Smart ForTwo being hoisted out of Amsterdam canal, from De Telegraaf

Smart ForTwo being hoisted out of Amsterdam canal, from De Telegraaf

We've said before that Amsterdam is a city of many and remarkably diverse joys and entertainments. Take, for instance, the beer bike, which was almost banned over concerns about drunk pedaling through the city streets.

But beer bikes and other forms of guzzled and inhaled entertainment sometimes lead to vandalism, and it appears Amsterdam is facing a rash of incidents that put a new spin on the old legend about cow-tipping.

Enter Smart dunking or, as it's known in Dutch, Smart smijten smitjen.

The tiny Smart ForTwo two-seaters are light enough, it seems, for just a few inebriated young men to roll into a canal--or even lift them over the low barriers that prevent pedestrians, cyclists, and parked cars from falling in.

The Smart's ability to park end-in rather than parallel to the canal makes it easy to lift the ForTwo's front end, pivot the 8-foot-long car on its rear wheels, and overturn it directly into the canal.

Luckily, few US residents will face this particular hazard. First, we have fewer canal-side parking spaces. And second, almost no municipality allows Smarts (or any other car) to park end-in. Doing so usually results in a ticket.

Still, if you own a Smart ForTwo or the next smallest car sold here--I'm thinking Mini Cooper or even the old Geo Metro--you might want to stay away from waterside parking for awhile. You know how those crazy kids pick up fads on the Interwebs ....

[Dutchamsterdam.nl, The Sun, and Telegraaf via Autoblog]