Dutch Environmentalism and Blinky Lights

This post is quite difficult to entitle... so I'll describe. There's a Dutch word that has been translated variously as cheap, environmental, conservative and somewhere in between. For example, I've already commented on how they ride bicycles everywhere. Ask them why? Well, they're conserving money and the environment and it's just plain efficient. Then there's my roommate, who stuffs all of his smaller garbage into an old milk container and will one day (hopefully) throw it out with the rest of thrash. Why? Apparently, he's conserving too.

So Rotterdam is 25km away (15 miles) and a major highway connects it to The Hague. Apparently, the speed limit is only 80km/h (45mph) because -- as Americans know but do nothing about -- driving faster increases pollution. And you can't exceed the limit, either, because cameras note your plate on the on-ramps and exits and then calculate your speed. A guy I was having dinner with last night just received a €60 ($100) ticket for driving on it at 5km/h (3mph) over the limit at 1am on a recent Monday night. That and the two tickets the Belgian cameras mailed him from a recent weekend trip.

Speaking of tickets, national debate is currently raging here over bicycle lights. Many older bikes have the Dynamo system, which powers a white headlight and red taillight with a tiny generator attached to your front wheel. But many kids these days have those blinky lights that you might know from the US.
Well, there is a recent national decision that these blinky lights are out of compliance with the requirements of the national bicycle lighting law and that the police must start ticketing.

Thus, the headlines and the swirling debate. In response, the police chiefs of Utrecht and another city have decided not to comply and to permit riding with blinky lights. Other cities have promised to crack down. Parliament has scheduled at least one full day of debate for next week. And naturally, everyone's talking about it.

Then there's me: my Dynamo died last week. (I have a "bottle" dynamo to be precise.) I had thought it lucky that I brought my blinky light with me from the US. But foiled again!