Prepare, New Yorkers. A brand new invoice might quickly lengthen the identical automotive license plate and registration necessities to e-bikes within the largest metropolis within the US. However regardless of ostensibly specializing in security, some argue that the transfer is a misguided try to focus on marginalized communities.
The problem surrounds what is called “Priscilla’s legislation”, a invoice drawn up by NYC Councilmember Bob Holden and named after Priscilla Lake, a girl killed after being hit by an e-bike in Chinatown final 12 months. It went up for debate on Wednesday, however its potential passage is up within the air as New Yorkers debate the deserves and pitfalls of the suggest laws.
The invoice would lengthen the kind of automotive registration and licensing necessities to electrical bicycles. “Pink gentle cameras work, and pace cameras work,” defined Holden. “Why not apply that to e-bikes? We’ve got a public well being disaster. When individuals are strolling the streets, a harmful place to be is in a crosswalk.”
Holden appears to appropriately establish how harmful it’s for pedestrians in NYC, who face deadly risks strolling by way of the town. Nevertheless, his push for license plates on electrical bicycles and e-scooters appears to disregard the plain largest hazard to pedestrians: automobiles.
Whereas e-bikes have been liable for 47 deadly site visitors accidents in NYC within the final 5 years, based on the New York Put up, automobiles have killed 61 pedestrians in NYC within the first half of 2024 alone. And that quantity is just rising. Over 600 pedestrians have been severely injured by automobiles in NYC in simply the primary 9 months of 2024.
With automobiles inflicting over 10x the fatalities and considerably increased than 10x the intense accidents to pedestrians, focusing on e-bikes on this context is a bit like standing in the course of a rainstorm and remarking concerning the excessive humidity. Maybe one might make a much bigger affect by first opening an umbrella.
The unusual fixation on a comparatively minor menace to pedestrians – and one that really helps substitute the bigger on-road menace of automobiles – has not gone unnoticed by many New Yorkers. “They’re not going after the SUVs, those killing most individuals on streets. Cyclists are simple. Stand and hand out tickets usually to marginalized individuals,” stated Queens resident Chong Bretillon.
It’s true that the identical effort utilized to imposing site visitors legislation on e-bikes might have a a lot bigger affect on the security of pedestrians if as a substitute utilized to imposing site visitors legal guidelines on automobiles and vans. With orders of magnitude extra accidents and deaths brought on by bigger automobiles, the unusual deal with comparatively safer, lighter types of various transportation like bicycles appears at greatest, misguided, and at worst, calculated.
Bicycle owner and e-bike riders usually embrace increased percentages of marginalized communities, leaving some to argue that the restrictions are supposed to focus on such communities. E-bikes are the transportation methodology of alternative for supply employees in NYC, lots of whom are immigrants. The decrease revenue occupation already presents a hardship in comparison with many higher-income employees driving automobiles into the town every day. Now these people, in addition to e-bike riders from all backgrounds, might should deal with additional restrictions to this environment friendly, lower-cost transportation various that has confirmed to be safer for all street customers, not simply these tucked away inside SUVs.
by way of: PIX11
