Ebike injuries growing exponentially in California

[Jeremy McCreary]

Study: Ebike injuries growing exponentially
That's the headline from a recent issue of The Coast News, a regional weekly covering coastal San Diego County. Ebike adoption has been high across all age groups here — especially among kids. Full text below.

Alarming stats and trends from 2018 to 2024 to say the least — especially for kids, who all too often are unprepared for the skills and responsibilities needed to ride safely on public infrastructure. And they're all too often on machines far too powerful for their maturity level.

In fact, alarming to the point that UC San Diego researchers, various medical organizations, and regional public safety officials now see ebikes as an urgent public health problem. A public health approach could help.

My pro-ebike state senator recently held an ebike safety webinar on this exponentially growing problem. And after attending and seeing some of the data and how it was collected for myself, I have to agree:

Something has to be done — but what?
The good news: All the major players here seem to have the same goal: Reduce the deaths and injuries — especially among kids — while preserving the many recognized benefits that LEGAL ebikes bring to the community. Drain the bathwater, keep the baby.

Won't be easy, but at least I know now that we have serious, thoughtful, evidence-based people working on it. None are calling for bans or draconian restrictions on currently legal ebikes.

But among other things, they ARE calling (a) for parents to start doing their jobs or face consequences, and (b) for getting illegal e-motos off public infrastructure. That's a very good start.

Regulation vs. enforcement
It's easy to say that we don't need more ebike regulations, just better enforcement. Also naive. Ramping up enforcement is expensive, resource-intensive, and legally and operationally challenging. For example, law enforcement here in North County is chronically understaffed — not for lack of funding, but for lack of qualified applicants. Nobody wants to be a cop these days.

In response, recent proposals in the CA legislature are trying to make ebike enforcement easier and safer for officers on the scene — and to make penalties more likely to stick in court. Long overdue.

It's also easy to paint all regulators as uninformed fools, or ebike-hating zealots, or minions of this or that big interest. But that's just not the case here. Ebike regulation in North County has generally been measured and well thought-out, and I have every reason now to think that trend will continue as the public health approach is explored.

Local reporting
The Coast News does respectable journalism. I admire their level-headed reporting on a topic that other news organizations usually sensationalize to the hilt.

Ebikes are now deeply embedded in coastal SoCal, so they naturally get a lot of coverage. But unlike most other outlets, the Coast News keeps the coverage fair and unbiased. And they consistently educate their readers on the differences between a legal ebike and an e-moto and why they must be dealt with separately.

Exactly why we still need local papers.

 

[DaveMatthews]

I'd like to see a breakdown of the make/model of ebikes involved. My suspicion is that they are mostly relatively inexpensive machines that are easily modified for higher speeds, and mostly all with a throttle.
Don't get me wrong, I have no hate for throttle equipped ebikes. It's just a suspicion of mine...

 

[BlackHand]

The study cited as the source of the article is here:

https://tsaco.bmj.com/content/11/3/e002099

Unfortunately the link to the dataset used returns a 404 error. But seems like a relatively straightforward study. They do note the need to better identify and classify emotos vs ebikes. But They also used search terms like Surron, Super 73, etc in their dataset to identity 'ebike' accidents... Not to mention brands like Santa Cruz and Univega that are largely acoustic brands.

 

[stompandgo]

Sur-Rons and Super 73's take the heat, but there are an order of magnitude more "brands" out there that are equally fast, heavy, and under-braked that are just as dangerous when ridden irresponsibly.

The lack of helmet use also seems to get the expected knee-jerk reaction, but a bicycle helmet won't save a kid's skull if they hit a car head-on at 30mph.

 

[Chargeride]

Remember just becuase you dont need insurance doesnt mean someone couldnt sue you for every penny you have.

 

[LandoftheGiants]

Accidents grow exponentially after ebikes sales grow exponentially. Perhaps there is a link here

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Ebike safety video made by my pro-ebike state assemblymember Tasha Boerner:

She's written several bills that support legal ebiking and try to deal rationally with the safety issues at the same time. Some have passed.

When it comes to ebike regulation, California and New Jersey are very different places.

