Say NO to Mandatory E-Bike License Plates and Registrations [California]
Say NO to Mandatory E-Bike License Plates and Registrations [California]
I’m a municipal worker and we just had a huge meeting about this. It’s a tough nut to Crack, because enforcement of the existing laws are almost impossible, and we’re trying to find a solution.
The issue police are having with ebike violations is probable cause. Police can’t and shouldn’t be allowed to arbitrarily stop someone.
Depending on the classification of ebike (which can’t be established visually) there’s different rules on whether it has age requirements, whether it’s allowed to be used with a throttle instead of pedals, and what the max assisted speed is. They also can’t visually verify the bike is under 750 watts or what age the rider is.
And even if they’re going over 28mph (max assisted speed on any ebike), that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not an ebike. Maybe they’re going that fast because they pedaled really hard unassisted or just got off a steep hill.
We have hundreds of kids of all ages in our community essentially riding electric motorcycles all over town and a lot of them are getting hurt, and unless the police see them running a stop sign, they can’t do shit. And even then they have a policy not to because chasing a teenager in a bike with a police car isn’t going to be safer than ignoring it.
Right now, we’re trying to convince the school district (school districts are entirely separate governmetal bodies from cities in our state) to require registration for ebikes kept at the school so they can inspect those bikes to at least verify they’re legal and age-check the kids on the class 3 bikes.
enforcement of the existing laws are almost impossible
Have you considered speedlimits on streets where no vehicle should be doing 40mph? 40 mph around a blind corner on a narrow sidewalk is dangerous whether it’s ridden by a 16 year old who bought an electric motorcycle off Aliexpress or Lance Armstrong.