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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/16133154
Link to original Tweet: https://x.com/DavidZipper/status/1795048724021862898
I haven't read the articles because there is no link to them, but in my city there would be very valid reason for complaint about ebikes because the same sociopath tendencies that people exhibit while driving cars are moving to ebikes. These fuckers ride them like goddamned motorcycles, except whooshing right next to people on trails and sidewalks meant to be shared or in some cases, primarily used by, pedestrians.
If I were to guess the average speed of ebike riders I would say around 25 mph and you usually don't even see any pedaling.
I've learned to despise them because what's happened is that the people who don't want to deal with car problems but are too lazy to pedal have brought car-type problems to spaces that used to only be shared with bikes.
The problem is obviously with shit actors but what can we do about it? Until there are laws enforced about speeding and riding like an asshole, nothing will change. Which in my mind won't happen without articles or something else bringing it to the attention of people who don't actually deal with these assholes.
NYC's cyclists (of whom I know many) need to follow traffic laws.
Those laws are there because people need to act predictably on the street. When a red light becomes a mere suggestion for cyclists, motorists eventually start treating them as such as well. Monkey see, monkey do.
...and getting t-boned by some douchecanoe driving a car when you have the light is commonly fatal for a cyclist.
There was an uptick in utterly shitty driving from 2019 onwards in NYC, and the police stopped all enforcement actions even in egregious cases... then the roads became, and largely remain, a free-for-all. I've seen some attempts recently to start clearing the mess up, but too often NYPD are ignoring these dangerous road users... or hiding their license plates and being offenders themselves.
...and this is before you're fighting for space in a the bikelane with some drunk+stoned asshole on a moped.
I'm fully in favor of delivery professionals being required to have a license and display it at all times when on the clock. They should also be required to have specific insurance, and a highly visible personal identifier when working. They should also get automatic Union representation and a living wage.
Anything more powerful than a class-C e-bike should have a license plate, and if not it gets taken and destroyed, or auctioned to a more responsible owner. Sales of these vehicles without a registration needs to be illegal. Anything more powerful than a class-C e-bike found in a bike lane should be impounded on the spot. Running a stop sign or a red light should get you a ticket, regardless of what wheels you're on. Going the wrong way down a one way street should get you a ticket.
It doesn't help that NYC doesn't have the space and largely practices "maximum-conflict" street design... but that's just the slow, shitty entropic action of self-serving interests pushing communities around, and they react very slowly. It takes (usually multiple) fatalities for anyone to wake up and actually do anything about it.
Also wear a damned helmet.
I wonder if anything happened at NYT in the last two years; they were quite positive about e-bikes in 2020 to 2022.
what i've learned is that I'd much rather live in this echo chamber with windows to the outside than in another echo chamber