New Jersey recently passed a law requiring e-bikes, including slow, folding Class 1 and Class 2 bicycles to have a driver’s license, registration, and insurance. This law is unrealistic, unsafe, and harmful to low-income riders.

New Jersey keeps lane filtering in a legal gray area not clearly legal, not clearly illegal claiming it’s about “safety.” Yet at the same time, the state just passed a law that forces e-bikes to need a driver’s license, registration, and insurance.

That contradiction says everything.

Lane filtering reduces rear-end collisions. Study after study shows it lowers the risk of motorcyclists being crushed between cars. But NJ refuses to legalize it. Meanwhile, this new e-bike law pushes more two-wheel riders directly into car traffic, with plates, registration, and motor-vehicle treatment increasing the exact danger the state claims to care about.

This law will not go well.

Most e-bike riders in New Jersey aren’t just joyriding. We’re also delivery workers. Gig workers. People trying to survive. I deliver on a folding Class 2 e-bike that barely reaches 20 mph. I don’t make much money. Now the state wants to add insurance payments, registration fees, and bureaucratic hurdles to a vehicle that weighs a fraction of a car and folds in half.

That’s not safety. That’s debt.

Many affordable e-bikes especially the ones sold online or through platforms like TikTok do not come with titles, VINs, or Manufacturer Certificates of Origin. There is literally no way to register them under existing motor-vehicle systems. The law demands compliance without providing a path to comply. That effectively bans low-income riders from mobility.

And then there’s the plate requirement. Folding e-bikes were never designed to mount license plates. Wheels sit inches from the ground. Frames collapse inward. Mounting a metal plate near the wheel is a real crash risk. If it bends into spokes, that’s an instant wipeout. A law that forces unsafe modifications is not a safety law.

What’s truly scary is where this leads.

By treating e-bikes like motor vehicles, New Jersey pushes them fully into car traffic, the most dangerous place for a lightweight rider. Rear-end collisions are already a major cause of death for two-wheel users. Without lane filtering, without protected infrastructure, without real enforcement against reckless drivers, this law increases the chances of riders being hit.

And when a car hits a bike, the rider loses. Always.

Drivers flee scenes. Bikes can’t chase. Plates on bikes won’t stop that. All this law does is make riders more visible to punishment, not more protected from harm.

E-bikes should be treated like what they are: bicycles with assistance. They should be allowed to slow-ride on sidewalks where appropriate, use bike lanes, and lane filter carefully in traffic. That reduces congestion, reduces emissions, and saves lives. Countries and states that understand this are moving forward. New Jersey is moving backward.

It’s hard not to feel like the message is simple: if you’re on two wheels, your life matters less. The governor talks about safety, but these choices say otherwise.

This law doesn’t protect people. It extracts money from people who already have little, while pushing them into more dangerous conditions. That’s not governance. That’s neglect.

New Jersey can still fix this. Exempt Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes. Legalize lane filtering. Build laws around reality instead of pretending bikes are tiny cars.

Because right now, this law feels less like an effort to save lives and more like proof that the people riding it don’t ride at all.

We urge New Jersey lawmakers and the Governor to immediately amend this law to exempt Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes, protect delivery workers, and create policies that prioritize safety over unnecessary punishment.