E-bike wreck

[Nessism1]

6AM. Out on an early morning walk. It's dark. Along a fairly busy 4 lane road comes someone on an E-bike, driving on the wrong side of the road, going about 30mph. I'm thinking how dumb this is, then I hear what sounds like a collision. Traffic continues per normal, and I continue walking.

A couple of minutes later, I see a guy lying in the road, at a crossroads intersection. Some other guy just pulled over too. I cross the street, and the first guy is talking Spanish with the injured guy. He says he can't move. I call 911, and a few minutes later, the police, fire, and paramedics arrive. The "black SUV" that hit the guy didn't stop.

New rules and regulations need to be put in place for E-bikes. They are fast, and many of the riders are uneducated. Many without a helmet. It's crazy.

 

[JavierH19]

Those e bikes are bad enough but the scooters are menaces. I once got a near heart attack as I was walking on the right side of the sidewalk and one of those dead silent e scooters went flying at 20 mph or more and the handle nicked my left arm and i saw the teen only have a hand on the left handlebar and his phone on the right looking down on it. I immediately had one of the most dreadfully cold chills run through my body i've ever felt from the thought of that brat staring down on his phone crashing that metal thing into my spine at such a high speed leaving me disabled or dead even. I hate those stupid things i'd have them regulated to go no faster than 5 mph and make manufactures make it difficult to circumvent. I'm seeing people ride those e scooters on roads and they look like they can hit 30. Ridiculous things.

 

[demarpaint]

Those e bikes and scooters are an accident waiting to happen. Better rules and enforcement of them need to be put into place. I like the idea of impounding them, and the owner having to buy them back at a grossly inflated price, or lose it. Then throw points on their driver's license if they have one so they can pay more for their auto insurance.

 

[Nessism1]

I think E-bikes are amazing. Cheap transportation for those in need. The only bad thing, is they should be regulated like motorcycles. Riders should be required to have a license. Maybe not with a VIN and all that, but the riders should be held to obay the rules of the road.

 

[bullwinkle]

I actually asked an OH BMV location about those & those crazy chainsaw engine powered bicycles that fly all over the 'Nati like maniacs-I got a deer in the headlights look when I mentioned they needed a motorcycle endorsement because they exceeded the 25 MPH moped max speed limit. How times have changed since I was a kid in the '70s-John Law would have been ALL OVER anyone who ran one of those!

 

[thastinger]

I think E-bikes are amazing. Cheap transportation for those in need. The only bad thing, is they should be regulated like motorcycles. Riders should be required to have a license. Maybe not with a VIN and all that, but the riders should be held to obay the rules of the road.

That is the whole point of having one...that a license isn't required.
There is a shop here that specializes in hoping up 49cc mopeds because the people with multiple DUIs and revoked licenses can operate them without a license. That shop strokes/balances cranks, bores cases, has custom bore jugs cast etc. there is a lot of demand apparently.

 

[bullwinkle]

I think E-bikes are amazing. Cheap transportation for those in need. The only bad thing, is they should be regulated like motorcycles. Riders should be required to have a license. Maybe not with a VIN and all that, but the riders should be held to obay the rules of the road.

First move here would be enforce ANY traffic laws...

 

[bullwinkle]

That is the whole point of having one...that a license isn't required.
There is a shop here that specializes in hoping up 49cc mopeds because the people with multiple DUIs and revoked licenses can operate them without a license. That shop strokes/balances cranks, bores cases, has custom bore jugs cast etc. there is a lot of demand apparently.

Supposed to have a moped license here, I had one when I was 14.

 

[#18FAN]

It's always the hate on E bikes easy target I guess.

 

[Nessism1]

When I called 911 the operator wanted to know what kind of vehicle struck the bike. I hope they have cameras that identify the slug, and then they throw the book at him. Driving away from an accident is a serious crime.

Again, I like E-bikes, but they are out of control. I've traveled internationally, to both Taiwan and Thailand, and the scooters and small motorized vehicles there are legendary. It's complete anarchy on the roads. It's not like that in the US, but more regulations are clearly needed.

 

[JohnnyG]

I followed one down the road on the street in front of our house. This road is posted @ 25 mph. There had been a good many complaints about excessive speed on this road, so the city installed one of those permanent (solar powered) radar speed display thing in certain areas. Of course, these are never monitored at all. As the E-bike rider passed by the sign, his speed was displayed as 32 mph.

