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Those electric bikes are a nightmare. They are so quiet you can't hear them coming. Coupled with how recklessly the delivery guys ride them it's a recipe for di

Those electric bikes are a nightmare. They are so quiet you can't hear them coming. Coupled with how recklessly the delivery guys ride them it's a recipe for disaster. These guys plow through red lights and gun it in the opposite direction on one way streets. Maybe it wouldn't be a problem if these guys didn't ride like assholes.

reustle 9y ago
So they should ticket dangerous riders, not ban e-bikes outright.
- ramzyo 9y ago
  Yes, this. The problem isn’t ebikes or bikes, it’s dangerous riding.
- musgrove 9y ago
  You're dealing with an administration that similarly believes guns kill people, not that the people that use the guns to kill people are responsible.
  - Arbalest 9y ago
    People use guns to kill people. Sure. This would be a valid argument if the US didn't have a gun culture as well as guns.
s0rce 9y ago
Many drivers are reckless and break laws consistently. They also often don't share the road with bikes very well. We don't ban them.
- phil21 9y ago
  Why would we? Asking motor vehicle drivers to "share the road" with bicycle riders is asinine, destined to fail, and uniquely American. And I say this having grown up my entire life without a car, biking everywhere. I'd take tickets for riding on the sidewalk, and I'll do it every single day I ride. Sharing a road with 2500lb vehicles that go 2-5x my speed is unsafe and all the talking and lane marking in the world will never undo that fact. Nevermind how utterly anti-social and rude you must be to bike in a lane 20mph under the speed limit. I spend as much time as possible in the Netherlands since they seem to be about the only sane country when it comes to mixed-mode transportation and not trying to murder people while doing so.
  - freddie_mercury 9y ago
    > Asking motor vehicle drivers to "share the road" with bicycle riders is asinine, destined to fail, and uniquely American. It isn't uniquely American. There's no need to make over the top claims. It undermines your points.
  - ldp01 9y ago
    > Why would we? Asking motor vehicle drivers to "share the road" with bicycle riders is asinine, destined to fail, and uniquely American. Don't worry it's not uniquely American: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-28/wa-to-introduce-minimum-safet-passing-laws-for-cyclists/9096024 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-28/wa-to-introduce-minimu... But is it asinine and destined to fail? I'm not sure. I think that it IS possible to share the roads but only under low-traffic and low-speed conditions. The worst offenders are cyclists on busy dual-carriageways during peak hour and it is horrendously dangerous, with two lanes of traffic forced to snake around a single cyclist. On side streets however I don't think it's a big deal at all.
bradleyjg 9y ago
How many people have they killed this year? Just two days Dorothy Bruns in Park Slope ran through a red light, killed a four year old and a one year old. A pregnant woman is still in critical condition. She hasn't been arrested. Maybe the NYPD should concentrate on felonies before worrying about violations.
- rrrazdan 9y ago
  The “how many people have been killed” is a really poor test of if something is right or wrong.
  - jchrisa 9y ago
    "They startled me" is a bad reason to think something is unsafe. I'd wager if you saturated the streets of any American city with "rude" ebike riders, the serious injury rate would go down pretty quickly, as drivers learned to accept humans in the street.
  - notatoad 9y ago
    As long as an alternative is regularly killing people, it seems like a decent test to me.
jdavis703 9y ago
We don't ban cars. Yet most drivers break laws daily, whether it be failure to signal, exceeding the posted speed limit, or blocking a crosswalk or intersection. No one talks about banning cars outright, even though they kill far more innocent bystanders. If there are dangerous ebike operators they should be ticketed and fined. In a world with global warming where many cities stated goal is to reduce vehicle miles traveled, it doesn't make sense to ban a valid mode of transportation.
- musgrove 9y ago
  "We don't ban cars. Yet most drivers break laws daily..." Your explanation is in your own statement. The cars aren't breaking the laws. The drivers are. They are penalized for breaking laws, and if they continue or break a law serious enough, they will be banned from driving.
  - jdavis703 9y ago
    This is actually a legitimate critique of what I wrote. Vehicle operators, from ebikes riders to motorists need to be the ones blamed for crashes and other bad behaviors. That said, my post is advocating for the same treatment of bikers as drivers. The government doesn't generally seize cars (unless it's blocking traffic or parking), the same process should be applied to bikes.

