 69, said from the seat of his wide-tire electric Mate bike. \u201cI drive a car, I ride a motorcycle, I ride a moped and now I ride a fat bike. It\u2019s the fastest mode of transportation in the city, so it should be available.\u201d<\/p>\n

A growing number of Dutch road safety experts, doctors and politicians disagree. Motor assist on e-bikes is limited to 15 miles per hour, but many fat bike riders modify the factory settings to reach speeds of 25 miles per hour in these crowded parks.<\/p>\n

Safety agency VeigheidNL estimates, based on a recent hospital sample, that 5,000 fat bike riders receive treatment in A&E departments each year. \u201cAnd it turns out that young people, especially between the ages of 12 and 15, have the most accidents.\u201d Spokesperson Tom de Beus said.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Once the new measures come into effect, Vondelpark will become a fat bike-free area of \u200b\u200bthe city.<\/span> Photo: Piroschka Van De Wouw\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now Amsterdam’s transport chief Melanie van der Horst has said "unorthodox measures” are needed and has announced that such large electric bikes will be banned from city parks, starting with Vondelpark. Like the city of Enschede, which is preparing a ban on city centers, she is acting on a series of requests \u201cpleading to ban fat bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her plans at the park drew mixed reactions. Four of the five fat bike riders who passed by quickly said they were "too busy” to talk, but Joost, 31, was skeptical. \u201cIt would be pointless,\u201d he said. \u201cRegular bicycles use the park, and city vehicles use the park. Maintaining an appropriate speed is key.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Muriel Winkel, 33, running with her dog Joop, was enthusiastic. \u201cThey are all exaggerated actions that people don\u2019t do with malicious intent, but they are often just driving carelessly and carelessly,\u201d she said. \u201cSometimes my dog \u200b\u200bgets really scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some point out that the tensions surrounding electric bicycles could soon affect other countries, especially as political interest grows in stimulating active mobility.<\/p>\n

In this land of early adopters, 48% of bikes sold in 2024 were electric bikes and 13% were fat bikes, according to figures from RAI Vereniging and the BOVAG automotive association. In Amsterdam, a third of trips are made by bicycle.<\/p>\n

Roadside assistance group ANWB said the problem was not necessarily with bike models with wide tires, but with the ease with which people could speed up their rides to use them like mopeds, "combined with risky behaviour”.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Florrie de Pater, president of the Fietsersbond Amsterdam cycling association, said the increase in illegal bikes and lack of enforcement were scaring older people and children off the roads. \u201cPeople who ride fast, especially those over 55 or 60, should leave their bikes at home because it is dangerous,\u201d she said. \u201cWe also heard that parents no longer dare allow their children to ride their bikes to school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marcel Aries, a consultant and brain injury expert at Maastricht University Medical Center, said more authorities should consider a controversial ban alongside a helmet requirement for children riding electric bikes from 2027. \u201cIt is reasonable for governments and local governments to consider measures that may be unpopular,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a public health response to increasingly congested streets and a widening speed gap between cars, cyclists and pedestrians.\u201d<\/p>\n

His views are shared by Marlies Schijven, professor of surgery at the University Medical Center Amsterdam. His disappointing LinkedIn post about dangerous riders in 2024 has been viewed 2.9 million times. \u201cIt\u2019s a good step, but it\u2019s a very small step, and it can only be done in one of Amsterdam\u2019s parks,\u201d she said. "The problem is much bigger. We still see pain, misery and death every day during our morning meetings in hospitals.”<\/p>\n

Wolthers, a fat bike owner, agreed that getting kids to ride these powerful vehicles is a problem. \u201cKids don\u2019t run red lights, they don\u2019t signal, and they can\u2019t evaluate traffic,\u201d he said. \u201cHospitals use the callous term \u2018potential donor.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

oDuring a busy lunch hour, an electric bicycle with thick tires speeds through the green streets of Amsterdam’s Vondelpark. But these vehicles, which the Dutch call "fat bikes”, have been banned in some parts of the Netherlands after a notable increase in accidents, especially involving children. \u201cThat\u2019s nonsense!\u201d Henk Hendrik Wolthers, 69, said from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3277,4853,11037,49954,17447],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling","category-europe","category-netherlands","category-transport-policy","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22027\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}