Ebike and scooter ban

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
6,797
3,133
Telford
This guy does a very good analysis of some recent events in USA. Basically, it shows the knee-jerk reaction to tragedy. People aren't too interested in facts, analysis or critical thinking. They just want things to be the way they want them. The event analysed was a crash between a woman on a pedal bike and a 12 year old on an ebike. The woman died. The kid was not prosecuted by the police, so probably hadn't done anything wrong. He was wearing a cycle helmet. My judgement is that the woman was well-known in the community and might be also well-connected.

At one point in the meeting between residents and Town Council, an attendee mentioned that the deceased woman cyclist wasn't wearing a helmet. She was immediately booed and escorted out of the meeting by the police, which is what makes me think that there's a little more to this story. Somebody mentioned in the comments that if the kid had crashed into a homeless guy on a bike and killed him, there wouldn’t have been a town meeting. I think he's right.

The result was a 60 day ban for all ebikes and scooters while they figure out what to do.

In a previous video, the guy analysed another crash, where a woman was riding an ebike with her son on the back and got run over by a car. She died and the kid survived. Everybody was focusing on the dangers of ebikes and possible bans. No mention of banning cars for being too dangerous for ebikes.

My analysis is that both events were just somebody making a mistake that caused very unfortunate results. Neither were anything to do with irresponsible riding or unregulated bikes.

 
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Pingk

Pedelecer
Dec 15, 2023
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But Lenny, your graph shows that ebike deaths *tripled* from 2019 to 2020, clearly this is an epidemic! /s
 

Az.

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 27, 2022
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Those kids, they don't ride e-bikes. They all ride fat wheel motorbikes.
Maybe it is a good thing we have legal age 14 here in UK.
 

lenny

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 3, 2023
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Maybe it is a good thing we have legal age 14 here in UK.
"Now, state lawmakers are advancing legislation that would give local governments the ability to require one or more minimum age requirements for the use of electric bicycles and mandate government-issued photo identification cards for riders."
 

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
6,797
3,133
Telford
I bet the deaths from drugs in california is going up even quicker. Considering the number of ebikes on the road in California and the rate of their increase, those figures are more or less what I'd expect. They don't alarm me. It needs to be put in context with the miles done and how those deaths compare with other causes of death so that resources and measures can have the most effect on ALL deaths.
 

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
6,797
3,133
Telford
"Now, state lawmakers are advancing legislation that would give local governments the ability to require one or more minimum age requirements for the use of electric bicycles and mandate government-issued photo identification cards for riders."
Sort of makes sense, but why just electric bikes and not normal ones.
 

StuartsProjects

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2021
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I wonder how many pedestrians are killed, on the pavement, over there by motorists ?

Enough to ban cars maybe?
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
11,361
3,226
A car suddenly turned onto the pavement and drove right at me while I was disguised as a pedestrian the other day, turned off last moment. I sort of shuffled close to the wall. Bloody drivers. They recognise cylists disguised as pedestrians, but don't see cyclists when they're cycling. :rolleyes:

Perhaps the driver was texting or sending dickpics?
 
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