Anyone who has tried to drive or park in Amsterdam can see it's not designed for cars. Many people get "I-could-never-drive-in-Amsterdam" syndrome when faced with more hazards than any other major city. Forget trying to find the last parking space in the city after trawling endlessly along canal after canal - just getting from one place to another in one piece is task enough and scares more and more people off.
First, and most dangerous, are the cyclists, convinced of their right to GO at any moment. Going could mean cycling down one-way streets, jumping red lights, riding 3-4 deep across 3/4 of the road, or just generally appearing in the middle of the street for no apparent reason. One false move as a car driver and you're treated to a half-turned bike, stopped in the middle of the way, followed by a twin eye-barrel stare from its rider and a barrage of righteous abuse.
Then there are the tourists. They wander aimlessly into cycle paths, and when trilled by oncoming bikes, they wander instead out into the road where safety seems more likely. Red or Green men at pedestrian crossings are more of a distraction than a strict guideline - huge bodies of tourists keep flooding across busy crossings leaving the driver no choice but to hoot, and this time he receives his righteous abuse in a babble of languages.
The hazard easiest to avoid, but usually least familiar, is definitely the tram. At least they stick to fixed lines. And the buses, well, as long as you don't try to overtake them it's OK, they also keep a pretty straight path. Oh, and don't forget the other cars - put the bikes, tourists, trams, buses and other spooked drivers together on one street, and you are on the way to mayhem. I once stood watching the traffic at an averagely busy crossroads near the centre of Amsterdam for 10 minutes and was truly stunned that there were no accidents as I watched.
Solution? Don't be beaten by all this chaos, add to it! I did - I bought a Scooter.
When I considered coming to Amsterdam, I asked myself whether I really needed to get a car, knowing about the 6 year waiting list for a parking permit and all the afore-mentioned nonsense of driving in the city. Around the same time, I saw "An Inconvenient Truth", which pushed me over the edge to thinking "I will do my bit for the environment and save some money - let's see if I can live without a car."
But thanks to my friend Morten, I went one better. He took me one Saturday to a Scooter shop, and I fell in love immediately with an Aprilia Mojito. Any scooter named after a drink is good enough for me, I thought...
It has been great. The Scooter enables you to whizz in and out of the traffic, upset the cyclists and ride on past them, skim past the trams and buses, and hoot the tourists out of the way. I listen to my iPod under my helmet, and ignore any screams and shouts from those trailing behind. Better still, the impact on the environment is minimal, and it's cheap. I pay 6 Euros per fill, and it lasts me almost a week.
I've ridden 10,000 km on it in the last 18 months. And I have only fallen off 3 times (twice yesterday - hmm, a bit foolhardy, admittedly, heading off in freezing fog at minus 8 degrees as if there was nothing slippery about the roads...). I have been all over the place on it, and loved every minute of it. Even the trip in hail and snow to Heerhugowaard was an experience.... but that's a story for another time.
First, and most dangerous, are the cyclists, convinced of their right to GO at any moment. Going could mean cycling down one-way streets, jumping red lights, riding 3-4 deep across 3/4 of the road, or just generally appearing in the middle of the street for no apparent reason. One false move as a car driver and you're treated to a half-turned bike, stopped in the middle of the way, followed by a twin eye-barrel stare from its rider and a barrage of righteous abuse.
Then there are the tourists. They wander aimlessly into cycle paths, and when trilled by oncoming bikes, they wander instead out into the road where safety seems more likely. Red or Green men at pedestrian crossings are more of a distraction than a strict guideline - huge bodies of tourists keep flooding across busy crossings leaving the driver no choice but to hoot, and this time he receives his righteous abuse in a babble of languages.
The hazard easiest to avoid, but usually least familiar, is definitely the tram. At least they stick to fixed lines. And the buses, well, as long as you don't try to overtake them it's OK, they also keep a pretty straight path. Oh, and don't forget the other cars - put the bikes, tourists, trams, buses and other spooked drivers together on one street, and you are on the way to mayhem. I once stood watching the traffic at an averagely busy crossroads near the centre of Amsterdam for 10 minutes and was truly stunned that there were no accidents as I watched.
Solution? Don't be beaten by all this chaos, add to it! I did - I bought a Scooter.
When I considered coming to Amsterdam, I asked myself whether I really needed to get a car, knowing about the 6 year waiting list for a parking permit and all the afore-mentioned nonsense of driving in the city. Around the same time, I saw "An Inconvenient Truth", which pushed me over the edge to thinking "I will do my bit for the environment and save some money - let's see if I can live without a car."
But thanks to my friend Morten, I went one better. He took me one Saturday to a Scooter shop, and I fell in love immediately with an Aprilia Mojito. Any scooter named after a drink is good enough for me, I thought...
It has been great. The Scooter enables you to whizz in and out of the traffic, upset the cyclists and ride on past them, skim past the trams and buses, and hoot the tourists out of the way. I listen to my iPod under my helmet, and ignore any screams and shouts from those trailing behind. Better still, the impact on the environment is minimal, and it's cheap. I pay 6 Euros per fill, and it lasts me almost a week.
I've ridden 10,000 km on it in the last 18 months. And I have only fallen off 3 times (twice yesterday - hmm, a bit foolhardy, admittedly, heading off in freezing fog at minus 8 degrees as if there was nothing slippery about the roads...). I have been all over the place on it, and loved every minute of it. Even the trip in hail and snow to Heerhugowaard was an experience.... but that's a story for another time.
