Spoiler: >!cars are hitting our roads. And people.!<
So_spoke_the_wizard on
Such a what-aboutism article. I tries to paint cars as the big bad villain. Ignores accidents and deaths per mile. Ignores the fact that roads are better designed for cars than bikes (yes, this needs to be fixed.) Ignores the fact that you need a license to drive a car as opposed to ebikes where a young kid with no riding skills and poor executive functions can just jump on an ebike and zip around traffic at 20+ mile per hour.
We need to face the fact that class 2 and 3 ebikes are actually emopeds and treat them like a class of motor vehicles. Stop trying to prevent legislation by blaming cars.
SloppySandCrab on
Ok but the whole goal is to not share infrastructure with cars.
I can’t separate my family riding down a bike path to the park from clueless people with no bike handling skill doing 25mph as long as we live in a world where we keep pretending electric bikes are nothing but positive.
In fact, I would rather ride on the shoulder of my local back road than go down the bike path on a nice Sunday afternoon when a lot of people are out.
n3sta on
All I know is kids on “e-bikes” with a throttle are going 30+ mph in the bike lanes where cars are going 25mph.
Still wondering at what point are licenses going to be required for these things.
Murky-Cartoonist5283 on
E-Bikes aren’t a problem on roads, IMO. They’re a menace on the *trails*, where we’re supposed to be protected from heavy motorized vehicles driven by clueless, distracted morons.
If I were King, I’d issue an edict banning all but Class 1 e-bikes from trails. Violations would have some sting – heavy fines at a minimum. I’d require licensing and insurance for Class 2 and Class 3 e-bikes.
bichael69420 on
Maybe my tinfoil hat is on too tight but I’ve noticed what seems like a concerted effort across the major bike subs (especially in r/ebikes) to scare people away from buying e-bikes and to convince them that we need harsh regulations “NOW!”. The two biggest offenders are the “cheap Chinese battery” brigade and the “army of kids going 200mph on surrons” pearl clutchers. Propagandists are using a handful of rare, isolated incidents to try and paint all e-bikes in a sinister light. What better place to manipulate public opinion than social media? Big oil certainly has the funds and motivation to make it happen, they are deathly afraid of losing everything to big lithium. /tinfoil
Modern_Doshin on
Just share the road people, no one is more entitled (well maybe emergency vehicles) than the other
7 Comments
Spoiler: >!cars are hitting our roads. And people.!<
Such a what-aboutism article. I tries to paint cars as the big bad villain. Ignores accidents and deaths per mile. Ignores the fact that roads are better designed for cars than bikes (yes, this needs to be fixed.) Ignores the fact that you need a license to drive a car as opposed to ebikes where a young kid with no riding skills and poor executive functions can just jump on an ebike and zip around traffic at 20+ mile per hour.
We need to face the fact that class 2 and 3 ebikes are actually emopeds and treat them like a class of motor vehicles. Stop trying to prevent legislation by blaming cars.
Ok but the whole goal is to not share infrastructure with cars.
I can’t separate my family riding down a bike path to the park from clueless people with no bike handling skill doing 25mph as long as we live in a world where we keep pretending electric bikes are nothing but positive.
In fact, I would rather ride on the shoulder of my local back road than go down the bike path on a nice Sunday afternoon when a lot of people are out.
All I know is kids on “e-bikes” with a throttle are going 30+ mph in the bike lanes where cars are going 25mph.
Still wondering at what point are licenses going to be required for these things.
E-Bikes aren’t a problem on roads, IMO. They’re a menace on the *trails*, where we’re supposed to be protected from heavy motorized vehicles driven by clueless, distracted morons.
If I were King, I’d issue an edict banning all but Class 1 e-bikes from trails. Violations would have some sting – heavy fines at a minimum. I’d require licensing and insurance for Class 2 and Class 3 e-bikes.
Maybe my tinfoil hat is on too tight but I’ve noticed what seems like a concerted effort across the major bike subs (especially in r/ebikes) to scare people away from buying e-bikes and to convince them that we need harsh regulations “NOW!”. The two biggest offenders are the “cheap Chinese battery” brigade and the “army of kids going 200mph on surrons” pearl clutchers. Propagandists are using a handful of rare, isolated incidents to try and paint all e-bikes in a sinister light. What better place to manipulate public opinion than social media? Big oil certainly has the funds and motivation to make it happen, they are deathly afraid of losing everything to big lithium. /tinfoil
Just share the road people, no one is more entitled (well maybe emergency vehicles) than the other