CBS Evening News

[Gordon71]

I just watched the CBS news from last night and they had a segment on Ebikes. It showed accidents mostly by kids and mostly with bikes that went really fast. My take away was yes the kids were riding too fast and yes the bikes in question had too high a top speed (my opinion is above 20MPH should always cut the motor). BUT, in both filmed accidents the cars in question pulled out in front of the moving bikes which, in my opinion made it the drivers fault.

 

[Old-tool-guy]

I saw a video on the news 3-4 weeks ago where a young adult riding in the city got hit by a car at an intersection. The bike rider didnkt stop for the red light.

 

[Extreme1]

It’s going to keep happening. Stupid parents buying stupid kids an electric motorcycle and letting them ride it anywhere they want. Then it’s someone else’s fault when they go splat.

 

[stompandgo]

Out here on the Cape, a woman had her eye impaled by a passing e-biker, and is now pushing for stricter e-bike legislation in Massachusetts.

The CBS News article.

"She wants everyone to hear what happened to her and she wants e-bikes off all trails. "I said it the first day I woke up, I said, 'That's going to be my mission,'" she said."

 

[Chazmo]

Out here on the Cape, a woman had her eye impaled by a passing e-biker, and is now pushing for stricter e-bike legislation in Massachusetts.

The CBS News article.

"She wants everyone to hear what happened to her and she wants e-bikes off all trails. "I said it the first day I woke up, I said, 'That's going to be my mission,'" she said."

One can certainly understand how she feels, but I hope that doesn’t go forward. I always try to operate my bike responsibly around pedestrians and (especially) dog walkers. What I’m finding a lot these days is distracted pedestrians who either have music in their ears or loud cellphones while they’re walking. They don’t hear bell dings or “on your left/right”… Of course, the onus is on me to pilot properly around them… Unfortunately, there are a lot of riders out there, and frankly that includes non-assisted bikes, that often scare the walkers. Maybe that’s a good thing, ultimately, since the level of distraction is ridiculous. But, that behavior is not winning friends.

Of course, I’m mindful that my fat bike is far more imposing than a traditional bike, but I think it all depends on how you behave. Duh.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Of one thing we can be sure: Media coverage of and politician responses to these tragic events will be anything but rational.

 

[6zfshdb]

I was pleased to see a rebuttal of that CBS e-bike story on our local TV station. In an interview, a local bike shop owner outlined the problem in a few short words. Basically, he said what we here already know. Conventional bikes can do just as much damage in an accident as an e-bike. It isn't the bike that causes these problems, it's the people who ride them.

It's ironic that I visited that bike shop 8 years ago when shopping for my first e-bike. The owner, who was the one in the interview, told me he didn't carry e-bikes and never would. He said they were a fad that would quickly disappear. I had to laugh when I saw him standing in his shop during the interview defending them with nothing but Giant & Specialized E-bikes visible on the floor.

I guess he changed his tune.

 

[kevinmccune]

One can certainly understand how she feels, but I hope that doesn’t go forward. I always try to operate my bike responsibly around pedestrians and (especially) dog walkers. What I’m finding a lot these days is distracted pedestrians who either have music in their ears or loud cellphones while they’re walking. They don’t hear bell dings or “on your left/right”… Of course, the onus is on me to pilot properly around them… Unfortunately, there are a lot of riders out there, and frankly that includes non-assisted bikes, that often scare the walkers. Maybe that’s a good thing, ultimately, since the level of distraction is ridiculous. But, that behavior is not winning friends.
t
Of course, I’m mindful that my fat bike is far more imposing than a traditional bike, but I think it all depends on how you behave. Duh.

semi local bike shop has really neat 4.8 fatties he is considering to convert to mid drive power,watch out when the kids get those things!

 

[kevinmccune]

One can certainly understand how she feels, but I hope that doesn’t go forward. I always try to operate my bike responsibly around pedestrians and (especially) dog walkers. What I’m finding a lot these days is distracted pedestrians who either have music in their ears or loud cellphones while they’re walking. They don’t hear bell dings or “on your left/right”… Of course, the onus is on me to pilot properly around them… Unfortunately, there are a lot of riders out there, and frankly that includes non-assisted bikes, that often scare the walkers. Maybe that’s a good thing, ultimately, since the level of distraction is ridiculous. But, that behavior is not winning friends.

Of course, I’m mindful that my fat bike is far more imposing than a traditional bike, but I think it all depends on how you behave. Duh.

I am surprised more woman are not getting mugged,half of them walk out of food lion or Walmart totally absorbed in their texting or the guy trying to score points with them,not having to deal with distracted people is one reason I like amazon,temu or any of the mail order businesses,the only people that snub you in bike shops seems to be the concerned parent shopping for an "ecycle" at a bike shop for their tyke that will probably be "ripping" that afternoon.

