E-Bike Fatalities On The Rise In Israel

J.R.

J.R.

Well-Known Member
Region
USA
City
Piedmont Highlands
An article released today estimates 22 deaths of 210,000 ebikes on the road in Israel.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3740326,00.html

I have no idea if that's a high rate, the U.S. doesn't break down the numbers for ebike accidents. It does appear to be a high number, Israel is concerned, as that would be double the number of deaths in 2017.

Bicycle accident fatalities account for 2 percent of all traffic related deaths in the U.S., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Some additional Information for the U.S.

http://www.pedbikeinfo.org/data/factsheet_crash.cfm#No1

Cycling deaths are also on the rise in Canada.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/global...n-june-has-canadians-talking-bike-safety/amp/

I take no pleasure posting such grim news, the information was forwarded to me and I thought it a good reminder to be safe! We'll all rack up many miles in warm months to come. Take the necessary precautions.
 
What are the categories (make, model, power, speed, etc...) of ebikes for Israel that need registration? I don't think there are that many federal, state, or local governments that require you to register Class I, II or III ebikes? Sounds like these ebikes might fall into the electric scooter, moped or motorcycle with speeds above 28 mph if registration is required for +200,000 ebikes?

I can see a place like Israel having areas +2000 years old not very car friendly let alone (e)bike friendly, narrow streets, a lot of local people, tons of tourist, and licensed/unlicensed drivers on the road.

Might be our advantage in North America with bikes being a car culture with SUVs, mostly wide roads straight, and open spaces.
 
I've generally been reading that pedestrian and cyclist fatalities in general are on the rise in the US and hit-and-runs are soaring. I feel like I'm seeing news stories of a hit-and-run with a fatality in my area on a weekly basis. Sure can't help that my area has almost zero traffic enforcement. I think someone posted this in another thread:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/hit-and-run-fatalities-soar-as-more-people-bike-to-work-1524735001

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/w...ng-theres-a-renewed-focus-on-sharing-the-road
 
The bottom line is that when you are riding a bike/ebike/scooter/motorcycle/etc. you have to be a defensive driver because who's at fault doesn't keep you from being the dead driver when you collide with a car. I rode an eBike almost 4,000 miles last year for urban commuting and I had some close call with drivers that were totally not paying attention but I was so there was no collision.

I remember some of my friends that were seriously hurt in motorcycle accidents (back when I rode a Honda V65 Magna with 100+hp). They would tell me it was the car drivers fault but I'd always ask them (not to be mean) if it could have been avoided if they were paying attention (ie expecting that they didn't see you and were going to cut in front of you or whatever caused the accident). Most of the accidents were cars making a left hand turn across the lane(s) they were driving the opposite direction in. Sorry, but 90% of the time that is an avoidable accident if you are on a bike or motorcycle....just assume the dumbass driving the car doesn't see you and expect them to turn in front or you. I'm guessing that mindset saved me from at least a half dozen accidents that would have been serious for me. You simply have to think differently when on an open human scale type of transportation because many drivers are clueless Duck Dynasty watching types that are not even aware of anyone on a bike or motorcycle.

Be aware and be safe.
 
The last federal numbers I could find said 722 people died on bicycles in the United States in 2012. Florida was the deadliest state. Not helpful for your inquiry, but I'm always surprised how many people die of different causes each year. No way to guess how many ebikes are in the United States. 45,000 Americans committed suicide in 2016, and is now the 2nd highest leading cause of death in the 15-29 age group. Now that is something everyone needs understand.
 
rich c said:
The last federal numbers I could find said 722 people died on bicycles in the United States in 2012. Florida was the deadliest state. Not helpful for your inquiry, but I'm always surprised how many people die of different causes each year. No way to guess how many ebikes are in the United States. 45,000 Americans committed suicide in 2016, and is now the 2nd highest leading cause of death in the 15-29 age group. Now that is something everyone needs understand.
Click to expand...
Actually there are updated stats, I didn’t look deeper but 2015 info pasted here for easy read.

How big is the problem?
Deaths and Injuries
In 2015 in the United States, over 1,000 bicyclists died and there were almost 467,000 bicycle-related injuries.3
Cost
Data from 2010 show fatal and non-fatal crash-related injuries to bicyclists resulted in lifetime medical costs and productivity losses of $10 billion.3
What are the major risk factors?
  • Adults aged 50 to 59 years have the highest bicycle death rates.3
  • Children (5-14 years) and adolescents (15-19 years) have the highest rates of nonfatal bicycle-related injuries, accounting for more than one-third of all bicycle-related injuries seen in U.S. emergency departments.3
  • Males die 6 times more often and are injured 4 times more often on bicycles than females.3
  • Most bicyclist deaths occur in urban areas and at non-intersection locations.4
  • Among bicyclist deaths, 37% had alcohol involvement either for the motor vehicle driver or bicycle rider.4
https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/bicycle/index.html
 
If you are riding a fast ebike or an aftermarket modified bike with a gas motor you better be sure you have good brakes and be aware that rim brakes are dramatically less effective when wet. That was probably why that rider in Detroit rear ended the truck, but it is strange that another car him the bike rider after that so maybe the truck stopped very suddenly.

I would suggest that anyone riding an eBike or any bike routinely over 20mph have disc brakes...preferably hydraulic.

It's not the faster bike that is necessarily less safe it's that the person riding it sometimes isn't smart enough to be going as fast as the bike is capable of (many owners of exotic sports cars fall right into this arena).
 
