Encinitas City Council declares emergency for e-bikes, bicycles

[Jeremy McCreary]

I do see myself as a advocate for ebikes, so am always courteous and slow to a crawl with a thank you. Call it Ogmios' School of Zen biking. We could all do with a little more Ogmios in our lives.

Ditto — enlightened self-interest if nothing else. But even better out of simple respect, which you generally have to give to get.

 

[Taylor57]

I'm with you on the Zen biking. No need to be an asshole. Slow down and stay in control. I also try to avoid busy streets or sidewalks in tourist season. There are so many places to ride where you have plenty of space. Even here in little Palm Springs, everyone is riding an ebike now. Even the homeless...

 

[PatriciaK]

I have to admit that, sometimes, when I ride the Battleground in Greensboro, I call out "On your left, pedestrians walking in the bike lane" as I ride courteously past, giving wide berth to a gaggle of them taking up the whole space.... The pedestrian lane is clearly marked (as is the bike lane), on the opposite side of the narrow , one-way road that runs through the park.

 

[TPEHAK]

Come on up to Seattle and try the Burke Gilman trail - there are plenty of them . Granted, they don't always mow down pedestrians, but that's only because most regular users have learned to get the hell out of their way.

I commute on my 3000w ebike on this trail and I see no problem here with e-bikes. The biggest problem I had when I stopped in the middle of the trail to handle a flag to a bicyclust who dropped it on the trail and the acoustic bike ciclists behind me yelled on me to clear the way but they did not even try to apply brake and passed me dangerously close probably thinking that I somehow have to sence them being me and figure out which way to move out of their way. When I see people occupy the middle of the lane I use my brake to slow down and safely and slowly go around them and I do not even use voice or ring because of I know that it can scare people and they can jump on my way being scared.

Acustic bikes are actually more dangerous and more aggressive here because of they hate to slow down or to stop because of they have to waist energy on it while E-bikers are OK to slow down because of it will be effodlessly for them to accelerate after slowing down.

 

[PatriciaK]

I commute on my 3000w ebike on this trail and I see no problem here with e-bikes. The biggest problem I had when I stopped in the middle of the trail to handle a flag to a bicyclust who dropped it on the trail and the acoustic bike ciclists behind me yelled on me to clear the way but they did not even try to apply brake and passed me dangerously close probably thinking that I somehow have to sence them being me and figure out which way to move out of their way. When I see people occupy the middle of the lane I use my brake to slow down and safely and slowly go around them and I do not even use voice or ring because of I know that it can scare people and they can jump on my way being scared.

Acustic bikes are actually more dangerous and more aggressive here because of they hate to slow down or to stop because of they have to waist energy on it while E-bikers are OK to slow down because of it will be effodlessly for them to accelerate after slowing down.

That was my point

 

[gromike]

Always best to brake in anticipation of the need. My collar bones wish that I had.

 

[Bill G]

Haha, no. I was able to ride it to a stop. Full cream ebikes are surprisingly stable when hit from behind by carbon framed road bikes. My derailleur was the only thing knocked out a bit.

I get plenty of oblivious walkers too. The proliferation of ear buds make it more challenging. I do see myself as a advocate for ebikes, so am always courteous and slow to a crawl with a thank you. Call it Ogmios' School of Zen biking. We could all do with a little more Ogmios in our lives.

That's one of the benefits of assistance, there's no penalty to slowing down: a few revolutions of the pedals and we're back up to cruising speed again.

Had no idea who/what Ogmios is/was, so I followed the link. Then followed a sidebar recommendation to this bicycle related topic:

. So many rabbit holes, so little time.

 

[Jason Knight]

On that path now I always carry a first aid kit in the unlikely event any roadies spontaneously eject themselves over my rear tyre.

I count myself lucky to have not had any collisions with anyone or anything yet given some of the behaviors -- and crashes -- I've witnessed or come across.

In my area -- kind of like the guys with the oversized jacked up super shiny pickup trucks that you know have never carried anything in the bed or been on terrain harsher than some loose leaves -- it feels like the "road bike" guys with their super skinny tires are compensating for something. The type of bullies who peaked in high school. As if being a total jackass to everyone else riding around is a prerequisite for ownership. The guys riding on sidewalks in places it's illegal, blindly blowing across roads without looking or "how dare we even suggest" stopping, screaming along at 20mph+ yelling "MOVE" two yards away from pedestrians because that's about how far in front of them they seem to plan.

To be brutally frank I see a lot more irresponsible "I AM THE ROAD" misbehavior from the spandex wearing "my bike weighs 5kg" guys typically tearing around faster than a class 2 e-bike can go on that "So dangerous" throttle only. For those of you who missed it, there's sarcasm in there about the "dangers" of throttles. Also you can tell they're pretentious sods when they use metric and refer to "petrol" but have lived in the US their whole lives. NOT that I have a specific local in mind.