reustle 9y ago

So they should ticket dangerous riders, not ban e-bikes outright.

ramzyo 9y ago
Yes, this. The problem isn’t ebikes or bikes, it’s dangerous riding.
musgrove 9y ago
You're dealing with an administration that similarly believes guns kill people, not that the people that use the guns to kill people are responsible.
- Arbalest 9y ago
  People use guns to kill people. Sure. This would be a valid argument if the US didn't have a gun culture as well as guns.

s0rce 9y ago

Many drivers are reckless and break laws consistently. They also often don't share the road with bikes very well. We don't ban them.

phil21 9y ago
Why would we? Asking motor vehicle drivers to "share the road" with bicycle riders is asinine, destined to fail, and uniquely American. And I say this having grown up my entire life without a car, biking everywhere. I'd take tickets for riding on the sidewalk, and I'll do it every single day I ride. Sharing a road with 2500lb vehicles that go 2-5x my speed is unsafe and all the talking and lane marking in the world will never undo that fact. Nevermind how utterly anti-social and rude you must be to bike in a lane 20mph under the speed limit. I spend as much time as possible in the Netherlands since they seem to be about the only sane country when it comes to mixed-mode transportation and not trying to murder people while doing so.
- freddie_mercury 9y ago
  > Asking motor vehicle drivers to "share the road" with bicycle riders is asinine, destined to fail, and uniquely American. It isn't uniquely American. There's no need to make over the top claims. It undermines your points.
- ldp01 9y ago
  > Why would we? Asking motor vehicle drivers to "share the road" with bicycle riders is asinine, destined to fail, and uniquely American. Don't worry it's not uniquely American: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-28/wa-to-introduce-minimum-safet-passing-laws-for-cyclists/9096024 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-28/wa-to-introduce-minimu... But is it asinine and destined to fail? I'm not sure. I think that it IS possible to share the roads but only under low-traffic and low-speed conditions. The worst offenders are cyclists on busy dual-carriageways during peak hour and it is horrendously dangerous, with two lanes of traffic forced to snake around a single cyclist. On side streets however I don't think it's a big deal at all.

bradleyjg 9y ago

How many people have they killed this year? Just two days Dorothy Bruns in Park Slope ran through a red light, killed a four year old and a one year old. A pregnant woman is still in critical condition. She hasn't been arrested. Maybe the NYPD should concentrate on felonies before worrying about violations.

rrrazdan 9y ago
The “how many people have been killed” is a really poor test of if something is right or wrong.
- jchrisa 9y ago
  "They startled me" is a bad reason to think something is unsafe. I'd wager if you saturated the streets of any American city with "rude" ebike riders, the serious injury rate would go down pretty quickly, as drivers learned to accept humans in the street.
- notatoad 9y ago
  As long as an alternative is regularly killing people, it seems like a decent test to me.

jdavis703 9y ago

We don't ban cars. Yet most drivers break laws daily, whether it be failure to signal, exceeding the posted speed limit, or blocking a crosswalk or intersection. No one talks about banning cars outright, even though they kill far more innocent bystanders. If there are dangerous ebike operators they should be ticketed and fined. In a world with global warming where many cities stated goal is to reduce vehicle miles traveled, it doesn't make sense to ban a valid mode of transportation.

musgrove 9y ago
"We don't ban cars. Yet most drivers break laws daily..." Your explanation is in your own statement. The cars aren't breaking the laws. The drivers are. They are penalized for breaking laws, and if they continue or break a law serious enough, they will be banned from driving.
- jdavis703 9y ago
  This is actually a legitimate critique of what I wrote. Vehicle operators, from ebikes riders to motorists need to be the ones blamed for crashes and other bad behaviors. That said, my post is advocating for the same treatment of bikers as drivers. The government doesn't generally seize cars (unless it's blocking traffic or parking), the same process should be applied to bikes.