Those things should be confiscated after any recklessness / serious infractions.

Just search YouTube for deaths / injuries caused by morons on the damned things.

Here is one example:
VetranKilledByKidOnEBike

These things are not e-bikes with pedals. They are electric motorcycles. I have a motorcycle too. I have the requirement to provide license plates on mine. I have current motor vehicle operators license with an M endorsement and pay for insurance on this vehicle as required by the state. I obey traffic laws and try to ride safely.

Why the fuck should a 14 year old be allowed to ride in traffic as if all of these things don't mean shit. Law enforcement needs to step it up.

Yup. That’s a good way to put it. While we are at it can we also ban retractable dog leashes too? lol

quote:

Originally posted by ryan81986:
I'm honestly more sick of the jackasses on mopeds delivering for doordash and the like. They drive around traffic, run lights, drive on the sidewalk. I'd ban mopeds if I had my way.

I hadn’t ever seen this until yesterday. It was night, and a guy was on one. No helmet. He had a crate like top box on the back so he was delivering shit. No license plate, and on the road, like he was on a proper motorcycle. Thankfully he was going the opposite direction or I would have mouthed off at him.

I have a number of bikes and they are all plated. Even my 450cc 4 stroke MX has a plate on it. I have a 125cc scooter too, and I don’t ride it without a helmet on and if I leave the neighborhood on it I’ll have on full gear.

These idiots on these e-bikes are gonna find out the hard way. You hit the pavement, from 25 mph or more, with no gear on, you’re fucked. And no helmet? Riding with a death wish.

Big issue here, city/county is looking into laws, rules. If a minor is caught with one on streets they need to confiscate it and then destroy it, fine the parents for not keeping the kids under control.

They have been running them on the golf course (private) and once the course catches them, which isn't easy they will prosecute anyone for trespass and make the parents pay for damages.

Problem isn't just the kids, it's idiot parents.

Make a law, set the minimum age at 16 with a license, fine the store, bill the parents, whatever it takes same law applies already to electric golf carts.

Is it just the US that is plagued with these behavioral problems? Or is it more universal? Other first world countries? Europe? Korea? Japan? Taiwan? Actually, scratch Taiwan; I can see it being an issue there.

I have seen news reports that the UK is having lots of issues with E-Bikes too.

Interesting that this should come up now. Our neighborhood FB page is all in a dither because one person said kids are going too fast and somebody’s going to get hurt. The first reaction, from a city cop of all people, called him a karen and said he should mind his own business. Then a bunch of mothers piled on. It’s actually fascinating.

I guess it’s going to take one getting seriously injured/killed for the parents to wake up - maybe. Our street is a pretty steep hill. Kids flying on minibikes and electric scooters, no shirts no shoes is common.

Astounding reaction by the parents

I take it insurance is not required for these machines.

Just wait until there is an accident caused by someone riding one of these machines and they / parents get sued into oblivion. Once insurance companies take notice and exclusions are written into umbrella policies, whatnot, perhaps there will be a shift in behavior, no laws needed.

Just to be clear to some of y’all who I think don’t have a clear picture. These aren’t just regular E bikes. They’re specifically the ones fashioned to look like a dirtbike. They easily go 30 or 40 miles an hour maybe even more. These things can’t be cheap either. Anybody know how much these things cost?

They range from $500 to over $2000, much of the dirt bike E-Bikes are the more expensive models.

You can get on any number of SM and find kids/adults sharing how to modify them, no different than gas motorcycles, guns, etc.

But Ebikes in many cases just need a firmware modification to increase speeds to Ludacris levels.

Konata has it right, when some kid gets hurt bad enough the money lawyers will be out in force.

Cities do need to get ahold of it.

I live near a high school where more and more kids ride these ebikes to school. Most riders are OK, but there's always the yahoo riding too fast, against traffic in the bike lane or on the sidewalk. Kids think physics and laws don't apply to them.

There are several classes of ebikes and capabilities. Some don't even bother with the pretense of pedal power. They are strictly battery powered and capable of serious speed.

I ride my road bike (100% Russ powered) and use a Garmin computer and rear red flasher. The flasher has doppler to detect movement (presumably cars) and warn me. It also has a camera that records when it detects movement. I use it mainly when I'm riding on the road.

The other day I was on the bike path when my Garmin lit up. I was surprised to see a single bike pass me with two girls (13 year old? 80-90# each?) passing me doing about 23mph. I couldn't catch them.

Our PD has put out several FB post warning parents that they can be held responsible if their kids cause problems or injury. In a neighboring town, an older woman died on her bike after being knocked over by a teen ebike rider.

We rent in a toney suburb, El Dorado Hills east of Sacramento. Our neighborhood is plagued with literal gangs of young school kids riding e-bikes. Most are Class 3, so no need for continuous peddling, they go fast, they pay no attention to rules. I've seen the. community HOA security people talking to them.
Yes they are a scourge: much too high a speed to be unregulated; they break rules (go on bike paths "not for motorized vehicles"); surprisingly noisy.

Upscale entitled parents (btw, who are problems themselves in their suvs transporting to/from schools). Silver spoon kids without proper parental guidance. Manners, considerations, rules are for others. What could go wrong?

A few months back I listened to our police chief talk about the difficulty of enforcement. Basically the kids know the cops won't chase, and even if they did they likely won't be caught because the cops' SUVs can't go where a motorcycle can. He also said that Utah law makes a distinction where if it has pedals then it's a bicycle and has different rules. This has led to aftermarket mods with people adding non-functional pedals to their motorcycles.

Sadly I think this problem will only get better once there's enough carnage for the general public to notice and care. In the meantime I can only hope that I don't personally have a run-in with one of these invincible teenagers (and yes, I've already been close a couple times).

My personal favorite incident was the boy who aimed his motorcycle and my wife and me while we were running. (And that's why you run against traffic.)

Too much to ask for the local PD or Sheriff to get an MRAP or the like with a snow plow blade on the front, set that bitch to a 45 degrees and just start clearing the road of that garbage?

What, a bunch of kids going too fast?

It's a problem, and needs to be addressed, but kids will always be kids.

quote:

Originally posted by Aglifter:
What, a bunch of kids going too fast?

It's a problem, and needs to be addressed, but kids will always be kids.

Well here they do wheelies, ride around on sidewalks, blast through intersections in packs and generally are fucking assholes.

Where is Mr. Darwin when you need him.