Amsterdammers feel less safe in traffic than other Europeans 00:01 in Binnenland The rise of e-bikes, steps and scooters in particular has made more Amsterdammers feel unsafe.

Four out of ten residents of Amsterdam feel unsafe in traffic. This is evident from the Urban Road Safety Index 2023, the results of a European road safety study in 25 European capitals. Research agency Multiscope surveyed a total of more than 7,500 people, including 300 residents of Amsterdam, on behalf of the Dutch company Cyclomedia, which specializes in geodata.

Amsterdammers feel less safe in traffic in their city than residents of most other European capitals. Electric bicycles, steps and (shared) scooters contribute strongly to that feeling of insecurity. Most Amsterdammers (79 percent) think that the rise of electric means of transport will lead to more accidents.

Istanbul the most unsafe

In the top 25 of cities that are perceived as the most risky, Amsterdam is in fifth place, according to the study. Only Istanbul (73 percent of the inhabitants feel unsafe in traffic there), Rome, Milan and Prague score even worse. In Oslo and Tallinn, capital of Estonia, the experience is very different; those cities are perceived as the safest by the inhabitants.

Compared to the first comparable survey by Cyclomedia last year, Amsterdammers’ sense of security has decreased. More than half of Amsterdammers (54 percent) think it would help if ‘electric partial mobility’, such as scooters, were banned. According to 44 percent, better separation of roads and cycle paths would also be a good solution.

‘Not going well with road safety’

The Institute for Scientific Research into Road Safety (SWOV) emphasizes in a response that this is a study into people’s feeling of insecurity. It is not clear what the actual effect of electric vehicles is on the number of accidents and dangerous situations, the institute emphasizes.

“In general, we can say that road safety on municipal roads is not going well, also for cyclists,” says Patrick Rugebregt of SWOV.

Rugebregt: “Earlier this year, SWOV carried out an analysis for the province of North Holland and the Amsterdam transport region – so broader than just the municipality – and this broadly shows the same picture. We then recommended that priority should be given to give to safe (cycling) infrastructure. That is also reflected in the Cyclomedia study.”