Are eBike bans actually enforced?

bikeman242

Active Member
Read over a lot of threads about places/trails where eBikes aren't allowed, and I am wondering if anybody actually gets stopped/ticketed/bike confiscated for riding an eBike anyway. Not including NYC, because I know there it is certainly enforced. Just curious.
 
I ride a great many trails in the northeastern part of the country where ebike laws are sometimes confusing and vary greatly from state to state. In some cases, I don't know for sure if it's technically legal to ride or not.

Most trails have "No Motor Vehicles" signs posted but unless they mention ebikes specifically, I usually take a chance. My bike is somewhat stealthy, I'm overly courteous to others and I don't ride like an idiot. I've been riding this way for 2 years now and so far, have not been stopped or questioned. I don't advocate breaking the law but when they are unclear, I usually give myself the benefit of the doubt.

Sadly, I see an end to my riding philosophy in the not too distant future. The growth in ebike popularity is putting more and more "outlaws" on the trails, riding with total disregard for others and the environment. Ebike laws and specific signage banning them are sure to follow. The reckless riders I see are mostly youngsters who don't care about the law and will ride anyway. Unfortunately, It is the rest of us and the industry itself that will suffer.
 
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This thread is about the United States/Canada but let me share my Polish experience. There happen to be road segments marked as "No bicycles allowed". Typically, there is a bike lane running in parallel. Fine, but it is not allowed to ride Class 3 e-bikes on bike lanes. What to do? I don't care and ride the bike lane but slowly. Interesting fact is I used to ride my Class 3 e-bike for a month before it got registered, no registration plate yet. The police patrols even didn't turn their attention even if I took a rest and was sitting couple of meters from the policemen.

Easy country, Poland.

I'm interested in your American and Canadian observations!
 
In Southern Vancouver Island, there is a fair bit of enforcement of people buying electric scooters that pretend to be e-bikes. If people take the pedals off, they're likely to get ticketed. Though some people have successfully beat the tickets.

Class 3 e-bikes are a grey area here. The wording is that you can't ride an e-bike that can go faster than 32 km/h without pedalling... but with a class 3 e-bike without a throttle, you *are* pedalling when you go above 32 km/h. So while class 3 e-bikes aren't specifically allowed, they don't appear to be explicitly prohibited either. I've never heard of anyone getting a ticket for riding a class 3 e-bike in Southern Vancouver Island, though.

We do have an all-ages, all bicycles, helmet law in British Columbia, and I have heard of people getting tickets for not wearing a helmet. I know helmet laws are controversial, but I support BC's helmet law.

Back to e-bikes, they only recently allowed class 1 e-bikes in BC parks. It'll be interesting to see what level of enforcement there is (if any) against class 2 and class 3 e-bikes being ridden in BC's many provincial parks once the weather gets nicer.
 
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From my observations I see mostly senior citizens (I'm one) riding eBikes pretty cautiously, cause that's what we do. Seniors are a big voting block. When my wife and I ride on a path we stay on PAS level 1 or 2 and get passed by aerodynamic , colorfully uniformed road bicyclists passing enough wind to move your eBike over an inch or two. I have considered cutting the sleeves off my Lands End windbreaker but the wife feels I'd only be asking for trouble.
 
Cops have better things to do.
On super popular bike trails you might find a patrol just cuz there's so much activity. For everything else, it's wide open. Nobody is watching or checking. Even here in so-cal were there's 14M people.
I’ve only occasionally seen any law enforcement patrolling our Pacific Electric Trail. Ebikes are still somewhat unusual in the Inland Empire, and I seriously doubt anyone would know or care about the different classes of ebike.
 
Forest Preserve cops, on the other hand, their agenda is to patrol the multi-use path, make sure no one is dealing/using in the buildings, and no hanky panky in the parking lot. In the Chicago Forest Preserve districts, I've chatted with regular bikers who warned me that they've seen radar guns out on weekends to slow down the crowds. NEver seen a speed trap. Just passing on the rumor.

I know my local bike path is open to ebikes because a rental ebike operator told me he had cleared it with the various authorities. Unfortunately, he went out of business, but now I know the "no motor vehicle" signs don't apply. We have a cop wheo rides thru this path ariund dusk in the summer, mainly to clear cars out of the lots.

Ebiking was illegal on many COlorado bike paths that went thru BLM land, and many of the local towns banned them on their paths too. (Breckinridge, Dillon). When we were there in 2018, after a 1200 mile drive, we chose to ignore the signs. I hear they finally changed the law to allow them last year. Last summer, the US Interior Department now allows some ebikes on National Park and BLM land.
 
