Val op!

"Look out for the police!"

Sometimes you heard things but it takes some time before it registers in your mind. So as I was cycling through the night, and when this lady I didn't know says that to me as she passes by on her bike, it took me some time to realise she was actually talking to me. And it took me even longer to know why, and to be grateful for the warning.

Indeed, less than a minute later was the police. Not one, but two and two more in a patrol car. I connected the dots to the recent news I heard that the police are 'cracking down' on bike riders without lights. A new regulation was introduced that when cycling at night you must have a front and a back light. The front light can be either yellow or white, and the back light has to be red. The lights cannot be flashing, and must be connected to your bike. If you don't conform, you risk a €20 fine, per light.

Thankfully, being the law abiding citizen I am, I did have my lights on. The only infringements were that my front light was green, and my lights were flashing, because it's more visible I thought, since the batteries are almost dead. I cycled slowly and carefully past the policemen. I was lucky, as their attention were focused on giving a ticket to some poor kid who rode his scooter without a helmet.

I cycled on, and home, but thought to myself about the ridiculousness of the new measures, the sight of five policemen gathered at a street corner trying to catch the unwary cyclist for such minor infringements.

Yes… in the light of the increasing wave of intolerance towards foreigners and homosexuals, and in the aftermaths of several school stabbings, and the exposure of the government spying on journalists, the country’s unlit night riders who criss-cross the The Netherlands’ cycle paths pose a serious threat to social stability.