... to pedestrians in cities with high foot and cycling traffic.
I spend a lot of time in a major European city which has dedicated bike lanes on most major streets. I get around by walking and using a regular bicycle.
I now consider e-bikes to be the most likely vehicle I'm going to be hit by, either as a pedestrian or a biker, because they're fast and often times *practically silent*. As a pedestrian, the sidewalk and bike lines in this city are often both part of the same stretch of "sidewalk" where the bike lane is only designated by a line or the use of different bricks. This means that bikes and pedestrians are sharing the same space, and bikers often go out of the bike lane to pass other bikers, putting them in very close proximity to pedestrians and what are now very high e-bike speeds. Someone moving unexpectedly, or a child suddenly bolting from behind a walking parent, could mean a serious accident. It can be argued that this is an infrastructure problem, but even if you create completely separated bike lanes, you still have the issue of silence combined with high speed (and mass) relative to other cyclists: The other day I was biking on a quiet off-street with no other traffic on the road. Out of nowhere, a food delivery e-biker flew past my left side at easily twice my speed. The sound of the air passing my ears from casually cycling was enough to cover what little sound his bike made such that I never heard him coming, and had I veered left from my course just before he passed, I'm certain I would've ended up in the emergency room.
The food delivery e-bikers are a huge part of the problem: they're under pressure to go fast, which means they're also more likely to take risks, and even if they see need to stop, they're moving the extra weight of their delivery plus the heavier bike itself (battery, larger frame, often big tires) to hinder a fast stop.
With all this in mind, I'm of the opinion that 1. e-bikes should only be allowed on actual roads (not bike paths), because any law saying "certain e-bikes" or even having a speed limit on a bike path would be extremely difficult to enforce, plus these e-bikes are often traveling at the same speed as cars, and 2. e-bike drivers should require a license, *at least* for commercial use, i.e. food delivery, which must be verified by the company, with steps taken to ensure the registered driver is the one doing the actual deliveries (so no one can "borrow" a friend's delivery account), and a visibly displayed license on the bike.
TL;DR: e-bikes are now as fast as mopeds but silent, and should be treated as such.
