CLEAR AND UNBIASED FACTS ABOUT AMSTERDAM WOMEN POLICE

A policewoman in Holland

Reflections of bitter experience had made me not like the police, soldiers, or any law enforcement officer, because instead of keeping the peace and preserving social order, many used the uniform to dominate, intimidate, and abuse the power bestowed upon them.

Many people likely get enrolled in the police service to cause harm to other people or to steal from the weak and the vulnerable. As a traveler, adventurer, and writer, I traveled extensively in Africa.

A VISIT TO AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Every country I visited has its story. Painful stories and brutalities at the hands of law enforcement officers. In Nigeria, an immigration officer slapped me across the face several times and, at the end of it, took all my money from my pocket.

In Lagos, two armed men in police uniform kidnapped me just to steal my money. After the plan failed, they beat me up mercilessly and pushed me out of a moving vehicle. 

Instead of protection, I suffered at the hands of law enforcement officers to the extent that I lost confidence in them, but an incident that took place in Amsterdam changed the negative perception and thinking I had about the police to like them forever.

A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE WITH A POLICEWOMAN IN AMSTERDAM

It was winter, and very dark. On my way to work, I was stopped by a group of traffic police officers who were arresting cyclists with faulty lights. They have arrested over a dozen, issuing them fines to pay. I couldn’t escape when one of the officers, a woman, stopped me. I got off my bicycle, and she inspected my lights. The front light was faulty.

She looked at my face, then said something I wasn’t expecting: “You know? I don’t want to issue you a ticket. Try to fix it tomorrow before passing on this route.” While she was interacting with me, her colleague, a male police officer,  was watching us and wondering what we were talking about instead of issuing me a fine to pay.

The policewoman asked me to leave as quickly as possible, but by then it was too late; her male colleague was catching up to us, so I told her, “Your curious colleague is coming; there is no way I can flee because he is now close behind us.” The male police officer  asked her why the a delay in issuing a fine because my front light is faulty.”

The ‘Good Samaritan policewoman’ said to him, “His rear light is in order, but the front one, he is not aware that is faulty. I asked him to fix it tomorrow.” 

Her male colleague didn’t say anything, and he walked away. Then the policewoman told me to leave, but I shouldn’t ride the bicycle.

I obeyed her instructions and went away. Luckily enough, I was just a few meters from the  workplace, ‘The Okura Hotel.’ What transpired shocked me both physically and psychologically, so that I have loved the police till now. 

Whenever I see any policewoman, this bicycle story not only comes into my mind, but I also love them too.

Many times, people judge the police wrongly and say all sorts of dirty things against them, but some are very nice indeed.

Making Bicycle A Safe Means Of Transport In Africa

A sea of bicycles in Amsterdam

The Oxford dictionary defines “vehicle” as a conveyance for transporting passengers or goods on land or in space. In this case, besides a car, lorry, train, airplane, a bicycle is also accepted as a means of transport to apply on the road.


That means a cyclist has the right to use the road without any horn hooting or harassment of the rider by other road users. An integrated transport policy is not viable without the implementation of structures allowing the development of cycling.

There are many reasons the bicycle is essential and important to users. The bicycle enables one to get somewhere very fast when there is a traffic hold-up. It is energizing to use a bicycle, and it eliminates stress. 

Among all transports, it is the cheapest, as you don’t need fuel, and no license is required. Ecologically, the manufacturing and use of a bicycle, as well as the planning of space for its use, create much less solid waste and no pollution.

In Ghana, the bicycle plays a major role as a means of transport in the North for farmers who have no other means of getting to their farms and home. But at the moment, bicycles are fast emerging as an urban means of transport. 

Transportation is a problem in most big cities. It is therefore not a crime for a cyclist to get to work or wherever he intends to go on a bicycle. 

But on the road, some road users think the cyclist has no right at all to be on the street. They torment cyclists with the blaring of horns and even scream at them at times.

Actually, it is very frustrating to most drivers when a cyclist is ahead of them or at any inconvenient place along the road. Bicycles can cause traffic on a busy road. 

Some cyclists have contributed to road accidents many times. But that doesn’t mean that they have no right to use the road; after all, motorists are also involved in road accidents. 

Walking through the city of Accra, there is nowhere one can find a bicycle route by the side of the major roads. For example, the Accra – Kasoa road is a very good level constructed road, but it was constructed without any bicycle lane.

In Europe, a cycling plan aiming to develop cycling was approved in the ’80s. Revised annually, it considers the implementation of a network of cycle lanes and the transformation of parking places into bicycle parking. 

This network is built in order to reinforce the safety for cyclists, with stop signposts placed before those for cars, and crossroads redesigned for cyclists. 

In Ghana, roads are constructed without any consideration for bicycle users. Nothing is planned in the country by taking the future into consideration.

I believe that if the government implements the construction of bicycle routes in its future projects, there will be a free flow of traffic in the cities, and that would also help to reduce the traffic holdups that motorists are currently facing.

It’s a well-known fact that a lack of finance is one of the major setbacks affecting Africa’s infrastructure and projects. But if a specific project would be a solution or an answer to a problem, then the government should take it into consideration. 

For example, in Europe, to prevent traffic jams and ensure the safety of cyclists, the Netherlands has been successful with bicycle routes running throughout the towns and cities. A journey of about 50 to 100 km could easily be done by bicycle. 

In Trondheim-Norway, a bicycle lift has been put up in the center of the town to facilitate access to another town called Brubakken, and in Belgium, a bicycle tunnel has been built under the sea to link the two cities of Antwerp and Linkeroever. 

It takes ten to twelve minutes to go to Linkeroever from the city of Antwerp, while the bus takes about twenty minutes.

As Ghana gradually matures into a great nation, the government must include the construction of bicycle routes in its future road projects. Bicycle plays a very significant role, not only as a means of transport but also in promoting good health.