13
Driver’s licences for e-bikes ‘drawn from North Korean playbook’
(www.brisbanetimes.com.au)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2026
13 points (76.0% liked)
Brisbane
1132 readers
62 users here now
Home of the bin chicken. Visit our friends:
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Driver's-licenses for vehicles ought be based on the collision-energy contributed by that vehicle, & that goes up with the square of the speed,
& on the contribution to that energy by the motor, whether internal-combusion-engine or electric.
Put a 500w motor on an ebike driven by a flimsy 6-yo, & you've GOT a stupidly-amplified mortality-rate, waiting to happen.
Put a 250w motor on an olympic triathelete, & you've got some greater endurance or/and convenience, but no significant category-changing going on.
Those 2 situations are different-category from each-other, but NO country's legislating it correctly.
The e-assist motor needs to be gauged in proportion to what the cyclist, themself, can produce in their 90-minute-duration ride/test and NOT on any arbitrary "this-number-of-watts is legal, that isn't" idiocy.
Our body-reactions are in proportion to our bodies & therefore what amount of watts of motor ought be "no license needed" has to be in-proportion to our own actual muscle-power.
No jurisdiction's getting this right, from what I can see, globally.
_ /\ _
And taxes based on 4th power law for the cost to road surfaces and infrastructure. I know rail freight was so underfunded and outdated it had to go or be upgraded for the first time in a century in some places. So obviously it all got turned into bike tracks. But road freight and the owners of the big trucking companies are massively subsidized road users. If we took the money government spends on fixing the damage they are doing to our roads and spent it on rail and freight handling I reckon we would be well in front. Road freight is transferring public funds into the private wealth of a very few. The owners of the trucking companies are all great mates with politicians and generous party donors for a reason.
One point you're missing is that it's not just raw power, but also speed. Currently, a legal ebike has a limit of 250 W, but irrespective of power, it also has a 25 km/h limit. If you're doing 25 km/h, the motor cannot be putting out even 1 W.
In my opinion, there's some value to power limits, in terms of how strong the acceleration is. But speed is the much more important factor for safety most of the time.
So... limits for cars and motor bikes too :P . Ridiculous I can go buy a 1000+cc road bike.
This looks like a pragmatic approach to dealing with a public issue.
You’d have my vote.