If you spend enough time reading local news headlines these days, you’d be forgiven for thinking electric bicycles are one of the greatest threats facing American streets. Teenagers on fat-tire e-bikes, viral videos of wheelies, stories about injuries complete with ER doctor interviews… the same themes are playing on repeat.
And yes, these are real concerns worth discussing. Walk around just about any town in the US, and you’ll eventually see some issues yourself.
Some riders behave irresponsibly. Some companies sell vehicles that blur the line between e-bikes and electric motorcycles. Some inexperienced riders are suddenly traveling at speeds they aren’t prepared to handle.
But somewhere along the way, the conversation seems to have lost all sense of proportion.
I recently read a CNN article discussing the rising danger of e-bikes and micromobility vehicles. Included in the piece was a chart showing annual deaths involving e-bikes and e-scooters in the US hovering around 135 fatalities per year in the last few years.
