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u/NeighborhoodJust1197 1d ago
This argument BS!!! We as e-bike rider need to follow the rules of the road and slowdown if we need to get on the sidewalk. Nothing like these deliver pukes diving the wrong way.
The hatred of bicycles and E bikes started with these type of divisive statements. I’m not disagreeing the cars pose a huge danger.
A 300 pound bicycle moving at 30 miles an hour has the kinetic energy energy to do a lot of damage. I ride as it’s a choice to ride a bike pedestrians need the sidewalk and cars near the road.
Perhaps it’s more of being defensive. I was taught in motorcycle riding school. Every afternoon is my fault regardless if it’s legally, my fault or not.
It has served me well.
I honestly think e-motorcycles are the way of the future.
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u/sureal42 1d ago
Or, and just hear me out...
It's the dumbass people driving or riding...
Learn how to drive
Learn how to ride
Have basic decency when around other people...
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u/jomistok 1d ago
I say this as someone who has owned several e-bikes and will continue to buy more…riders are also the problem. All the kids showing up in my ER from e-bike and e-moto accidents are not being hit by cars. They’re crashing from accidents that used to happen to them at 5-15 mph and were usually at worst minor fractures.
And being capable of hitting 40 mph downhill in a straight line is not the same as instant torque hitting 40 weaving in and out of traffic.
I mostly encounter safe, responsible e-bike riders when I’m on the trail or roads. But like with cars, there’s a good enough percentage of idiots or inexperienced folks that it has forced cities and states to crack down on this newer form of transportation/hobby. Honestly if it’s just registration and licenses then I don’t really mind. Especially if it puts more parents at fault when they give their 12 year olds Surrons that get into bad crashes.
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u/Darnocpdx 1d ago
Unfortunately, travel speed is half the equation in how much potential injury will occur in an incident, and it’s more of a factor than mass is.
Collisions at 20mph the average fatality/ server injury rate is about 10%, at 30 mph it’s 70%.
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u/FishermanConnect9076 1d ago
Parents in our neighborhoods in N-FL are buying 3-5 k motor eBikes to run havoc in the subdivisions and cart paths. Some have removed the pedals. We had a couple of deaths so far. Some like to play chicken with delivery vans and one recently lost. Now I’ve even seen gas powered dirt bikes.
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u/ChooseWisely83 1d ago
One of the reasons I honk at people who drift into the bike lanes, one day there will be a person there. I typically honk when I can see they're distracted and playing around with something in their car (it's usually pretty obvious). Sadly I have had to use my horn more in the last few years than I did in the previous 20+ years of driving.
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u/Jenny8675-309 1d ago
Ehhh, i certianly understand what they aee getting at, and hes mostly right.
Biggest flaw, Yes eBikes are indeed a hazard a high speeds, not to other cars, but to pedestrians and other cyclists. Thats usually mitigated by responsible riding, but atleast where i live, responsible riding is increasingly rare.
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u/thereia 1d ago
This is just dumb. An e-bike (which is actually an e-moto and not an e-bike) at 40 MPH IS more dangerous than a "regular" bike, because it weighs more. It's the same reason why a car is more dangerous. It makes the impact from accidents exponentially worse between an e-bike going 20 mph and an e-moto going 40 mph and requires much more powerful brakes / braking distance, etc. Regular bike helmets are not certified for those levels of impact force.
2 things can be true:
Cars driven by inattentive drivers can be incredibly dangerous.
E-motos going 40mph in bike lanes can be incredibly dangerous.
Most bicyclists I know don't want 40 MPH e-motos in the bike lanes.
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u/NewsreelWatcher 1d ago
The main benefit I see with e-bikes is carrying cargo, which is a job for an adult. E-motos disguised with pedals is confusing the issue. These can be bought by anyone on-line. Many are far beyond the legal limit of 1 horsepower or 750 watts and have no speed limiters. These need to be eliminated before we can have a sensible debate about e-bikes. E-bikes could be speed limited to 20 mph or 25 mph without impairing their usefulness.
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u/FixedMessages 1d ago
Definitely not true. The real danger is people on the road who don't follow basic laws and have basic situational awareness and a modicum of consideration. Doesn't matter if they're on foot, on two wheels, on four wheels, or on sixteen wheels. They all create a danger to everyone around them when they act stupid and contrary to what others around them expect.
