The Sioux Falls City Council approved E2’s on the bike trail this evening, Item #75 (8-0).
They understand the physics of riding a bike; weight of bike + weight of rider + speed + braking time. Whether your bike has a throttle/battery or not, doesn’t matter, accidents are based on these physics, not the power source of your bike. I know at least two people who suffered serious head injuries going 10 MPH on a regular bike. The vehicle isn’t the issue, it’s the RIDER! Wear a helmet, ride safe speeds, stop or slow down significantly when passing peds.
I have been pushing for this for at least two years, and last summer I really put the pressure on some city councilors and Neitzert stepped up.
This took longer then expected but the new assistant parks director and some officers from the SFPD stepped up with some speed studies, and guess what they found out? Nobody really is speeding that much.
As I have told councilor Neitzert, I don’t use the bike trail much with my E2 because it is just faster for me to commute thru residential neighborhoods then take the bike trail, but I like having the option if I want to take a shortcut.
The ordinance doesn’t go into effect until June 1st so the city has time to mount an education program and new speed signage.
If we see no issues over the next year, I think in June of 2025 they should legalize ALL mobility devices on the trail, and designate the bike trail 24/7.
Ironically, yesterday, while riding my E2 in the street, where I am supposed to be 🙂 a fine upstanding member of our community (a fat ass boomer who was dumber then a fence post) decided to curse me while buzzing me, telling me ‘You are not supposed to ride bikes in the street.’
This is why I pushed for the E2s on the trail, not for me, I’m used to the idiots that drive in this town, but for those who prefer not to be yelled at every time they are LEGALLY riding in the street. And if you are riding an E2 for recreation, that needs to be on the shared use trail.
But a throttle is speed and often a greater speed, and a consistent speed unlike pedaling.
Education and signage are important with any policy, but without enforcement they are merely image without true substance.
Hopefully, e-bikes are just a fad. Else, they are the Asian carp of our bike trail systems and sidewalks, and they have gone from being the prey of our streets to the predators of our trails and our sidewalks.
No one is speeding much? But 11 mph is the average speed on our bike trail system based on a study conducted by the SFPD last summer, and to understand that average we all need to know what percent of the cyclists tracked were actually riding an e-bike, but do we know that answer? If you have 80% of your cyclists riding conventional bikes at an average of 7 1/2 mph, then that would allow the 20% of cyclists who are riding e-bikes to actually average 25 mph themselves to fit into the overall 11% average…. It only takes one 25 mph e-bike to do some considerable damage in a bike involved accident on our trail or sidewalks.
I also thought it was quite ironic that our City Council after this issue decided by a 7 to 1 vote to pass another ordinance to protect pedestrians.
Now, I know there is more to this second ordinance then meets the eye in terms of true intent, but in a matter of minutes, I saw our City Council go from approving class II e-bikes that go 20 mph on our sidewalks and bike trail system, with some Council members even advocating that we should also allow class III e-bikes, which go 28 mph, on the same bike trail system and sidewalks, to then turning around and worrying about the safety of our pedestrians with another ordinance which was also passed and passed due to their concern for “pedestrian safety”.
IMO, the bottom line is that this issue is about allowing the SFPD to wash their hands of this issue because they have bigger fish to fry, which even I can have sympathy for, but in doing so, we have all made our sidewalks and bike trail system less safe for the citizens of Sioux Falls and we all need to admit this….. And, when you realize this, then you begin to realize just how shallow and ineffective a public policy dependent upon education and signage truly is and will be, because they will be no enforcement my dear friends, you watch.
( and Woodstock adds: “Well, at least the zoo isn’t run by the honor system yet”…. 🙂 )
That post was so long, I thought it was from MLZ, but you spelled all the words correctly, so I figured it out 🙂
I would agree, E2s are a FAD, and by 2025 most E-Bikes sold will be E3’s and out of class (made for street riding) and most people won’t be using them on the trail. Just look at E1s, everyone bought one, now, I rarely see an E1 on the trail (because what is the point when you can have a throttle?)
I have seen E bike riders speeding on the trail, and using full throttle, but guess what, those riders would still be illegal under the new ordinance because it was obvious of the speed these bikes they were E3’s.
I also agree you shouldn’t ride a bike or an E bike on the sidewalk, unless necessary, and believe me, as a person who commutes to work almost every day during the week, there are certain parts of North Harrisburg where there is NO shoulder and the sidewalk is the only option. When I encounter peds, I always stop until they pass. I hate riding on the sidewalk, it is very dangerous, more then in the street.
If we find out teenagers are terrorizing people on the trail with E2s, we address it, but as evidence there was ONLY ONE dissenter tonight and NO proponents that most people don’t care or know, as Neitzert said, there are people riding E2s now that are unaware of the ordinance, and come June 1st they will probably still be unaware.
I ask you this, why is that you think people 50+ who mostly ride E-Bikes and know they are banned on the trail ride it anyway? Because it doesn’t matter!!!
But prior to June 1st, class ones are not banned. So, I guess I don’t follow your question. And, I differ with this argument that e-bikes are primarily used by an older crowd. A couple of times last summer I evaluated all of the people I saw on the bike trail with an e-bike and found that half of them were under 40 by guess estimate….. And, that e-bikers always pass the rest of us, we never pass them with our traditional bikes, well, except for the one time an elderly couple was going really slow with their new e-bikes and I pass them with my one speed cruiser, and I knew they were new e-bikes because they literally still had Styrofoam bits and pieces on their e-bikes from just having been taken out of the box.
( and Woodstock adds: “I wonder if Mike owns an e-bike….. Because he could ride it to Dillard’s to get some new white t-shirts”….. 🙂 )
The Bike Trails deserve less restrictions. It’s not recreation with to many rules. Further, it’d be hard to enforce E bike types. The council took a look at this and made the right decision.
Electric vehicles are lithium batteries that burn hot and slow in accidents. A gasoline car fire can be put out in 20 minutes while lithium cars burn 5 hours because it’s a chemical fire. I don’t want to be sitting on lithium batteries in a Tesla with the airbags holding me in. E-Bikes sound safer. The battery is small and you can get away.
Who is the assistant Parks manager. How soon will the Parks Director be forced into retirement?
Do battery fires occur? Yes, mostly due to crappy foreign products and rapid after market chargers. Once the battery industry figures out sodium chloride batteries, all this talk will be done.
Not real safe. Biden wants to open up trade with China, which means more cheap and dangerous e-bikes:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/14/new-york-e-bike-batteries-fires-delivery-workers
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/21/opinions/e-bike-e-scooter-battery-fires-pauley/index.html
But this article claims the batteries will get better and the check is in the mail 🙂
https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/reviews/best-electric-bikes
Be careful, an e-bike could kill you in more ways than one:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/nyregion/nyc-cyclist-deaths-ebike.html