Tuesday, July 29, 2008 --- 9:10 a.m.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- Paramedics in the Netherlands are fighting traffic and high gas prices by using bikes.

A spokesman for Amsterdam's Ambulance Dispatch Center says three bikes outfitted with first aid supplies, including medicines, defibrillators, and oxygen tanks, have been added to its fleet of emergency response vehicles. The equipment is carried in a compact baggage rack on the back of the bikes.

The spokesman says "the only thing they don't have is a stretcher." Bicyclists can get past snarled traffic and blocked roads inaccessible to cars. The bikes cost roughly $13,300 each, which is cheap compared to buying a new ambulance.