You know you made it, micromobility, when you got haters
With market growth forecast in the hundreds of billions, micromobility options like e-bikes are starting to catch some heat in the media
It’s been a bad week in the news for E-bikes
While not directly related to Florida, there have been some stories that have come out in the last week that have given e-bikes a bad look. The first involves a tragic story from Los Angeles where a 12 year old girl, Molly Steinsapir, died in an e-bike crash a year and a half ago. The story by the Los Angeles Times covers the lawsuit filed by the girl’s family against Rad Power Bikes, who made the e-bike that the girl was riding.
“Rad Power Bikes has simply turned a blind eye to the fact that children under 16, under 18 are using their products all over the country,” [Molly’s father] Jonathan said. “They acknowledge that’s inappropriate, but they have shown us they’re not willing to do anything about it.”
Apparently, the only mention that Rad Power Bikes makes in the specific e-bike’s manual about the bike not being operated by anyone under 18 is on page 49 or 57. Another allegation in the suit claims the disc brakes are a known safety hazard in the industry.
Underage riding is not necessarily a problem, experts say.
“Older teens, while technically still minors, may have responsibilities outside the home like after-school jobs or caring for relatives or other responsibilities that require them to move around,” said Sarah Kaufman, a professor who runs the New York University Rudin Center for Transportation. “E-bikes can be especially helpful for someone going from school to a job and then home.”
Kaufman added, however, that speedy e-bikes can be very dangerous for people as young as Molly and that a sticker on the bike noting it is for adult use only could help keep kids from riding.
Speed is always an issue on any vehicle, including bicycles. Considerations for age should always be made and parents should be mindful.
Florida allows for e-bikes that can attain speeds up to 28 mph but has no age restriction for riders. Children under 16 riding bikes or e-bikes in Florida must wear a helmet.
Across the country, the Washington Post focused on the growing divide between e-bike lovers and those who grudgingly don’t. The story mostly follows the experiences of Maria Ferrari who has lived in Brooklyn, NY, neighborhood of Fort Greene for 36 years.
Ferrari, 69, raised a family here; before she “semiretired” in 2020, she breathed a sigh of relief coming home to peaceful Fort Greene after grinding, grueling days in the soap-opera industry. “I think of Fort Greene as a village,” she says of her tree-lined, brownstone-dense haven. “We have everything we need, right here.” But twice now, she says, she’s narrowly avoided being struck down by cyclists ripping through on electric bikes.
The first time, the e-bike rider was going the wrong way on a one-way street, Ferrari says on a bench in the sprawling Fort Greene Park, with the sound of tennis balls whacking back and forth in the background. The second time, “I swear to God, he was in my face as he passed,” Ferrari adds, her hand six inches from her face. “And he went, ‘Sorry!’ as he zipped by. It’s like” — Ferrari scoffs — “ ‘You’re lucky I wasn’t even faster stepping into the street!’ ”
The story goes on the cover the rise of e-bikes and the promises it brings. But for much of the rest leans towards the complaints that were common in newspaper articles covering the arrival of bicycles (the non-electric kind) well over 120 years ago.
Ken McLeod, policy director at The League of American Bicyclists, summed up much of bicycling twitter’s response to the article in a tweet:
Market data shows micromobility is growing
According to Technavio, a leading global market research company, increasing traffic congestion is driving the forecast increase of micromobility market growth by $118.38 billion from 2021 to 2026. The report notes the key countries for growth are China, Japan, and the US. Some key challenges will be the risk of theft and need for frequent maintenance.
Clear state laws prohibiting cell phone use work better
According to a report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, state laws that are clear in prohibiting drivers from holding a cell phone under any circumstance appear to be more effective in reducing rear-end crashes than those that are less clear or allow for exceptions.
The IIHS researchers reviewed data that showed that rear-end injury crash rates dropped 11% in Washington and 9% in Oregon after their bans on holding a cell phone took effect when compared to the control states.
Florida’s law is not entirely clear regarding its distracted driving laws. Drivers cannot manually text/email/IM on their cell phone while driving but can hold and use their cell phone for calls or talk-to-text so long as they aren’t in a school or work area zone. The IIHS study appears to show that a clearer prohibition amounts to safer roads.
Push for protected bike lanes in Gainesville
In a guest column for The Gainesville Sun, University of Florida student Olivia Maule is calling for the installation of protected bike lanes around campus.
While UF provides a multi-story parking garage, various parking lots around dormitories and fare-free Regional Transit System transportation for students, there is little encouragement for students to reduce their carbon footprint by cycling. Although UF has an ample amount of bike racks, students who reside off campus find it dangerous to cycle since they must do so using main roads with few bike lanes and a lack of protective barriers.
Teslas continue to show they aren’t autonomous
While Tesla electric cars aren’t micromobility vehicles, they do effect micromobility users sharing the road with them, whether they are driverless or not. A new video popped up on Twitter yesterday showing a Tesla being tested against another car on a track using dummy children. The other car is using LiDAR, which is a system that uses lasers to determine ranges. Teslas don’t use LiDAR but rely on cameras alone. The video, below, shows the Tesla plowing through the dummy child while the other car stops before hitting it:
This is important because Florida allows level 4 and level 5 autonomous vehicles to drive on its roads regardless of whether a human operator is physically in the vehicle, so long as the car maintains $1 million in liability insurance. A level 4 autonomous vehicle is one that is capable of performing driving functions under certain circumstances but the driver may have the option to control the vehicle. Level 5 is a fully automated vehicle under all conditions.
At present, there doesn’t appear to be any vehicle that is either level 4 or level 5, though CNN covered the release of a vehicle in China that might be hitting markets soon.
Elon Musk’s claim last December that Teslas would attain level 4/5 this year in 2022 were recently pushed back to 2023. It’s clear from the video above that driverless Teslas are not ready for Florida’s road. And having a $1 million dollar insurance policy won’t help the family of anyone standing in the place of that dummy child. Hopefully these vehicles aren’t rushed onto our roads shared by other micromobility users.
Quote of the Day
"Riding a bike is kind of like flying and gloriously reminiscent of being a kid again. It gets me where I want to go with style, burns the fat and helps keep my ass in the same place it's been since high school." ~ George Hahn, Dog Days in the City