[Rnonymous]

These cars drive around Amsterdam quite a bit.

They drive on the city road in between other "8000 lb" suvs. Not sure why that matters. I drive my car a 1,500kg car right next to 30,000kg trucks, was never an issue for me.

I find this fascination with the size of the car and how it supposed to be a hazard quite amusing.

Roads are meant to be shared between different participants. These carts are meant for the city, where everyone's speed limit is 50kph anyway, and they avoid the faster roads. For many, this is all they need.

[happytiger]

I think American drivers is the real concern. There is a certain percentage of people in the US who really have their heads really solidly right up their ass about sharing the road with other users.

As someone who regularly bicycles and walks let me tell you just a few of the things I have personally experienced. I’ve been spit on, had drinks thrown from moving vehicles onto me, been yelled by a motorcyclist for him almost hitting me on the shoulder of a road, been fairly regularly threatened with violence for riding my bike (1-2 times a year someone just loses it), been run off the road by a pickup truck while finishing a mountain bike ride (on purpose), had diesel vehicles blow their exhaust at me when passing (common), and actually had a family member get run down two meters off the main road by someone not paying attention and rummaging through grocery bags in their backseat while driving — hit him from behind in the middle of the day. It was incredibly difficult to prosecute that case and the police and district attorney in the area really didn’t want to do anything.

I could go on, but the point is that America is not Amsterdam and that “8000 lb” vehicle thing is really more of a reference to car brain idiots and the system that supports them than Gross Vehicle Weights themselves.

My entire family still commutes by bike for 70-80 percent of our trips but we are committed to change, and we live in an exceptionally bike oriented city in California.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Amsterdam and find it one of the most deeply compelling transportation systems in the world. I would be happy to use one of these vehicles, but I worry that the small army of car brain idiots in the Us would make using a vehicle like this just plain dangerous and untenable.

All the best.