E-bike safety concerns? You’ve got to be kidding me.

Shades wrote:

The UK has it’s priorities all wrong.  First thing I noticed coming back to Bristol Airport; loads of cars and lardy people.

It’s quite amazing when you think about it.  The country’s health is going to pot, the roads are clogged with traffic, public transport is crap and expensive, and the air quality in cities is terrible.  If only there were an easy answer…

People have come to terms

People have come to terms with the risks of driving because the convenience is sufficient to make up for the relatively small chance of them being killed or injured. They accept that some people have to die so that they can drive.

You could calculate a ratio of, say, miles travelled per death. If I drive 3000 miles per year and somewhere 1500 people die, then that’s two miles per death. This is fine, apparently. If I cycle 5000 miles a year and somewhere 1 person dies, that’s 5000 miles per death. Incredible! But what about people who don’t cycle? People are dying for no reason! 0 miles per death! Totally unacceptable! On the one hand they can’t see past the end of their own nose, and on the other they don’t perceive that their sloppy driving might one day be part of the problem in a big way.

Simon E wrote:

e-bikes, the biggest threat to road safety! Yeah, right.

Meanwhile every year 1,800 people die and 180,000 more are injured on the UK’s roads. 99.7% of these are caused by people driving motorbikes, cars, vans and lorries.

The way cycle-related incidents are reported in the media suggests to me that there are influential people who feel threatened by the popularity of cycling and by e-bikes.

At my work the Safety/Risk team call this ‘normalisation of deviance’; ie people just get used to a particular situation (which is bad practice, unsafe etc) so it doesn’t get sorted out (cars, vans etc kill cyclists and pedestrians).  Bikes don’t kill people (facts speak for themselves) so if someone suggests that an increase in e bikes will lead to more deaths, everyone ‘runs round with their hair on fire’.

Quote:

[quote]For those that have never used an e-bike, it’s important to realise that the bike does not motor along beneath you. Rather, sensors will measure the pedal stroke hundreds of times and generate power to assist pedalling. It feels like the motor is in the rider’s quads, not the bike’s cranks.

Owing to EU regulation, once an e-bike reaches 25kmh the electronic assistance cuts out. Again, if the motor is too powerful up to this point then cuts out entirely then the sensation is like dropping an anchor behind the bike.

STEPS uses a graduated drop-off, which lets the power off proportionally as you approach 25kmh to make the transition smoother.

Shimano’s experience of cycling meant that the using STEPS felt like normal cycling, and not hopping on a moped.

From http://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/5273/shimano-steps-e6100-e-bike-review%5B/quote%5D

Is a relatively small number of such bikes really a danger to others on the streets of London? Give me a break!

This is about big money and influential people seeing a form of liberation for the masses and they don’t like it.

Then they are not cycle lanes

Then they are not cycle lanes but lanes to allow and encourage motorcycles. Bit like saying that buses shouldn’t be in motorcycle lanes. 

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Simon E wrote:

e-bikes, the biggest threat to road safety! Yeah, right.

Meanwhile every year 1,800 people die and 180,000 more are injured on the UK’s roads. 99.7% of these are caused by people driving motorbikes, cars, vans and lorries.

The way cycle-related incidents are reported in the media suggests to me that there are influential people who feel threatened by the popularity of cycling and by e-bikes.

Cyclists are at fault for 4 in circa 12500 deaths in the last 7 years, government figures, that’s 0.032%, 1 in every 3000 road death.

That is a genuinely useful and concise factoid to have handy for any discussion on the subject.

“A Newcastle-based firm of

“A Newcastle-based firm of solicitors, Browell Smith and Co, said there were “fewer restrictions on e-bike use on UK roads than motorbikes yet they do pose an increased risk of danger on the roads”. “

[citation required]

Motorcylists can’t use cycle lanes but can use motorways, so what does the ‘fewer’ refer to?

Increased risk compared to what exactly?

“however, users of e-bikes should be made aware of any potential differences, such as the bike’s weight,”

Let’s ban lardy riders too due to their increased mass.

Let’s see 1500kg vehicle with 70kg person going at 50 kph

v

Ebike 25kg with 70 kg person going at 25 kph

Yep it’s ebike all the way.

e-bikes – the biggest threat

e-bikes, the biggest threat to road safety! Yeah, right.

Meanwhile every year 1,800 people die and 180,000 more are injured on the UK’s roads. 99.7% of these are caused by people driving motorbikes, cars, vans and lorries.

The way cycle-related incidents are reported in the media suggests to me that there are influential people who feel threatened by the popularity of cycling and by e-bikes.