Any law enforcement professional can recognize the difference between a minor inconvenience and a major public safety problem. Law-breaking e-bike riders across the five boroughs have passed the nuisance threshold and now are approaching a full-blown crisis that City Hall is willfully ignoring.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since 2019, at least 17,447 people have been injured and 133 killed<\/a> in e-bike related accidents in the city, with deaths involving motorized two-wheeled devices shooting up nearly 86% in 2026<\/a> compared to the same time last year. E-bikes riders are blatantly flouting traffic laws, running red lights, commandeering sidewalks, and terrorizing pedestrians with abandon.\u00a0<\/p>\n New York is not alone in experiencing this dangerous phenomenon. But while other governments \u2014 most recently New Jersey<\/a>, just across the Hudson \u2014 are taking steps to ensure safer streets, the Mamdani administration refuses to follow suit.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t always this way. In 2025, then-Mayor Eric Adams granted NYPD officers discretion to issue criminal summonses for serious traffic violations to e-bike riders. The directive worked, with fatalities tied to motorized two-wheeled vehicles like e-bikes dropping 39% from 2024<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet that respite was short lived, as the Mamdani administration in March 2026 stripped officers of the authority to issue criminal e-bike summonses, arguing that the Adams-era directive had \u201cdisproportionately burdened working New Yorkers.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n A criminal summons was not a perfect solution in the absence of a sensible registration and licensing requirement \u2014 such as what is proposed under Priscilla\u2019s Law<\/a>. But doing away with the only tool officers had to address out-of-control e-bikes without a workable replacement has left pedestrians in this city far less safe.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is not an argument against all e-bikes. Along with scooters, mopeds and traditional bicycles, e-bikes are an invaluable form of transportation for thousands of New Yorkers and are an important tool for delivery workers trying to earn a living amid the ongoing affordability crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n Providing law enforcement with tangible tools to address unsafe practices aids the thousands of people who safely use their e-bikes every day. Responsible riders should not fear being stigmatized because of a comparatively few reckless individuals.\u00a0<\/p>\n Every other motor vehicle must be registered and insured. Operators must be licensed and insured and follow basic laws, facing consequences when they break them. E-bikes, which can travel as fast as \u2014 or faster than \u2013 the citywide default speed limit of 25 mph and can inflict deadly harm, should not be treated differently.<\/p>\n Just this month, a 43-year-old jogger was left in a medically induced coma<\/a> after she was hit from behind by an e-bike rider allegedly going the wrong way in Central Park. Last year, a 60-year-old mother was struck and killed<\/a> by a speeding e-bike carrying two men as she stepped off a city bus. Dozens of other crashes are taking place weekly, if not daily, but going unreported as New Yorkers have no way of holding e-bike riders who break the law accountable.\u00a0<\/p>\n These incidents are not mere statistics, they are tragedies. Stories like these will only continue unless City Hall decides that public safety matters more than political posturing.<\/p>\n