Yesterday we wrote that Encinitas State Assemblymember Tasha Boerner plans to introduce a bill in the state legislature to require a license to ride an ebike.
The restriction would apparently apply to any kind of ebike, whether ped-assist or throttle-controlled, or any combination thereof.
She announced her intention in an email directed to various people in her district, in response to the Encinitas ebike state of emergency aimed at reducing bicycling injuries, electric and otherwise, in the Northern San Diego County city.
In response, Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette forwards a quick state law cheat sheet explaining whether an ebike can legally be considered a motor vehicle requiring a license.
Is an E bike a Motor Vehicle? No.
See CVC 24016(a) discusses “an electric bicycle described in CVC 312.5(a) “equipped w operable pedals and an electric motor of less than 750 watts”. i.e., class 1 through 3 types.
See CVC 24016(b) “A person operating an electric bicycle is NOT subject to the provisions of this code relating to financial responsibility, drivers’ licenses, registration and license plate requirements and an electric bicycle is not a Motor vehicle.”
See CVC 415, which says a motor vehicle is a vehicle that is self-propelled (versus propelled by human power).
So, there’s an argument to be made that a strictly throttle-controlled ebike without operable pedals can be considered a motor vehicle, subject to licensing.
Then again, they already are under California law and require a valid driver’s license to use, though the law is inadequately enforced.
Anything else isn’t. Period.
Then again, all that has already been legislated. California was the first state to develop a classification structure for ebikes and e-scooters, which has been copied and implemented by a significant number of US states.
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So consider Boerner’s proposed legislation a solution in search of a problem.
One that would create far more problems than it solves, especially at a time when we urgently need to reduce the number of motor vehicles on our streets in response to the climate emergency.
Never mind preventing our streets from grinding to a gridlocked halt due to too many, too large, vehicles.
If she wants to solve that problem, we should talk.
Ebike battery photo by Alex from Pexels.
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We finally have an update on California’s ebike rebate program, which is still is failure to launch mode, despite earlier estimates that it would go live before this month.
San Diego’s Pedal Ahead ebike loan-to-own program, statewide administrator for the California ebike rebate program, posted this announcement yesterday, backdated to the end of last month.
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So we’re still waiting, though it sounds like we’re getting closer, and still have no idea when or where the soft launches will take place.
Hopefully we’ll all learn more soon.
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Streets For All points the finger at Metro’s wasteful highway spending under Measure M, which imposed a half-cent sales tax in Los Angeles County to fund transportation projects.
As they point out, the $10 billion allotted to the highway projects — only a handful of which would accomplish anything other than inducing creating more gridlock through induced demand — would be much better spent on providing safe and efficient alternatives to driving, considering that even so-called green cars are harmful to the environment.
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Let’s face it.
You could buy a pretty nice bike or two for twelve grand. And you wouldn’t be stuck with an expensive, smelly and inefficient car anymore.
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Works for me.
I mean, if you have to go, you might as well go in style.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
No bias here. A writer for conservative website Reason says buy your own damn ebike, arguing that there’s nothing to show that ebike rebates increase the number of ebike riders on the streets. Even though Denver’s ebike voucher program has done exactly that.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A bike-riding burglar broke into Bibi’s Boutique on Pico Blvd and made off with the contents of the cash register early yesterday. But at least he was wearing a hi-vis helmet.
A 42-year old Houston man was arrested two weeks after he was charged with felony criminal mischief for smashing a driver’s windshield with a bike lock during a confrontation involving a groups of bicyclists who swarmed the car; the driver has not been charged, despite repeatedly honking and driving through the group ride, as well as pulling a knife because “he felt threatened.”
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Local
No news is good news, right?
State
A San Diego bike shop owner offers advice on the best kind of bike for every type of bike rider.
A San Francisco website looks at San Francisco’s widely detested Valencia Street centerline protected bike lane pilot project, calling it a compromise that grew from behind the scenes talks, with hope for more radical change down the road.
San Francisco public radio station KQED talks with a mother and educator about the joy of biking with her two young children.
A Sacramento woman talks in depth about quitting her car dependency and going down an anti-car rabbit hole after nearly getting run down by a driver while riding her bike.
National
A Streetsblog op-ed from the advocacy manager for America Walks offers five ways you can stand up to demand safer cars and trucks to address the increasing bloodshed on our streets.
The new 2024 Ford Mustang will come with an exit warning device to prevent doorings.
Bicycling highlights the best bike deals from today’s Amazon Prime Day, while Business Wire points out the best ebike buys.
PinkBike conducts their annual field test of “value” mountain bikes. Although they clearly define value a lot differently than I do.
AARP offers seven tips for touring on an ebike, saying don’t get on a battery-powered bicycle before reading it. Most of which you really don’t need to if you have a modicum of experience or common sense. But at least they wait until the penultimate tip before insisting you wear a helmet.
Rad Power Bikes is pulling out of Europe to focus on US sales, in the wake of ongoing problems at the Seattle-based bikemaker, financial and otherwise.
Police in Salem, Oregon sat on video evidence in the March collision that killed a 53-year old woman riding a bicycle in an apparent coverup, failing to turn it over to outside investigators for nearly three months, after earlier failing to disclose that the driver was an off-duty DEA agent.
This is who we share the road with. A 21-year old Yakima, Washington man faces charges for running down a bike rider, snapping his bike in half, before plowing through a chainlink fence and continuing on without stopping; the crash left the victim with broken bones in his thigh, shin, shoulder, arm, wrist and face.
The downside of Denver’s highly successful ebike voucher program is that it hasn’t been successful in spurring sales at local bike shops, with most of the vouchers used with out-of-state companies.
Good news from Michigan, where a 13-year old boy has made a “miraculous” recovery after a hit-and-run driver left him with a fractured neck and critical traumatic brain injury; the driver charged with hitting him remains in jail on $25,000 bond.
Kindhearted Ohio sheriff’s deputies gave a boy a new bike for his 11th birthday, just days after someone stole his bicycle.
There’s a special place in hell for the Memphis bike thief who stole a boy’s bike, then shot the kid several times in the foot after the victim spotted him riding his bike.
International
A British man was hospitalized with a brain bleed and two broken ribs after he was severely beaten by a gang of teenagers, who hit him with his own bicycle before making off with it.
Shocking news from the Netherlands, where high-flying Dutch ebike maker VanMoof called it quits, at least for now, after apparently burning through more than $200 million in venture capital funding; the company has halted sales and all operations as it tries to secure bridge funding to keep going.
An Indian newspaper says a “tribe” of bicycling tutors, including a successful urologist, is teaching older adults to pedal a path to freedom.
Speaking of India, Conde Nast Traveller directs you to eight guided bicycling tours to travel the subcontinent during the monsoon season.
Singapore ebike riders complain about dangerous drivers, as well as increasingly stringent regulations have increased their risk.
Competitive Cycling
The US will send a team of battle-tested Tour de France vets to the world championships next month, with a lineup including includes king of the mountain leader Neilson Powless, near-stage winner Matteo Jorgenson, as well as Lawson Craddock and US road race champion Quinn Simmons.
Road.cc examines the bicycles that have won each stage of the Tour de France so far.
The Belgian Waffle Ride gravel races are changing their entry categories after a transgender woman dominated her competitors last month; classifications will now be limited according to birth sex, with a third Open category open to anyone, regardless of sexual identification.
Cyclist talks with trans cyclist Pippa York, who was the first Brit to win a stage at the Tour de France before she transitioned.
Finally…
Who says your bike needs round wheels? Probably not the best idea to flee from the cops while riding under the influence, then tell them to tase you.
And that feeling when your wind tunnel graphic looks more like a bike rider with a massive farting problem.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
If the state wants to pass a law requiring some sort of a license to use an ebike they can do that as they MAKE the law. We do that for mopeds as I recall and they are not vehicles. The state can do what it wants. If something is or is not defined as a vehicle is not really the issue.
Yes, they can. The point is, they already did.