Beer Bike To Be Banned In Anxious Amsterdam?

Beer bike in Amsterdam by Flickr user dutchamsterdam.nl

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Amsterdam is a city of many and remarkably diverse joys and entertainments. But the Dutch are also an extremely practical people.

Enter: The Beer Bike, or bierfiets.

It's a way for 14 people, at least some of them presumably inebriated (and the video mentions "stoned" as well), to travel through the streets of the Dutch capital without getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

Given that the Dutch now log more miles on their bikes than on their automobiles (being an almost entirely flat country helps), it was probably inevitable.

Now, two accidents involving Beer Bikes--one that caused an injury--have transportation councillor Hans Gersen rethinking whether they're such a good idea.  Karsten, a company that rents the beer bikes to tourists, says it's open to negotiation and stresses that any rental must include at least one non-drinking driver.

We're just left to wonder: Is there a dedicated bong bike as well?

BONUS VIDEO (with incidental Michael Jackson tribute):

[Personal Money Store, TreeHugger; photo by Flickr user dutchamsterdam.nl]