2

What's your opinion on them?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] HolyDuckTurtle@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The article and social media response highlights a few problems. Chiefly, that high speed E-bikes are effectively moped-class vehicles that people are riding as if they are bicycles.

And by that, I mean they can be ridden very dangerously. Such as on a pavement or other pedestrian zones where people do not reasonably expect a fast and quiet vehicle to be present.

I've been learning how to ride a bicycle lately as an adult, and I have rapidly gotten the impression that education around bicycle laws is lacking. Because it is actually illegal to ride a bicycle on pavement that is not marked for such use. People either don't know, are uncertain, or willingly use a pavement anyway for conveniance because nobody prosecutes for it. So many cyclists use pavement that for all my life I thought it was normal and allowed.

Cyclists who take that behaviour into an E-bike and use it the same way, especially at high speed (modified or not), present a significant risk to everyone involved. I find the following statement perfectly reasonable:

Sergeant Gareth Davies said: "While it's not illegal to own an e-bike with an electrical assistance or power output exceeding 25 kph and 250W respectively, you can't ride it on the public highway as a regular bike without registering and insuring it like a moped.

The assertion that most of them siezed in the article appear to be from food delivery drivers is interesting because it speaks to a greater issue in that industry. That the results we're seeing here could be driven by unreasonable work expectations and poor pay, encouraging these workers to use E-bikes as a cheap and hassle-free way to do their work. You can see that in how some respond to this issue with comments like:

One person commented: "Targeting hardworking people just trying to get by, well done."
Another added: "This is so hard to look at. These people are trying to earn a living and get £3 per delivery and you do this? This is vile and disgusting!"

I can agree with that sentiment, E-biking should not be targeted unreasonably. They are a good tool for when a regular bicycle does not fit your needs for whatever reason. Just so long as, like all vehicles, they are ridden safely and responsibly.

[-] mackwinston@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year ago

One person commented: “Targeting hardworking people just trying to get by, well done.”

One thing I've noticed when I get those Police postings on FB and places like that - if the Police FB posting is about stopping a driver/rider and doesn't mention the nationality half the comments are "Why don't you catch real criminals" and the other half are "Why are you targeting people just trying to earn a living?". If the Police post mentions that it was a foreign driver/rider, all the comments are "Well done for keeping us safe" "Keep up the good work!"

this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
2 points (53.3% liked)

United Kingdom

4091 readers
66 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS