New York DN Editorial Safety First-e scooters,bikes etc

Make the road: The way forward for e-bikes, e-scooters and their riders

By Daily News Editorial Board

New York Daily News |

Dec 28, 2019 | 4:10 AM 

 

The News makes sensible suggestions in the face of a zealous advocacy. However they overlooked

the fact that these still illegal devices and unsafe riders operate in a vastly irresponsible bike culture. 

Safety before ubiquity on the roads. (THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP via Getty Images)

When they’re done calling Gov. Cuomo a sellout who’s betrayed immigrants, those fighting to legalize throttle-powered e-bikes and electric scooters ought to read the governor’s sane veto message.

Then, send revised legislation back to his desk so he can sign it, and the newfangled micro-mobility devices can be allowed on city streets and bike lanes without creating new dangers for themselves and others.

First: Rationally distinguish throttle-powered e-bikes from mopeds, which require licenses and registration, or admit that the former should need permission to be road-ready, too.

Today, New York allows three classes of moped on its streets. Even the least powerful type need licenses and plates. The bill opening the floodgates to the types of e-bikes that zip to and fro across New York City streets — two-wheeled, motor-powered bicycles that can go up to 20 mph — would categorize them as unregulated bicycles.

This is a recipe for confusion. Picking a lane means requiring licensing and registration of moped-like devices, lest the streets become a free-for-all for all manner of unregistered motorcycles.

[More Opinion] Mexico has become the wall: What a trip across the border showed me »

As for e-scooters, which we like, Cuomo is right that one recent study shows head injuries related to their use have tripled in the last decade. Another, by the Centers for Disease Control, found 271 injuries in Austin, Tex., from Sept. 5 through Nov. 30, 2018, nearly half of which were to the head. (Only 1 in 190 injured scooter riders there had a helmet on.)

Foes of a helmet requirement say that could all but doom dockless scooter-sharing programs here. Sorry, but safety comes first.

Gov. Cuomo vetoes zealous ebike-escooter legislation Patch

Gov. Cuomo vetoed legislation that would have legalized the rogue est of the rogue riders. Hip Hip Hurray for uncommon good sense. When delivery agents ride all over the sidewalk-against the flow of traffic-through red lights and we pedestrians and fellow cyclists-and motorists are made to dance to their lawless tune-something is  dead sure wrong.When someone immigrates to New York for a better life it is NOT OPPRESSIVE to require that they obey the law and contribute rather than detract
from the common good. Further the fact that a responsible bike culture was never legitimately attempted casts a grave doubt on the validity of the "visionaries" of Vision Zero.
     
  Both Mayor Bloomberg-currently blitzing media with self promoting stuff about his high competence and level headed management-as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for
President and the current Mayor-who wisely withdrew from his campaign for the same destination-both of these stable geniuses went along with Transportation Alternatives desire to minimize enforcement against scofflaw cyclists. This to allegedly encourage more cycling. This to allegedly create safer streets. BLATHER & BOMBAST. We got bike bedlam and an increase in cycling deaths-pedestrian danger and injuries AND an increase in bike lanes. Sophistry prevailed.

What Gov. Cuomo has done is to signal that The Emperor wears NO CLOTHES. Much like Mark Gallis-Editor in Chief of Christianity Today did with his editorial calling for the removal of another
stupendous New York ego-Donald J. Trump-who successfully bamboozled his way to the Oval office. Its time that the politicians in New York City took their paws out of Transportation Alternatives pockets and their heads out of their own armpits.

Thank you Gov. Cuomo.

affic & transit

Shared from New York City, NY

Cuomo Vetoes Bill To Legalize E-Bikes And E-Scooters In New York

Cuomo said the absence of safety measures rendered the bill "fatally flawed."

By Kathleen Culliton, Patch Staff

Dec 26, 2019 3:19 pm ET | Updated Dec 26, 2019 3:29 pm ET

Cuomo said the absence of safety measures rendered the bill "fatally flawed." (Courtesy of Tim Lee)

NEW YORK CITY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed a bill to legalize electric bikes and scooters he called "fatally flawed," his office confirmed Thursday.
Cuomo objected to safety measures left out the bill lifting restrictions on e-bikes and e-scooter passed by state Legislature houses passed in June, he said in a statement.
"The Legislature's proposal inexplicably omitted several safety measures included in the budget proposal," Cuomo said.

Those safety measures include lower speed limits, a helmet requirement, mandatory lights and bells, and a demand that New Yorkers not drink and e-bike ride.
"Failure to include these basic measures renders this legislation fatally flawed."

New York City has banned electric rides — riders can face $500 fines and e-scooter seizures — since 2017 and is currently undergoing a crackdown, officials announced earlier this year.
The NYPD has seized more than 930 e-bikes in 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in October.
In 2020, businesses that use e-bikes or pay workers to use them could face $200 fines, the Mayor said.
State Senator Jessica Ramos and Assembly Member Nily Rozic, both Queens Democrats, sponsored the bill in their respective houses.
The lawmakers argued electric vehicle legislation would improve quality of life for delivery men and women who rely on the bikes to make a living.
In a statement, Rozic called the veto a "missed opportunity" to "deliver economic justice for thousands of delivery workers across New York City."

---