Get ready, New Yorkers. A new bill could soon extend the same car license plate and registration requirements to e-bikes in the largest city in the US. But despite ostensibly focusing on safety, some argue that the move is a misguided attempt to target marginalized communities.
The issue surrounds what is known as “Priscilla’s law”, a bill drawn up by NYC Councilmember Bob Holden and named after Priscilla Lake, a woman killed after being hit by an e-bike in Chinatown last year. It went up for debate on Wednesday, but its potential passage is up in the air as New Yorkers debate the merits and pitfalls of the propose legislation.
The bill would extend the type of car registration and licensing requirements to electric bicycles. “Red light cameras work, and speed cameras work,” explained Holden. “Why not apply that to e-bikes? We have a public health crisis. When people are walking the streets, a dangerous place to be is in a crosswalk.”
Holden seems to correctly identify how dangerous it is for pedestrians in NYC, who face lethal dangers walking through the city. However, his push for license plates on electric bicycles and e-scooters seems to ignore the obvious largest danger to pedestrians: cars.
While e-bikes have been responsible for 47 lethal traffic accidents in NYC in the last five years, according to the New York Post, cars have killed 61 pedestrians in NYC in the first half of 2024 alone. And that number is only increasing. Over 600 pedestrians have been seriously injured by cars in NYC in just the first nine months of 2024.
With cars causing over 10x the fatalities and significantly higher than 10x the serious injuries to pedestrians, targeting e-bikes in this context is a bit like standing in the middle of a rainstorm and remarking about the high humidity. Perhaps one could make a bigger impact by first opening an umbrella.
The strange fixation on a relatively minor threat to pedestrians – and one that actually helps replace the larger on-road threat of cars – has not gone unnoticed by many New Yorkers. “They’re not going after the SUVs, the ones killing most people on streets. Cyclists are easy. Stand and hand out tickets often to marginalized people,” said Queens resident Chong Bretillon.
It’s true that the same effort applied to enforcing traffic law on e-bikes could have a much larger impact on the safety of pedestrians if instead applied to enforcing traffic laws on cars and trucks. With orders of magnitude more injuries and deaths caused by larger vehicles, the strange focus on relatively safer, lighter forms of alternative transportation like bicycles seems at best, misguided, and at worst, calculated.
Cyclist and e-bike riders often include higher percentages of marginalized communities, leaving some to argue that the restrictions are intended to target such communities. E-bikes are the transportation method of choice for delivery workers in NYC, many of whom are immigrants. The lower income occupation already presents a hardship compared to many higher-income workers driving cars into the city each day. Now these individuals, as well as e-bike riders from all backgrounds, may have to contend with further restrictions to this efficient, lower-cost transportation alternative that has proven to be safer for all road users, not just those tucked away inside SUVs.
via: PIX11
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