Nassau County banned the use of Class 2 and Class 3 e-bikes and e-scooters yesterday, but took some liberties along the way.
While banning the use of the higher speed e-bikes and e-scooters, Nassau County cited existing county and state law: Nassau County Miscellaneous Law Title 61 and state Vehicle and Traffic Law Article 34.
But the county law cited by police doesn’t even have the word e-bike in it, and was passed to limit ATV use in 2006, following the death of 12-year-old Levittown resident Mark Sattler in an upstate New York ATV crash.
The state law they reference is the 2020 legislation that legalized and defined New York’s current class system for e-bikes, which again, are not e-scooters.
Class I e-bikes have an electric assist that is only activated by pedaling and have a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour. Class II e-bikes have an electric motor that can be controlled with a throttle rather than pedaling and have a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour. Class III e-bikes are strictly pedal-assist and have a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour.
A recurring issue the e-bike community is finding is that illegal e-motos, which are essentially electric motorcycles that reach speeds much higher than legal e-bikes, pose more risk to pedestrians, and many officials incorrectly lump them in with legal, regulated e-bikes.
Nassau County may be playing fast and loose with definitions of e-bikes and e-scooters, but state law does give them some rights to regulate e-bike use. They can prohibit e-bike riders from using sidewalks in areas where it could be potentially dangerous for pedestrians, like downtown districts with high foot traffic. It can also limit Class 3 e-bikes to roads and bike lanes.
But by treating e-bikes as e-scooters, Nassau County could be operating in conflict with state law because its ordinance directly contradicts New York’s definitions and regulations for e-bikes.
Nassau County’s announcement comes as state lawmakers consider more regulations for e-bikes due to safety concerns.
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