Originally Posted by
livedarklions
I expected better than this condescending crap from you. I'd put my riding cred up against yours any day. I do see I typoed and wrote "now" for "not", so I'm hoping this rare obnoxious behavior on your part is just the result of a misunderstanding.
Power isn't just a matter of speed, there's also weight. There are pedal assist cargo ebikes with advertised capacity to operate at around 20 mph with a gross vehicle weight of over 600 pounds (vehicle, rider, and cargo). I have seen two of these operating at speeds in excess of 20 mph on a crowded Minuteman Bikeway. If you actually do the math on the kinetic energy between a 250-300 pound vehicle traveling at that speed vs. a 600 pound one, you will very quickly see you are far more likely to be seriously injured or killed by a collision with a 600 pound vehicle. Now, on a street, those would still be some of the lightest vehicles out there, and even in a bike lane, the relative speeds and predictable traffic flow probably negates most of the hazard, but you start mixing vehicles like that with pedestrians on MUPs or sidewalks (in places where sidewalk riding is legal), and the safety calculations are quite different.
Sorry, I am terrible at B.S.ing people. As I stated the people riding are the issue not the vehicle. If you are going fast on a bike trail that is not a good thing but that is not the bikes fault it is the flesh bag on top. Yes if you collide with a cargo bike there is a better chance of injury for all but again spatial awareness will help. Also that cargo bike could be non electric and then where does that leave your argument about the attack of the killer e-bikes? A bike at a high speed amongst cyclists at non-high speeds can be more dangerous electric or not. What if I collide with a tri-bike and the extensions poke my eyes out and crack and I have carbon fibers stuck in my eye sockets or someone has a sweet new gravel bike and their spinning disc rotors that slice off my leg? My point stands, bikes can be dangerous but so can just about anything and we can come up with different scenarios where something bad can happen and that can control us.
Just like on a highway with a 18 wheeler you need to be aware. You cannot tell everyone in cars/trucks they must drive a Smart for two and have a limiter so people cannot go fast enough to cause serious injury.