The STUPID Laws That Make THIS a ‘Bicycle'
Honestly a great take. While i generally doesn't mind throttle-only use of an ebike, some of these machine is just way too fast, to the point people are starting to look at ebike like they look at car.
The class 1,2,3 system is only confusing if you're a moron. Santa Barbara has the right idea, identifying a problem with "high powered ebikes" which are sold with >750 watt motors, which makes them too high powered to legally be ebikes. These are in moped or electric motorcycle territory.
It's not the class system that is confusing it's the enforcement. The video kinda made it clear, it's impossible to enforce because you have to stop everyone to check everything because the one with a law-breaking spec often looks the same as the one that is not, and most of the time parent also doesn't know what they get into. As we all know, law mean shit if it's impossible to enforce.
I'm in full agreement, and want to note that the confusion regarding enforcement started well before ebikes became a thing, at least in California.
To see why, we have to turn back to the 1970s, when mopeds -- legally, a "motorized bicycle" -- were introduced. At the time, the definition described a "device" (so not a vehicle in California) with a max 30 MPH (48 kph) limit on level ground, a 4 HP (3 kW) max engine output, an automatic transmission , and operative pedals. This hewed almost identically to the original Swedish mopeds, which existed in the context of a max 50 kph speed limit in urban areas.
Fast forward to sometime in the 2000s or early 2010s, the California definition of moped gained a proviso for electric-powered mopeds, with a max motor output of 3 kW but removed the requirements for an automatic transmission (bc irrelevancy) and the pedals.
So since that time, enforcement of mopeds would have been confusing, since an electric motorcycle (always has been legal) and an electric moped can share the same appearance but differ only in limited power output and speed. Though the market for electric mopeds didn't explode anywhere near what happened in the 2010s and 2020s with ebikes.
But the problem was always there, just now exacerbated. But I do think even the three-class system as implemented in California has other problems with enforcement as well.
For example, a class 2 and class 3 ebike have different operating requirements. To ride a class 3, the rider must be 16+ years old and a helmet is mandatory, even if over 18 years old. Under the law, to stop an underage rider on suspicion of operating a class 3 ebike would require separate information that the rider is not at least 16. In practice, this is an invitation for police profiling, stopping riders because "you look too young" and that's patently objectionable.
If a rider is stopped for something else (eg the helmet requirement for class 3) and their age is noticed from their ID during the stop, then that's a fair cop. But anytime that enforcement results in unjustified profiling and stops that are not premised by reasonable suspicion, that's where civil rights erode. Not just for those riders that are pulled over, but everyone who travels the roads. No one would be safe.
P.S. Anyone looking through the history of the California Vehicle Code should be aware that there were once two definitions of "motorized bicycle", one which meant moped and another which was the early prototype that preceded the ebike class system. The latter was removed circa 2018, after the class system was already in use for two years. That's... totally not confusing at all, legislators...
This isn't hard to solve, just have the manufacturers sell them with mandatory class tags, so that everyone knows immediately what they are, what speed limit they have to obey and where they're allowed to go.
You can even create dedicated lanes for each class, for safety.
This guy is one of my favorite YouTubers.
I gotta get one of these 4 wheel e-cargo bikes for work. It would be super awesome to skip the traffic and ride the bike lanes.
Sorry, you're not a multi-billion dollar mega Corp, so you're limited to 3 wheels.
The truth hurts
I liked this guy's videos, but what's with the random ablism?? Completely out of left field and nobody seems to even notice? Can somebody explain please?
Did you even watch the video? He even addressed the point about which you're asking. Repeatedly.
Yeah so, I don't think you know what I was referring to since he mentioned it offhandedly. You may not even have noticed him saying it. It's his need to include it and the seeming lack of reponse by anyone that I find puzzling.
I'm referring to him saying emotional support animals don't belong in restaurants, by the way.
We can address this after cars make up less than 10% of traffic. Until then, subjecting ebikes with less power than a 49cc toy to the same requirements as a 1000+cc bike only serves to encourage driving.
Hell subjecting that 1000cc bike to greater requirements than a an f150 is insane.
That is not even achievable in Netherland, let alone America. You're just kicking the can down the road.
Its been achieved here in vietnam, and I wouldnt be surprised if parts of several chinese cities were close to that.
Its actually crazy being able to cross a city or town without having to stop for traffic (outside hcmc and hanoi) and park 3 feet from that cool place you just saw's entrance.
As long as addressing the issue discourages riding, its better to kick the can down the road.
That 1000cc bike is a lot harder to operate than an F-150. Regulations concerning motorcycles are mostly there to protect people from their own stupidity. And that certainly goes for electric ones too.
I'm not saying no laws should protect people from themselves, but there is a big difference between a machine that is likely to harm someone else vs just the operator when operated unsafely.
Basically until my 30's, there were essentially three categories of 2-wheeled vehicle:
e-bikes that try to push the boundries of these rules are a problem, because they encourage unsafe behavior like riding a machine that goes as fast as a moped on a walking trail. "It's a pedal assist!" he says, having just shattered a pedestrian's leg in a 32mph head on collision on a greenway.
I don't think I personally support use of an e-bike beyond class 1 as anything but a moped. Like, a moped with a 35cc engine that can go 20mph tops is still classified as a moped, why should electric propulsion rather than gas propulsion change that?
I think it's disengenuous to compare an e-bike to a 1000cc motorcycle. An Aprilia RS50, with it's 49cc engine, 6 speed transmission and top speed of 55mph, is by North Carolina law a motorcycle. It controls like one, it behaves like one, and it should be treated like one.
A lot of these e-bikes are more like mopeds than bicycles, and should be treated as such.
My idea: More electric mopeds! And more electric motorcycles! I want an electric motorcycle with equivalent performance (and range) of my old Ninja 250. Weird thing is, nobody seems to even try to make such a thing, every electric motorcycle I'm shown is an attempt to replicate the acceleration of a 650cc bike that'll barely get you out of shouting range.
In most countries, <50cc scooters have no liscense requirements and therefore quite popular. They're not popular in the US because they also have the requirements of a 1000cc bike.
The core issue here is that motorbikes are overregulated in the US compared to cars.
My perspective is biased because I've only lived in car-hell where it was extremely dangerous to ride a motorbike, and places where riding ~<150cc motorbikes and high power electrics on bike paths or even sidewalks, at relevant speeds, was perfectly acceptable, and its not uncommon to see electric scooters doing 35 on a road or 8 on a sidewalk.
Maybe the solution is to have speed limits for sidewalks and bikelanes.