Two bills moving through the California legislature this year could change how e-bikes are bought, ridden, and regulated across the state. One would require
  • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
    31·
    7 hours ago

    Then get a more powerful electric bike and a motorcycle license? Or perhaps don’t go out of your way to annoy other road users, have you considered that as an alternative?

    The idea is that someone without proven traffic knowledge and experience shouldn’t be able to zoom to 50 km/h in 2 seconds. Plus with that kind of speed available on tap, you become a danger to pedestrians so it makes sense to require a license plate so it’d actually be possible to find you if you fuck someone up and decide to escape.

    • WesternInfidels@feddit.onlineEnglish
      2·
      5 hours ago

      Or perhaps don’t go out of your way to annoy other road users

      There are basically two ways that bicyclists annoy motor vehicle drivers and wind up being threatened with deadly force on the regular:

      1. By following the rules

      2. By not following the rules

      I hope this clears things up.

      • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
        2·
        5 hours ago

        I mean if you read that particular user’s other comments, I’m pretty sure they try to swerve into cars and pedestrians on purpose. There was a comment saying it’s basically ok to take your 40 km/h+ e-bike into pedestrians in San Francisco because they’re tourists and therefore must’ve taken a plane there, making them as bad as car drivers.

        FWIW I’m a driver and never have I felt like running a cyclist off the road. I also used to cycle and never did anyone try to run me off the road. This whole issue is pretty USA-specific IMO.

        • WesternInfidels@feddit.onlineEnglish
          1·
          3 hours ago

          He doesn’t seem like such a nice fellow online here. I don’t think that means he tries to hurt people in real life.

          I’m glad you haven’t experienced the rage that drivers often express towards cyclists. I don’t think its exclusively a US problem.

          I’ve been riding bikes and driving cars for 30 years. It seems to me that any circumstance that requires drivers to slow down and consider how to respond to other people’s needs is a guaranteed rage trigger – for some fraction of the driving public. That seems to be carrying over into electric bikes as well.

      • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
        12·
        6 hours ago

        I never said that. I just said that if you want a vehicle that’s fast enough to use as a getaway vehicle when you smash someone’s window in or something, you should be prepared to live with the consequences and have a visible license plate on it. If you want zero consequences for your actions, like the ability to literally kick someone’s shit in and then just leg it without anyone catching you since there’s no license plate… Be prepared to be limited to a lower speed.