Prepare, New Yorkers. A brand new invoice may quickly prolong 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 named “Priscilla’s legislation”, a invoice drawn up by NYC Councilmember Bob Holden and named after Priscilla Lake, a lady killed after being hit by an e-bike in Chinatown final yr. 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 prolong 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 a public well being disaster. When individuals are strolling the streets, a harmful place to be is in a crosswalk.”
Holden appears to accurately establish how harmful it’s for pedestrians in NYC, who face deadly risks strolling via 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 accountable for 47 deadly site visitors accidents in NYC within the final 5 years, based on the New York Submit, automobiles have killed 61 pedestrians in NYC within the first half of 2024 alone. And that quantity is simply 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 larger than 10x the intense accidents to pedestrians, focusing on e-bikes on this context is a bit like standing in the midst of a rainstorm and remarking concerning the excessive humidity. Maybe one may 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 change 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 straightforward. Stand and hand out tickets typically to marginalized individuals,” mentioned Queens resident Chong Bretillon.
It’s true that the identical effort utilized to implementing site visitors legislation on e-bikes may have a a lot bigger affect on the security of pedestrians if as a substitute utilized to implementing site visitors legal guidelines on automobiles and vans. With orders of magnitude extra accidents and deaths attributable to bigger automobiles, the unusual give attention to comparatively safer, lighter types of various transportation like bicycles appears at finest, misguided, and at worst, calculated.
Bicycle owner and e-bike riders typically embrace larger percentages of marginalized communities, leaving some to argue that the restrictions are meant to focus on such communities. E-bikes are the transportation technique of selection for supply staff in NYC, lots of whom are immigrants. The decrease earnings occupation already presents a hardship in comparison with many higher-income staff driving automobiles into the town every day. Now these people, in addition to e-bike riders from all backgrounds, could need to 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
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