Person rides e-bike (Courtesy Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability) PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) – Among the 2,300 bills introduced at the beginning of Oregon’s legislative session on Tuesday, one proposed law could limit where some electric bicyclists can ride.
Senate Bill 471 — introduced by Democratic state Senator Floyd Prozanski– would ban Class 3 e-bikes from bike lanes, sidewalks and bike paths.
The senator told KOIN 6 News on Tuesday that his bill aims to keep all travelers safe.
“The concern, from my perspective, is that we want to make certain all of these paths and trails are safe for all. That people can use them with respect for each other,” Prozanski said. Oregon Department of Education accused of mismanaging $3M, wrongful termination in whistleblower lawsuit In Oregon, Class 3 e-bikes have a maximum motor assistance motor speed of 28 miles per hour, while Class 1 and 2 e-bikes have max assistance motor speeds of 20 miles per hour.
“Unfortunately, there are a number of situations that have occurred where individuals that are on full throttle e-bikes are not really being respectful to others in the sense of the speed they’re riding on these paths, and either near misses or actual accidents that have occurred,” Prozanski explained.
“I cycle a lot, I do in Eugene, and I use many of the paths on our way out to get out onto roads and do road riding. There have been times where I’ve visually seen people actually have the near miss. I’ve had […]
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