Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Not to be pedantic, but...
Most of the bikes associated with bad behavior are the smaller, faster e-motos and not garden-variety e-bikes. Sure, kids do wheelies and ride all manner of vehicles dangerously – as they have forever, but the recent uptick in noticeable issues is from kids riding e-motos.
https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/the-e-bike-problem-is-an-e-moto-problem
When people start saying stuff like "ban e-bikes" they probably don't mean what they think they mean. The person getting groceries with the e-cargo bike is not the problem here.
This distinction is irrelevant to most of us on here. We see kids acting stupid on bike shaped vehicles with pedals that go too fast. The adults are also a problem on these vehicles, including those on cargo bikes who blow through stop signs no matter what is happening at the intersection. That's outside the scope of this thread, though.
No, this is an uninformed opinion. The distinction between e-bikes and e-motos is critical, both legally and in terms of the risks they present for riders and others - e-bikes are legally treated as bicycles, while e-motos are classified as motorized vehicles - they are motorcycles, period. And even within e-bikes, the distinction between class 1 and 3 is meaningful - class 1 is just a pedal assist bike, great for people who live in hilly areas and commute on their bike to work or school. A Class 3 e-bike is closer to an e-moto, but the throttle cuts off at 20 MPH, whereas e-motos can go up to 70 MPH. We live in a mountain community where the cops (and schools) have finally cracked down hard on e-motos after too many fatalities. Whereas a kid riding a class 1 pedal-assist e-bike to school is no more annoying or threatening than a kid on a BMX bike.