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Not a criticism of e-bikes, but I discovered an unexpected danger related to e-bikes which was much less an issue with traditional bikes: when driving a car, it
by blunte 5y ago
Not a criticism of e-bikes, but I discovered an unexpected danger related to e-bikes which was much less an issue with traditional bikes: when driving a car, it's now much more difficult to judge how much time you need to pass a bike. I would say without hyperbole that it's much more dangerous now, to the cars and the bikes.
I currently live in a Dutch village, so bikes and cars share rather narrow roads. The roads are narrow enough that two cars barely fit side by side. Normally when you're approaching a bike from behind, you know you only need 2-3 seconds to pass it. If there's oncoming traffic, you can easily judge if you have time to safely pass the bike, or if instead you should slow down and wait behind it.
But now that bike which would normally be moving 10-15kph may actually be an e-bike doing 24-ish kph. That's quite a big difference. And if you're doing 50-70 as you approach, it's _very_ difficult to identify from a distance if that bike is going 12 or 24. It matters too, because it might take twice as long to pass as you would normally expect.
Of course we can adapt and take the safe approach, always slowing to the bike speed before deciding to pass. But not only is that rather aggravating to go from 70 to 15 and then accelerate to pass, but it's wasteful on brakes and fuel. Also, if there's any oncoming traffic further down the road, you're much more likely to now be stuck behind that bike for an agonizingly long time.
For the cyclist, they will now be more at risk of a passing car misjudging and pulling back into the lane, cutting the bike off.
Tangentially related is the (new for cars) Tesla problem. That's when you're merging or needing to pass someone, and that someone is driving a Tesla and has a bad attitude. Historically it was pretty easy to judge if you had enough speed to pass someone; but now if that someone is driving a Tesla (or other new, performance oriented electric), they can decide to not allow you to pass by simply stepping on the throttle. They can so quickly accelerate that they can fill that spot which was safely available. If you're not paying close attention (being prepared for something like that), or if you have nowhere else to go (merging, lane ending), you're at great risk of accident.
So in summary, electric vehicles are dangerous! I jest, but they do indeed present some new challenges that don't make them more welcome on the roads.
- mint2 5y agoDo you mean it only takes the Tesla a very short time to close the gap between it and the car upfront? If so, won’t passing make one stuck behind the next car? What’s the point? To leave less of a gap between the car than the Tesla was doing or to continually pass all the cars?
- blunte 5y agoImagine you're merging onto a freeway. You have limited runway before you have no more lane. The lane you need to merge into has a Tesla next to you, and some cars behind it. You could slow down and hope one of those cars behind the Tesla slows to allow you to merge, but not only is that unlikely but it screws up traffic flow. Naturally you step on it so you can speed ahead and merge. But that Tesla drive has the ability to show you that he's boss, and he's faster than you. Now you're going faster and have even less lane remaining, so you must hit the brakes hard and try to merge into the new gap behind the Tesla. That's dangerous, but it's now about your only option. Or you simply want to change into a lane and fill in the space between the Tesla and the car some distance in front of him. Maybe you see congestion ahead in your lane, or perhaps you're about to encounter traffic merging into your lane. There are tons of legitimate reasons you might want to get in front of that Tesla. And if you already were going faster than him, it would normally be no problem for anyone. But in angry driver traffic with the new electric capabilities, people can basically use their cars as weapons. It may sound dramatic, but it was already a bad behavior some people would exhibit when they were angry, competitive drivers. Now they have much more ability to fight.
- sudosysgen 5y agoWhen I only had a pedal bike, I would often go 30km/h on a flat. I'm happy you can't assume bikes are super slow anymore.
- blunte 5y agoIf you're not on a road bike, and you're riding 30+ minutes, I doubt you're going that fast. You can, but you're going to arrive sweaty and tired. People just don't ride that fast on non e-bikes here in the Netherlands, not normally.
- JoeAltmaier 5y agoWhereas in the US, road bikes are the norm for adults and are typically ridden around 30kph on open road. For many of the riders, sweaty and tired is the whole point: conditioning. They may take it easy on the way to work (only 20kph) but they'll go flat-out on the way home. It's why we're so obsessive about helmets, where the rest of the world isn't.
- sudosysgen 5y agoI was not on a road bike, I was on a hybrid or MTB. Sweat was an issue, but you get used to it and it stops being tiring
- lmm 5y agoAs a vaguely competent cyclist, cars have frequently pulled in way too soon after overtaking and cut me off, so ebikes are making the roads much safer.
- blunte 5y agoIn my experience driving, the car is now more likely to misjudge and not allow enough time to pass, thereby pulling back into your space while you’re still there (if you’re on a faster e-bike).
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y agoI think one of the big challenges with e-bikes is the acceleration. An electric motor combined with the relatively light weight means they accelerate seriously quickly.
- blunte 5y agoI'm not familiar with this problem since I don't ride them. But as a motorist, their ability to accelerate quickly really isn't an issue regarding me passing them on the road.
- snovv_crash 5y agoIf you're used to (slow, heavy) Dutch style bikes, 12-15 km/h is reasonable. However any "road" bike (rather than commuter bike) can easily go 25+km/h on flat ground. 45km/h is not unusual of for racers. Of course, these are easier to spot than ebikes...
- blunte 5y agoExactly. I can spot the road bike from a distance and already assume the longer passing time.