To the editor:

Thanks to The Barrington Times for doing such a great service detailing the many controversies regarding e-bikes/scooters and safety concerns. Unfortunately, the predictable controversies regarding e-bikes and e-scooters are the expected result of rapidly adopting new technology without any consideration of the consequences. 

Intensive marketing, industry lobbying and taxpayer-supplied incentives have resulted in premature promotion of e-vehicles like e-scooters and e-bikes. These devices hit the streets without any planning, education or legal guardrails. Local enforcement has been forced to play “catch-up” in the face of deliberately created legal and institutional vacuums. Thanks to the Barrington Police for trying to be pro-active!

Unfortunately, we may be poised to continue making more of the same mistakes under the continuing pressure of the e-bike lobby group, People for Bikes, which has been pushing to increase e-bike sales.

There is now an admirable effort underway to introduce state wide legislation to cope with this chaos. We have an opportunity to get this right!

But some of these efforts will likely be based on an ordinance recently passed in Newport, sponsored by Bike Newport and advocated for by People for Bikes. The primary goal of this ordinance is to force motorized bikes into the same category as traditional human-powered pedal bicycles. This ordinance has been planned as the model for the State.

Why is there such a relentless push to change the designation “bicycles’ to include motorized bikes in the same category as human powered bicycles?

The main reason is to evade any kind of regulation/restriction for e-bikes and e-scooters, and to grant them unencumbered use of the very limited infrastructure such as bike paths. But how does this make sense?

How can a motorized bike be in the same designation as a human powered bicycle, when its 750-watt motor can generate up to eight times more power, with greater mass and weight than a human powered bicycle?

Why is an e-bike with a lithium ion battery, with the attendant issues of fires and improper disposal, the same as a human-powered pedal bicycle?

Why is an e-bike that can accelerate almost instantly and go over 20 mph without pedaling the same as a human-powered pedal bicycle?

This legislative working group is composed of an impressively large group of stakeholders and is following the Massachusetts Micromobility Report. However, discussions about “micromobility” have been dominated by the same special interest groups that have been reaping huge profits via the sale of e-bikes, and the lobbyists are now looking for a return on their RI investment.

Convening a large study group to deal the current very dangerous chaos is laudable, and I don’t doubt the intentions of local officials. But providing protection from regulation for e-bikes and e-scooters is not in the best interest of the public. E-bikes and scooters are here to stay, but because of their unique and evolving characteristics, they need their own legal and legislative category. 

There is no justification for including them with traditional pedal bicycles, except as a legal shield.

Judith A. Byrnes

Bristol