You’re not really a “cyclist” if a motor is doing a bunch of the work. That’s the equivalent of those mopeds we had in the ‘70s that you could pedal, too. Probably went 35-40 mph. Nobody in their right mind would call them bicycles or call the riders cyclists. It’s a motorized bike.
It’s a motorized bike.
But not to be confused with a motorcycle, which is something different.
Semantics.
Just common usage has made a “motorized bicycle” of yesteryear into its own vehicle class today. It’s exactly the same thing with e-bikes hitting 30+ mph speeds, just electric motors instead of an ICE.
Depends, if it’s pedal assist it’s most definitely cyclists. If it’s just a throttle then I agree
have you tried “cycling” on stronger electric bikes with the support mode set to “sport” or “highest”? Moving the pedals is pretty damn symbolic on these vehicles, less than 10% of the actual energy needed to move is provided by the legs, it’s almost all motor. It’s like they moved the throttle control to the pedals.
It’s more nuanced than just “regulation bad and I want my freedom.” With the war in Iran destroying the world’s energy economy, people will be forced to use cheaper modes of transportation. And when there aren’t any buses/trains, E-bikes are a good solution. The problem will be that too many people will be pushed into it and some people are just retarded. There will be reckless people and there will be those that can barely operate the vehicle. I think it’s worth considering some form of regulations knowing that they’re may be an E-bike boom in the coming years (or maybe even months).
As if dozens of bros on dirt bikes and quads roaming about weren’t enough, you have these dumb kids getting their hands on souped-up “e-bikes” where pedals are but an afterthought. These hellions are giving other e-bike riders, including people relying on pedal assist, a bad rep.
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You need a license for those, which requires, at least in sane countries, pretty extensive training. Bicycles require zero training. Hence, electrically assisted bicycles should be limited to sane speeds. If you want it to be faster, it’s legally a motorcycle and you need training and accountability (license plate). It’s not that complex. Nobody’s banning faster e-mobility, you just need to prove you know how to handle it. Just like with the pollution machines…
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But of course you ARE that obese cunt, so why would i expect objectivity from you am I right, fatzo?
I probably weigh more than you, yes. Majority of it, by weight, is muscle mass. In fact I probably have more muscle mass than you have body weight, flab and all. Put it this way, you claim to need a fast electric bicycle to get away from whatever bullshit you pull to make people angry, I could just run away if I punched you in the face for being a cunt to someone and you couldn’t catch me without your pwecious wittwe ewectwic bikey-wikey.
Heard from a friend who lives down just down the road from me say how recently this kid at her son’s middle school just put some older substitute teacher into critical medical condition after colliding with this kid on his modded ebike coming down round the hill as the old teacher was crossing the street coming out from work
Yeah those are pretty much motorcycles. They need to be license plated.
Too many people in here are perfectly fine with all movement outside of their home being ID’d, documented and monitored. A plate on a bike does absolutely nothing to make the road safer. It just normalizes the “safety” of constant surveillance by your benevolent overlords.
Put normal regulations on e bike performance and build bike safe infrastructure. “It would be too dangerous to chase them”… get on your own bike you fat lazy pig.
What a stupid idea.
EMS treats a pedestrian vs pedal bicycle accident the same as a pedestrian vs car accident.
Ebikes can go a lot faster.
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Can, but more important thing is the weight. While lightweight bicycles can easily exceed 25km/h (and I personally can reach 40km/h with mine), they’re usually much lighter, obviously. This comes with a noticeable difference in the impact itself. You could argue they’re more stable or have better brakes, but people are just more irresponsible with them. I can bet my left ball on the fact that statistically ebikes crash more often than non-ebikes (per capita) and the crashes are almost always more severe
they’re usually much lighter, obviously
Sure. But if the combined weight of rider and bike is around 100kg and that rises to 115kg for an electric, then that’s not a huge difference.
100kg biker
Cars can go even faster and actually do kill thousands of people, but god fucking forbid we talk about slowing those down because we’re so normalized to their violence that we’re blind to it. I agree with the person you replied to, this is monumentally stupid. Give micromobility their own infrastructure, repurpose space currently given to cars. We’ve gotra stop pearl-clutching over sustainable progress.
