Serious bike on bike crash. Head on.

[Toomanycats]

I get your point, but I still think 15mph is too slow for many scenarios and people with acoustic bikes can go faster than that.
In fact, without any data, I can almost guarantee you ebikes wouldn't have gotten this popular in the US if we had the Japanese/European 15mph restriction.

Obviously you're not going to be pedal as fast as you can all the time, if you see a busy traffic, obviously people have common sense not to speed at 28mph or whatever.

I'm sure we have all been to the situation where there's barely any traffic on a long straight line.

and sometimes, we see a lot more traffic, in this case obviously we would all slow down.

We have a bike path like the first one, but it isn’t nearly as pretty. It looks more like a bike freeway. And of course, we share with walkers, though it’s not hugely crowded.
Actually, my favorite place to ride fast is some of our half built planned communities. There are long, wide bike lines, they’re deserted during the day (especially in summer when the kids are in school), and you don’t share them with walkers or runners.

 

[harryS]

Last Tuesday, we went out at 6AM and the bike path was deserted and beautiful. Even the weeds looked good. We normally do our rides around noon.

Today, Saturday, we left about 6:15Am. Almost hit a guy on the way. We were both too polite, moving onto the grass to let the other guy pass on the narrow pavement (only room for 1.5 bikes). I think I did it properly, moving right, but he moved to his left. We both had a laugh though as we stopped and looked at each other.

The second indication it was gonna be busy were the first joggers running 3 abreast approaching us did not move over, forcing me to the edge. Then a biker passed my wife on the right on a narrow bridge. After that, it was a freeway of runners, most of them nice, but we squeezed by a few more arrogant runners traveling in threes. Glad to be riding a bike with a dingaling bell pealing away. I guess weekends here are too busy for early AM riding.


.

 

[Bobsiii]

and sometimes, we see a lot more traffic, in this case obviously we would all slow down.

Sadly I've found it's not obvious to everyone!

 

[Anna]

Two weeks ago a friend was hit and killed from behind by a car while riding his road bike. The driver was distracted. Fairly new to ebikes and living in an area without bike lanes, I decided to buy a radar detection device by Garmin. It lets me know if a car is coming up from behind at 120 feet or less. I don’t rely on it completely, of course, but so far I am impressed.

 

[Marci jo]

Two weeks ago a friend was hit and killed from behind by a car while riding his road bike. The driver was distracted. Fairly new to ebikes and living in an area without bike lanes, I decided to buy a radar detection device by Garmin. It lets me know if a car is coming up from behind at 120 feet or less. I don’t rely on it completely, of course, but so far I am impressed.

So sorry you lost your friend.
The increase in distracted drivers has for sure changed my route choices. And my bike has double red back lights and bright front light. Of course there’s no guarantee.
Side note, my state recently passed a “hands-free” law. Drivers can’t hold their devices even with only one hand. In the first 10 days the law went into effect over 750 citations were issued. And those drivers were the ones who were caught!!
Fellow riders, be careful out there.

 

[Pragmatic]

I felt a pang of relief to read there WASN'T an ebike involved... just an old-fashioned collision of pedal-bikes, where the high speed of (at least one rider) was human-powered.
I don't mean at all for that to sound crass; I'm certainly glad both parties live, and can't imagine the pain and injuries you'd take away from a bad crash like that... but I can't deny the small relief reading the details that for once, it wasn't an "ebiker recklessly speeding" that was blamed for the cause, or even involved...

It is a scary reminder of just how fast 'athlete' cyclists can go, while e-Bikes are routinely focused on for the "speed problem" on trails...

christob Yes, thank goodness an e-Bike wasn't involved don't need any bad press for these emerging, beneficial e-bicycle types.

The downhill speeds of pedal bikes are typically 45+ on a posted 25 MPH road adjacent to a property we own. It's in a popular wilderness preserve that has a relatively narrow road. I recall (an almost) humorous incident, where a pedal road biker crashed (blew both tires) trying to stop before hitting a flock of some 18 or so wild turkeys in the road. EMTs came and he fortunately only had a bruised ego and minor injuries. Other times, pedal cyclists ride side-by-side up hill, and THEN a high-speed solo comes downhill leaving barely a cars-width in the middle. Conditional excessive speeds are a problem.

e-Bikers need to be especially responsible so we don't bring discredit to Our Community, because there are naysayers and bureaucrats gunning for us. We're in an uphill battle for access/continued access, and don't need any setbacks. Ride On!