DOT Clarifies Regulations for Drivers of E-scooters and E-bikes to Protect their Safety

By Yehudit Garmaise

While zipping down the street on electric scooters and e-bikes may be a fast, fun, and efficient way to get around the city, the hundreds of accidents NYC has seen this year prompted the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) to clarify speed limits and helmet requirements.

The DOT also clarified which micro-mobility vehicles require special driver’s licenses, registration with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and exactly where New Yorkers can legally ride their scooters, e-bikes, and mopeds.

After several Boro Parkers of many ages were injured and even killed, many rabbanim urged against using the e-scooters and e-bikes. Many parents in the neighborhood forbade micro-mobility vehicles to protect their children’s safety.

“Scooterists and e-bikers can rarely see cars coming when they make turns,” said Avrohom G., who lives in Boro Park. “People who are scooting at 35 mph won’t be able to stop in time, but whomever is scooting at 15 mph will be able to stop.”

Another troubling cause of sometimes fatal crashes is that many riders drive recklessly and ignore the rules of the road. Scooterists might go the wrong way down a one-way street, go through traffic lights and stop signs, and drive in other ways that put themselves, pedestrians, and others in danger, according to abc7ny.com

In fact, the people riding scooters and e-bikes are not the only ones who often get injured. Pedestrians and drivers as well, often get injured in the many e-transportation crashes: a whopping 40% of which take place in Brooklyn, according to the DOT, the NYPD, and the NYC Department of Health and Hygiene, who collaborated to release a joint report on citywide cyclist injuries and fatalities from 1996 to 2005.

For instance, drivers of scooters and e-bikes may only legally drive on bike lanes and on streets that post speed limits no greater than 30 mph.

For mopeds, which have two or three wheels, but different speed capacities, the DOT does not just issue speed limits, but the agency requires drivers to register their vehicles with the DMV and get special driver’s licenses.

In addition, most moped drivers are required to wear helmets and are allowed to drive in the right lanes and shoulders, but not in the city’s bike lanes.