 

[Chargeride]

Obviously we need a breakdown of whos getting injured and what were they doing at the time.
Its an anomaly that helmetless cyclist get hit less by cars, is it because car drivers are more wary of them , or are helmetless riders more likely to be spatially aware.

 

[Extreme1]

My wife and I ride with a group of 4 couples, all on pedal assist e-bikes. Both my wife and my friends wife have crashed, bad enough to require hospitalization, stitches, metal plates, etc. The cause of both crashes was inattention and HUA, yet I’m sure the authorities chalked the crashes up to “E-bikes.” Both crashes would have happened on a regular bicycle too.

Not all statistics are accurate.

 

[Extreme1]

Accidents grow exponentially after ebikes sales grow exponentially. Perhaps there is a link here

Yes, I agree. Usually a 70 year old person won’t buy a regular bicycle, but will buy a peddle assist bike because they now are able to ride with the assist.

We have a lot more people riding “bicycles,” now, where we didn’t before. More people equals more crashes.

 

[kevinmccune]

Obviously we need a breakdown of whos getting injured and what were they doing at the time.
Its an anomaly that helmetless cyclist get hit less by cars, is it because car drivers are more wary of them , or are helmetless riders more likely to be spatially aware.

less tunnel vision helmet less.

 

[PedalUma]

I am working on a cast iron bike with a huge battery, iron wheels and cast iron cranks. It had cable actuated calipers where only one side moved. Even when adjusted to perfection by a pro, stopping distance was very scary. It is getting quad hydros. My point is that bikes like this are lumped in the same association by the general public as Jeremy's bike. They are from different planets. Oh, and this bike's tires could be sliced with your thumb nail.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Eight years ago but it is all there.

https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2018/07/the-safety-of-e-bikes-in-the-netherlands_b65cf35c/21de1ffa-en.pdf

 

[PedalUma]

Those are 250W at most and no throttle.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Those are 250W at most and no throttle.

Yeah, but it doesn't take a genius to extrapolate that a higher-powered vehicle with a throttle will be more dangerous.

The fact that there is basically zero licensing, insurance, and safety regulations of any kind makes it all much worse.

 

[PedalUma]

I tell parents with youth to take the CHP eBike safety class together and print the certificate at the end. Put it in a Ziplock taped under the saddle. If ever stopped they can take it out and show that they know the rules and techniques. The class is entertaining, fun, and informative. If the parents know the rules and the kid knows the rules, then there is no excuse. I saw a young man today with no helmet doing wheelies while standing on the seat with one foot. Later he was riding with no hands using 'cruise control'. That happens when testosterone is high and the frontal lobes have not gelled. It is also why Armies recruit young.

Rise 360

rise.articulate.com

 

[PCeBiker]

Later he was riding with no hands using 'cruise control'.

I've put over 10,000 km on my 2 ebikes riding no-hands.
Throttle locked at 32 kph.

 

[kevinmccune]

My wife and I ride with a group of 4 couples, all on pedal assist e-bikes. Both my wife and my friends wife have crashed, bad enough to require hospitalization, stitches, metal plates, etc. The cause of both crashes was inattention and HUA, yet I’m sure the authorities chalked the crashes up to “E-bikes.” Both crashes would have happened on a regular bicycle too.

Not all statistics are accurat

I tell parents with youth to take the CHP eBike safety class together and print the certificate at the end. Put it in a Ziplock taped under the saddle. If ever stopped they can take it out and show that they know the rules and techniques. The class is entertaining, fun, and informative. If the parents know the rules and the kid knows the rules, then there is no excuse. I saw a young man today with no helmet doing wheelies while standing on the seat with one foot. Later he was riding with no hands using 'cruise control'. That happens when testosterone is high and the frontal lobes have not gelled. It is also why Armies recruit young.

View attachment 213818

Rise 360

rise.articulate.com

just like "Putins" overrun of the "Ukraine",the old ones are smart enough to surrender,the young ones never get a chance to know better( Maybe Zelensky needs to organize a vodka fueled"Bay of Pigs"-East Bloc style,with full drone cover-heard the "Ukes" were using ebikes pretty succesfully)