Re: Orange County Supervisors Crack Down on E-Bikes

On Fri, 07 Jun 2024 16:06:48 GMT, Tom Kunich wrote:

On Fri Jun 7 10:56:21 2024 About Fucking Time  wrote:

Orange County residents will soon see new e-bike restrictions on county
trails and roads amidst mounting complaints over people misusing the
bikes.
 
It comes as local leaders have wrestled for years over how to handle
the growing popularity of e-bikes, with many local police departments
unsure how to handle one of the most popular non-automobile transit
options in South Orange County that residents say is regularly abused.
 
E-bike accidents are up 500% since 2020, according to OC Supervisor
Katrina Foley, one of the proponents behind the new e-bike rules that
set speed limits and can make ?unsafe operation? illegal.
 
?In the past few years we?ve had a rapid increase in the number and
variety of e-bikes on our roads,? Foley said during Tuesday?s OC Board
of Supervisors meeting.,
 
She also noted e-bikes pose a ?major health and safety risk? without
proper oversight.
 
Foley and her colleagues unanimously approved the new rules without
discussion on Tuesday morning.
 
The district Foley represents includes Ladera Ranch, which county staff
noted has been a hub for increased e-bike activity over the past four
years and where many of the complaints about e-bikes have come from.
 
[Read: Santana: Catching Up to E-Bikes in Orange County]
 
There have also been increasing debates over what levels of e-bikes
should be regulated ? while some can only get up to around 20 mph,
others can go nearly 30 mph without a licensed driver.
 
A handful of Orange County cities grappled with how to best regulate e-
bikes last year, with most cities adopting new laws letting police
officers stop any biker they felt was driving in an ?unsafe,? manner.
 
[Read: Orange County Cities Crack Down on E-Bikes With Stricter
Regulations]
 
Under the county?s definition, the county stops counting e-bikes as e-
bikes if they get over 750 watts through their motor.
 
Bill Sellin, one of the directors with the OC Bicycle Coalition, said
many of the bikes causing problems in south Orange County aren?t
technically e-
bikes, but motorized bicycles or motorcycles, adding that sheriff
deputies need to know the difference to enforce the law properly.
 
?It?s low-hanging crime, they don?t want to harass kids about playing
on some toy that daddy bought them,? Sellin said in an interview. ?The
law is very clear if it goes 30 miles per hour with a throttle and has
pedals on it, it?s a motorized bicycle, and it?s not legal to drive
unless you get a license and a VIN.?
 
Part of the problem, Sellin said, is that motorized bicycles are often
marketed as e-bikes despite going much faster, and that sheriffs have
to get aggressive about impounding the bikes being driven without a
license.
 
?They need to get enforcement up to speed to where they pull over this
hoodlum and say this is too powerful to be an e-bike. We need to see
your license,?? Sellin said. ?Oh you don?t have one? Then let?s call
mommy and daddy cause we?re impounding your bike.?
 
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report
for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at
nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
 
https://voiceofoc.org/2024/06/orange-county-supervisors-crack-down-on-

e-

bikes/
 
 

 
 
 
About time for what? Bike trails are used by cyclists, runners, walkers
and dog walkers. I have problems with the youger guys play-racing on
bike paths. MTB trails commonly have wild-eyed downhill fanatics on them
that endanger other people. As lomg as they are not endangering others,
bicycles or E-bikes are welcome anywhere. They are nothing more than a
form of transpostation. What's the matter - upset over being passed?

Here in Denmark, a lot of oldies have taken to e-bikes,
as well as a fair few younger people for some reason,
and accidents with them are about twice those with
normal bikes, possibly because these oldies are not
that ept on them. I will never use one myself (age 85
now). There are also appearing socalled pedelecs, plain
elecric bike, no need to pedal, pretty fast. These could
be regarded as motor bikes.
--
db