But cars already require licenses and have speed limits? Now we’re talking about limiting unlicensed e-bikes, whereas with a motorcycle license you could still go as fast as cars or… motorcycles.
How about we just license the ebikes according to what they’re capable of like we do with cars and motorcycles?
Uhh that’s what everyone’s whining about here though. Not even a license requirement, a simple minimum age and license plate for high speed ebikes.
I think everyone in here is whining about slightly different things because of how many aspects there are to this discourse.
Most so-called ebike deaths are actually car deaths, because the cyclist gets hit by a car
14 year old on an suron killed an 81 year old pedestrian here. The mom is being charged with involuntary manslaughter.
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Cars require a license that can be taken away if the driver is a danger to society. They also drive on their own roads.
An e-bike can hit pretty high speeds and is usually ridden on pedestrian walkways. There’s no license to take away, and if you don’t get caught immediately, you can just go bye bye since there’s no license plate.
That’s why they’re introducing regulations limiting unlicensed e-bikes to reasonable speeds, while more powerful e-bikes are still available if you’re 18 and get a license plate. You can still ride it without any training since those don’t assist you past 45 km/h either… Though personally I’m of the opinion that an ebike capable of hitting 45 km/h in 2 seconds on a pedestrian walkway should require training and a license too. Or just be banned from sidewalks.
Places that allow any sort of bike on the sidewalk are generally places that have neglected to bother with any sort of adequate biking infrastructure.
It’s not an either/or proposition.
A stupid person on an ebike can cause an accident.
And they slow down cars all the time. There are speed bumps galore near me.
The new law lays the groundwork for Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) technology, which uses GPS and onboard sensors to prevent vehicles from exceeding posted speed limits, to be used by super speeders. This is not a blanket mandate; it focuses on the most dangerous drivers while allowing safe mobility for the general public.
If this like a breathalyzer that only gets installed in some people’s cars, or is it going to have to be in all cars?
Tough. Go back to a regular bike. Around here the cops have been making them follow the driving laws for a few years. There are no state laws but other ways to get them to not be a danger.
Exactly. America could use the exercise.
I would be getting zero exercise in my commute if it wasn’t for an ebike
You can commute on a bicycle… true story.
There are about 9 very steep hills in the way. I would show up to my very professional job absolutely soaked to the nines heaving and hoing. Not happening.
An e bikes gives me some exercise yet I’m not absolutely dead when I get to work.
Pretty sensible. Brings things nearly in line with EU regs. Personally though I think 20mph is just about right as a limit without really upsetting people. It’s 15.6mph here and I just don’t see the point using one if I can ride faster on most terrain under my own steam.
20 mph is difficult to hold your own with cars in the street.
Let’s use traffic calming to limit cars to 20mph too.
It’s 15.6mph here and I just don’t see the point using one if I can ride faster on most terrain under my own steam.
Hills.
I can ride 15.6mph up hills if I really want :)
Shared bike paths. If I have to nearly stop to go around a kid on a tricycle it’s no big deal since I can get back up to speed with no effort. But without the electric boost I’m more tempted to fly by to keep my speed up.
Yeah I have a 20mph one and it feels pretty reasonable tbh
Some of these comments read like FBI boot licker plants
Too many.
“I want the government to limit my property for the state’s benefit” is such a lib take. Oh and before anyone says its for “public safety” you’re chugging state propaganda. If it was for public safety then they would get rid of right hand turns on red but we’re not here to talk about that.
get rid of right hand turns on red
I’ve been driving in California for 30 years, and have never once considered right on reds a safety issue. At intersections where visibility is limited, they do prevent the turn on red.
I, like you, am uncomfortable with the license plate as a solution to the “something faster than an e-bike” problem. I don’t think that’s the solution. But it is a problem, and we should explore all possible solutions.
Miss me with your 30 years of driving bullshit https://apnews.com/article/red-light-turn-pedestrian-bicyclist-deaths-7f5bdee9c7b3f4cbf005f1844f486123
Miss me
What are you, twelve? You can find some isolated stories about tragic accidents (never mind the fact that the offender here did not stop at the red light, which is the crux of the issue.)
