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Illegal E-Motos Still Being Shipped To NYC Despite Mamdani Cease-And-Desist Deadline - Streetsblog New York City (nyc.streetsblog.org)
submitted 1 month ago by [M] to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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[–] 12 points 1 month ago (8 children)

The shit I don't agree with that NYC is doing is eliminating Class 3 e-bikes. Cutting off pedal assist at 25mph vs. 28mph is such a negligible 3mph difference. This criminalizes a huge amount of bikes that are perfectly legal in the rest of the United States. E-motos like the Surron were already illegal, unregistered motorcycles before Class 3 arbitrarily got axed in NYC.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago* (5 children)

    That negligible difference is actually a fairly large one once the physics of inertia and impacts gets into play. The energy, and therefore the damage, is exponential based on velocity. That ≈6.6km/hr difference increases damage by a lot more than you may suspect, and pedestrians don't generally wear helmets and pads to protect themselves from impacts.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    It's geometric, not exponential. Going from 25 to 28 freedom units is factor 1.12 and v² increases by factor 1.2544 or 25%.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    But at 60mph if you crashed into a wall you'd vaporize instantly. Because exponential.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    No exponential. Geometric. Squared. Energy is E=mv². At a speed of 60 freedom units you're going factor 2.4 times faster than at 20. The energy will be factor 5.76 times higher. Or 476% more if you like.

    The word exponential has a specific meaning. It doesn't just mean really big.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    That's a fair point. But I'd assume most of downtown New York City has of speed limit of 25mph anyway. So Class 3 riders shouldn't be going above that, regardless of what their bike is capable of. Whether you drive a Lamborghini or Toyota, you're still obligated to follow the same laws (horrible analogy, I know).

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  • [+] -6 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    If I'm not mistaken, class 3 also has a throttle vs just pedal assist. I think the throttle is great personally. Sometimes it's hard to get started to cross an intersection or something, and the throttle is a huge help. Feels like this kinda kills some stuff for old + disabled.

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