r/bikedc • u/dbex98 • 11d ago

Not sure how I feel about this...Orange County buying back & destroying e-bikes

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/the-california-district-attorney-cracking-down-on-the-scourge-of-e-bikes-a5dbaff5?st=fPjHzG

(Gift link article) I'd say a fair # of e-bikes are ridden dangerously in the DC area. But the apparently hostility to bikes in general is...not great.

21 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

30

u/CriticalStrawberry 11d ago

Yet another conflating of ebikes and electric motorcycles.

The point of the program is to try to get the illegal throttle rockets under control, but is referring to them as ebikes.

10

u/sven_ftw 11d ago

Likely on purpose. Just like how the press always notes whether a cyclist was wearing a helmet or not when some land yacht ran them over.

1

u/badhabitfml 8d ago

They also talk about drivers who crashed and weren't wearing their seat belt.

1

u/sven_ftw 8d ago

Except the seatbelt can legitimately save your life from being ejected from the car, where a helmet would be irrelevant if being run over by an suv

1

u/badhabitfml 8d ago

At the low speeds that accidents happen in the city, a helmet definitely helps. Especially if you just fell without hitting a car.

2

u/sven_ftw 8d ago

Sure and I wear a helmet on rides personally.

That doesn't change the fact that the media just loves reporting on whether or not a cyclist was wearing their helmet after being crushed by a vehicle, just like they say " dark clothing" for pedestrians hit by a car

14

u/Any-Letterhead-813 11d ago

The article, though mentioning e motos, appears to conflate them with e bikes. Its not clear if the buyback program does so as well, though my suspicion is it does.

5

u/RSquared 11d ago

90-100% of those ebikes "off the streets" were broken or battery dead already, just like gun buyback programs.  I applaud OC's effort to recycle old bikes and batteries. 

3

u/Returning2Riding 10d ago

Those are e-motos, both prosecutors and and the press use the lazy short-hand of e-bike.

2

u/bitesizepanda 10d ago

Wow, they are already reenacting the latest South Park episode?

1

u/maun_jax 10d ago

I don’t read a hostility towards bikes in general in that story. Definite hostility towards e-bikes and e-motos which though technically regulated in most places like dc, lack any kind of effective enforcement and therefore contribute to an increasing rash of tragic accidents for riders and pedestrians. I applaud OC’s actions here if nothing more to raise awareness of the danger and ineffectual enforcement

0

u/Medium_Change_814 10d ago

Orange County would be much more livable if it bought back cars and recycled them.