Yes, in my 30 years and hundreds of thousands of miles of driving in a state in which it is legal everywhere, I can conclusively say it’s no less safe than the rest of cars vs pedestrians- which is to say not as safe as it should be, but the solution isn’t in banning right-on-reds. Updates to the traffic code in Illinois (the state in which you cite the accident) go on not to ban right-on-reds, but to enforce a full and complete stop before the intersection and yielding to any pedestrians. Safety precautions that, frankly, should’ve been in place before and, from my seat, how it’s enforced in California.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn_on_red
"A 1981 US Department of Transportation study determined that the frequency of motor vehicle collisions with bicyclists and pedestrians when the vehicle was turning right increased significantly after the adoption of “Western RTOR”. According to that study “Estimates of the magnitude of the increases ranged from 43% to 107% for pedestrian accidents and 72% to 123% for bicyclist accidents.” These RTOR accidents were between 1% and 3% of all pedestrian and bicycle accidents in the locations that were studied.[94]
A 1984 study found that where RTOR was allowed “all right-turning crashes increase by about 23%, pedestrian crashes by about 60%, and bicyclist crashes by about 100%.”[95] A 1993 study also concluded that RTOR increased crashes for pedestrians and cyclists, by 44% and 59% respectively.[96]
For the 1982–1992 period, a National Highway Safety Commission report estimated that total fatal crashes in the U.S. involving vehicles making a right turn on red, were between 0 and 84, and probably toward the lower end of the range.[97]
A February 2002 study published in the ITE Journal concluded that “Prohibiting right turn on red would require drivers to turn on green. This would most likely increase the number of collisions by right turning vehicles.”[2][98]
A 2009 study by The New York City Department of Transportation of injuries before and after right turn on red was allowed at specific intersections concluded that the change had not affected accident rates.[99]"
“Please regulate our ebikes while we don’t have free healthcare” That’s you, that’s what you sound like.
I am 12 and your anecdotal evidence is childish now fuck off dumb ass lib.
Nothing like being called childish from someone not in control of their emotions.
Oh, and I don’t want e-bikes regulated. I want e-motos defined correctly.
Either the general Lemmy IQ has dropped quite a bit or we are infested with bots. Neither is good.
The number of children I see zooming around the neighborhood without helmets and not even stopping at stop signs (I legit almost hit one kid one time who blew through a stop sign in front of me), is pretty horrifying. Their parents have basically given them all small motorcycles and let them go free with no supervision. It just seems so unsafe.
Some vehicles that people call “ebikes” should absolutely be registered and plated. You should not be able to take a motorized vehicle on a bike path and zoom through at 50+ MPH. The surron kiddies are going to ruin alternative transportation for everyone. Sure, surrons aren’t ebikes (and something like a super 76 which has pedals really should be regulated as part of its own category like emoped or something), but regulators are going to want to put everything in nice near categories and ban everything else.
The issue here is that we have no way to verify from your text whether you almost hit them because of their lack of responsibility, or if you weren’t paying enough attention.
As someone with extensive experience with bike commuting on a regular bike, I have had multiple near death experiences while obeying all traffic laws properly and using multiple light sources. Even with my new 10 minute walking commute, the simple act of crossing the street safely when the street lights tell me to cross, has proved to be asking too much with multiple near hits in only a few months.
Humans are not remotely responsible enough to drive.
Lol I was paying perfect attention. Only reason the kid was ok was that I was far enough back to slam on my breaks (and was going the speed limit). I doubt he even realized how risky the move he pulled was.
In all fairness, I’ve also nearly been hit by asshole pickup trucks blowing the same stop sign. Guess it might just be that intersection that makes people think it’s optional.
Hell, I’ve had kids riding down the opposite lane of traffic riding wheelies and swerving around. Absolutely no accountability.
Kids having independence is a good thing. They are probably the first in their family to be independent from cars and so their parents don’t teach them cycling etiquette.
Yes independence is a good thing. If they were riding normal bikes, I’d have few issues with them. However, the way things currently are, I see a decent number of dead or disabled children in the future.
