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Re: A Rant About E-Bikes

Posted by Stephen Bauman on Wed Nov 19 14:22:45 2025, in response to A Rant About E-Bikes, posted by Mitch45 on Tue Nov 18 16:11:35 2025.

Maybe I am becoming an old fart

You are.

I think these things should be registered and insured, like every other motor vehicle.

Automobile registration works because it's required in all jurisdictions. Enforcement would be impractical, if NYC required registration but adjacent counties or states did not.

The federal government classifies e bikes with pedals, less than a 750 watt battery (1 hp) and max motor speed of 20 mph as a bicycle - no registration required. E Bikes without pedals, larger batteries and higher motor speeds are considered vehicles. It's up to the states to regulate them.

Some of the larger ones are able to reach 30-40 miles per hour.

These already require registration in NYS.

A pedestrian hit by an E-Bike at even 20 miles per hour can sustain serious injuries.

They will sustain more serious injuries, if hit by an conventional motor vehicle.

The NYPD collision forms are are bad for classifying vehicle types. It's a free-form entry. Moreover, NYPD police have proven they cannot differentiate between e-bike types and sometimes even mistake a pure pedal bicycle for an e-bike.

This is the data for collisions that resulted in pedestrian injuries or deaths.

E-bikes were legalized in June 2020.

non e-bike data by year:
2018: 11,119 injured; 123 killed
2019: 10,504 injured; 131 killed
2020: 6,558 injured; 99 killed
2021: 7,240 injured; 129 killed
2022: 8,657 injured; 133 killed
2023: 8,761 injured; 105 killed
2024: 9,353 injured; 123 killed
2025: 7,494 injured; 96 killed

e-bike data by year:
2018: 4 injured; 0 killed
2019: 64 injured; 0 killed
2020: 133 injured; 2 killed
2021: 262 injured; 3 killed
2022: 316 injured; 2 killed
2023: 315 injured; 2 killed
2024: 263 injured; 1 killed
2025: 158 injured; 3 killed

Public tolerance for injury and/or death from automobiles is greater than for e-bikes. E-bikes constitute 3% of all pedestrian injuries, however they have generated more publicity than death by motor vehicles or gun shots.

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