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Comment by socialismisok | Hacker News Reader

These laws are fantastic, and much needed. Obviously we should prioritize pedestrian safety first, which these laws are neutral towards.

But biking, especially electric assisted biking, is loads more efficient in both space and energy. If a place refuses to build bike infrastructure, this helps make roads better for cyclists.

I live in sort of the urban shoulder of Seattle, and my bike rides go through a mix of trails, protected lanes, and suburban streets filled with stop signs. Compared to driving, and accounting for parking time, biking is generally faster than driving for short trips.

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I would think that electric assisted biking would be covered by the laws for vehicles, not human powered bicycles. Is that not correct?

It's both, actually. In the US there are generally three classes of electric bikes.

Class 1 bikes only assist when the rider pedals. They make sustaining speeds and climbing hills easier. They are generally allowed wherever bikers are, and have speed limiters.

Class 2 bikes use a throttle, and do not require peddling, and are generally considered a motorized vehicle.

Class 3 bikes are fuzzier. They operate like class 1 bikes (pedal to get power) but they can get motor assistance up to 28 mph. These bikes are generally allowed to operate like class 1 bikes as long as they stay under 20mph, but may be banned from some mixed use areas.

>These bikes are generally allowed to operate like class 1 bikes as long as they stay under 20mph, but may be banned from some mixed use areas.

I've been a cyclist in many cities. Never once seen a cop cite someone for this. I'm guessing if you got into a bad accident things would go poorly for you after it was discovered what you did, but has anyone here actually seen something come of people riding these bikes where they are banned?

I haven't. I have a class 3 bike, I do ride it with the power turned off or way down if there's any ambiguity or dense pedestrian traffic.

It's great to have for residential streets though, because I can generally sustain the 25 mph that cars do AND can treat stops as yields.

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