It’s the little things

I thought this was a clever way to manage E-Bikers;

“We needed to do something about it immediately,” said South Lake Police Chief Brian Tholen.

With very few statewide regulations on e-bikes, Tholen teamed up with city leaders to address concerns and draft a new ordinance that requires e-bike users to wear helmets. By requiring helmets, he said his officers have more authority to stop riders and address various safety concerns.

I always wear a helmet and recommend others do the same. This is similar to the seat belt law. In Washington state when they implemented the law, they made it so officers could pull you over for a seat belt violation.

While I am a big advocate for helmet use, it should only apply to the street riding.

Had a brief convo with a local journalist about this, and he thinks that the city and mostly state need more guidance on where to ride these things. While I agree it would be helpful to have actual e-bike rules and regs when it comes to road riding, I also don’t think we need to make laws that are trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. I also fear if licensing and registration is required it could be a detriment to low income peeps who use these bikes for work commuting. It’s bad enough we have a transit system with many options except any that actually make the riders lives better.