Tag: e-bike

Queen Creek sets 15mph speed limit for bicyclists in bike lanes

There has been, and is on-going, a mad-rush of localities to “do something” about e-bikes. Queen Creek earlier this year went in an odd direction… despite public info statements from e.g. the mayor, and the Police Department that emphasized they were placing regulations on youth, and e-bikes… they ended up with no age-based restrictions, so any child can legally operate any e-bike including class 3 (assist up to 28mph). And on top of that came up with a blanket speed limit of 15mph for all bicyclists riding in the road in a bike lane.

To begin with, I don’t like local laws for bicyclists that in any way affect bicyclists’ operation in the roadway (includes the bike lane, where existing). We already have state-level rules-of-the-road. Local authority over bicyclists is rooted in the idea that the locality somehow knows better; and either way, they lead to a horrendous (and getting worse) patchwork of disparate rules.

Cities in Arizona are granted the authority to further regulate the operation of bicycles within their jurisdiction.
This in general is bad for bicyclists.

Continue reading “Queen Creek sets 15mph speed limit for bicyclists in bike lanes”

e-bike rider in Phoenix dies after striking rear of parked semi

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. Continue reading “e-bike rider in Phoenix dies after striking rear of parked semi”

There is no e-bike speed limit

The standard three class electric bicycle definition was enshrined into ARS in 2018. There is no explicit speed limit for electric bicycles; but unfortunately, the mention of 20/28mph in the definitions has led some to mistakenly believe there is, in effect, and e-bike speed limit.

This is not the case. Where an electric bicycle meets a class definition, it may be operated at any speed; so long as it meets Arizona’s “basic speed rule” which typically boils down to no faster than reasonable and prudent. You are probably aware that bicycles routinely go faster than 20 or 28mph! Electric bicycles are bicycles. Continue reading “There is no e-bike speed limit”

Motorized bicycles, Ebikes and crash reporting

[UPDATE: it seems quite possible something changed after 2020? see comment and stats]
[UPDATE: Something DEFINITELY changed as of FARS 2022; see below]

Executive Summary

  • People riding motorized bicycles are categorized as DRIVERS, and not as bicyclists, for crash reporting purposes.
  • How will Ebike crashes be reported?
  • new wildcard: what about escooter crashes?

Each of these has the potential to skew crash reporting statistics. Motorized bicycles have not seen wide use, but ebikes are expected to become much more common

I propose adding a few new “Body Style” definitions: 1) bicycle (well, pedalcycle), 2) motorized bicycle, 3) ebike; this would not require any changes to the Arizona Crash Forms, simply an update to the Crash Form Instruction Manual.

It is expected that ebikes will see large growth in use in the coming years; e.g, the WSJ reported: Continue reading “Motorized bicycles, Ebikes and crash reporting”