Re: New York's Crackdown on Ebikes

On Mon May 26 21:17:54 2025 Frank Krygowski  wrote:

On 5/26/2025 1:15 PM, NFN Smith wrote:

Frank Krygowski wrote:

New York Times article on police cracking down on ebike traffic
violations. Let's see if this will get people past the paywall:
>
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/nyregion/ebikes-scooters-cyclists-
nyc.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KE8.voH2.AOcHv0jrnp79&smid=url-share
>
>

 
Ignoring the political drivel of the story...
 
The problem is with classifying ebikes as "bikes" (e.g. 2 wheels) rather
than accounting the dynamics of a powered vehicle.
 
When it comes to bicycles, it's too easy to consider a traditional bike
to be a "pedestrian", because it's slower than a motor vehicle, and is
not powered. However a lot of the time, traditional bikes and
pedestrians are incompatible sharing the same space.

 
I agree. In bike advocacy discussions, I've heard very competent people
point out that bikes and pedestrians mix badly. It can be OK with
conscientious cyclists and sensible pedestrians, but both are often absent.
 

 I've found that even
multi-use paths are frequently not a good place for serious riding,
because of the speed differential between a bicycle and a pedestrian.

 
Yes. I've heard the term "pathlete" applied derisively to bicyclists
doing speed work on multi-use paths.
 

And there's even an in-between space for things like unpowered scooters
or roller blades that are faster than pedestrians but slower than bikes.
 
However, with ebikes (and for that matter, powered scooters) when you
add powered propulsion, then you're adding an extra measure of speed,
including that too many ebikes are capable of speeds in excess of what
is possible than for all but the fastest fitness riders.

 
And it's been pointed out that to ride at 20 mph, most people require
years of training. They start slow and tend to make most of their
mistakes at slow (less dangerous) speeds. But ebikes allow total novices
to ride faster than most experts.
 

I'm fully of the opinion that any bike should be regarded as a vehicle,
and generally, ridden on streets, where it's understood by both the
rider and motorists that the bike is subject to all the rules of the
road, both rights and responsibilities.