The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
By Bill Connell.
I cycle a fair amount , and have made an observation. The fact is though, I didn’t have to leave my front porch to make it. 1 out of 10 E bikers don’t wear helmets.
I have ridden multiple variations of these from pedal assist to high power bikes. In fact, I drove a high powered bike into a knee wall and almost flew over the handle bars. I tried to do a clever maneuver like on a normal bike and did not respect the power of the E bike. Regardless of what type they are, they are all considerably heavier than a classic bike so even at the same speed, when you hit something, it’s going to do more damage to you or whatever you hit.
Here are a couple incidents that made me go Huh!? Multiple times I have seen a man on Easton Avenue at rush hour riding an e-bike with no helmet and no notable reflective gear. Siting on my porch I watched a man zig-zag down my street with an e-bike , no helmet and wearing big headphones. I guess they would help in a fall. They say the world is overpopulated so maybe I should just be quiet and let nature take its course. I will, but not before writing this letter.
In a pleasant dialog with Township Council I learned New Jersey actually has laws in place regarding adults, helmets and e-bikes. The problem is there are so many variations of e-bikes the officer can not enforce the helmet law without knowing what kind of e-bike it is. They need probable cause. It would be like stop and frisk. With this knowledge I realized people are not wearing helmets by choice, not ignorance of the law. They are told when they buy the bike.
Why does this letter feel like it could easily be reworked to advocate the use of condoms. 🙂
Fun fact: No electrical or motorized vehicles are allowed on Franklin park trails.
If you ever go to New York City and Washington DC, what I write here becomes stunningly obvious. You get a glimpse of what problems Franklin could have as the popularity of Ebikes grows.
Have a nice day.
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