\n\t\t\t\t\t\tElectric bikes are becoming increasingly popular across Pennsylvania. \u201cOver the years, it\u2019s been tremendously successful selling e-bikes,\u201d Greensburg Bike Shop co-owner Bryan Metzger said. \u201cPeople love them. They\u2019re very reliable. They have hydraulic brakes on them.\u201d He\u2019s come across some customers who want them as their preferred method of transportation.\u201cThey do sell models that are strictly commuter models,\u201d Metzger said. \u201cMost of our riders aren\u2019t on the road. The ones that are usually know what they\u2019re doing. A lot of recreational riders went to it.\u201d\u201cIt\u2019s become more affordable, and because of technology, they go faster,\u201d Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steve Limani said. \u201cNow, some of these electric scooters can travel up to 30 miles an hour. That\u2019s a little dangerous.\u201dHowever, more people riding has led to more incidents for law enforcement.\u201cI know we\u2019ve dealt with a fatality where the person was riding an e-bike,\u201d Limani said. \u201cThat person was riding it not along the right-hand side of the road where a typical bicycle would be ridden. Unfortunately, they were struck.\u201dThat was when 19-year-old Jayden Lynch died in Hempfield Township in August. The man who allegedly struck Lynch is still facing charges. Greensburg Police had a bike chase within the last month. \u201cTwo teenage boys actually rode these e-bikes that were not meant for street use, and rode them from the North Huntingdon area to the city of Greensburg,\u201d Greensburg Police Detective Sgt. Justin Scalzo said. \u201cIt\u2019s starting to be more teens and juveniles owning these things. They are subject to heavy fines, multiple traffic citations, and the police usually seize those bikes.\u201dLooking for more news in your area | Subscribe to the WTAE YouTube ChannelIn 2024, 345 vehicle crashes investigated by PSP involved e-bikes. Incidents like those have led officers to try and inform their communities about the devices.\u201cYou technically aren\u2019t allowed to ride those on a roadway or a sidewalk,\u201d Limani said. \u201cIt\u2019s meant to be ridden on personal property, not out on public streets. If you have the option to switch from an e-bike to being a self-propelled bicycle, the person\u2019s allowed to self-pedal a bicycle.\u201d\u201cFor it to be street legal, we need registration, insurance and turn signals,\u201d Scalzo added. \u201cComply with what the law says you\u2019re allowed to do and what the vehicle code says you’re allowed to do.\u201dBethel Park Police Department posted on Facebook regarding a recent incident as well. This chart from PennDOT shows the legal capabilities of e-bikes and motorized bicycles.Some riders say smaller communities need more room for any kind of bike.\u201cPeople have to advocate for bike lanes and certain things,\u201d Metzger said. \u201cThere are advocates to try and make that better and make more communities bike-friendly. It\u2019ll be like that eventually.\u201d\u201cThere\u2019s legislation right now where they\u2019re trying to come up with ways that these can be operated, who can operate them and where they can be operated,\u201d Limani said. On top of that, riders can have e-bikes and still find ways around the main roads. \u201cIf you use certain apps, you can find back ways,\u201d Metzger said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to take the main drag every time. Google Maps can find bike trails and rural routes so you\u2019re not going down a heavy thoroughfare.\u201dWhile officers aren\u2019t looking to target and ticket e-bikes, they are focused on informing their riders to make the community safer. \u201cIt\u2019s about educating people and making sure that no one gets hurt,\u201d Limani said. \u201cOur number one goal is that nobody gets hurt.\u201d Download the WTAE app to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters to get breaking news in your inbox.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tGREENSBURG, Pa. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Electric bikes are becoming increasingly popular across Pennsylvania. <\/p>\n
\u201cOver the years, it\u2019s been tremendously successful selling e-bikes,\u201d Greensburg Bike Shop co-owner Bryan Metzger said. \u201cPeople love them. They\u2019re very reliable. They have hydraulic brakes on them.\u201d <\/p>\n
