FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 17, 2023
PARK SLOPE CIVIC COUNCIL SURVEY FINDS FREQUENT TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS BY ELECTRIC MICROMOBILITY VEHICLES;
URGES CITY ACTION TO PROTECT PEDESTRIANS
The Park Slope Civic Council today released the results of a survey of traffic law compliance by e-bikes and other electric micromobility vehicles and concluded that the frequent traffic violations pose risks to pedestrians, riders of regular bicycles, and e-bike riders themselves.
The Council said increased e-bike use has many benefits for the City, including replacing automobile traffic with less polluting electric vehicles, as well as creating jobs and economic opportunity for tens of thousands of New Yorkers. At the same time, the Council said it had received numerous complaints from pedestrians about dangerous behavior, including reports of injury-causing crashes.
Volunteers from the Civic Council and Good Neighbors of Park Slope surveyed 21 different intersections around the Park Slope neighborhood for traffic law compliance by riders of regular human-powered bicycles, pedal-assisted e bikes, throttle e-bikes, mopeds and motorcycles. They counted instances of bikes running red lights, riding on sidewalks, riding the wrong way on one-way streets, riding at an unsafe speed and behaving unsafely in other ways.
The survey found extensive violations by all categories of two-wheeled vehicles, but particularly by mopeds and what are called throttle e-bikes. As a result, the Council also urged policymakers to consider legislative, legal, educational and enforcement policies to increase traffic-law compliance and reduce the risk of pedestrian and rider injuries from e-bike crashes.
Mopeds were the most chronic violators, with 58% of mopeds observed committing traffic violations, the highest rate of any vehicle category. “More than half of the mopeds observed ran red lights, and nearly 30% rode where they were not allowed, either illegally in bike lanes or on sidewalks or the wrong way against traffic,” the report said. The report stressed that mopeds riding in bike lanes, a very frequent violation, pose a particular hazard to regular cyclists, due to their higher speed and greater weight.
The report also highlighted the grave risk from electric vehicles riding where they are not allowed, such as on sidewalks or the wrong way on one-way streets. “These are particularly serious violations as both adults and children are naturally much more alert to traffic going in the expected, legal direction,” the Council’s report said, adding: “Moreover, e-bikes are typically silent or nearly so, further increasing the risk of a crash.”
The Council also express concern over the City’s plan to allow all types of e bikes into parks on a pilot basis, saying it would have preferred a phased pilot, with pedal-assisted e-bikes allowed initially and throttle e-bikes, which are often heavier and drive faster, allowed only after evidence they can be allowed in the parks safely.
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For further information, contact:
Timothy Gilles
president@parkslopeciviccouncil.org