We say it a lot in the Streetsblog newsroom: “The movement is at a crossroads.”
The latest Robert Frost moment? Recently, New Jersey set a new standard for over-reaction on e-bikes by passing a victim-blaming law — signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in his waning hours in office — that would require all electric bikes to be registered and their users insured and in possession of a motorcycle helmet.
Supporters say that they were motivated because electric bikes are out of control — but they are really motivated by a desire to reduce electric bike use, even though electric bikes are a very good tool towards reducing car crashes, pollution, congestion and all the other good things that come from reducing car use.
And here’s a fact that e-bike opponents constantly ignore: the victims of e-bike crashes are almost entirely the users of electric bikes — and they are being killed or injured by car and truck drivers, not the other way around. In the Garden State, there are precious few examples of electric bike riders injuring pedestrians.
So what’s really going on? Check out this seminal video, “This Dumb E-Bike Law Affects Everyone” from our friends at Berm Peak, which calls the latest regulatory effort merely “duplicitous heavy-handed laws that punish the wrong people and fail to solve the action problem.” (Please note: The New Jersey bill to which the host refers did indeed pass and was indeed signed)
