New York’s City Council, to its members’ credit, now sees the need to control the e-bikes and other motorized devices that have made Gotham’s streets more dangerous and less pleasant.
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streets → see → e
Its Wednesday hearing will launch debate on 23 bills and resolutions that could rein them in.
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that → launch → them
But the sheer number of proposals indicates confusion.
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number → indicate → confusion
Councilmembers need to focus: E-bikes and scooters should offer no speed advantage over regular bikes.
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bikes → need → bikes
Traffic deaths tumbled from 701 in 1990 to 206 in 2018.
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deaths → tumble → 2018
In 2007, the year New York got its first protected bike lane, the average number of annual cyclist deaths, smoothed out over three years, was 21.
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number → get → years
By 2019, the average annual number of cyclist deaths remained . . . 21.
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number → remain → deaths
Yet the rate of deaths fell, as more people were cycling.
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people → fall → deaths
That’s in part due to NYC’s policy choice to mitigate speed.
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That → ’ → speed
In unrolling the Citibike bike-share program in 2013, Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s administration ensured that the blue bikes couldn’t move quickly: No Citibike rider died until 2017.
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rider → unroll → 2017
Since 2020, however, New York has made speed a top priority.
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speed → make → 2020
That year, the council legalized e-bikes that can go up to 25 mph.
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that → legalize → bikes
Deaths soared: an average of 25 cyclists annually over the past three years.
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Deaths → soar → years
This year so far, 19 people have died — despite Mayor Eric Adams’ move to limit bike speed to 15 mph.
And people are dying mostly on e-bikes, which were responsible for 16 of this year’s 19 fatalities, versus three victims on regular bikes.
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which → die → bikes
Moreover, this year’s figures don’t include another 11 deaths on stand-up e-scooters.
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figures → include → scooters
Citibike’s six-year-old e-bike program has become an attractive nuisance — like an uncovered swimming pool to a child.
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program → become → child
This month, when two girls joyriding downtown attempted to overtake a heavy truck from the right, one of them, 15-year-old Daria Serkov, was crushed — the latest Citibike e-bike death.
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one → joyride → them
No, this doesn’t absolve car and truck drivers.
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this → absolve → drivers
But New York chose to take its already chaotic streets and add small, speeding vehicles to them.
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York → choose → them
That’s why people are now regularly dying in collisions that don’t involve a car or truck.
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that → ’ → car
This month, 77-year-old Thomas Bakas, riding a stand-up scooter, died in a crash with a cyclist in a bike lane.
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Bakas → rid → lane
In May, a man on a stand-up scooter going well over the speed limit killed himself and a bicycle rider on the Queensboro Bridge.
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man → stand → Bridge
This week, a traditional bicyclist careening down one of Central Park’s newly widened bike lanes killed 41-year-old pedestrian Richie O’Brien — one year after an e-cyclist died there in a similar collision.
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cyclist → careen → collision
Why’d we redesign the park’s bike lanes?
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we → redesign → lanes
Pedestrian deaths at the hands of e-device drivers were once near non-existent, but at least seven people died that way last year.
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people → die → drivers
Not until 2023 did Citibike claim its first pedestrian victim, 69-year-old Priscilla Loke, in downtown Manhattan.
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Citibike → claim → Manhattan
Meanwhile overall pedestrian deaths, mostly caused by cars and trucks, remain near record lows, averaging 78 through September over the last three years, down from 99 a decade ago.
So the new danger is unequivocally posed by e-bikes.
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danger → cause → bikes
The point of encouraging bicycle use was to slow traffic and encourage good health — but now e-devices are a source of peril and anxiety.
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devices → encourage → peril
What should the council do?
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council → do → What
First, it must realize that the only way to enforce speed is licensing, plates and insurance.
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way → realize → speed
The council must call on Gov. Kathy Hochul to use the DMV to regulate these vehicles the same way it does any other motor vehicle.
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it → call → vehicle
Then it should require fleet bikes, including Citibikes and app-based food-delivery devices, to geofence their equipment and ensure that no driver can exceed the speed limit or ride the wrong way.
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driver → require → limit
And it must ban e-bikes and other motorized e-vehicles from parks altogether.
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it → ban → parks
Park drives don’t need a fast lane; they need speed bumps and rumble strips around crosswalks, as London’s Hyde Park has installed.
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Park → need → crosswalks
But remember, a marathon hearing like Wednesday’s is not an achievement.
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hearing → remember → Wednesday
The council has already wasted time on a proposed ban on horse carriages — even though they’ve killed one person in all of Central Park’s history.
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they → waste → history
Give them credit for acting — and only when you feel safer on the streets.
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you → give → streets
Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal and a CCNY Moynihan Center senior fellow.
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Gelinas → contribute → Journal
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