Done with school for the day, a troop of teens zipped by on their electric bikes, weaving and chirping as they rode around curves, exuding the confidence of acrobats. After gathering for a “Where next” chat, they took off down another golf cart path, popping wheelies along the way.
To some, that afternoon snapshot near the Peachtree City, Georgia, library looked like an idyll of childhood, only with a twist. To others, such e-powered teen groupings are more of a menace, endangering pedestrians and other bicyclists…
“Technology adoption is uneven, and there’s a learning process,” says Clinton Andrews, a lifelong cyclist and director of the Center for Urban Policy Research at Rutgers University…
As e-bike technology advances and usage increases, transit experts say both social and civic learning are at play – communities setting standards of behavior while lawmakers set rules of the road.
“It’s part of a clear evolution from a world where we had horses and then bikes and then automobiles,” says Dr. Andrews at Rutgers.
“We are experimenting once again and desiring to knock the auto off its pedestal,” he says. “[But] how do we reclaim the roadway? Is it even possible?”