Helmets are bad for safety because (1) car drivers act more dangerous around cyclists wearing helmets and (2) they discourage people from riding bikes whereas the primary safety factor of cycling, by far, is the number of people cycling.
huh? I never wear a helmet outside of escooters but I’m not going to argue that no helmet is safer than helmet
Not just children, but adults too! They’re more likely to have a helmet on, but stop a stop sign? Nah, they don’t have to stop, they are immune to traffic laws!
Stop signs and traffic lights only exist to stop cars from killing people, bicycles do not need stop signs.
It is safer for bicyclists to run stop signs than it is to come to a complete stop. Also who the fuck in 2026 actually stops at a stop sign? Nobody does.
Genuinely nobody follows stop signs. I think it’s like 20% actually come to a stop?
With bicycles, it’s safer to treat stop signs as a yield signs since coming to a full stop means you’ll cross the intersection much more slowly than if you keep some speed.
I think it makes sense for those bikes that can do 30mph+ and aren’t even meant to be ridden as bicycles despite having pedals. They usually look like a motorcycle and can accommodate two riders. Having bicycle pedals shouldn’t be a loophole for bypassing drivers licensing requirements and traffic laws. These things are usually ridden by 10-15 year olds who don’t yet have formal training. I saw a kid cause an accident buzzing through a 4-way stop. I’ve also heard of them colliding with pedestrians at high speeds on sidewalks.
I agree with all of your points. However, in California, ebikes are already regulated:
https://riding5.com/blogs/news/california-ebike-laws-class-1-2-3
The only “wild west” thing happening is that some people are riding illegal, (they’re already illegal. We don’t need new laws) unregistered electric motorcycles. The 30+ mph “ebikes” you refer to: those are motorcycles.
What makes it the Wild West is there is no good way to enforce anything at the moment, so any existing regulations are ineffective to the point where the current environment is de facto unregulated
Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, the East Bay legislator behind the license plate bill, says law enforcement in her district has been raising concerns for some time. Officers told her they are seeing dangerous speeds from electric bikes but have no practical way to issue citations without putting themselves or others at risk. A license plate changes that equation.
She also pointed out that the rise of e-bikes among younger riders has made it harder to know at a glance whether a child is legally riding an age-appropriate e-bike, operating an illegally modified one, or cruising around on an electric moped that is not supposed to be on public roads at all.
How do you know which one is illegal? It’s the one that’s going too fast.
Ebikes are an excellent, relatively inexpensive solution to several problems. They’re going to try to regulate them until they become impractical.
I’ve got a skateboard and unicycle myself, I think all these things are great, but you’ve highlighted the big problems that exist today. It’s the kids that have no sense, whip by people walking, being ignorant to traffic rules, etc.
I watched 2 kids on a gravel path whip by on escooters past a 5 year old swaying back and forth on a pedal bike as he was obviously trying to learn. That could have gotten bad.
California is spot on and if the e-bike is able to travel above 25 km/h it should be illegal to ride in the bicycle lane. Why the hell are kids riding an e-bike when they should be building endurance and muscles.
Lemmy when offline driver monitoring to prevent dui and falling asleep, texting: 🤬🤬
Lemmy when requiring license and registration just to ride a bicycle: 🤭
Good, they’re great technology. Regulation and legislation will allow them to be used safely resulting in fewer cars on the road.
Two bills moving through the California legislature this year could change how e-bikes are bought, ridden, and regulated across the state. One would require riders of certain electric bikes to register their vehicles with the DMV and slap a license plate on the frame. The other would reduce the top speed that e-bikes for children are allowed to reach. If you are a daily commuter, a weekend rider, or a parent who just bought their kid a new electric bike, this news is worth paying attention to.
The bills are being pitched as a safety measure, and the lawmakers behind them say the surge in e-bike usage, especially among teens and tweens in suburban areas, has created real enforcement headaches for local police. Without license plates, officers say it is nearly impossible to ticket a rider safely without chasing them down, which creates its own set of dangers.
Officers told her they are seeing dangerous speeds from electric bikes but have no practical way to issue citations without putting themselves or others at risk.
