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Hmmm. This points to the approaching need for mandating biker's insurance, as someone mentioned in the comments of a previous post. If/as biking becomes a widespread form of transportation, it's going to need to be regulated, which includes licencing, insurance, off-road speed limits, and an enforcement apparatus.

This post addresses the need for establishing cultural norms for bike behavior, which is fine for now. What happens as the volume of off-road bikes doubles, quadruples, or increases by one order of magnitude? What happens when Americans adopt E-bikes?

One main reason that more people don't bike more is the physical effort required to navigate long distances and uneven topology. E-bikes will act as an equalizer, so that a much greater number of people can ride at 20 mph on sidewalks and paths, regardless of fitness or need to not glisten after a trip.

Since we're talking primarily about cultural solutions -- adoption of new norms and such -- we should also be prepared with solutions to problems that would arise strictly as the result of a cultural shift. Affordable E-bike technology exists now; but for a cultural shift -- which could happen rather suddenly -- we don't have to deal with their dangers today.

by tresluxe on Jun 12, 2012 5:48 pm • link • report