[bobcat9]

Those electric bikes are a nightmare. They are so quiet you can't hear them coming. Coupled with how recklessly the delivery guys ride them it's a recipe for disaster. These guys plow through red lights and gun it in the opposite direction on one way streets. Maybe it wouldn't be a problem if these guys didn't ride like assholes.

[jdavis703]

We don't ban cars. Yet most drivers break laws daily, whether it be failure to signal, exceeding the posted speed limit, or blocking a crosswalk or intersection. No one talks about banning cars outright, even though they kill far more innocent bystanders. If there are dangerous ebike operators they should be ticketed and fined.

In a world with global warming where many cities stated goal is to reduce vehicle miles traveled, it doesn't make sense to ban a valid mode of transportation.

[musgrove]

"We don't ban cars. Yet most drivers break laws daily..." Your explanation is in your own statement. The cars aren't breaking the laws. The drivers are. They are penalized for breaking laws, and if they continue or break a law serious enough, they will be banned from driving.

[bradleyjg]

How many people have they killed this year?

Just two days Dorothy Bruns in Park Slope ran through a red light, killed a four year old and a one year old. A pregnant woman is still in critical condition. She hasn't been arrested.

Maybe the NYPD should concentrate on felonies before worrying about violations.

[rrrazdan]

The “how many people have been killed” is a really poor test of if something is right or wrong.

[reustle]

So they should ticket dangerous riders, not ban e-bikes outright.

[ramzyo]

Yes, this. The problem isn’t ebikes or bikes, it’s dangerous riding.

[musgrove]

You're dealing with an administration that similarly believes guns kill people, not that the people that use the guns to kill people are responsible.

[s0rce]

Many drivers are reckless and break laws consistently. They also often don't share the road with bikes very well. We don't ban them.

[phil21]

Why would we? Asking motor vehicle drivers to "share the road" with bicycle riders is asinine, destined to fail, and uniquely American.

And I say this having grown up my entire life without a car, biking everywhere. I'd take tickets for riding on the sidewalk, and I'll do it every single day I ride. Sharing a road with 2500lb vehicles that go 2-5x my speed is unsafe and all the talking and lane marking in the world will never undo that fact. Nevermind how utterly anti-social and rude you must be to bike in a lane 20mph under the speed limit.

I spend as much time as possible in the Netherlands since they seem to be about the only sane country when it comes to mixed-mode transportation and not trying to murder people while doing so.