Link: the dangers of e-bikes and e-motos

[sonia]

The Shocking Crash That Led One County to Reckon With the Dangers of E-Bikes by David Darlington. This is an unlocked New York Times article (posted to the Grizzly Peak Cyclists mailing list) about a bad e-bike crash in Marin County and the political fallout from it. Content note for description of the injury and medical treatment, although the teenager did survive.

The article sparked quite the discussion on the mailing list about reckless e-bike riders on multi-use paths, the pleasures of riding an e-bike and being able to go further and faster without a car, the differences between e-bikes (pedal assist) and e-motos (no pedaling required), and the disingenuousness of the concern about e-bike injuries when cars and motorcycles are far more dangerous to drivers, pedestrians, and the environment.

The person I ride with regularly rides an e-bike, and that has led me to appreciate them more. I look forward to owning one someday when I can't get to where I need to go on my acoustic/manual/regular bike. It's nice to know I have an option other than getting a car or taking lots of taxi rides. And, I still don't appreciate being passed without warning by people on silent fast vehicles who haven't learned bike manners.

Comments

[thistleingrey]

One distinguishing factor is that people buy e-bikes for kids. The more useful of the discussions I've seen narrow the scope of effect to the driver of the vehicle (amongst e-bike, car, motorcycle); otherwise, it's several discussions at once.

[sonia]

That's a good point about the multiple discussions.

I've been on BART a couple of times where there were a ton of kids (young teens?) with some pretty hefty looking e-bikes and/or e-motos. Made me wonder where they were all going.

[jesse_the_k]

e-motos is such a useful word, and they engender so much emotion!

[sonia]

Yes, it's good to distinguish them from e-bikes. People like to go fast, and avoid rules. I wish more people were more mindful of the rest of us in the world as they travel.

[silveradept]

As with so many other things, there's the part that has to be handled regarding "how do we determine that someone is qualified to safely operate machinery that could injure or kill them?" and the part that is "how do we engender a respect for other people in our younglings, so that if they are going to do things that are going to be dangerous, they are only doing them to themslevs and not to others, and hopefully with a plan in place or people on hand to assist in case of injury.?" Regulartion can handle the former, but the latter is much trickier, especially for those people who are still strongly influenced by their desire to find a peer group and to otherwise form alliances for their life.

I'm very much inclined to say that anything with an electronic assist needs to fall into the classification of being a motor vehicle, with certification and safety required before being able to operate it. I think they'd make great things to cut down on carbon emissions, but they have to be usef responsibly, and I'm not entirely sure that's a thing you can enforce on all that many children, especially children without adult supervision.