Hacker News Reader

What blows my mind is that in New York, we've decided to deal with this by requiring speed governors on pedal-assist bicycles to limit them to around 20mph... while they're required to share the street with cars that are free to travel at almost any speed.

View on HN

The key difference is whether a motorcycle driver's license is required. The electric bicycle manufacturer can choose to forgo the speed governors and be subject to motorcycle safety/licensing/etc regulations.

Traffic rules basically give drivers a way to deal with other vehicles going different speeds. So a the driver of a scooter going 20 mph and the driver of a car going 40 mph can share the same road, just like a driver of a truck going 40 mph can share the road with the driver of a car going 60 mph.

And yet, that same car can go 80 or 90 or even over 100 mph, which would be illegal on any road. Why?

Most motor vehicles could attain those speeds, and 100 mph isn't illegal on all roads.

On a steep enough descent, a cyclist could get up to speeds beyond 50 mph, which really isn't safe given the equipment.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com