Certainly more so than the folks on e-bikes who realize it's basically a red sports car begging for the cops to pull you over. You're just ASKING for Karens and Kevins to give you s*it by simply riding them on MUP no matter your behavior. Thus you put on the extra air of manners and cordiality no matter how much you want to throttle the person giving you a hard time.

That said, a medkit is something I have with me as part of my normal kit. Along with road flares, my cheap phone I don't care about getting trashed or stolen ($50 bluboo), spare chain, chain kit with a half dozen master links, tube patch kit, spare tube, the wheel/crank wrench the bike came with, and full hex/torx kits.

Something I learned decades ago. It's better to haul all that crap around and not need it, than to need it and not have it. I'm oft surprised how many people ride around on bikes of any sort without those "basics" You WILL go down at some point,. Mechanical failure, negligence from others, blind turns, "oh look at the pretty red chipmunks" (true story bro)... being prepared for that is more than just protecting your noggin.

And I've helped enough people the past two years I should probably refresh/refill my medkit. I keep coming across injured people on two specific paths. Paths I wouldn't take any bike without some form of suspension or fat tires, or a massive amount of experience downhill "technical". I see the folks on 700c's turn down those paths (Keene to Troy for example), and I'm tempted to follow at a safe distance to rescue them when things go south.

Oh and FFS sake people, if someone put down road flares, slow down and don't just blindly blow past without asking what's going on. Assume unsafe conditions!

 

[Jason Knight]

I get plenty of oblivious walkers too. The proliferation of ear buds make it more challenging. I do see myself as a advocate for ebikes, so am always courteous and slow to a crawl with a thank you.

Part of why certain laws -- like not being able to put louder 12v motorcycle horns on an e-bike -- are really dumb. It's as if the lawmakers are often against public safety.

And yeah, no matter how pissed off you might get, plaster on the fake smile, be genial... and THEN bitch, moan, and curse about them out once you're a few hundred yards down the road.

Also it's a lot less of a problem if we would all just slow down a little when you see people ahead, and slow down even more when you can't see ahead. Just because I can go 35 doesn't mean I do it on a crowded rail trail. Another of the cases where I see bikers -- even on normal bikes -- just barrel straight up flat-out as fast as they can go to people, and then last minute scream at them. A little caution people? Please?!?

 

[None]

I've been commuting on my (folding) bicycle & e-bike in NYC traffic since 2013.
I've come close many times of getting hit in traffic, only once I got T-boned in the rain, low light visibility by and SUV that ran a stop sign; killed my folding bike, but I walked away with minor bruises & sore.
40 years of cycling, 25 years of motorcycling; IME, speed is what gets people in trouble.

 

[Ken M]

I do think we need to always remember that any bike or ebike (regardless of power or assist speed) can be ridden irresponsibly. This goes as well for automobiles as well but they don't share MUPs with pedestrians. I do worry that some will want to see ebikes neutered to the point that they are not considered effective transportation solutions by many - ie the EU 250W 25kph limits are just set to low in my opinion to allow ebikes to be the transformational mobility solution they have the true potential to be.

 

[Rexlion]

From the article:
the number of collisions involving bicycles or e-bicycles has "almost tripled since 2020,"... OMG, OMG! We need to declare an emergency!!!
...with 11 collisions reported this year. Oh. Wait, did I read that correctly? I guess the collisions went from 4 per year to a whole, big, whopping 11?? Well, whoop-tee-doo.
11 accidents? In a city of 60,000+ people? Please, that is no emergency!
Wake me when the number hits 100 or more.
In the words of our fearless leader, "C'mon, man!"

 

[onlineaddy]

The collision that prompted this emergency declaration resulted in a death. In this case one collision is one too many.

 

[Rexlion]

That is a sad event when anyone is killed. A 9th grader, wasn't it? He changed lanes into the path of a van. You know, the adolescent brain isn't fully developed yet and their judgment is not up to par. Maybe children and teenagers should not be allowed to ride bicycles. "One is one too many," right?

On the same line of thinking, has Encinitas declared an emergency over motor vehicle collisions?
https://www.encinitasadvocate.com/n...-rig-multiple-cars-crash-on-encinitas-freeway
Same principle should apply, shouldn't it?

All I'm saying is, there's no emergency situation when a city of 60,000, in which people probably take 5 or 6 million vehicle trips annually, has a mere 11 collisions and one death involving either bicycles or e-bicycles. Time for a public awareness campaign, yes. Education effort, sure. Declare a "public emergency"? Nah.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I think tighter bike control laws are inevitable here in North (San Diego) County. I plan to go to the hearings involved.

Don't know how it could be done, practically speaking, but I hope against hope that any new bike contol measures will be accompanied by pedestrian control measures.