My issue isn’t them exceeding the speed limit, but outright disregarding traffic laws, like going the wrong way on the street, disregarding red lights and stop signs, and not having lights while operating at night. I don’t do any of that when I’m on a bike, and the people who are breaking those laws also shouldn’t be. Those are all issues that come up as readily with conventional bicycles as with e-bikes. If e-bikes on public roads are going to be required to sport a license plate, I’d think that conventional bicycles could also be required to have a license plate.
They also need to stay off the fucking sidewalk!!! Back in NYC, it would be a daily occurrence that I would nearly get hit by an ebike or moped while walking my dog. It’s infuriating. There’s no fucking excuse guys
The problem is not raining in the street is too dangerous cars will run you over and even a class 3 electric bike cannot keep up with cars on non-residential streets without a lot of manual exertion. I think it should be legal to ride on the sidewalk anywhere that does not have protected bike Lanes, not just a thin painted stripe
I’m OK with it being illegal to cycle on the pavement, even though I do it in places where it’s not allowed. There, just as in places in my city where it is allowed, I slow down so that I’m more at the same speed as pedestrians, so that I don’t cause a problem. But not everyone does, and it’s easier to crack down on the shitheads if it’s just plain not legal. If there were a crackdown, I’d easily be able to walk my bike in the places where I currently break the rules.
They should ban cars from the streets so pedestrians and ebikes dont have to share the little sidewalk.
NYC probably bans it.
searches
Yeah.
https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCadmin/0-0-0-31165
§ 19-176 Bicycle operation on sidewalks prohibited.
California has patchwork restrictions on it — it may not be illegal where you see someone doing it.
searches
https://bikeeastbay.org/SidewalkCycling/
Here is a list of all the cities in the East Bay, South Bay, and Peninsula, and the sidewalk cycling laws for each community. Keep in mind that although children are allowed to ride on the sidewalk in some cities this does not mean that they are required to do so. Also note that if a jurisdiction does not specifically regulate sidewalk cycling via their local code then it is permitted everywhere (the “No Data” column below):
Who’s gonna enforce it though? It’s essentially unenforceable until someone causes an accident and the cops are called
Then build me a mf bike lane. In many places (where I live!) its either the sidewalk or share the road with 55mph traffic. I’m taking the sidewalk…
Why should golf carts be able to ride on the side walk but not cyclists?
…who the fuck thinks golf carts should be allowed to ride on sidewalks?
A license plate requirement means that people just writing an electric bicycle will be mass surveilled by flock cameras and have their location data added to their palantir dossier which is a seriousness civil liberties risk, the fact that they’re trying to extend the bicycles is about control not safety we should resist it
Do that for all bikes. If they run a stop sign or light, prison.
Just shoot tgem in the face. It’s america after all.
What age do you suggest bicycle riders have to be? I think registering pedal bikes is absurd and limits many people. You already can get tickets on a bicycle for anything from running stop signs to speeding to DUI. I do think e bikes with a throttle should be registered like scooters because people riding them are getting folded up BAD because they treat the safety like that of a bicycle but then do motorcycle speeds on them and it leads to pretty serious injury. But I think any bike that’s pedal only or only pedal assist (read: NO throttle) has no reason to be registered.
Not disagreeing with you overall, but when I was at school, there was a hill that let me get enough speed on my pedal bike to keep up with the flow of traffic. It felt wild being able to merge into traffic at speed on a bicycle for the left turn at the end of it. Probably not the safest thing to do, though I’m glad I did because it was fun. The hill wasn’t even that steep, just long.
That’s awesome! Yea I have tracked behind road bike guys before because I did not have a safe space to pass them and they were clocking 30mph on flat ground! But you have to work for it on a pedal bike, these guys with a throttle are doing 30 everywhere they can because why wouldn’t you? I ride motorcycles and I wear all of the gear. I got into an accident at 30mph and I now have a custom made steel plate and 16 screws holding me together, and if not for the jacket I may have lost my left arm so my concern is legitimately about safety because i have been in that hospital bed. I can only imagine some poor 14 year old getting way out of their depth and ending up in an accident like that, and that is why I think throttle e bikes should be treated closer to scooters. Where I live you don’t need a moto endorsement for a scooter of 50cc or lower, but you need at least a learners permit for a regular licence so you have been educated on the road rules and risks etc.
