The outgoing cabinet wants to introduce a helmet obligation for children and young people up to the age of 18 on all e-bikes. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, a separate rule for Fatbikes is not legally possible. That is why the measure must soon apply to all electric bicycles. Whether the House of Representatives agrees is still uncertain.
The Treant hospital in Emmen is positive about this. “We can only applaud this measure,” says a spokesperson. “The better the protection, the smaller the chance of (serious) injury in an accident. That means fewer patients at the Emergency Department.”
The cyclists’ association Assen is less enthusiastic. Chairman Henriëtte Jalink: “We think it is double. The measure is now mainly used to reduce the number of Fatbike accidents. And that is in principle good, because there are many teenagers who exhibit irresponsible behavior on Fatbikes.”
Yet the union is against a general helmet obligation. “We want more people to cycle. A mandatory helmet for everyone could work against that. On the other hand: if young people get used to it, it might be normal for itself.”
The Fietsersbond also calls for other aspects of road safety, such as the infrastructure. “Think of posts, high sidewalks, unclear crossing places and narrow cycle paths.”
The children themselves are not waiting for it. “It just looks stupid,” says one. “In summer time that gets very hot,” a boy responds. “But it really depends on where you drive along,” he adds. If it is a busy street, he does not find such a crazy idea yet.
Some children find it superfluous for an e-bike, but for a fatbike they have fewer problems with it. “E-bikes is not going that fast at all, but if you give up the Fatbike, I think you have to go on a helmet,” says a student of Dr. Nassau College, location Penta. A student of the Dr. Nassau College Quintus thinks the same thing about it, “If you don’t perform it and just learn to cycle with it, isn’t it a problem?”