By Sophie Nieto-Munoz
Reprinted with permission
New Jersey Monitor
A Senate panel unanimously advanced legislation Thursday that would expand the definition of motorized bikes, despite staunch opposition from cyclists and hesitation from some of the lawmakers themselves.
Sen. Pat Diegnan (D-Middlesex), chair of the Senate’s transportation committee, voted in favor of the bill while conceding he does not think it is the solution to what some officials have said is a rise in dangerous use of e-bikes.
“But we have to do something. It’s absolutely scary,” Diegnan said.
The bill would remove all existing classifications of electric bikes and redefine and expand the classification of motorized bicycles to include pedal bikes with electric motors that assist the rider. By redesignating low-speed electric bikes as motorized bikes, people would be required to license, register, and insure them to use them in New Jersey.
Bill Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) said in October he planned to propose legislation to overhaul e-bike laws soon after a 13-year-old boy riding an electric bike in Scotch Plains was killed when a truck crashed into him and a 22-year-old man on an e-bike died after a car struck him in Orange.
At the time, Scutari said he wanted to create another class for bikes that can exceed 28 miles per hour, reclassify some bikes that can get up to 18 miles per hour, and mandate licensing and insurance for bikes not classified as low-speed electric bicycles.
Under current state law, low-speed e-bikes that go up to 20 miles per hour — classified as Class 1 or Class 2 — require no license or registration. Class 3 e-bikes, which have a maximum speed of 28 miles per hour, are treated as a motorized bicycle, and already come with some regulations, like registration, a driver’s license, and insurance.
Critics who testified to the committee Thursday said the bill Scutari introduced in November is completely different than what he first suggested. They said they support the version of the bill as he originally described it, but oppose jettisoning bike classification.
“Putting aside the legal and procedural issues, merging these classes is just a bad idea on its face,” said Corey Hannigan of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.
He raised concerns about whether New York cyclists crossing the George Washington Bridge could face citations for lacking registration or insurance. He also noted a major incentive of low-speed e-bikes is their accessibility compared to higher-speed bikes that require training, licensing, and registration.
Karen Manovich uses an electric bike with a 200-watt motor that doesn’t hold a charge for more than an hour. Manovich said the legislation would conflate her bike with one that has a 2,000-watt motor and can exceed 25 miles per hour.
“That’s what you guys need to go after. Not after my little bike that I really need to get up that hill in Jersey City,” she said.
She has no license, and noted that obtaining a license requires six points of identification, an additional hurdle for some cyclists. Licensing and insurance requirements would put serious limits on who can ride an electric bike in New Jersey, she added.
Bruce Fletcher, a retired state corrections officer who regularly rides his electric bike along the Delaware canal, said the bill would make New Jersey an outlier, with most states following the three-class e-bike system. He also said his insurance company told him they would not insure his e-bike.
“No insurance company wants to do this,” he said. “If you combine it with electric, moto, moped, along with the rest, you’ll be hurting everybody.”
Hannigan said he’d prefer lawmakers increase enforcement of existing laws requiring registration, educate vendors and parents of teens on requirements, and crack down on illegally modified devices.
Attorney Richard Albuquerque supports the bill, citing pedestrians who are being “severely injured.” With no insurance requirements for e-bikes, families are stuck with significant medical bills and little recourse, Albuquerque said.
“If the bikes had liability insurance, there’d be an opportunity for them not to be so personally devastated and impacted by these accidents,” he said.
Nationally, e-bike injuries rose by 293% from 2019 to 2022, according to Columbia University researchers.
The bill is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Budget Committee Monday. It does not have a companion in the Assembly.
