Bikers' Paradise:
Perils For Students In A City Of Pedalers

In Amsterdam, it didn't take long for Christine Williams to discover that this is a city ruled by bicyclists.

She had just gotten off the tram, suitcase in tow, to walk to the Park Hotel, where she and her Honors-PLUS classmates from UC were headed for the Amsterdam leg of a month-long European study trip.

Before she and her classmates headed to Europe, a Dutch native had warned them about the plethora of bikes in the Netherlands. But the truth of that insight didn't ring true until she stepped into a bike path without realizing it. The shrill bell of a cyclist greeted her and whizzed past, swerving to miss hitting her.

"I was in a kind of state of shock because they were so many bikes here. There were bikes everywhere, cars, trams and people," said Williams, a graduate of Columbus, Ohio's Fort Hayes Arts and Academics High School, adding that she had gotten accustomed to the quietness of Finland, where she and her classmates studied for the first two weeks of the trip.

So many bikes fill the bike paths of Amsterdam and the Netherlands that there are literally bike parking garages, filled with hundreds and hundreds of bikes. Bike paths run along the roadside, with footpaths on both sides. The cobblestone walkways frequently will be narrower than the bike paths, so it's not hard for Americans to find themselves spilling over into the cyclists' right-of-way. Adding an extra challenge to the navigational mix are cars and tram tracks running in multiple directions, sometimes intersecting the bike paths. Crossing the street requires checking for noisy cars and trams, as well as bikes, which sneak up silently.

Quietly, that is, until a walker takes the wrong step. Then, the bike bells ring out with a sound that is much cheerier than an unsuspecting American pedestrian ends up feeling.

"I have never been so scared of bikes in my life!" observes Carrie Foulk, a University Honors Scholar traveling with the Carl H. Lindner Honors-PLUS scholars. Foulk is from Huntsville, Ohio.

Sometimes there are only seconds for a walker to try to correct their course, and if you correct in the same direction the cyclist does, you might get hit. That's what happened to Honors-PLUS Scholar Kim Hais when she visited Amsterdam in fall 2000 during a study quarter in Linz, Austria.

"I was where I wasn't supposed to be, and I didn't get out of the way fast enough," admits the Mother of Mercy High School alumnus from Mack.

A middle-aged biker ran into her and fell off his bike. "He wasn't happy," Hais recalls. But at least neither she nor the man were injured.

Even following the rules won't always guarantee your safety. Earlier this week, she followed the rules and crossed the street when the crosswalk turned green. An approaching moped ran a red light, nearly creaming her and Honors-PLUS Scholar Jay Hummel.

Posts lining the streets -- sometimes iron, sometimes wood -- appear to offer some protection from passing cars and bikes. In Amsterdam, the rows of poles are usually painted brown. They are also marked with three X's -- a symbol from the city's crest and are called "Amsterdammertjes" in Dutch.

Despite the dangers and the difficulties auto-addicted Americans have with so many bikes filling the streets of the Netherlands, Hais says she wouldn't want to see more cars on the road instead. The risks she has endured are worth it. She also thinks that Cincinnatians should take a cue from the Dutch and try using two-wheelers a lot more often.