 

[Renee]

Out here on the Cape, a woman had her eye impaled by a passing e-biker, and is now pushing for stricter e-bike legislation in Massachusetts.

The CBS News article.

"She wants everyone to hear what happened to her and she wants e-bikes off all trails. "I said it the first day I woke up, I said, 'That's going to be my mission,'" she said."

I ride the cape cod canal often and on the cape side on the west end there is a sign that Class 3 bikes are not allowed. Only class 1 and 2. I don't think they have that on the mainland side and least not on the west end. On the east end on Bourne I have seen it as well.

 

[6zfshdb]

I ride the cape cod canal often and on the cape side on the west end there is a sign that Class 3 bikes are not allowed. Only class 1 and 2. I don't think they have that on the mainland side and least not on the west end. On the east end on Bourne I have seen it as well.

That's good to know. When I last rode the Cape Cod Canal, there were signs posted that said "NO E-BIKES". I'm glad to hear they have loosened up a bit on the regs.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Conventional bikes can do just as much damage in an accident as an e-bike. It isn't the bike that causes these problems, it's the people who ride them.

Wish this were the whole story, but we can't ignore the fact that ebikes — even legal ones — enable bad behavior in ways that unmotorized bikes do not.

Please understand that what I'm about to say comes from a throttle user, not a throttle hater.

1. Most of the bad actors wouldn't be on a bicycle at all if they didn't have a motor to do most or all of the work. They need motors and throttles, hand or foot, to wreak their havoc.

NB: Ghost-pedaling a simple cadence-sensing ebike — the most common kind here by far — is equivalent to using an all-or-nothing foot throttle. Here, I'm using "throttle" to refer to ghost-pedaling as well.

2. Most yahoos would never get close to 15 mph on the flat if they had to put out the necessary watts themselves. That's a common official speed limit on public bikeways. Still too fast in many situations, but way safer than 25+ mph.

3. The yahoos will always be with us. We just don't want them on anything that even looks like a bicycle.

The SoCal ebike dealer who sold me my first in 2022 thought continous throttles would eventually be banned on new ebikes here. He thought a throttle that could only run for, say, 5-10 sec at a time would cover most legitimate uses but not the yahoos' needs.

Interesting idea. A lot of future yahoos would lose all interest in ebikes.

Personally, I'd be OK with that. The thumb throttle on my clumsy 70 lb torque-sensing commuter is a non-optional knee preservation device. But I rarely need it more than 3 sec at a time, and don't need one on my 38 lb gravel ebike at all.

Problem is, we have many, many responsible utility riders here in hilly coastal SoCal, and they vastly outnumber the yahoos. Continuous throttles enable much of their riding as well.

Yes, I know that utility cycling is very popular outside the US, and those riders get by just fine without throttles. Different cycling history and culture.

Bottom line: Time-limited throttles would put a lot of cars back on the road in SoCal.

Honestly, I don't know what to do about the yahoos. It's a really tough problem, and the odds of a rational solution in the current media/political climate in the US are slim to none.

 

[Renee]

That's good to know. When I last rode the Cape Cod Canal, there were signs posted that said "NO E-BIKES". I'm glad to hear they have loosened up a bit on the regs.

Not that anyone listens because many Fishermans bikes are the class 3 but they typically are cruising slowly to look for fish. But it gives someone an opportunity to enforce when they have the manpower to do it.

 

[stompandgo]

Not that anyone listens because many Fishermans bikes are the class 3 but they typically are cruising slowly to look for fish. But it gives someone an opportunity to enforce when they have the manpower to do it.

I live mid-Cape so I don't get to the Canal. I ride the CCRT often. There are no class restrictions posted. We have our share of kids on electric motorcycles, scooters, and unrestricted dual motor fatties. I've seen a ranger once. I know exactly where the lady was impaled on the trail. It's close to Nickerson National Park so there is a lot of foot traffic. You just have to ride smart, no matter what class you ride.

 

[6zfshdb]

I live mid-Cape so I don't get to the Canal. I ride the CCRT often. There are no class restrictions posted. We have our share of kids on electric motorcycles, scooters, and unrestricted dual motor fatties. I've seen a ranger once. I know exactly where the lady was impaled on the trail. It's close to Nickerson National Park so there is a lot of foot traffic. You just have to ride smart, no matter what class you ride.

When I last rode the the Shinning Sea Trail on the Cape in 2021, There were NO E-BIKE signs posted at the north trailhead off Depot Rd in Falmouth. There were none posted at the South trailhead near the ferry terminal though. Looks like things have changed since then.