Neal -This is where I totally disagree with you. A throttle, at least the way I use it, is of great assistance to us older folk who struggle to start off, and is a great enhancement to safety at a crowded set of traffic lights. There is nothing worse than an old fart like me starting off at the lights wobbling all over the road to get started, especially up an incline. No, no you leave our throttles alone. You say if you can't ride without one then you shouldn't be on the road. That to me invalidates the whole raison d'etre of a pedelec. Sureley we want to encourage older folk to be active into older age and cycling gives us great enjoyment.
Nealh I cannot agree with your views that throttles should be banned on Pedelecs . I consider them to be an important safety feature . You are making the mistake of mixing riders who are out to recreate motorcycle performance on the `cheap` with leisure riders often the older ones, who like to ride bikes for a lot longer than they would otherwise, using ordinary bikes . The throttle is very handy for pulling away from junctions when the power might not kick in for several crank revolutions , more so if there is a gradient . I am lucky enough to have a selection of Ebikes with differing characteristics , with and without throttles and varying take off performances and my experiences over 12 years confirms my view on throttles . I don`t use the throttle at any other time .Afaiac any throttle should be banned, if one can't ride a pedelec /eapc without leg power then one shouldn't ride one. A low powered bicycle is just that it can help on hills but should be no more.
I am seeing a lot more illegal bikes then before and none are peddaling, one a week ago on the A25 in the surry hills riding along at 25mph.
I wouldn`t be riding a bike on 35 mile trips at the age of 84 if the Ebike hadn`t been invented .
I notice you quote that only 4% of the population ride bikes but I take issue with your assumption that others are too lazy . One of the main reasons is one of safety or self preservation . In other words they are scared to venture out to mix it with General traffic . I have been riding Motorcycles since 1958 and still do , so traffic holds no fears for me . I have a twin Brother who I ride with on our Ebikes who finished riding Motorcycles in 1963 who does have some of this nervousness . Hopefully with many more cycle paths being constructed this will improve .