New York City Council members have introduced a package of 17 bills aimed at protecting city streets from a surge in e-bike and e-scooter crashes, according to Eyewitness News ABC7NY. The station reported that the council announced the crackdown on Tuesday, and that Mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to make his own announcement on street safety across the city later the same day.
The proposed measures would target several aspects of the way motorized two-wheelers are sold and used, ABC7NY reported. According to the station, the bills would ban the sale of e-bikes that exceed a set speed limit, cut down on the use of unregistered mopeds, and require food delivery apps to carry additional insurance for the riders working for them.
The package would also go after dangerous riding itself, ABC7NY reported. The station said the measures would raise the penalties for riders who flee the scene of a crash, and would create a trading program that lets riders swap illegal bikes for safer ones in an effort to get the most dangerous machines off the road.
The push follows a sharp rise in collisions involving the devices, according to ABC7NY. The station cited data showing there have been more than 500 e-bike collisions and 795 scooter collisions in the city so far this year, a figure that is up 28 per cent over the same period last year.
The crackdown comes one week after a 17-year-old was killed in a collision near City Hall while riding an illegal bike, ABC7NY reported. The station said the teenager had been on a motorized bike of a type that Amazon will no longer ship to New York City, and that his death has sharpened the focus on getting such machines off the streets.
Mayor Mamdani, who spoke about the case, said his heart breaks for the mother of the young man and for all the families who have had their children stolen from them in similar crashes, according to ABC7NY. The station relayed his statement that the bike the teenager was riding was one that should never have been on the city's streets in the first place.
Mamdani said safety is something every New Yorker should have no matter what mode of transportation they use, ABC7NY reported. The station said the mayor would reserve his opinion on the council's proposed measures until he has had more time to review them, with the proposals set to be discussed at a hearing at the end of September and his own announcement expected at noon.