Almost everyone who drives tries to avoid running into an errant E-bike or E-scooter rider. It’s a problem that seems to keep getting worse with those riders believing they are unencumbered by traffic laws and common sense.
I was driving south on West Avenue in Ocean City toward the Ninth Street intersection around 5 p.m. the other day, just when the beaches are emptying of visitors. Traffic was heavy and it was partial gridlock.
Ninth Street was backed up from Bay Avenue all the way to West Avenue. Heading north on West, drivers in the turn lane with a green arrow were deciding whether to chance pulling into the intersection, risking blocking traffic when the opposing light turned green.
Into the mess rode a tall young man on an E-scooter, pulling up in between the lanes of cars on West Avenue waiting at the light. He looked responsible; in his late teens or early 20s, he was wearing a helmet.
As drivers waited for the light, the scooter guy didn’t. He ran the red light, weaving through the intersection and the waiting cars. He then drove over and up onto the sidewalk past the McDonald’s for another block before hopping off the sidewalk and back onto West Avenue.
A few blocks down West, I stopped to allow a gaggle of teen girls carrying their beach gear on the pedestrian crossing. Scooter guy didn’t stop. He drove right through the middle of the girls, forcing half the group to stop to avoid getting hit.
For the second time in a few minutes, I did the grumpy old man routine of grumbling about young people doing dumb things on their modern conveyances. It was unfair to young people. I’ve seen adults do things just as dumb and dangerous.
And you don’t have to be old to be tired of watching people on E-bikes and E-scooters ignoring traffic laws, their own safety and that of everyone else in their path.
There are laws they are supposed to follow, but there don’t seem to be any penalties for ignoring them. Or much interest in enforcing those laws.
The Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office released a pamphlet entitled E-bike, Bicycle & E-scooter Motor Vehicle & Pedestrian Law to explain drivers, cyclists and pedestrians share the responsibility for road safety.
It notes all riders of bicycles, E-bikes and E-scooters must follow motor vehicle laws and yield to pedestrians. They have to travel in the direction of motor vehicles because they are all considered vehicles.
The pamphlet also explains the rules to pedestrians. They don’t have the right to walk or run right out into traffic and expect drivers to stop for them when it’s too late for them to stop.
They have to yield to drivers when crossing a road if they’re not in a marked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. They have to yield to drivers at intersections with stoplights when they don’t have a “walk signal” and drivers have a green signal.
Pedestrians risk fines of $100 and community service, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, if they fail to yield the right of way to motorists anywhere except at crosswalks.
Drivers have their responsibilities as well, including yielding to pedestrians in a crosswalk, not passing another vehicle stopped for a pedestrian, giving pedestrians the right of way over all vehicles, including those making turns.
The Prosecutor’s Office notes drivers could face fines of as much as $200, a 15-day community service sentence and four motor vehicle points.
The pamphlet did not list any potential fines or community service for riders of bicycles, E-bikes and E-scooters violating laws.
There is no license or registration required for low-speed E-scooters (max speed 19 mph) and low-speed E-bikes (max speed 20 mph), but a motorized bicycle does require a license and registration.
Two weeks ago, Ocean City’s mayor told members of City Council how he narrowly avoided hitting a pair of young people on E-bikes who ran a red light. He said if he had been the slightest bit distracted, his vehicle would have hit them.
He appealed to the state to regulate E-bikes and E-scooters.
A lot of these E-vehicles go a lot faster than 19 or 20 mph, but it isn’t clear how they’re classified. And they are all over the place.
It’s a particular hazard in Ocean City during the summer when it’s so busy and crowded with pedestrians and vehicles, but everywhere I drive I come across them speeding around, ignoring traffic laws and common sense, driving on the wrong side of the street, buzzing through stop signs and stoplights. (I know, grumbling again.)
People have commented how they’re also zooming around the boardwalk as well. Many of the E-bikes are bigger and heavier than regular bicycles, increasing the possibility of injury if they run into a person walking, running or pushing a kid in a carriage.
There needs to be stricter regulations on these E-bikes and E-scooters, some means of educating their users on how to be safer on them and, after new regulations are put into place, more law enforcement attention given them.
For those thinking otherwise, across the bridge, an Egg Harbor Township teen was killed in a collision between his E-bike and a car July 16 at the intersection of the bike path and Maryland Avenue.
After watching the scooter guy head down a side street, I continued down West Avenue. I passed a kid, 10 or 12 years old, riding an E-bike in the bicycle lane. An appropriate place. It was one of the heavier bikes and he was wearing flip-flops and no helmet. I thought, at least he was in the bike lane.
When I stopped for a red light at 34th Street, the kid stopped too. Responsible, I thought. And then he ran the red light just ahead of a truck right in his path. And there I was, grumbling again.
David Nahan is editor and publisher of the Ocean City Sentinel, the Upper Township Sentinel and the Sentinel of Somers Point, Linwood and Northfield, an the Cape May Star and Wave.