Actually, where I have ridden I haven't seen any evidence that any e-bike bans in place are enforced.

Last year I rode the going-to-the-sun road in Glacier National Park. After several hours of phone calls to the relevant authorities the answer(s) I got were that me and my e-bike would be allowed on the closed (to motor vehicles) road. During the wonderful day I spent there I encountered several park rangers, speaking to two of them at length about my trip and my bike. They were all one hundred percent cool with me and my bike. And I wasn't the only e-bike on the road: there was a gaggle of people on Specialized Vados and a handful of Rad Rovers on the road as well.

Later on I found out that under one interpretation of the CFR, e-bikes were not allowed on roads closed to motor vehicles. I called a few friends of mine who work for NPS, and what we all concluded was that whatever the actual laws were, Park Rangers probably weren't willing to enforce that particular law and probably wouldn't as long as you operated your bike safely and weren't a jerk.

My own guess is that the long-term results are going to be that class I and class II e-bikes are probably going to be allowed anywhere acoustic bikes are allowed. Class III bikes are kind of a different beast (and please keep in mind that very few law enforcement officers have any kind of clue about these different classes) and I suspect the end result will be that they will have to have a license and registration just like you'd need for a moped (and like you do already in many European countries).
 
I suspect the end result will be that they will have to have a license and registration just like you'd need for a moped (and like you do already in many European countries).
To be precise, the registration is necessary for Class 3 in EU but the license is not unless the rider is a minor. Additionally, UK riders are required to wear the motorcycle helmet.
 
Last year I rode the going-to-the-sun road in Glacier National Park. After several hours of phone calls to the relevant authorities the answer(s) I got were that me and my e-bike would be allowed on the closed (to motor vehicles) road.

I heard about that ride when I saw a website for an outfitter that led tours on Going-to-the-Sun road before cars were allowed. At the time, the site said ebikes were not permitted. Not that I was going anyway, but hey, I'm envious of your trip!

My wife was interested in a local tour that took bikes out on the prairie around a new buffalo preserve built on federal land here in Illinois. They said we couldn't ride on the federal land last summer, Hopefully this year we can.
 
I've seen one radar gun site on Denver's most popular multi-use path, Cherry Creek, but only after a horrendous head-on crash last year. There was no indication of any concern other than speed.
 
Read over a lot of threads about places/trails where eBikes aren't allowed, and I am wondering if anybody actually gets stopped/ticketed/bike confiscated for riding an eBike anyway. Not including NYC, because I know there it is certainly enforced. Just curious.
It's not that law enforcement is sitting waiting to nab ebike riders. But... if you are involved in any type of accident that requires police or insurance companies to become involved then all your bikes specs will be noted/recorded and possibly acted on. It's not the police so much as insurance companies that are most concerned with ebike operation and state legalities.
 
>snip
It's not the police so much as insurance companies that are most concerned with ebike operation and state legalities.

Name one. Just one that has 'concern'.
Of all the insurance coverages I have, not one even knows or cares I have an ebike. Not a single one.
 
Name one. Just one that has 'concern'.
Of all the insurance coverages I have, not one even knows or cares I have an ebike. Not a single one.

If you're in an at-fault accident with a car, then it could matter. Especially if the e-bike isn't street legal (such as if it's a class-3 in an area where they're not allowed, or if it's a derestricted e-bike, or if it's an overpowered one that exceeds the legal limits).
 
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Name one. Just one that has 'concern'.
Of all the insurance coverages I have, not one even knows or cares I have an ebike. Not a single one.
I think you miss his point. The context is missed when you snip the text. If something happens and someone gets hurt, the insurance companies and law enforcement will then be concerned with what you're riding and if it's legal.
 
Name one. Just one that has 'concern'.
Of all the insurance coverages I have, not one even knows or cares I have an ebike. Not a single one.
ALL do, only a fool would think otherwise. "They"... your insurance company... don't even know you own an ebike most likely. How would they? But (God forbid) it should come to their attention through any claim, yours or against you, as always they will try to mitigate as much responsibility as they can.
 
Only a fool would worry so much. So we can simply agree to disagree. IMO you completely jacked the subject, but whatever.
I'm going riding. 😇

I think you miss his point. The context is missed when you snip the text. If something happens and someone gets hurt, the insurance companies and law enforcement will then be concerned with what you're riding and if it's legal.

I think you missed the point. This has nothing to do with ebike bans.
 
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