DC Bike Council Opens Discussion on E-Bike Regulation
Congratulations! You are all Superstars. With your help our petition has received 1174 signers on our petition to regulate e-bikes, but our goal is 1500 in May. Someone you know wants to sign.
It is a hopeful sign for DC pedestrians that the DC Bicycle Advisory Council (BAC) last week opened a discussion on the regulation of e-bikes. Under the leadership of Chair John Peconom, the BAC forum is the grassroots government agency that advises the Mayor and DC Council on biking.
Crashes continue. Between 2017 and 2022, e-bikes, e-scooters and hoverboards accounted for 233 deaths and 260,800 emergency room visits, of whom 36% were children aged 14 and younger, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Still, DC continues to pour more e-bikes into DC streets through rebates and pilot projects with Amazon and DoorDash with no limitations, no precautions and no safeguards.
In Los Angeles, the District Attorney is prosecuting the parent of a child who while doing wheelies on an e-bike struck and killed a senior veteran. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTXnK_BG9S4
DC is not the first to face the bike menace. New Jersey passed a law regulating e-bikes last year and Massachusetts is considering one now.
DC Safe Streets Coalition has drafted a bill following New York’s Priscilla‘s Law named after a senior who was killed by an e-bike. Our bill would require e-bikes to be registered and tagged like motorcycles so that the biker can be identified and held accountable. It would require insurance, certification, licensing, and protective gear.
Please help us reach our goal of 1500 in May and tell the DC Council we are ready for e-bike regulation. Here is the link to our petition.
Nick DelleDonne
DC Safe Streets Coalition
703 929 6656