Amsterdam testing system that can remotely slow e-bikes down

In my city, that specific kind of asshole is someone with multiple DUIs, since they can still legally ride an E-bike

E-bikes elsewhere have accelerators and not just pedal assist? Wouldn’t that make it an electric scooter?

Nerds and hackers will also win any battle in removing top speed limitations. The issue we're having right now is that non-techies also have easy access to 60 km/h death machines because they can just buy Chinesium fatbikes with 1kW motors and a preinstalled throttle.

If they start requiring helmets you'll see this fad die down real quick. As it's mostly children (or uncivilized adults) buying these to look cool and cause trouble.

-Guy who has no interest in seeing cars largely replaced with bikes in cities

I live in Canada and seeing so many people riding around without helmets in Amsterdam felt weird until I realized how protected the cyclists are by the design of the road infrastructure. Cycling while sharing the road with a truck with no barrier in-between is common where I live so I appreciate your perspective.

That's literally what people are already doing and that's why rental scooters are getting banned in many cities; they just leave them laying around where they shouldn't and it's a massive nuisance to everyone.

It's gonma destroy somebody's car tho

Street legal bikes can be modified. This system would, in theory, make it harder to exceed speed limits on assisted pedalling, or at least easier to find those who do it and fine them.

Wait seriously? Do you have a link or name to search for?

You know what? Yeah you're right, that's just a motorcycle with pedals and probably could do a lot of force if it hits a pedestrian and probably should just be treated like a motorcycle.

I have a cutesy little escooter that I feel like has a better chance of harming someone by picking it up and using it as a blunt weapon than trying to run them over at 15 mph. Make no mistake, riding on sidewalks is still super dangerous and shouldn't be done if there is any chance of a pedestrian, but you'd think they would just build proper infrastructure instead of limit them. If they had a bike lane with passing space, they could be as beastly as they want while passing me.

Oh, they get way faster than that haha

Ahh, that was from an event 2022, probably also part of why I missed it, also I was looking in US last time I looked for statistics. Any chance finding statistics for like 2023?

I have a step through frame that you sit upright on. 20-25km/h is my average commuting speed for getting to work and going to the shops. I regularly have to push to 30km/h+ because of motor traffic trying to ride up my ass even though I'm in the designated bike lane. (cars in Australia like driving fast in the bike lanes to avoid the chicanes on the road designed to slow motor traffic for cyclist safety)

If ebikes are disproportionately represented in cycling accidents, then I would argue it's not the speed, it's the barrier to entry. People who have never ridden before, people who aren't physically able to ride a standard bike, these groups make up a significant portion of ebike riders because ebikes are accessible.

Yes, speed will contribute to this, people with limited riding experience being able to ride fast, possibly without the physical fitness required to control a bike at high speed.

The issue then isn't the speed itself, but rider education and training.

Maybe in NL.
On my bike commute (about 4km one-way) lightly down hill I can easily reach 30km/h.
Uphill the same route (depending on how fit I am) I can more or less pull 25km/h through.

Though I am not in a busy city. I would probably get killed with the way I am driving where I live.

Depends on how often you ride I guess but if there is an e-scooter infront of me (they go 20 km/h), I have to hold back a bit.

Makes sense, and is aligned with the “reduced barrier to entry” theory posited by another commenter. Just to be clear, though, what I read (though very imperfect stat-wise) suggests that e-bikes are less prone to accidents, not more.

The tech I’m talking about isn’t related to speed limits, but zones where pedestrians, particularly children, are much more likely to be in the street.

when you exceed the speed limit the car automatically notifies the government so they can find you.

I assume you meant “fine”; regardless, why is there a need for that in order to enable the second piece?

You can opt-in to have the car automatically control you top speed so you don't get fined.

Change that to “You can enable a feature that will automatically reduce your set cruising speed (or, if you’re not using cruise control at that point, give you tactile feedback on the accelerator foot pedal) when you enter an area where pedestrians are in the street or are expected to be in the street (i.e., there’s a cross walk up ahead and a pedestrian has triggered it).” Or, to summarize similar to what you said: “You can have the car automatically reduce your speed when necessary so you don’t kill people.”

