New e-bike restrictions in NJ

[jon-nyc]

I have mixed feeling about these. When I think of a regular bike with a little pedal assist it seems like overkill and almost cruel. But at the high end there’s little distinction between e-bikes and motorcycles anymore, so yeah.

Here it’s become a problem with kids too young to drive having the throttle based bikes, even though NY requires you to be 16 to ride them.

[89th]

DUDE.

This has been my own personal battle (99% just comments to my wife, no actual action). In our neighborhood there has been an explosion in e-scooters and e-bikes. Sure, some are just riding them to the pool, others are riding with 2 kids on the scooter (going fast down the sidewalk) or doing wheelies or jumps at intersections or on soccer fields with the e-bike. It's becoming annoying and downright dangerous for little kids who might be out walking or in their path.

Anyway... so last year I looked up the laws and while my coffee hasn't kicked in, I'm pretty sure our laws are:

• e-bikes - have to have a pedal assist, be 16 years old, have helmet, follow normal road laws
• e-scooters - have to be 10 years old, have helmet, single rider only, and (I think?) can't be on sidewalk

Last year I called the police just once when some kid was zipping around the edges of a soccer field dodging people walking nearby. I asked them about the law, it was basically a quieter motorcycle zipping through a pedestrian area and they confirmed the laws above and said I should call 911 anytime you see it otherwise the cops wouldn't know.

Anyway, I totally get kids are having fun, but these zoomy vehicles are just flying around with kids usually ages 7-12 and it's just asking for injury, to themselves, someone else, a vehicle... it's gotten to the point where neighbors next to us have a pact to never let kids ride tandem with another kid on these machines.

[89th]

Yeah I looked up the law I found last October and it was:

Minnesota Statutes 169.223 (motorized bicycle) and 169.225 (motorized scooter)

• Illegal to be on sidewalk
• Illegal to have 2 riders
• Illegal if under age 12 for scooter, and under age 16 for motorized bike
• Illegal if no helmet under age 18
• Must have headlight and taillight if at night

[Mik]

We have lots of them in our neighborhood too. Kids as young as 5 riding mini-motorcycles when they should be pedaling, the kids on scooters going way too fast on the hiker biker trail by my house.

[LuFins Dad]

The bigger issue, IMO, is the failure to treat all of these small conveyances (including regular old bicycles) like vehicles.

The other day I went into DC and these asshats on the e-scooters were everywhere, cutting in and out of traffic, zipping down between vehicles at traffic lights, and then blowing right through the lights. If DC would enforce their own laws on these idiots, they wouldn’t need to have the most corrupt speeding cameras in the nation.