The guy in the video argued that you would be safer getting hit from behind by a car going 30 or 35 if your bike could go 28 mph instead of just 16. For that very specific example, he is correct.

But the premise of his argument, i.e. that a 28 mph bike, let's say on the road, is safer is not correct. More speed leads to more serious injuries.

A fairly small percentage of car-bike crashes are caused by overtaking cars. Some estimates suggest the percentage is around 10 to 15 percent. Other reasons, though, mostly include intersection crashes, bad road surfaces like potholes, wet painted lines, railroad tracks, and other causes.

So the issue is not just about cars hitting e-bikers from behind. With greater speeds, you get longer stopping distances. We all understand this. The highest rate of car-bike collisions occur in intersections. At lower speeds, a cyclist has a better chance of stopping or slowing before a crash occurs and a much better chance of making a sharp turn to avoid the crash. On wet roads or roads with sand or potholes or railroad tracks, more speed adds more danger and worse accident outcomes.

None of this is intended to argue that laws should ban faster two-wheeled vehicles. But it is intended to argue that with increased risk due to higher speeds, issues like licensing (and rider education), registration, insurance, age restrictions, helmet requirements, and where these e-vehicles may be ridden should be considered.

The delineation between e-bikes and e-motos seems like a very arbitrary distinction. Speed increases are not binary like that. It's not one or the other; there is a continuum of higher and higher speeds. In my view, one class, perhaps the only class, of e-bikes should have a "capactiy" that closely aligns with what an average rider could do on an average manual bike. Looked at in this manner, an e-bike is intended to give their riders "parity" with manual bikes but no more. That, then, would qualify it as a form of "bicycle". It acts like a bicycle in terms of its capabilities. Anything else is a "not bike" and should carry a different label.

Again, this isn't suggesting we ban other two-wheeled modes of transportation but rather that we regulate them differently. There have been almost endless debates about what those regulations should be and I don't see those debates ending anytime soon.

One thing is for sure ... we need far better data collection to help guide policy determinations. Whatever your views, we should demand the best obtainable information about safety so that policies and laws are not based on emotions or media hype. Every e-bike bill should always push for that.

E-bike policies in the US have been a colossal nightmare. I doubt anyone likes what is going on. With the public as polarized as it seems to be right now, it's hard to see how we're going to implement changes that will make e-bike riding safer while retaining a reasonable amount of individual freedoms ... and that's too bad.