He\u2019s come across some customers who want them as their preferred method of transportation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do sell models that are strictly commuter models,\u201d Metzger said. \u201cMost of our riders aren\u2019t on the road. The ones that are usually know what they\u2019re doing. A lot of recreational riders went to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s become more affordable, and because of technology, they go faster,\u201d Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steve Limani said. \u201cNow, some of these electric scooters can travel up to 30 miles an hour. That\u2019s a little dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, more people riding has led to more incidents for law enforcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know we\u2019ve dealt with a fatality where the person was riding an e-bike,\u201d Limani said. \u201cThat person was riding it not along the right-hand side of the road where a typical bicycle would be ridden. Unfortunately, they were struck.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was when 19-year-old Jayden Lynch died<\/a> in Hempfield Township in August. The man who allegedly struck Lynch is still facing charges. <\/p>\n Greensburg Police had a bike chase within the last month. <\/p>\n \u201cTwo teenage boys actually rode these e-bikes that were not meant for street use, and rode them from the North Huntingdon area to the city of Greensburg,\u201d Greensburg Police Detective Sgt. Justin Scalzo said. \u201cIt\u2019s starting to be more teens and juveniles owning these things. They are subject to heavy fines, multiple traffic citations, and the police usually seize those bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking for more news in your area | Subscribe to the WTAE YouTube Channel<\/a><\/p>\n In 2024, 345 vehicle crashes investigated by PSP involved e-bikes. Incidents like those have led officers to try and inform their communities about the devices.<\/p>\n \u201cYou technically aren\u2019t allowed to ride those on a roadway or a sidewalk,\u201d Limani said. \u201cIt\u2019s meant to be ridden on personal property, not out on public streets. If you have the option to switch from an e-bike to being a self-propelled bicycle, the person\u2019s allowed to self-pedal a bicycle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor it to be street legal, we need registration, insurance and turn signals,\u201d Scalzo added. \u201cComply with what the law says you\u2019re allowed to do and what the vehicle code says you’re allowed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Bethel Park Police Department posted on Facebook regarding a recent incident as well. <\/p>\n \n\tThis content is imported from Facebook. Some riders say smaller communities need more room for any kind of bike.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople have to advocate for bike lanes and certain things,\u201d Metzger said. \u201cThere are advocates to try and make that better and make more communities bike-friendly. It\u2019ll be like that eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s legislation right now where they\u2019re trying to come up with ways that these can be operated, who can operate them and where they can be operated,\u201d Limani said. <\/p>\n On top of that, riders can have e-bikes and still find ways around the main roads. <\/p>\n \u201cIf you use certain apps, you can find back ways,\u201d Metzger said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to take the main drag every time. Google Maps can find bike trails and rural routes so you\u2019re not going down a heavy thoroughfare.\u201d<\/p>\n While officers aren\u2019t looking to target and ticket e-bikes, they are focused on informing their riders to make the community safer. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about educating people and making sure that no one gets hurt,\u201d Limani said. \u201cOur number one goal is that nobody gets hurt.\u201d <\/p>\n Download the WTAE app<\/a> to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters<\/a> to get breaking news in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Electric bikes are becoming increasingly popular across Pennsylvania. \u201cOver the years, it\u2019s been tremendously successful selling e-bikes,\u201d Greensburg…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[80301,524,30846,1288,19553,1856,80302,80304,2092,28,30,29,523,1358,206,15390,6014,80300,80303,13987,2439],"class_list":["post-179826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-bike-chase","tag-community","tag-e-bike","tag-e-bikes","tag-electric-bikes","tag-law-enforcement","tag-limani","tag-metzger","tag-more-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-people","tag-person","tag-police","tag-rider","tag-road","tag-scooters","tag-self-propelled-bicycle","tag-thing","tag-way"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\tYou may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.\n<\/p>\n
This chart from PennDOT<\/a> shows the legal capabilities of e-bikes and motorized bicycles.<\/p>\n