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Wide Angle: The Local Impacts of Larger Trends
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Wide Angle: The Local Impacts of Larger Trends

A column I'm writing for the Highlands Current

Stowe Boyd
Nov 12, 2022
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Wide Angle: The Local Impacts of Larger Trends
www.beaconstreets.com
red and black city bike parked beside brown concrete building during daytime
Photo by KBO Bike on Unsplash

My first column for The Highlands Current is in print, E-Bike Encounters, where I look into the rules and regs around e-bikes. I was inspired by a close encounter with an e-bike on Main Street in Beacon, where I was almost hit in a crosswalk:

An e-bike is a bicycle with an electric motor and battery. In New York state, they are treated by the law as bicycles, rather than motorcycles; you don’t need a driver’s license or insurance. Some e-bikes only assist the rider while pedaling and others will run without pedaling, but all legal e-bikes max out at 25 mph. There are commercially available e-bikes that operate at higher speeds, but these are (nominally) illegal in New York.

The e-bike that nearly clipped me on Main Street seemed to be going faster than 25 mph, but who knows? At the least, he was breaking the law.

Although e-bikes have a lot going for them, we clearly need to be giving their drivers tickets when they break traffic laws.

In upcoming columns, I will be touching on other global trends impacting us in the Highlands.

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Wide Angle: The Local Impacts of Larger Trends
www.beaconstreets.com
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