 

[mschwett]

I do think we need to always remember that any bike or ebike (regardless of power or assist speed) can be ridden irresponsibly. This goes as well for automobiles as well but they don't share MUPs with pedestrians. I do worry that some will want to see ebikes neutered to the point that they are not considered effective transportation solutions by many - ie the EU 250W 25kph limits are just set to low in my opinion to allow ebikes to be the transformational mobility solution they have the true potential to be.

ken, nice to see you post an opinion without going down all the usual rabbit holes.

i agree that 25kph is not really suitable for most american distances. personally i think that spec should be a sort of “class 0” bike which would be legal absolutely everywhere a bike is. i don’t actually think that’s possible in the united states with the division of jurisdictions we have - the federal government can’t force a state, county, or city/town to allow electric bikes on paths or bike lanes. perhaps it could be achieved through funding incentives.

 

[mschwett]

…
All I'm saying is, there's no emergency situation when a city of 60,000, in which people probably take 5 or 6 million vehicle trips annually, has a mere 11 collisions and one death involving either bicycles or e-bicycles. Time for a public awareness campaign, yes. Education effort, sure. Declare a "public emergency"? Nah.

you’re mixing your facts up here. the mode share for bikes in encinitas looks to be around 10% which is really, really high for san diego: https://www.encinitasca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/5717/638085185807170000

i couldn’t find VMT stats, but let’s just assume the average car trip is the same length as the average bike trip. 1/10 of the miles traveled would be by bike (in reality i bet it’s way, way less) which means that one fatality is the equivalent of 10 motor vehicle fatalities in a year for a small town of 60,000. that’s extremely high - more than twice the statewide fatality rate per capita due to motor vehicle accidents. if the average bike trip is only half the length of a car trip, you’re up to four times.

so yeah, small sample size, but in a small town with not many trips taken by bike a few serious accidents is worth looking into, and hopefully making safety improvements in the infrastructure and/or rules.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

i agree that 25kph is not really suitable for most american distances. personally i think that spec should be a sort of “class 0” bike which would be legal absolutely everywhere a bike is. i don’t actually think that’s possible in the united states with the division of jurisdictions we have - the federal government can’t force a state, county, or city/town to allow electric bikes on paths or bike lanes. perhaps it could be achieved through funding incentives.

The 25 km/h is the price we pay for treating an e-bike as a regular bike here in Europe. Not that the EU speed limit would be suitable for the United States, of course.

The 250 W motor actual mechanical power limit in Europe is only truly implemented in lightweight low power e-bikes. The full power Euro e-bikes have their motors nominal 250 W but the actual mechanical peak power delivered by the motor is often exceeding 500 W. Assuming the user accepts the 25 km/h speed restriction, the high peak power is only useful in the mountains.

There is an e-bike road race Giro-E in Italy. The motor has to be certified not to exceed 250 W of actual mechanical peak power, and it has to be 25 km/h restricted, making the use of the motor only justified uphill, for a strong headwind, or to accelerate faster. Only road or gravel e-bikes are allowed. Funny to think the potential future Creo SL 1.2 won't be admitted to Giro-E because of its 320 W peak power

 

[TPEHAK]

Does this emergency include electric boards and mono wheels? Those things can go crazy fast, significantly faster than e-bikes. And how do you trear mono wheels? There is no such thing like a regulal mono wheel, those wheels exist only in electric form.

 

[Rexlion]

you’re mixing your facts up here. the mode share for bikes in encinitas looks to be around 10% which is really, really high for san diego: https://www.encinitasca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/5717/638085185807170000

i couldn’t find VMT stats, but let’s just assume the average car trip is the same length as the average bike trip. 1/10 of the miles traveled would be by bike (in reality i bet it’s way, way less) which means that one fatality is the equivalent of 10 motor vehicle fatalities in a year for a small town of 60,000. that’s extremely high - more than twice the statewide fatality rate per capita due to motor vehicle accidents. if the average bike trip is only half the length of a car trip, you’re up to four times.

so yeah, small sample size, but in a small town with not many trips taken by bike a few serious accidents is worth looking into, and hopefully making safety improvements in the infrastructure and/or rules.

I get what you're saying, that the fatality rate per distance driven may be higher for bikers than for automobilers. Assuming for the moment that the sample size is large enough to be statistically significant, there are a couple of obvious reasons why we would expect that fatality rate to be higher. One, the bike rider has no 'crash cage' of metal surrounding him to protect him in low-speed events. Two, we allow teens and youths to pilot bikes but not automobiles. Three, the biker has less mandated safety equipment: turn signals, multiple mirrors, air bags, etc. There may be other reasons as well for why we should expect the biker fatality rate to be higher than the auto fatality rate when the two travel in mixed company. A statistical fatality rate per thousand miles ridden might be largely dictated by the very nature of those transportation modes. While governmental oversight and regulation might possibly change some variables and improve that rate, I simply reiterate that it should not be called a 'public emergency'.