Traffic chief Melanie van der Horst said on Wednesday that the national government is taking too long to draw up policy to tackle the nuisance caused by fatbikes and that “now is the time to look at unorthodox measures”.

The government does plan to require children up to the age of 14 to wear a helmet when using an electric bike, including a fatbike, from 2027 but this does not go far enough, Van der Horst said.

“Every week I get messages from Amsterdammers who say they no longer dare go out on the roads and are urging me to ban fatbikes,” she said. “I feel it is my duty to try everything in my power to tackle this problem.”

Officials can draw up a local bylaw to ban fatbikes from some areas on the basis of reports about traffic safety and nuisance.

The government claims it is impossible to differentiate between a normal e-bike and a fatbike but Van der Hoorst said she would welcome a legal battle on the definition.

“Everyone knows a fatbike is very different to an e-bike,” she said. “The tyres are wider, the bikes are heavier and you don’t need to pedal to move forward, so they are more like a moped than a bike.”

Last summer Enschede council voted in favour of banning fatbikes in the city centre, and other local councils have said they plan to draw up their own rules to keep fatbikes, electric scooters and other motorised vehicles off the roads.

They argue, for example, that the current cycle network is not set up to deal with mini electric scooters, the first of which have recently been licenced for use in the Netherlands. International research, they point out, shows that the scooters are less safe than ordinary bikes.