Two recent fatalities involving e-bikes, one a hit-and-run in Niagara Falls, are a concern – but not a complete shock – for biking advocates and law enforcement.
The bikes – better known as e-bikes – look like traditional bicycles with operable pedals, but have an electric motor that can give riders an easy boost of extra speed up to 25 mph.
Sales of e-bikes in the U.S. grew more than 280 percent from 2019 to 2022, reaching 1.1 million sold in that last year alone, according to the federal Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
The corner of Woodstock Avenue and Yorkshire Road, in the town's Green Acres neighborhood, is a two-way stop, and some residents say that isn't enough.
But, with more people on e-bikes comes more crashes involving the convenient, eco-friendly mode of transportation.
In less than two weeks, two people were killed in cycling crashes in Western New York.
The Town of Tonawanda and Kenmore East High School communities continue to grieve the death of Luke Guetti, 15, struck July 23 by a Ford F-250 pickup truck while riding what police described as a “motorized bicycle.”
On Aug. 5, Yolanda Yvette Carr, 50, a mother and grandmother, was riding an e-bike in Niagara Falls when she was struck by a motorist who fled the scene. Niagara Falls Police continue to investigate and have not announced any arrests.
Concerns about e-bike safety have led some local police departments to focus on educating residents – whether cyclists, drivers or pedestrians – of the laws governing e-bikes.
Biking advocates say safety precautions shouldn’t just fall to the cyclists. Drivers need to be cognizant of sharing the road with riders, and there are actions municipalities can take to make their roads safer for all who use them.
E-bikes, “especially over the last couple years, have definitely risen in popularity,” Cheektowaga Police Lt. Eric Jakubowicz said. “We do see them more and more often, people riding them around on a daily basis.”
Injuries associated with e-bikes, e-scooters and hoverboards increased nearly 21 percent in 2022 from 2021, and have trended upward since 2017, according to a report released in October from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The report also listed 233 associated deaths from 2017 through 2022, adding that “reporting is ongoing and incomplete.”
Rules of the Road
According to New York State law, children under 16 cannot operate an e-bike, and those under 18 must wear a helmet.
E-bikes are not allowed on sidewalks and cannot operate on roads with a speed limit of more than 30 mph.
E-bikers should use bike lanes wherever possible, and must have front and rear lights when riding at night.
Local municipalities have the power to further regulate e-bike usage on trails and in parks.
“We’re seeing a lot more (e-bikes),” East Aurora Police Lt. Dustin Waldron said. “Their popularity is gaining, and they’re certainly all over the place. So, all we can do is, when we see somebody riding them that either shouldn’t be because they’re too young or riding them in a fashion that isn’t appropriate or against the law, make that advisement and, hopefully, spreading the word helps over time.”
In the Village of East Aurora, officers will often stop e-bike riders who are not riding correctly and advise them of the rules, Waldron said.
While that verbal advisement usually solves that specific issue with a single rider, larger concerns about safety remain.
Jakubowicz and Waldron both pointed to the speed of e-bikes as a safety concern.
Most electric-motor assisted bicycles can reach speeds of 20 mph before the electric assist kicks off. By comparison, the average cyclist rides around 10 to 13 mph.
“When you’re dealing with higher speeds, there’s the potential for greater risk of injury,” Jakubowicz said.
Because e-bikes make cycling more accessible to people, many riders are new to cycling and don’t have the same experience and knowledge as seasoned cyclists. That, too, can cause problems, Waldron said.
“If you are a bicyclist, you’re going for these long rides, you’ve put a lot of time and money into your investment,” Waldron said. “They’re usually pretty good about knowing the laws of the road, just because they do it all the time. With the e-bikes, I would say, in my professional opinion, you’ve got a lot more novice riders out there on a bike that goes faster than what they would most likely be peddling at.”
New Twist, Old Woes
Anne Savage, executive director of the New York Bicycling Coalition, said the challenges that communities are facing with e-bikes are long-standing and predate the widespread use of the electric bicycle.
“These are not really like unpredictable, tragic accidents that are happening,” Savage said. “They are preventable crashes. And if we could get our communities to focus on really strong street design that accounted for everyone who needs to use our streets, a lot of these things are preventable.”
A law passed in 2022 allows many municipalities to drop their speed limits from 30 mph to 25 mph.
Previously, the lowest municipal speed limit allowed in New York State was 30 mph, Savage said.
Albany recently reduced its speed limits. In Western New York, the Village of Lewiston dropped speed limits to 25 mph in September 2022.
According to Savage, research has found that vehicles driving at 30 mph, compared to 25 mph, are 70 percent more likely to kill a pedestrian.
“It’s a huge improvement,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like it would make a huge difference, but it makes a huge difference.”
Some may argue that even if the speed limit is changed, drivers won’t actually go slower. That, Savage asserts, is untrue.
“Most people are law-abiding, so most people, when they’re in a community, are driving a little bit over the speed limit,” she said. “So if you drop the speed limit from 30 to 25, most people are going to drop their speed from a little over 30 to a little over 25, and that’s going to make a huge difference.”
More Legislation Proposed
New York Biking Coalition is advocating for additional laws to protect cyclists.
One bill would require drivers to give cyclists at least three feet of room when passing.
Another proposed law would let cyclists treat stop signs as yield signs and red lights as stop signs. This, according to the coalition, would allow cyclists to get out of dangerous intersections faster and move out from vehicles’ blind spots and past car blocking bike lanes.
E-bike users who want to maintain their ability to ride at will can help their own cause by obeying the rules of the road.
Recently in the Village of East Aurora, a car was turning into a parking lot from Main Street, and a cyclist on an e-bike rode into the side of the vehicle, Waldron recalled.
Waldron said both parties played a role in the crash because the driver, while turning slowly, didn’t use a turn signal, and the cyclist passed the line of vehicles behind the turning car that had slowed down.
Situations such as that, Waldron said, really boil down to awareness.
“I’m sure you heard, ‘Be a defensive driver,’ which is great advice,” he said. “But being a defensive pedestrian and defensive bicyclist is good, too. You can’t assume that the other person, whether they’re operating a vehicle or an e-bike or a bicycle, is going to always do the right thing by the rules of the road. And if you’re practicing being a defensive driver or a bicyclist or a pedestrian, and being aware of your surroundings, it goes a long way.”
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