A dump from the article:
When New Jersey passed one of the country’s most restrictive e-bike laws earlier this year, plenty of riders, advocates, and bike shops warned that it would have consequences. Now, just a few weeks after the law officially took effect, those predictions appear to have come true.
Bike shops across the state are reporting declines in e-bike sales ranging from 20% to an astonishing 90%, with many saying customers are simply deciding that owning an e-bike in New Jersey is no longer worth the hassle.
The law, which took effect on July 19, requires every e-bike in the state to be registered, from the slowest Class 1 pedal-assist models all the way through faster Class 3 bikes. Riders under 17 without a driver’s license must pass an MVC licensing test to obtain a special e-bike license, while Class 2 throttle-equipped e-bikes and Class 3 models also require insurance, similar to owning a car.
The result has been widespread confusion. Some customers reportedly believe e-bikes have simply been banned outright. Others tell dealers they’ll just buy online and ignore the requirements. And many are choosing not to buy an e-bike at all.
The impact on local businesses has been severe. One New Jersey dealer said sales plunged 90%, another reported a 63% decline, while others described losing between 20% and 60% of their e-bike business. Several shops have already laid off employees, closed rental operations, downsized, or warned they may not survive through the end of the year.
Perhaps most troubling are the unintended consequences for the very people e-bikes help the most. Dealers who specialize in mobility-focused transportation say disabled customers are returning newly purchased e-bikes or abandoning plans to buy them altogether because they fear they won’t qualify for licensing or insurance requirements. One retailer described customers losing transportation to work or school because of the new rules.
What’s particularly frustrating is that many of these problems were predictable. The law treats a low-speed 15-20 mph (25-32 km/h) throttle-equipped Class 2 e-bike much more like a motorcycle than like a bicycle, despite its similar performance to a standard Class 1 pedal-assist bike. Bike shops and advocacy groups have instead urged lawmakers to exempt low-speed e-bikes under 20 mph (32 km/h) from licensing, registration, and insurance requirements while focusing regulation on higher-speed, higher-powered machines that more closely resemble electric mopeds.
It’s hard to argue with that logic. If the goal was to improve safety, discouraging people from riding bicycles and pushing them back into cars seems like an odd way to do so, especially when cars are the very things supposedly making e-bikes “unsafe”.
Cars arent the thing making E-Bikes unsafe. Rider behavior is the thing making E-Bikes unsafe.
I live in a town in an area that has more bike infrastructure than almost anywhere in the country. You could literally commute 40 miles each way (or more) on trails that hardly cross any roadways at all. I love bikes and think Ebikes are awesome. But when people who choose to use them decide to be idiots they are legitimately dangerous. They deserve to be treated like something different from a normal bike because they literally are.
On the trails, ebike riders in my area are often smoking pedestrians because they ride well over the posted speed limit, pass at full speed, and don’t announce themselves when passing. In one case, a woman was hit by an ebiker who then left her lying there and took off. Ebikes are not regular weight bikes. Getting hit by that rider caused her spinal damage and lasting issues, and she has no way of going after the person because they fled and everything happened on a trail. The county sheriffs wouldnt even investigate because they say the trails are the responsibility of the local transportation authority. Although realistically they would never catch them anyways
On the roads in town, the biggest danger are young kids and tourons that dont understand that if you bike on a street you are required to bike in the same way you would drive a car. They think “im on a bike, so stop signs, right of ways, and speed limits dont apply to me”. This has resulted in many young kids getting borderline killed when they get hit by cars because of things that are their own fault. Numerous times I have had kids (that cant possibly be more than 8-10 years old) blow stop signs and fly out in front of my car at 30mph. The only saving grace is that I was going the actual speed limit of 15, because if I had been going double it, like them, it would have been over with.
I have nothing against Ebikes, but this is the exact type of improper usage that these laws are trying to prevent. Both for the safety of the riders and for everyone else. 8 year olds or anyone else shouldnt be able to ride a class 2 or 3 if they are incapable of understanding road rules and how to not potentially kill someone else or themselves. Honestly class 1 shouldn’t be exempt either because it is not hard to get a class 1 to fly well over its flat ground speed, and on any bike (electric or standard) it generally feels like you are going slower than you actually are.
There is definitely argument to be made about what is the best way to go about it, but the framing of this article that we should just keep everything unregulated as if ebikes are a normal schwin is some major BS
Agree. I ride my e-bike in the street, stop for red lights, stop at stop sign, signal and use my turn signals. I have almost hit children in the street riding e-bikes and scooters with no helmets because they are running red lights and riding in the wrong lane against oncoming vehicles. I’m not happy at the prospect of my e-bike becoming regulated, but I’m tired of having to dodge cars and them. Those kids piss me off so much that if they got hit or fell I would legit just be tempted continue on my way after calling it in to 911/emergency; do stupid shit, get hit.
