More and more people are turning to bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters for transportation, recreation and health. At the same time we are seeing more campaigns and complaints against active transportation. You may recall President Trump’s argument that congestion pricing wasn’t needed in NYC. Instead, he claimed NYC needed to make more room for motor vehicles by eliminating bike lanes. Taking that cue, his Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, is now pushing to defund “DEI bike lanes” from federal highway spending. DOT website references to the use of bike lanes and speed cameras as effective safety measures have been eliminated.
Locally, we have seen Saratoga Springs eliminate bike lane plans for improvements to Union Avenue. Just a few years ago, there was a successful campaign to eliminate bike lanes and a road diet on Delaware Avenue in Bethlehem. New Jersey passed a law requiring licensing and registration for e-bikes, even low speed pedal assist bikes. Last session there were a myriad of restrictive e-bike bills before the NYS legislature that may well have gotten to the Governor were it not for the shortened session due to the late budget. Legislation to contend with e-bike and e-scooter usage is being proposed and passed by many NY local governments. We continue to fight to improve an Albany County proposal.
The argument for improved bike infrastructure has been complicated by legitimate concerns of dangerous, illegal bike-like devices being misused on roads and poor safety practices of many other riders. NY Attorney General Letitia James recently followed California’s example by issuing a consumer warning about fast, unsafe, illegal e-devices being sold to New Yorkers. In early August, NYC issued cease and desist letters to online sellers, including Walmart and Target, that warned of fines up $2000 per sale of illegal device.
As active transportation users, we need to stand up for our right to use our roads safely and insist that efforts to make e-bikes and e-scooters safer concentrate on enforcing existing laws and keeping illegal, dangerous devices off the streets and out of the hands of minors. We need to speak out to our legislators before inappropriate laws get passed that don’t address actual safety issues. We also need to ride safely ourselves and encourage others to do the same. Here are a few basic reminders:
- ride with traffic
- you are more visible to drivers, especially at intersections where most crashes occur.
- head on crashes are more likely to lead to death or serious injury
- wear a helmet
- don’t buy into nonsense that drivers are more careful around bicyclists without helmets – about half of bike crashes don’t involve motor vehicles
- pick the safest route
- avoid roads like Colonie’s Central Avenue, try our bike map: https://capitalnybikemap.com
- light up and wear bright apparel,
- NY VTL requires a white light in front and red light in the rear, dusk to dawn
- most crashes happen between dusk and dawn even though most people aren’t riding at those times
- obey the traffic laws, they are there to keep everyone safe
- sidewalk riding is dangerous – if you must, do so at a close to walking speed
- sidewalks are for pedestrians and slow speed kids learning to ride under supervision of adults
- you are safer on most roads where drivers can see you
- sidewalks are especially dangerous at intersections and in congested areas where there are many driveways and business entrances
- riding against traffic on a sidewalk is asking to be hit – drivers turning right won’t see you til you are on their bumper.
- for more great safety tips see: https://nybc.net/safety
Albany Bicycle Coalition 