You compared video games having content ratings to ebikes having wattage labels in another comment. Video games predate the current rating system. That’s where we are now with ebikes.
There isn’t an ebike equivalent to the ESRB. There are different guidelines everywhere, and manufacturer enforcement basically nowhere.
Putting all the blame on parents is equivalent to saying climate change is the fault of people that don’t put their yoghurt cups in the recycle bin. We shouldn’t engage in the trickle-down blame game.
I didn’t say wattage, I said speed. As a parent you should know that putting your child on anything that has a motor means you need to pay attention. My ebike said right on the box, on the website, and in the store what the speed was. It was no secret how fast it could go. Any parent should be able to know that putting your child on something that goes over 20 mph that it’s dangerous, it’s not rocket science. If they buy a device which moves their child that fast, that is 100% on them. They can take responsibility.
I see what you’re getting at, though personally I want guardrails on the overpass rather than trusting individual drivers to stay within the painted lanes.
I’d be okay with an age rating on there similar to ESRB for parents, but I don’t want restrictions on devices because parents can’t be bothered to research the products they buy for their children. We deserve freedom to buy what we want without having safety padding on everything because other people can’t be bothered to do the basic minimum research.
Age ratings I think would be one of those things that gets enforced only after an incident occurs, and may not result in a significant reduction in the dangerous activity.
Tricky business, determining what should and shouldn’t be reasonable to research. It’s a bit individualistic though to say what is and isn’t ‘basic minimum research’. Your value of what should be researched prior to a purchase is likely different than mine. There’s also a near infinite number of things this research could be done for. Nobody has that kind of time.
Ignoring power and top speed, perhaps a finer detail is whether that top speed can be achieved by pushing a button or if you have to put physical efforts in. Anyone could tell by my silhouette that I am not a ‘fit’ individual, but I can achieve 20mph on each of my bicycles. Someone younger and fitter could surpass me. There’s no reason to though, because so many of these cheap ebikes have throttle control and not pedal assist.
The guidelines for these things are too broad or simply nonexistent. For years the limiting factor was the technology, and so it wasn’t worthwhile to make a legal framework when it was just the village tinkerer that could make a battery power a bicycle up to car-like speeds. We need some limitations. Power, age, speed, function - each have their own difficulties in limiting.
It’ll probably need to be some combination. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long.
I disagree. It’s on the individual to decide what speed they can themselves handle. it’s not a car where you’re going to hurt someone else by plowing into them or into a group of people, on an ebike for the most part you’re only going to hurt yourself. (Yes yes you could hurt someone else by running into them but compared to a car it’s a much different thing). So I disagree, since you are taking on most of the risk yourself then you should be allowed to choose what you are comfortable with. Streets already have speed limits, as long as you’re respecting that then I think it’s enough. Is it safe? I don’t care, that’s on the individual to decide.
If parents are uncomfortable with that then it’s on them to regulate their own children, not force their wishes on everyone else. It’s a freedom issue, and I’m not willing to give up my freedom to choose a bike I want because other people are worried about their kids. The solution is incredibly simple: don’t buy your kids something that they can get hurt on.
You compared video games having content ratings to ebikes having wattage labels in another comment. Video games predate the current rating system. That’s where we are now with ebikes.
There isn’t an ebike equivalent to the ESRB. There are different guidelines everywhere, and manufacturer enforcement basically nowhere.
Putting all the blame on parents is equivalent to saying climate change is the fault of people that don’t put their yoghurt cups in the recycle bin. We shouldn’t engage in the trickle-down blame game.
I didn’t say wattage, I said speed. As a parent you should know that putting your child on anything that has a motor means you need to pay attention. My ebike said right on the box, on the website, and in the store what the speed was. It was no secret how fast it could go. Any parent should be able to know that putting your child on something that goes over 20 mph that it’s dangerous, it’s not rocket science. If they buy a device which moves their child that fast, that is 100% on them. They can take responsibility.
I see what you’re getting at, though personally I want guardrails on the overpass rather than trusting individual drivers to stay within the painted lanes.
I’d be okay with an age rating on there similar to ESRB for parents, but I don’t want restrictions on devices because parents can’t be bothered to research the products they buy for their children. We deserve freedom to buy what we want without having safety padding on everything because other people can’t be bothered to do the basic minimum research.
Age ratings I think would be one of those things that gets enforced only after an incident occurs, and may not result in a significant reduction in the dangerous activity.
Tricky business, determining what should and shouldn’t be reasonable to research. It’s a bit individualistic though to say what is and isn’t ‘basic minimum research’. Your value of what should be researched prior to a purchase is likely different than mine. There’s also a near infinite number of things this research could be done for. Nobody has that kind of time.
Ignoring power and top speed, perhaps a finer detail is whether that top speed can be achieved by pushing a button or if you have to put physical efforts in. Anyone could tell by my silhouette that I am not a ‘fit’ individual, but I can achieve 20mph on each of my bicycles. Someone younger and fitter could surpass me. There’s no reason to though, because so many of these cheap ebikes have throttle control and not pedal assist.
The guidelines for these things are too broad or simply nonexistent. For years the limiting factor was the technology, and so it wasn’t worthwhile to make a legal framework when it was just the village tinkerer that could make a battery power a bicycle up to car-like speeds. We need some limitations. Power, age, speed, function - each have their own difficulties in limiting.
It’ll probably need to be some combination. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long.
I disagree. It’s on the individual to decide what speed they can themselves handle. it’s not a car where you’re going to hurt someone else by plowing into them or into a group of people, on an ebike for the most part you’re only going to hurt yourself. (Yes yes you could hurt someone else by running into them but compared to a car it’s a much different thing). So I disagree, since you are taking on most of the risk yourself then you should be allowed to choose what you are comfortable with. Streets already have speed limits, as long as you’re respecting that then I think it’s enough. Is it safe? I don’t care, that’s on the individual to decide.
If parents are uncomfortable with that then it’s on them to regulate their own children, not force their wishes on everyone else. It’s a freedom issue, and I’m not willing to give up my freedom to choose a bike I want because other people are worried about their kids. The solution is incredibly simple: don’t buy your kids something that they can get hurt on.