I feel like the best way to regulate them is to require a learners permit for driving a car, many states don’t allow the permit until age 16. Then at least the rider has passed a written road test and knows the rules and is hopefully more mature that fucking 8 year olds. I don’t think bikes should necessarily require insurance. Bikes with speed of 20mph or lower shouldn’t require it at least. My bike weights 50lbs top speed 20 mph. If I hit someone I don’t think I’m likely to kill them because most of the time I am not running at top speed anyway. It’s the 80-100 lb more more bikes going 30 mph that start to get pretty dangerous.
Tbf, 15-20mph on a throttle equipped bicycle is a motorcycle and is not safe for other isers of the sidewalk.
It is a motorcycle or a moped and it is also not safe to be riding at that speed at a sidewalk among pedestrias but what’s also true is that anyone can reach those speeds on a traditional bicycle and the outcome of a crash is just as severe.
but what’s also true is that anyone can reach those speeds on a traditional bicycle and the outcome of a crash is just as severe.
Except reaching those speeds on a traditional bicycle requires significantly more effort, and is really only possible for adults that are somewhat active. I doubt there’s any 10yo that can reach 30mph on a traditional bike on flat ground
On a road bike a 10 can easily hit 20-30mph
You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about if you’re seriously suggesting a 10yo could actually hit 30mph. Get tf out of here
On a road bike? Just about any 10 year old on a slight decline.
I doubt there’s any 10yo that can reach 30mph on a traditional bike on flat ground
Learn to fucking read.
A bit heavyhanded to need registration even for low-speed (<25kph) pedal assist models. For faster ones however, their driving characteristics are more like mopeds & motorbikes anyway and it makes sense to have such requirements.
The whole problem is how e-bikes are defined. Because 25kph restricted, pedal assist models are the only ones that are e-bicycles in my mind. Anything that can go faster or does not need pedalling is an e-motorbike/moped/scooter and those should be regulated.
Yep, exactly. Iirc the criteria used where I live are engine wattage (max 250W), top assist speed (25kph) and whether pedaling is required (though no-pedal was allowed up to 20kph).
Anything beyond that becomes classified as a motor vehicle, and the only motor vehicles allowed on bike/ped paths are mopeds with a top speed of 25kph.
So as usual, a few idiots ruining everything for the rest of us? Combined with knee jerk legislators, i mean.
Funny how those idiots don’t seem to have ruined automobiles.
Well, the same can be said for cars, so let’s not go there.
In countries where e-bikes are widely adopted like The Netherlands, e-bikes are responsible for a significant increase in cycling related injuries and fatalities.
So legislation is definitely needed to protect e-cyclists, regular cyclists and pedestrians.
Legislation doesn’t protect anyone at all. It’s just a feel good solution. You can look exactly at cars and see laws don’t protect anyone.
Sorry, but that is just absolute nonsense. Just look at the vehicle deaths per number of vehicles or miles driven. What else do you think this drastic reduction in deaths comes from?
Small hint: it’s not because car manufacturers love people so much.
Seat belt laws alone have prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths.
You missed my point. You can still operate a car without putting a seatbelt on. You can even “trick” the sensor by putting the belt on first or a dummy latch. It doesn’t solve the person chosing to not wear one.
Insurance doesn’t stop crime or deaths l. A license or plate is only good for identification, it wont protect the rider. Having “stiff OVI” laws wont stop a person from driving intoxicated.
You can even look at OVI trends and see it’s been fairly consistant with only slightly declining trend. However drug based OVI started increasing slightly due to legilization.
Your chart is misleading. It doesn’t take into consideration of early vehicles that didn’t have seatbelts at all or lack of safety devices (airbags, crumble zones, fibreglass bodies instead of steel). Manufacturers today are required to include all those safety devices for sale.
They could, but most people don’t. That’s why legislation works.
There is also nothing misleading about the graph.
Seatbelts = legislation.
Airbags = legislation.
Why do you think car manufacturers installed an unpopular piece of equipment at extra costs in the first place? Not from the goodness of their hearts.
They’re just boomers who fall alone and get more severe injuries. The dutch can’t even put on a helmet, that’s how much they value their head.
If cars have seatbelts, bikes have helmets. It’s not complex.
No need to make bikes pay insurance and vehicle tax. Have identification plates to be easily subject to traffic fines… Oh wait…