“you better be sure you have good brakes..” this will be the damning incident. 30mph bike with 15 mph brakes. Amazing that anytime anyone speaks out we’re geeks and pussies. As if using common sense is useless. Lunacycle and other companies selling, promoting and supporting bike that are plain and simply dangerous are all that’s wrong with the industry. Would you put pedals on your dirt bike and claim it’s a bicycle. Idiots.
 
Thomas Jaszewski said:
“you better be sure you have good brakes..” this will be the damning incident. 30mph bike with 15 mph brakes. Amazing that anytime anyone speaks out we’re geeks and pussies. As if using common sense is useless. Lunacycle and other companies selling, promoting and supporting bike that are plain and simply dangerous are all that’s wrong with the industry. Would you put pedals on your dirt bike and claim it’s a bicycle. Idiots.
Click to expand...

No eBike or eScooter is going to be a safe product when driven by an idiot. The products should not be regulated to make them safe for idiots. The good news is that when an idiot is riding a ebike they are typically the ones that dies in an accident ... better for society that they were on a bike than in a car when others may have suffered.
 
Ken M said:
No eBike or eScooter is going to be a safe product when driven by an idiot. The products should not be regulated to make them safe for idiots.
Click to expand...
Your car, motorcycle, lawnmower, and most power tools these days are...as to the death of idiot riders, I’m not that calloused. Or generous with public funds for disability payments.
 
It's a shame but I've basically stopped riding my bike even though living in Florida it was a great place to ride. Regardless of how careful one is when you are on a non-protected bike lane or have to cross an intersection you're at the mercy of cars and I've had two close calls where the car driver was pecking away at their phone and totally oblivious to any traffic smaller than an suva (just saw a Harley rear-ended yesterday by someone who was on her phone). Besides phone use modern cars use touch screens which require drivers to take their eyes off the road and as more and more cars have "safety features" which drivers start to count on and which may not work well when it comes to bikers (apparently the Uber fatality in Arizona involved the attendant watching an episode of "The Voice". The town where I live has a large number of great protected lanes, such as the Venice Legacy Trail where riding is safe and fun, but as long as I fear for my life in getting to them I'll get my exercise in a gym. It's a shame but I don't care who is at fault, if I hit a car on my bike I may ding the car, but if a car hits me I'm toast.
 
You are correct that drivers are distracted and being on a bike makes you very vulnerable but I still believe you can alter the odds with riding habits and bike accessories.


Where there is no wide shoulder on the road or a designated bike path, I'm on the sidewalk for safety (only in the major metropolitan areas of the city are the sidewalks too crowded with pedestrians to ride a bike at a decent speed and in those areas you are required to ride on the street but the speeds are slow enough that a bike keeps pace).

I have a left-side rear view mirror on my bike which I utilize frequently to monitor cars approaching if I"m on the shoulder of the road or a designated bike path on the street. Taking this seriously can save your life because you typically can tell early if a car is not aware of you (most cars move a bit to the left when coming from behind a biker). I rode approximately 4,000 miles in the past year and have not had even a single event of someone coming close to me. I just started using my rear light in constant blink mode even in daylight hours to hopefully ensure all drivers are aware I'm there (the new generation rear lights have blink modes that are intended to be distracting to get driver's attention but I rarely see any other bikes utilizing them....why is that?).

There are two very common risk events I encounter almost on every ride. Drivers tend to think they have the right away to turn right in front of a bike rider. I think when you are going to go thru an intersection, even though you have the right of way if the light is green, you absolutely must be aware if there is a car to your left that is planning to turn right. If they are even or slightly in front of you, just give them the priority (slow down or even stop if you have to and allow them to turn - don't assume they will give you the right of way). If you are slightly in front of them be looking in your rear view mirror and give an arm signal that you are going straight across the intersection (try to see if they notice you and make sure you have adequate clearance that even if they don't notice you that you can clear thru their turn path so you can't be struck regardless of their awareness level). The other event is people either exiting side parking lots or streets and they pull right into the pedestrian cross-walk or bike path you are riding in. This is an easy risk to avoid as 99% of the time you can interpret the timing of cars coming up and anticipate what they are going to do. Only one time in the past year did a driver come so far out into my path that I had to take a really radical effort to avoid running into the side of them or having them hit me in the side as I tried to get past (it was a woman on the phone and she almost drove right out into traffic so it wasn't about her not seeing only me - she had no clue she was exiting the parking lot and was nearly into the street where she would likely have been hit).

I rode a motorcycle occasionally for probably 20 years and never had an accident because I rode with the exact same awareness I do now on my eBike. I had friends that did get seriously hurt in motorcycle accidents - they were not at fault but in most cases they could have avoided the accident by assuming the other driver did not see them (some riders just think it's not my fault, but guess what....you are the one that physically suffers vs a car so you must be the one really paying attention).
 
I do exactly as Ken suggest. You must ride defensively so as to save your own butt. Don't assume you have the right away because you don't if the car doesn't see you. I would also add that riding this way becomes second nature when you been riding this way for a while.
 
...again, setting fault aside, how many car & bike accidents could be avoided if the bike rider was just following basic defensive driving tactics (assume they don't see you, don't assume you have the right of way, adjust your speed to the situation so you'll be able stop quickly if a car jumps out in front of you because the didn't respect the cross-walk lane, etc.). I understand that probably 98% of these accidents are due to the driver of the car not paying attention, but as a bike rider you still loose - fault means nothing if you end up dead from an accident you could have avoided by just being defensive.
 
The fact that you have an increase in e-bikes are on the road, then more accident related fatalities will happen.
 
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