the knee jerk broad ban is similar to previous bans of e-scooters, certain assault weapons, vapes, and so on. prohibition focused bans on the object rather than its use in certain contexts.

prohibition type legislation is politically easier. there’s no gray area. it’s much easier and less costly to enforce. its unambiguous. even the public will support broad bans initially out of frustration and emotion if they’ve been victimized by some kid on an emoto and they felt unsafe or threatened, the initial reaction is “they should be banned” before they think about the consequences or aftermath of a ban.

especially with an emerging technology like e-bikes, governments may rush to enact bans because they fear enforcement doesn’t scale well when a misuse issue begins trending and becoming rampant. jurisdictions can’t scale up to patrol bike paths, train extra officers to be present in bike paths, purchase equipment or technology…that stuff all takes time, money and often voting. but a ban can be put into effect with almost no effort or need for additional funds, technology or people.

if you want to preserve ebiking for the majority who do it safely and responsibility, you must be able to meet with government leaders, be willing to go to work with them, educate them and acknowledge that they have a specific problem they are trying to address and they need actual working solutions to address it. you have to come to the table in the spirit of solving the problem and not just in whining about the solution they propose.

does the majority of the voting public want to allocate additional tax dollars to patrol, register, monitor, defend in court the nuances of a law based on use or does the public want a silver bullet law that just gets rid of tne possibility of abuse simply by outlawing it 🤷🏻

if the attitude as an e-bike rider is just playing the victim and nkt acknowledging the abuse and danger and safety concerns, then e-bikes will go the way of drones and become regulated out of existence.

e-bikes sort of came out of nowhere during covid and have taken off in the most unregulated way possible, their use and misuse most importantly exploding in many areas across the country, combined with high visibility events like roadblocks and bridge takeovers, large gangs taking over roadways, wheelie stupid stuff to oncoming cars, people, etc. there is an extremely visible and negative image of “e-bikes” that is on the news nightly and that is what is driving law makers to overreact.

hopefully over time some sanity returns and there’s a realization that the broad category based bans are not precise enough and punish law abiding people too much and then you begin to see more legislation focused on misuse rather than merely possession. but that involves a lot of moving parts and resolving some difficult open questions (ie, if it’s registration, what to do about most bikes not having a vin or unique id number?)…

enforcing ebike laws for safe operation are very difficult to do due to the speed and mobility of the e-bikes. it’s very easy to act up when police aren’t around and act proper when you see a cop. on shared use paths like rail trails that often go through remote landscapes, it’s not easy or practical to patrol often enough and across a wide enough route or area to be able to cut down on misuse merely by police presence.

massachusetts is just drafting the first broad legislation of its kind that tries to address misuse as well as define what sort of equipment is appropriate for what sort of riding area and require training, registration licensing and in some cases insurance for certain type of emobility vehicles but just the outline of that document took a year to put together and building out the government personnel and capability to oversee and facilitate that sort of thing takes a lot of political willpower and we are nkt yet sure if it will work out or not. we live in a car-based society so outside of the ebike communitu, e-bikes are the enemy outright or something most believe society can live without. especially with kids and adults actively threatening citizens out just trying to live their lives.