There are no US roads I am aware of where the speed limit is over 80mph.

Why can a stock US car go faster than 80mph, then? Why does NHSTA approve of cars that can go double, triple that speed? Makes no sense to me, for sure. Especially when similar agencies are doing idiotic and pointless shit like banning Kei Trucks for "safety" reasons when these vehicles are objectively safer and better for the public than any current-model "light truck" 120mph+ road yacht.

Europe approached this same question with a pretty straightforward answer: Intelligent Speed Assistance. It'll be mandatory relatively soon for all new cars, as far as I am aware. It's already mandatory for new cars in the EU. There's some nasty privacy implications of it, obviously. Very possibly nasty enough to bring me to a "no" overall on the idea. But the safety considerations are without doubt correct.

They can, cf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_speed_assistance with example in this thread

Yes, I know and I see them daily. I was answering on a comment "ooh, they will slow me down and I'll get in a dangerous situation because of that!" The one thing i don't see much is "speeding in front of traffic, as in Copenhagen there are not many places where there are no bicycle lanes and the cars are driving fast at the same time.

For anyone that might be interested in this: it's only for certain ebikes. Standard ebikes that only pedal assist up to 25km/h don't need anything special over a regular bike, which afaik is the standard limit in Europe. You can get ebikes that go up to 45km/h and they are regulated more like mopeds, requiring a number plate, rear view mirror, and that the rider wears a helmet.

Anything motorised that's used in traffic should have license plate to be fair. Kudos to the Swiss

Oh, it's coming for more countries. In Spain no new ebike/scooter is sold without plates since 2024, and in 2027 it will be illegal to go through puvlic spaces without a licensed plate. This 3 year gap is so that people that bought a scooter in 2023 don't feel too cheated out.

There are a lot easier ways to cause damage than this.

I can’t see why this is not a good idea

I believe the argument here is that it's security theater, i.e it looks positive but in practice has literally no effect. To clarify if people buy a "normal" e-bike today, they are already speed limited. Consequently people who have bike going faster that said limit are doing something already beyond the ordinary. The likelihood that such people would suddenly change their behavior to buy typical bikes when they have even more restrictions is probably not high, but the announcement still makes it look like something is done for the greater good.

The technology to do it has existed for probably almost a hundred years at this point, but it was never implemented because of public pushback.

I'm just imagining a Utopia city where everyone is smiling and happy. A few seconds later someone would accidentally break formation and be immediately vaporized

I'm fine with slightly less bikes on the street if it's just the people who aren't responsible enough to be in public with them.

They can cause damage to property and injure people. If you drive a car without a seatbelt you get a fine. If you ride a bike without a helmet you should also get a fine. Head injuries cause strain on the healthcare system. There's plenty of reasons to require people to register and insure bikes like vehicles.

Sure thing, have the parents register the bikes when they buy them. If the kids aren't responsible the parents get the fines and can decide if the kids get to keep their bike or not.

I'm European

No making everything 30 km/ph so all the scooters and Ebikes go left and right of cars. To be expected people get those fatbikes that go over the speed limit. being almost impossible to get anywhere in the city is frustrating. in a few year it is just like India where no one cares about any rules on the road and crosses everything without looking.

None as far as I know. But then we enforce speed limits less with rules and more with potholes, traffic jams and narrow roads, so it's a moot point.

I'm sorry but could you repeat that with measurements that aren't straight out of the 14th century?

Perhaps washing machines or football fields?

1. AFAIK 60km/h let alone 60mph e-bikes aren't road legal in the Netherlands. 60mph is something like 95km/h. To give you an idea, most motorways are 100km/h in the Netherlands. To drive something that fast you'd need a full motorcycle license, insurance, etc.
2. Certainly they're not allowed on cycle paths.
3. Even if they were, Amsterdam has a citywide speed limit of 30km/h. That's under 20mp/h.

In addition to what everyone else is saying, any e vehicle able to go that fast weighs more than 60 pounds. You use a random number generator for this post?

Good point I had no idea those went that fast. This does sound difficult to police, I assume they dont need insurance for those either?