The article is in Dutch. The city is reducing the speed on many city roadways from 50 km/hr to 30 km/hr, to increase safety for cyclists and pedestrians. The goal is to reduce traffic injuries and deaths by 20-30%.
As usual, carbrains on social media are complaining left and right. “Some ebikes are faster!”
False equivalence. Why even bring up ebike speeds, like they severely hurt as many people as cars. Also, good news for that driver, you are free to switch to an ebike…
Cars and bikes should have different traffic laws but the existing laws should still be respected.
If they’re bringing up ebikes, may as well whine about regular bikes. They can also go above 30. I go over 30 for about half my morning commute.
We’ve had this in Amsterdam for a year and unfortunately a lot of drivers completely ignore it.
Changing signs does little to change drivers speeds.
I’m reasonably sure Dutch civil engineers know this. They were the ones who rewrote the books on traffic safety.
One of the best they came up with is the Dutch Reach.
For a moment I thought it was a crowbar and got a little confused
Even then, we aren’t immune for billboard politics. But in this case it looks like this is a decision that includes the decades of effort to actually repave the affected roads to meet the guidelines for 30km/h roads.
I’m sure it won’t be measured for a change like this, but I imagine this will be an improvement in terms of noise pollution from the traffic.
I would be mildly annoyed because my cruise control won’t enable below 40km/h.
I never understood that. I drove a few cars that had such limitations, not anymore though.
I think it was due to a lack of precision, and possible complications in maintaining an even speed while changing between low gears. Mine’s a 2003 model.
“Some ebike are faster!”
Isn’t that illegal as well, assuming the speed is all from the motor? If the bike cut off at 25kmph(?) and the person pedalling can zoom as fast as 40kmph like car usually can easily go, then you should fear the person on the bike because they might be a t-rex.
A multi-ton auto travelling at 40 is a lot different from an e bike at 40.
I mean it’s like comparing a knife stab and a gun shot. For both, the victim is not gonna have a good time.
Well yea, but who’s gonna police those? Also they don’t have license plates so even if you put speed cameras up, ebikes aren’t affected. In my country, even motorcycles aren’t affected by most cameras, as most cameras require a front license plate.
Generally speaking, there’s no point in chasing something that can easily go to places a police car can’t and a police motorcycle will still have a harder time maneuvering in tight spaces compared to a lightweight ebike or scooter.
If the bike cut off at 25kmph(?)
They’re often unlocked.
and the person pedalling can zoom as fast as 40kmph like car usually can easily go
40 km/h is not hard on a bicycle. For a while, anyway. I’ve gone around 50 for very short intervals and even back when I was in my best ever physical shape, I was still nearly 100 kilos with a pretty wide torso. Loads of wind resistance!
