- cross-posted to:
- micromobility@lemmy.world
- bicycles@lemmy.ca
- cross-posted to:
- micromobility@lemmy.world
- bicycles@lemmy.ca
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/34367979
More barriers to cycling means more cars which means more dead cyclists. Help us defeat this terrible anti-safety bill.
I’m a municipal worker and we just had a huge meeting about this. It’s a tough nut to Crack, because enforcement of the existing laws are almost impossible, and we’re trying to find a solution.
The issue police are having with ebike violations is probable cause. Police can’t and shouldn’t be allowed to arbitrarily stop someone.
Depending on the classification of ebike (which can’t be established visually) there’s different rules on whether it has age requirements, whether it’s allowed to be used with a throttle instead of pedals, and what the max assisted speed is. They also can’t visually verify the bike is under 750 watts or what age the rider is.
And even if they’re going over 28mph (max assisted speed on any ebike), that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not an ebike. Maybe they’re going that fast because they pedaled really hard unassisted or just got off a steep hill.
We have hundreds of kids of all ages in our community essentially riding electric motorcycles all over town and a lot of them are getting hurt, and unless the police see them running a stop sign, they can’t do shit. And even then they have a policy not to because chasing a teenager in a bike with a police car isn’t going to be safer than ignoring it.
Right now, we’re trying to convince the school district (school districts are entirely separate governmetal bodies from cities in our state) to require registration for ebikes kept at the school so they can inspect those bikes to at least verify they’re legal and age-check the kids on the class 3 bikes.
I’m trying to figure out what the problem actually is here. Is it that kids have access to a motor vehicle that can go fast enough to hurt them? Is that the primary issue under discussion? Might be good to treat them how some northern states treat snowmobiles and require a safety certificate that kids can get by doing a drivers ed-type class. Cops don’t have to putz around harassing kids for enforcement, just require it be presented to purchase, to get school parking, submitted after a crash, etc. But that should be a state solution, not a municipal one. Schools should be educating kids about safe use, and cities/towns should consider providing safer infrastructure for micromobility. I think the best you can and should be doing is making it as safe as possible, not prohibiting. Real adaptation will require some investment at the state level just like any other class of vehicle. But municipal representatives can encourage acceleration of that process.