http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/04/10/why-are-electric-bikes-illegal-anyway/[font face=Serif]Wednesday, April 10, 2013
[font size=5]Why Are Electric Bikes Illegal, Anyway?[/font]
by Brad Aaron
[font size=3]It’s getting to be a task keeping up with pending City Council bills that deal with electric-assisted bikes. Legislation proposed by Council Members Jessica Lappin and Dan Garodnick would hike fines for riding an e-bike, and two new bills would reportedly shift fines away from delivery workers to their employers and grant enforcement power to DOT and Parks Department personnel, who, if the bill passes, would have the authority to confiscate bikes. Meanwhile, Council Member Brad Lander wants to establish an e-bike task force — a possible sign that lawmakers are looking to streamline the council’s seemingly haphazard e-bike offensive.
One question that tends to come up when an e-bike bill surfaces, or resurfaces, is why they’re illegal in the first place. Restaurant workers do long shifts, in all weather and terrain conditions, for very little money. Not all of them are young. Why would the City Council expend so much effort to take away a tool that makes their jobs easier?
We called up Transportation Alternatives’ Juan Martinez for the lowdown on e-bikes in New York. About 10 years ago, Martinez says, the federal government passed a law that classified certain electric bikes as bicycles, exempting them from regulations that apply to street-legal motorcycles. But Albany never updated state code to reflect the change. Since electric bikes don’t come from the factory with vehicle identification numbers — because VIN plates aren’t required by federal regulations — they can’t be registered with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
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In the meantime, council members are desperate for a solution to constituent complaints about sidewalk riding. “They’re hearing about this every day,” Martinez says. “There’s a reality that they’re responding to.” Since NYPD does not keep data on electric bike summonses or crashes, however, it’s impossible to gauge the extent of the problem.
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http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/04/26/mayor-bloomberg-expected-to-sign-e-bike-ban/…
“And residents have complained that when they deliver food, they take off, they go high speeds, they go against traffic, they go on sidewalks,” Councilman James Vacca said. “They’re a danger to pedestrians.”
The new law also includes a ban on dirt bikes.
I'm a bicyclist, and one of my great frustrations is bicyclists who flout traffic laws.
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