‘High alert’: Why this e-bike behaviour must stop now

This mode of transport has fast become a common yet controversial sight on our roads. But what are the real dangers?

OPINION
Each time I either walk or drive away from my house, I’m on high alert.

Of course, this is partly looking out for regular cars and pedestrians. It’s also increasingly for the growing numbers of oversized utes, whose drivers tend to struggle with clocking speed limits and activating brake pedals.

But now there’s a new threat: e-bikes, which are all too likely to be travelling at speed, quite possibly on the footpath or the wrong side or the road (or merrily zigzagging between the two) with the rider most likely not wearing a helmet.

Faulty e-bike blamed for devastating house fireFire and Rescue NSW investigators suspect a faulty lithium-ion battery caused a major house fire at Merrylands in Sydney’s west.

I know I’m not alone with these concerns locally, as Facebook groups are filled with posts about e-bike riders who have narrowly missed serious accidents (and, distressingly, about one e-bike rider ploughing through nesting birds on Belongil Beach).

And it’s not just limited to one area. Reports of serious concern about the dangers of e-bikes are coming in from Sydney, the Gold Coast and Victoria.

But I’m not all negative about e-bikes, not by a long shot.

I love that e-bikes allow a hilly area to become cyclable without the need for iron-clad quadriceps and the lung capacity of a blue whale.

I love the fact that they allow those who are either too young for car licences, or without access to a car, to get to work or get together with friends.

There are huge gaps in the injury data on e-bikes and e-scooters. Photo Jeremy Piper

A pedestrian sprawled out on the asphalt after being hit by an electric scooter. Picture: Supplied

I totally love the idea of fewer cars on the road, both for commuting and recreation trips.

I applaud any option that means getting from A to B doesn’t require a vehicle that’s designed to fit four or five people, but usually just carries one.

In regions like mine with minimal public transport, e-bikes, though still not in everyone’s financial reach, are far cheaper than buying a car.

I’d love to see more e-bikes being ridden safely, including those that can safely and legally carry a passenger and cargo.

This behaviour from e-bike rider must change. Picture: iStock

But I can’t love e-bikes while so many riders obviously flout guidelines that are designed to keep them and everyone else safe.

Without a change in behaviour, there’s no doubt that there will be deaths and an increasing number of injuries, which are enough of a concern that the issue is set to be discussed at the SWAN Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery conference that’s being held in Sydney this week.

Most of my concerns arise from people not riding bikes legally.

To be honest, I had to look up whether legislation even existed, so rarely do I see an e-bike rider with a helmet or much road sense.

I discovered that, though e-bike regulation is a state-based issue, all Australian e-bikes are subject to power and speed restrictions, and require riders to follow road rules, wear a helmet and have working lights for after dark.

More than 500 e-bike users have presented to Emergency Departments in the past two years. Picture: Richard Dobson

In all states, powerful bikes that are sold under the loophole of being for use only on private property (yeah, right) are not allowed on public roads or paths.

Yet, a lot of the information is confusing, particularly thanks to there being two categories of similarly-named legal e-bikes (“power-assisted pedal cycles” and “electrically power-assisted pedal cycles”) and different states and organisations calling these different names anyway. There are also different rules for privately-owned e-bikes versus share schemes (like Lime bikes) and a and a lack of clarity even in official documents (for example, this leaflet for NSW families says to “check minimum age requirements” instead of providing this detail directly).

All Australian e-bikes are subject to power and speed restrictions. Picture: iStock

What I suspected turns out to be true – that no-one should be hooning around on an e-bike that is being powered without any pedals.

I regularly see riders zooming up steep hills without a foot on a pedal, let alone breaking a sweat.

There’s a name for a powered vehicle that you don’t have to pedal: a motorbike.

And there are very good reasons why motorcycle riders wear leathers and helmets.

You know, things like death, body-breaking injuries, life-shattering brain trauma and unwillingly donating most of your skin to asphalt.

Sadly, e-bikes have come at a time when Australia is already way behind the game when it comes to having adequate infrastructure for even regular bikes (or, in my area, for pedestrians).

It’s going to make it harder to work out how to share existing infrastructure between all the different levels and speeds of user, as well as what the priorities are for new paths.

If e-bike riders continue to use paths at such high speeds and reckless abandon, I wouldn’t be surprised if regular cyclists and pedestrians feel dissuaded from using shared paths or even regular footpaths.

Plenty of e-bike riders don’t even both to wear a helmet. Picture: Richard Dobson

What do I think will help?

Clearer and simpler information, better names for the different categories of e-bikes, more policing (I reckon it would only take a few dozen serious fines in my area for word to get around and behaviour to change), more accountability required of e-bike retailers to educate buyers, banning sales of higher powered bikes outright (the idea that they’ll only be ridden on private property is a fallacy) and advertising campaigns aimed both at kids and parents (via traditional as well as social media).

Extra ideas include initiatives by local councils and schools, like this voluntary code.

Let’s hope that, in the near future, I’ll no longer have to grit my teeth each time I see an e-bike rider involved in a narrow miss and, instead, smile seeing e-bikers (who will even be able to list this as their preferred mode of transport in the 2026 Census) enjoying the freedom of this great mode of transport in a safe way.

Vivienne Pearson is a freelance writer. Her writing lives at viviennepearson.com

Originally published as ‘High alert’: Why this e-bike behaviour must stop now