NC bill could help classify and regulate e-bikes

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — E-bikes are a very popular mode of transportation due to their convenience and affordability.

However, the number of accidents involving them is climbing, according to Harvard Medical School.

Tammy Swanson is the education and safety chair for a social riding club called Cape Fear Cyclists.

She understands the need for consistent classification of the different types of e-bikes.

“Speed can cause damage and speed can kill,” Swanson said. “They don’t want people on rides with motorized bicycles, motorcycles, whatever you’d like to call them. They don’t want a throttle on the ride, this way, you do not put others at risk.”

While e-bikes can be fun, they can be dangerous and result in serious injuries.

Class 1 is pedal-assisted and can reach around 20 miles per hour.

Class 2 has a throttle and can reach over 20 miles per hour, while Class 3 is pedal-assisted and can reach close to 30 miles per hour.

North Carolina State Senator Michael Lee is sponsoring Senate Bill 576, which aims to clarify the classes of e-bikes.

“A lot of the local municipalities are telling me that they don’t really have the ability to regulate it, especially on non-municipal roads,” Lee said. “And so what this is intended to do is to give them the ability to regulate those that use e-bikes, so that they can make sure that they can protect the public.”

If Lee’s bill is eventually signed into law, he said it would help local governments determine where e-bikes could be used on roads, parks and trails.

As for Swanson, she said restricting certain classes of e-bikes from areas could save lives.

“You take trails for example. You don’t want a 28 mile an hour bicycle on a trail. You want to save those for the road. Because the speed, you’ve got pedestrians, especially a lot of the trails around here are multi-use. You have people with dogs, you have people walking, jogging. You don’t want a bicyclist going 28 miles on the same path.”

Senate Bill 576 passed its first reading and has been re-referred to the Senate Committee on Transportation.