No guessing about it, these things are getting fast.

 

[tcp71]

There are different classes of E-bikes. Western manufacturers of ebikes (Bosch for example) conform to the classes and make it hard to circumvent. For example, there is a difference between an E-bike and a Pedal Assist E-bike. A class 1 pedal assist E-bike has no throttle, only works when you are pedaling, stops assisting above 20mph and has a max output of 250nm. These are generally allowed on pathways and trails. The problem is that there are a bunch of off brand chinese imports that seem to be vying for the highest output motors and no speed limits on assist with a throttle that doesn't need you to pedal. These need to be licensed and regulated.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Lotta younger people riding them around here. Some wearing helmut's, others not. Some even obey the rules of the road.
Scary.

 

[rijndael]

The "black SUV" that hit the guy didn't stop.

That's the norm these days.

So, if we're going to blame the 'menaces' that are ebikes, we also have a hit and run problem.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Some states are beginning to require licenses for e-bikes. I hope they take the opportunity to do this for scooters as well.

One has to keep their head on a swivel when on a sidewalk now, especially in a city.

 

[JoelB]

I had an electric scooter i rode to work for a while. It would go up to about 24mph. Doesn't sound like much but you really can't stop. So you cruise on the shoulder of the road and people come out of side streets right in front of you. Recipe for disaster at every intersection.

They're really just too fast for the level of safety measures that can be put in place.

 

[Ranger83]

Had an e-bike for over 20 years: the original had a hub motor powered by three lead acid motorcycle batteries, clamp brakes and no suspension. No one noticed and the Lycra clad set would be quite puzzled how a “Fred” was passing them up hills.

NY Times Mag had an article 11/30/25 on e-bikes.

“….As the pandemic continued, the number of e-bike accidents increased. “You would expect that,” Alfrey says, “because sales were skyrocketing.” Indeed, in 2022, over a million e-bikes were sold in the United States, up from 287,000 in 2019, according to the Light Electric Vehicle Association. But what really struck Alfrey and Maa was that e-bike injuries were far more serious than those sustained on conventional bikes. Maa says they were more like what’s seen in motorcycle crashes. A pelvic fracture, for example, was uncommon on a pedal bicycle — only about 6 percent of conventional cycling injuries. For e-bike crashes, though, it was 25 percent.

The most alarming difference was the fatality rate. “On a pedal bike, the chance of dying from an injury is about three-tenths of 1 percent,” Alfrey says. On an e-bike, the data indicated, it was 11 percent.

….These findings signaled what was unfolding around the country. During the same four-year period when nationwide sales quadrupled, e-bike injuries increased by a factor of 10, to 23,493 from 2,215, according to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. A study by the University of California, San Francisco, found that from 2017 to 2022, head injuries from e-bike accidents increased 49-fold.”

This link may work.

 

[hemitom]

I missed a grown adult by inches on a e-scooter !
I was in the turning lane waiting for the light to turn green light changes there are two pedestrians crossing so I wait as they are in about the middle of the lane I shoulder check to left no more people crossing I proceed to make my turn suddenly I see a flash in the corner of my eye hit the brakes this guy is right there inches from me hitting him . In his eyes I'm the bad guy here as he starts to curse me out.
lucky for him I'm kind of shocked in the moment and didn't rage back I calmly put the window down and told him the rules of the road apply to him as well one he should have been on the right side of me in the bike lane and two if he want to follow in the traffic lane he cannot pass on the left in a turning lane he gave me one of the dumbest looks I have ever seen stepped back on his scooter and was gone in a flash Moral of my story these things are to fast for people who have absolutely no idea of the traffic laws in place.

 

[panthermike]

Totally agree, so many kids in my area ride these with absolutely zero regard for how and even where they are riding. There have been a few accidents in the past year.

 

[CKN]

There are several issues here-What constitutes an e-bike? There are some small, fast "electric motorcycles" using the bikes paths. These are not an e-bikes. In addition-should an e-bike have a throttle? How fast should it go? How about scooters with no peddles but an electric motor? What minimum age should be required? Should they all be confined to streets only? No sidewalks? Finally there should be licensing and insurance requirements. Very, very few Homeowners policies cover the liability aspect of e-bikes.

I have a Specilaized e-bike and have ridden all over the Western U.S.