And I don’t get it: you say e-bike drivers “constantly run stop signs”, but then a paragraph later you say that you also often run stop signs! What should I take away from this? That we should selectively enforce traffic laws against e-bikes but not against you?
At this point, to be honest, I'd be tempted to let Darwin do his thing, if it weren't for the fact that they traumatise pedestrians and drivers.
Legally there may be no difference between slowing to 2 mph (while yielding to traffic) and blowing through a stop sign at 20 mph. But I think you're smart enough to know what was meant by the person you're replying to--as a matter of physics and safety, those two things are completely different.
Also, cars aren't creating the risk. Drivers are.
Whether the poster has previously slow rolled through a stop sign or cars are dangerous to bikes are separate points.
I would say e-bikes are not the root problem. They are fine. It is the drivers not following any rules is the primary problem.
No, they aren’t, in most US jurisdictions, which have specific rules for motorized bicycles (and often distinct rules for electric one.)
> If you have a motor on your vehicle it’s a motorized vehicle and needs to be registered and plated, driven on the road, given tickets like any other vehicle.
The fact that you don’t like the specific rules for e-bikes doesn’t make them a “gray area”.
My understanding is that the rules in NYC governing e-bikes and electric mopeds were very fuzzy until around 2020, but there is still some uncertainty.
Before 2020 most of the delivery "e-bikes" ridden in NYC were technically illegal and were subject to occasional/erratic police enforcement such as stings and seizures despite being about as ubiquitous as taxi cabs. This was controversial when I lived there.
I no longer live in NYC but since then my understanding is that the city and state governments have worked with delivery riders to clarify the legal status of their vehicles but there is still a bit of "gray area" in practice.
What BS. It is their choice to do things dangerous to themselves and others. If the road is too unsafe, then don't use an ebike. Period. Putting pedestrians at risk is disgusting. When the scooter craze started, I watched in horror, during my 1 hour commute by walking, as they moved to the sidewalk. Whipping in and out of pedestrian traffic, I was bumped a few times, but had no collisions. Those collisions could have been fatal, btw, as the scooters were going 15-20 mph. I definitely read about local pedestrian/scooter collisions, some people being seriously hurt. It is illegal to ride them on the sidewalk where I am.
Who do you think is making the road unsafe? What type of vehicle do you think results in the vast majority of pedestrian injuries and deaths?
> Who do you think is making the road unsafe?
The person riding against traffic is making it unsafe.
If you really want to pull in that comment of mine from elsewhere in the thread, I’ll expand on it. My point there was that designing our streets for cars has made them dangerous for bikes.
I never said "alongside" because that is BS. Sidewalks should be for the exclusive use of pedestrians and wheelchairs.
- Cars can be dangerous for cyclists, even when those cyclists follow all the rules, as the article makes clear
- E-bikes can also be dangerous for other road (or sidewalk) users, especially when they disregard the rules (riding on sidewalks etc).
And these can _definitely_ be true in wildly different environments! Manhattan streets and an arterial road in Encinitas are very different.
But the crux of the issue is that delivery ebike are riding recklessly. Any the majority reason for this is because they are paid by the number of deliveries they complete. This creates an incentive for them to take risks which a normal rider would not do. If the didn't have that incentive, they would probably operate in a much safer manner.