15 MPH E-bike and Scooter speed limit announced for NY City by Mayor Adams

This will accomplish nothing. Let's hope it never happens. And it may not.

This new model of using 'proclamations' or 'executive orders' to pass what are really laws needs to come to an end. Not consistent with US values. No one should be able to pass laws just because they feel like it.

I'm all for increased enforcement of the 25 MPH speed limit or just generally recklessness. Okay with cameras and radar guns for that. That might actually accomplish something.

You wouldn't need to legislate anything.
 
Does Eric Adams have the authority to criminalize what was lawful? Is NYC a dictatorship?

In 2023 the NYT published an article saying e-bikes should be banned because there had been 23 deaths in 2022. (In a city of 8 million.) The accompanying chart showed that 23 bicycle fatalities a year had been common before e-bikes, and now the push-bike toll was down to 7 a year.

The New York Post wants e-bikes banned because bicycles are a nuisance and e-bikes a dangerous nuisance.
 
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Seems OK to me in a city setting where there are crowds of people everywhere and you never know what they are going to do especially when their eyes are glued to their phones. One weird thing for me is the national park near where I live that has a series of gravel trails with lots of hills and curves. The bike speed limit there is 20 MPH. I find it scary when I hit 15 in places and would never do 20. I have a friend that broke her hip there while just walking her dog when a deer jumped out in front of her and the dog reacted and down she went. Hate to think what that might be like going 20 on a bike.
 
I get it. This is just another example of a knee-jerk reaction law (order) made by an out of touch politician. The average Joe who bought his Class 3 for fitness gets lumped in with the 1000w+ cargo bikes with loaded trailers that are bombing around at motor vehicle speeds.

The issue is the lack of consistent classification and regulation at the Federal level.
 
stompandgo said:
The issue is the lack of consistent classification and regulation at the Federal level.
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I would also add missing or insufficient infrastructure for micromobility. Simple example from my personal commute experience - lower Manhattan West Side: there is 7(!) lines stroad there for cars and just a basic ~6 feet bike lane there. It is good lane, no question, but it is not sufficient to let everyone ride safely: relaxing riders, commuters, scooter riders, tourists on CitiBikes, delivery drivers and since recently 4 wheeler Amazon and UPS delivery "bicycles". Problem occures since all these are jammed to the 4 feet of space, while cars nearbuy enjoy multiple dedicated lines.

My point is - you want to handle ebikes like cars. Fine. But provide a comparable infrastructure for them. If not, let me people figure out things and stay away with you crappy ideas.
 
Exactly. Define the classes, license and registration requirements at the Federal level. Let the states decide how to implement them, and where they are allowed to ride. Include the analog bikes. Either that, or drop everything and deal with the casualties. This Rorschach Test of laws, rules, and regulations is a mess, and only serves to piss everybody off.
 
Don't know if it will pass and what enforcement would look like, but the main takeaway IMO is that ebikes have become so unpopular with the general populace in NYC that going after them this directly seems like good politics.
 
jabberwocky said:
Don't know if it will pass and what enforcement would look like, but the main takeaway IMO is that ebikes have become so unpopular with the general populace in NYC that going after them this directly seems like good politics.
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"I don’t know if you have crossed over some of these bike lanes and seen how fast people are riding. It is out of control,”
~Daily News Article

My wife and I visited NY City last year and stayed in the Theater District, Times Square. I never felt threatened by the vehicular traffic. I definitely felt threatened by the e-bike delivery drivers who were speeding down the bike lanes and sidewalks at high speed, disregarding the traffic laws and flow, and showing little concern for pedestrians. It wasn't the people renting Citi-Bikes, it was the delivery drivers. They need to do something for sure.
 
Oh I get it. It sucks that ebike riders who actually follow the rules are getting caught up in the blowback (which seems almost entirely aimed at emotos pretending to be ebikes). But that is a predictable outcome when the general populace isnt really able to differentiate between an actual ebike and an emoto. And I would argue that a good chunk of the ebike community and many ebike manufacturers are complicit at least in that.
 
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Imagine if all those delivery riders stopped and either walked off in protest, or all drove vans. You can't just alter one variable in a complex evolved system by personal dictate. It is all connected. You may not like mosquitos, but putting DDT in Walden Pond will have other repercussions.
 
DaveMatthews said:
I'm completely happy with the 20mph/32kph limit here in Iglooville, but 15mph feels a bit restrictive.
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There are people completely happy with 15mph and 20mph feels a bit too fast for them. But to be honest both 15mph and 20mph suck. It means when you will use the roads the cars will crawl 15 mph or less behind you and your 20 miles commute will take 2 hours one way instead of 1 hour or so which means people are not going to use ebikes anymore and will use cars instead. Trust me, you do not want to commute 20 miles or more on 15mph bicycle everyday or ride it on the roads with 25-35 mph speed limit. More traffic jams are coming.
 
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