The Future of eBikes: How Fast is Too Fast?

It is very simple and cheap to remove speed limiters on any vehicle, and in some cases, perfectly legal. That's not the issue.
 
We need either allow motorcycles on MUP or do not equalize electric bicycles, scooters, skateboards, one wheelers etc to motorcycles.
 
You can't ride a motorcycle on a MUP, at least not in my state.

I don't think any state allows motorcycles on MUPs. Just noting that if all you want to do is ride roads, you just need to meet the definition of a motorcycle in your states code and register/plate it and you can have as much power as you want and ride as fast as the law allows on roads.

If riding on a MUP is important, I would get a legal ebike. At least one that conforms to the class 1/2/3 definitions, since that seems to be where every state is heading.

We need either allow motorcycles on MUP or do not equalize electric bicycles, scooters, skateboards, one wheelers etc to motorcycles.

Motorcycles definitely should not be allowed on MUPs, at least any that I've ever been on. No only were MUPs are not designed for them, they were built in the first place because pedestrians and cyclists wanted a space they didn't have to share with motor vehicles.
 
Teens gonna do what they gonna do and your licensing or whatever you offer will not stop them but bring more trouble for other people.

There will always be people who break the law, but thats not an argument for not having laws.

Not sure what you mean by trouble for other people. The licensing for motorcycles has been around for my entire lifetime. All thats really changed is we added some laws around ebikes that said if they meet certain requirements for power and assist speed they can largely be treated like bicycles. I know some people want to have it both ways (no legal obligations per motorcycles but also don't want to have to abide by the restrictions for actual ebikes and still want to be able to ride them in places that only allow bicycles) but that doesn't change the actual legal definition of ebike.
 
If it is not an argument for not having laws then it is not an argument for having laws.

Have you ever asked yourself why some laws exist and some do not exist? You can wish to law as much as you want but if the law does more bad than good this law will not exist.

And regarding those death accidents with e-bikes - the law already exists, it called negligence and the case will be prosecuted according to the law. You do not need to make more unnecessary laws. And like you said, there will always be people who break the law and extra laws will do more bad than good in this case.

If you would have traffic of e-bikes on MUP like on the highways and amount of death accidents like on the highways, and maybe money revenue from e-bikes owners like money revenue from motor vehicles owners, then it would make sense to think about spending money and effort on extra laws, licensing and enforcing.
 
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Some people mistakenly think that if you do not have a licensing system for e-bikes you can kill people with e-bikes without legal consequences - it is not true. The same people mistakenly think if they will have licensing for e-bikes it will make the society life better - it is not true too. It might make their personal life better depending on their personal lifestyle and preferences, but the whole society life will likely become worst.
 
Do you remember the coronavirus era laws? The people who made all those laws and restrictions believed they do good stuff making all those laws and restrictions. But it made only their personal life better, not the whole society.

You might be OK with e-bikes restrictions and limitations and also want to put licensing system on top and ready to pay money and your personal time for all this effort, but it is just your personal desire and it does not go along with what is good for society.
 
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It is very simple and cheap to remove speed limiters on any vehicle, and in some cases, perfectly legal. That's not the issue.
well the subject was brought up,some seemed to think there were no governors on modern vehicles,i had the auto stop cutoff disabled on my 22 Maverick( these systems are hard on the engine and the starting system,didnt ask to disable the governor,its already fast enough to get a whopper of a ticket or non survivable crash)
 
... it is just your personal desire and it does not go along with what is good for society.

in whose opinion? yours? what is good for society is a complex question and i'd advise anyone to be deeply skeptical of anyone who claims to have the answer unequivocally, as your comment here suggests.

some level of regulation is required in most things that are truly shared public resources, like roads or the airspace, water, etc. the question then becomes how much, what type, at what cost - to who - and what benefit - to who?

personally, i'd say the highest priority in the states is to get people out of their cars, onto bikes or similar, using less land and energy for getting around, parking, etc. anything that significantly moves that needle has a huge public benefit. it gets tricky when the system is so lax that it creates a very strong negative perception, which REALLY limits the potential market and benefit. not too many people are going to think "hey i could easily get to work/school/the market on an ebike" when their only experience is of nearly getting mowed down on a sidewalk or crossing the street. similarly, the strongest advocates for e-bikes COULD be the millions of existing cyclists in the country, but the poor behavior of a subset of e-bike riders, especially when using infrastructure that traditional cyclists fought long and hard for, has alienated a huge number of those people. add to that the inability to reliably regulate things like this at a federal level (by design, really) in the united states, and we're goin to see a patchwork of opinions and rules for a long, long time.
 
I was not alienated by poor behavior of a subset of e-bike riders, so you can rest assure I will keep advocating electric bicycles.
 
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