Q&A
Enforcement challenges and strategies for e-bike safety
1:37:11
·
73 sec
Council Member Brooks-Powers and DOT officials discuss the effectiveness of licensing in enforcing street safety rules for e-bikes and other micromobility devices. Key points include:
- DOT believes current laws allow for enforcement of behaviors like red light running and sidewalk riding without requiring license plates
- NYPD has issued summonses and seized almost 20,000 devices
- DOT emphasizes the need to address both individual behavior and the companies incentivizing unsafe practices
- Enforcement against individuals alone is not seen as sufficient to solve safety issues
- DOT suggests focusing on why unsafe behavior occurs and addressing root causes
Selvena N. Brooks-Powers
1:37:11
Would license and micro mobility vehicles enable the city to adequately enforce street safety issues surrounding the ebikes, eccooters, and mopeds?
Eric Beaton
1:37:22
So we think that we can enforce the types of behavior that we're talking about now.
1:37:26
We're right?
1:37:27
We can enforce red light running.
1:37:28
We can we can enforce riding on the sidewalk.
1:37:31
We don't need the license plate to be able to do that, and we're working with NYPD to be able to do more.
1:37:36
We're not anti regulation.
1:37:38
Right?
1:37:38
And it's why we're interested in having this conversation through the task force because we think that the missing piece is our ability to enforce against the companies that are causing the behavior in the first place.
Selvena N. Brooks-Powers
1:37:48
But what happens to the ones that are not writing for a company?
Eric Beaton
1:37:52
So so we can we can enforce the traffic laws against them today, and and that's always part of it.
Selvena N. Brooks-Powers
1:37:57
So you're saying that it's not being enforced today?
Eric Beaton
1:38:00
We we are enforcing.
1:38:02
The the NYPD issues a lot of summonses.
1:38:05
They've seized almost 20,000 of the of these devices.
1:38:08
But we also know that just going after the individuals isn't enough to stop the problem.
1:38:13
It's part of the solution, right, that that we have to do enforcement against the behavior, but that to really solve it, we have to get at why the behavior is happening in the first place and go at it from both of those angles.
