Your say / cycling
‘Bristol streets will be safer for cyclists when government relaxes laws on e-bikes’
An electrically-assisted pedal cycle – or e-bike for short – is a standard bike fitted with an electric motor.
As it stands, an e-bike’s electric motor must, by law, cut out when the bike is travelling more than 15.5mph. It must also have a maximum power output of 250 watts.
But this is too slow – and dangerous – when it comes to keeping-up with modern traffic. The motor’s power output needs to be doubled to 500 watts to protect e-bike users.
is needed now More than ever
Bristol’s streets will be safer for cyclists when the government relaxes the laws on electrically-powered e-bikes.
E-bikes are becoming more and more popular in the UK. And the appeal is obvious. Because an electric motor acts as a boost to human pedal power, they’re easy to ride up hills or to maintain speed in traffic.
But setting a 15.5mph speed limit is not realistic and, in my view, actually creates a danger for e-bike riders. It’s simply too slow compared to the traffic all around e-bike riders.
Cycling is an increasingly popular way to get round the congested city
And by upping the speed to 20mph before the motor shuts off, you’re talking about a rider getting away from a roundabout quicker, or being able to accelerate out of harm’s way.
At present e-bike riders are being hamstrung by ill-informed European laws.
You don’t need a licence to ride one and it doesn’t need to be registered, taxed or insured.
But, according to current UK laws, if the motor kicks in above 15.5mph the bike is deemed a ‘moped’ and a rider would need to be registered with the DVLA, have proper insurance, and would legally-bound to wear a helmet.
Upping the limit to 20mph would also have a massive impact on couriers – with more and more delivery drivers opting for e-bikes.
We recently handed a courier a free e-bike to see what the benefits were compared with a traditional cycle. And he ended up completing 30 ‘drops’ per day as opposed to 16, because he can ride further and faster.
He boosted his weekly income, but the knock-on effect for other cyclists is that he represents a driver not using a car or motorcycle.
It’s a massive win for every sector of the economy.
If we can increase the speed of e-biking to 20mph – in line with many pedestrian speed limits for cars – we widen the net of the appeal of cycling, with all the intrinsic benefits.
It reduces congestion and pollution for all users of the transport system allowing a more efficient system.
E-bikes accounted for just five per cent of the UK bike market in 2015, but that accelerated to 12 per cent in 2016.
According to the latest stats from HMRC, imports of e-bikes have jumped from 50,000 to 62,500 in the last year alone. More recently, Halfords described a 220 per cent increase in e-bike sales.
Getting back on two wheels in adulthood can be a fairly daunting experience, but it needn’t be with an e-bike. They act as a gateway to riding and for exercising in general.
We should do all we can to make it an enjoyable and safe form of transport.
Scott Snaith says the roads will be safer if the government relaxes laws on e-bikes
Scott Snaith is the founder of UK firm 50Cycles and spoke at the Public Health & Sustainable Transport Summit 2019, held at City Hall on Tuesday.
Read more: Ambitious plan to make Bristol as cycle friendly as Copenhagen
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