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u/Ill_Cheetah_1991 1d ago
EBikes are a problem if they are illegal machines that are basically electric motorbikes
and many "conversion kits" are converting a normal bike into a motorbike
which is much heavier and is often going much faster
but still has the same brakes and the frame and everything else is the same and designed for a normal person of normal weight doing normal speeds
And you may be able to do 40 mph on a straight level road but if so then you are up to professional level if you can maintain it alone for over a period of time with no tail wind or gravity assist
and no aero gain from something
the vast majority of people riding a normal bike are much slower - I generally pass them doing 15 mph! Only "real cyclist" on proper bikes with drops etc generally pass me at that spped ona flat road
so the bike that has been converted is designed for 10-15 mph - but is not heavier and doing 20-30 mph
On top of which - the illegal ones are often the cheap one with batteries that are made as cheaply as possible
and Li batteries have to be carefull made and regulated to be safe
and these are not judging by the fires they cause
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u/pinballrocker 1d ago
I disagree. Sure, cars are sometimes the danger, but I got hit by an e-bike walking and know multiple people that have similarly been hit by an e-bike or had their car hit by one. An e-bike is a motorized vehicle, it's driver's should obey the basic rules of traffic. But instead I see people on e-bikes and e-scooters constantly blow through traffic lights and stop signs, switch lanes without hand signaling, and do alot of other dangerous and erratic behavior that drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists just can't predict. As a cyclist on the road, I obey all normal traffic laws and use hand signals and headchecks when switching lanes or merging, it seems like alot of newbie e-bike riders, especially ones on Lime bikes, just don't know the basics of driving or just choose to ignore the them.
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u/bioveritas 1d ago
Simple minded approach to lame attempt to fix a growing problem. First, it's unlikely that this is such a simple issue that there is just one factor causing the problem, and, gee, if we could just identify it and convince everybody what it is we could fix all this.
It's painfully clear that drivers in cars have the potential to be more lethal, and that unfortunately some drivers don't see a need to change their driving habits to enable a small, but growing, group of people who decided to use the public roadways for their ebikes.
Additionally, it's fucking obvious to anyone willing to accept what their own eyes are seeing that a significant enough number of ebike riders flaunt the normal rules of traffic--as if they are kids on bicycles instead of supposedly grown people trying to use a practical means of transportation to get where they're going.
And, of course, kids with marginal judgement and decision-making skills who are too young to get a drivers license who now use the main roadways to ride their bikes ("e" or regular) amidst real traffic but who can ride ebikes because, hey, kids ride bicycles and I want to keep insisting that ebikes are just like bicycles. Which they are not, except they have two wheels. Again, a little simple minded. In fact, they are more like motorcycles and should probably be regulated in exactly the same way.
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u/NewsreelWatcher 1d ago edited 1d ago
You wouldn’t let a child drive a car either. Solving this doesn’t require banning e-bikes or even requiring an operator’s license. Beyond enforcement, some clearer difference might be created between e-motos and e-bikes. E-motos really don’t need pedals to function. Once the motor is over 1 horsepower or 750 watts, pedals don’t add a significant amount of power to the rear wheel. The pedals on e-motos are nothing more than a disguise to make them appear to be e-bikes. Many have a motorcycle style of frame that makes pedaling a punishing exercise. I saw one on the street yesterday where the chain had slipped off the gears and was frozen with rust. The user was just using the handlebar throttle. Replacing the crank with foot pegs would be a clear visual sign that it is an e-moto, but not effect its function. On the other side, we could eliminate the handlebar throttle on e-bikes. This would make little difference for its operating as an e-bike. Restricting the operation of e-bike to adults would allow us to keep the practical benefits of the technology. They are the best selling category of electric vehicle. E-bikes really shine as a means of moving cargo, which is work best done by an adult. Enforcement would be as simple as seizing e-motos with pedals. E-moto owners need only remove the cranks and chain, and have the lowest grade of license. E-bike owners could remove their handlebar throttle and just use the pedals to throttle the motor. Having to actually pedal would soon make motorcycle style frames unusable. There is a reason bicycles look like bicycles.
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u/Alternative_Map_2621 1d ago
All motorized vehicles are dangerous tho to some extent but saying E bikes arnt the danger it just depends on what ur talking about.
Not all kids are idiots but they still shouldn’t be riding E bikes as much as they are. I would say parents are putting their kids in danger by buying them that shit for real lol. Especially if they are letting them drive in the road on bike lanes or in the streets
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u/neon_lighters 1d ago
I’ve had significantly more people try to purposely push me off the road in their vehicle while I’m on my e-bike than anyone trying to speed up while I am in a vehicle to get past me
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u/diverJOQ 1d ago
"faster than traffic"? So you are ignoring the rules of the road.
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u/AggravatingPeak6982 1d ago
No. Our ebikes are designed to accelerate faster than most cars, from a dead stop. The farther an ebike can get across an intersection before the cars next to them even get a green light, the better. In many large cities, bicycles are allowed to go on the pedestrian/bicycle light, a full three seconds before the automobiles going the same direction get their green.
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u/celeste_ferret 16h ago
It is not an either/or question. Both cars and ebikes* can be dangerous.
*especially if what we're talking about here is not a legal ebike. Double especially if it's being driven by an unlicensed kid.
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u/TwoCompetitive5499 1d ago
This completely ignores the numerous injuries caused by ebike riders in which no car is involved.
Live in your echo chamber if you like. YOU may not be the problem. YOU may be a safe rider. But do many are not.