I’m not sure I understand, what is the difference between moving recklessly fast on a pedal bike or an ebike? Why is the distinction necessary? Is it just because of potential acceleration rate?
Because it really bothers some people when other people are having fun, or avoiding typical responsibilities such as owning a car.
Going recklessly fast on a pedal bike takes sustained physical effort. Going recklessly fast on an E bike just takes having an E-bike.
Does the state have power and speed limits for e-bikes?
I think even local municipalities can at least to some degree but states definitely have rules which vary a bit, most are pretty close to the federal guidelines (i.e. class 1-3)
I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t see why not as long as it doesn’t conflict with federal laws: They can impose speed limits on cars.
We were talking about this the other day on r/Ebikes and it turns out each state has their own regulations but only 5 of them regard ebikes as “motor vehicles”.
Not that im aware of. There is a speed limit for motorized scooters (15mph).
Ebikes is currently in this weird zone where its not regulated like a electric scooter, nor regulated like a vespa (requires motorbike license to legally drive) and fall under motorcycle laws.
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To be fair, if people are being reckless on e-bikes, then this is to be expected as a consequence. And it sounds like that’s been happening, including pedestrian injuries because of it.
The same thing happened with e-scooters in some cities, where people who weren’t following the rules got them banned for everyone else.
We all share a responsibility. Municipalities need to offer safe places for people to use their bikes, e-scooters, or walk. But at the same time, if you’re being a total asshole, you’ll ruin things for the entire community.
I think that rather than “banning” them, they need to enforce and severely punish offenders who are being intentionally dangerous.
I think a big problem with E-scooters and E-bikes is that a significant portion of them are rentals.
If thats your vehicle and you paid for it. You’re going to learn how to ride it properly and you’re going to ride it like you’re financially responsible if it gets broken.
Theres an old saying among petrolheads “Nothing drives quite like a rental”
I actually do agree, and have argued that point for years!
However, most rentals are low powered junk, so being reckless on a rental escooter or ebike isn’t nearly as bad as doing it on a 2000w device. I’ve unfortunately witnessed quite a lot of riders behaving badly with high-powered escooters and ebikes that are too big to be on pedestrian trails.
E-bikes are getting so fast that the injuries at their top speeds are closer to motorcycle crashes.
