[AdamN]

Getting a pedelec bike to 20mph takes real effort unless cheats are involved - it's not really a moped. However there needs to be some honest classification that's global to handle the new spectrum from traditional bike to full on motorcycle and everything in between.

[close04]

Depending on the country the motor cutoff is 32km/h, which means that speed is more accessible to your average rider than on a classic bike. And the elephant in the room is how compliant many e-bikes really are. Some even advertised how easy it is to remove (raise?) the limit.

Where I live I find cyclists to be the most reckless participants in traffic, way more than drivers and pedestrians. Cyclists never have to take even the most basic course even just in school to learn legislation or general rules. They always act like they own the road whether on the sidewalk among pedestrians, or on the street among cars. E-bikes just made this worse because everyone can cycle above their natural capabilities now.

But it's also clear that the "blast radius" of a cyclist is usually very limited compared to the damage a car can cause even with banal actions like opening a door at the wrong time. So I understand why their behavior is tolerated compared to when drivers to the same.

[ndsipa_pomu]

Also, reckless behaviour is self-limiting to some degree with bike-shaped transport (and scooters) as crashing tends to hurt a lot, whereas car drivers don't have as much skin in the game.

[SauciestGNU]

I don't completely disagree, but as a regular cyclist with maybe only slightly above average fitness, I can drop the hammer at an intersection and be at 22mph in 10 or 15 seconds. I also own an ebike with a throttle and it's not substantially faster off the line than my muscle, it's just easier to sustain high speeds.