this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
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Bicycles

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California Wants to Create a Driver’s License for Electric Bikes (electrek.co)
submitted 1 year ago by foobar@lemmy.villa-straylight.social to c/bicycles@lemmy.ca
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The move is in response to many young electric bike riders who often take to the streets without having tested for or received a typical driver’s license for a standard car. That means they are often ignorant of many traffic laws and safety information.

Assembly Bill 530, which will soon enter committee, would require both an online written test and a state-issued identification for riders who do not have a driver’s license. The bill would also ban riders under 12 years old from riding e-bikes.

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[–] diana@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

In the EU you don't need a license as long as the assistance shuts off when you go faster than 25 km/h, you can still pedal faster than that of course but it'll be without the motor assistance. If you need a license even for bikes like that then it seems a bit silly

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago

20mph (~30km/h) in my state, 28mph (~45km/h) if it has a speedometer. If it assists above that, you need it to be registered (license plate) and have a motorcycle license.

I think that's fair. That basically restricts you to driving on side streets with cars, or on the side of the road on higher speed roads. Most shops only sell the 20mph bikes, so it's really a non-issue.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

30 km/hr in Canada. Which I think they copied from California.

[–] snota@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

The trouble is that they are very easy to hack and and just remove that safety figure. In the UK non-assist ebikes must be registered and a motorbike license is required. I would say over 50% of the ebikes I see are illegal, along with all the illegal scooters. I can derestrict my ebike in a matter of seconds because it's just a setting in the app.