I’m mentioning this incident specifically for a couple of reasons… read on.
2026-09-07 around 3:30pm. Police say a man riding an “e-bike” died when he struck the rear of a parked semi near 19th Avenue and Mountain View Road.
The use of the term “e-bike” is often used very loosely. We need to know whether this is a class 1, 2, or 3 electric bicycle. If it is not any of those, it is a motorcycle.
The ABEA / Cycling Savvy has recently written up some very helpful advice for journalists, and I would hope/encourage police to take note.
For our purposes here: IF it is actually an electric bicycle, this fatality would NOT be reported to FARS, the (federal) Fatality traffic crash database, and would not “count” as a traffic fatality. (because only incidents that involve a “motor vehicle in transport” are counted. An electric bicycle is not a motor vehicle for both legal and statistical purposes, and the semi was parked).
IF it is NOT an electric bicycle but rather some sort of motor vehicle — regardless of whether or not it’s registered — it SHOULD be entered in FARS.
Tagging this entry with FARS; unfortunately the answer is probably 2 years away.
See more about motorized-bicycles-ebikes-and-crash-reporting, lots of hairy details, such as before 2023 electric bikes were treated as motor vehicle for FARS crash reporting purposed!?
news item :
E-bike rider dies after crashing into the rear of a semi-tractor trailer in Phoenix
According to the Phoenix Police Department, around 3:30 p.m., they were called to the area near 19th Avenue and Mountain View Road for reports of a car crash.
When they arrived, they found that an adult man had crashed an e-bike he was riding into a stationary vehicle.
That man was then taken to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, according to Phoenix police. He has been identified as 62-year-old Randy Cook…. Preliminary information indicates that Cook was riding westbound on Mountain View Road when he collided with the rear of a parked semi-tractor and trailer rig….
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