Why do I have a #SpeedLimiter on my #EBike but not on my car?
Is the version of me who drives a multi-ton metal box just assumed to be less of a threat to others than the me who pedals along completely exposed on a 60lb #bicycle with a motor that's less powerful than a travel hairdryer?
And if so why and thanks.
(ETA my issue is with fast cars, not slow bikes)
@DrTCombs
I hate this framing every time I see it.
Why your car doesn't have a speed limiter is a good question.
Why your ebike does is obvious: your ebike is allowed in environments where cars aren't. Trails, MUPs, bike lanes, etc. Introducing vehicles without limiters there just turns them into roads, with the associated dangers.
Your ebike doesn't have licensing or insurance requirements. Even on roads, operating them without limits isn't compatible with these differences.
@DrTCombs In short: the limiter is what makes it a bike. Without the limiter, you have an electric motorbike, and should have all the responsibilities and limitations that go operating a motorbike.
@UrbanEdm
Yet we don't speed limit motorcycles
@DrTCombs And we should.
But we also require licensing, insurance, and don't let them use facilities intended for pedestrians and unpowered bikes.
Continually focusing on the ebikes limiter instead of the lack of limiter on other vehicles creates a backwards narrative, and makes ebikes that much more threatening to unpowered transport.
@UrbanEdm
But I'm not trying to focus on the bikes. My beef is with the cars, and I'm perplexed and bemused how most of the comments here assumed otherwise.
If we have the technology and will to limit speeds on vehicles that pose relatively little threat to public safety, there is no excuse for not doing the same for the heavy vehicles that are implicated in tens of thousands of deaths every year
