State Might Require All E-Bikes to Be Registered and Insured

In New Jersey.

[Artist_Kevin]

Florida was going to do the same with canoes, kayaks, paddle boards and other forms of paddle craft. An attempt to syphon off more cash for registrations... It failed. They will use safety as a wedge, but it's all about $$$

[corssecurity]

New Jersey has announced a plan for everyone in the state who wishes to use or have enjoyment of any constional rights to register and pay an annual fee per right. Even on a single use.

[Mark-porp]

They did this in Maryland years ago for scooters that were under 50cc. Scooters had just started to become popular with lower income people or people for whatever reason that couldn't get a license or afford insurance. The state passed a law requiring registration and insurance on the scooters and almost overnight people stopped riding them.

[tripflycfi]

I guess it’s time for the e-bike industry to hire a bunch of over-priced lobbyists. Sounds like the insurance lobby got there first

[WHFQE]

Here in Hawaii they passed a bike registration law requiring every bike ridden on the road to be registered with the state. The excuse they used was for theft recovery, yet as of last year, not a single stolen bike had ever been returned to its owner with the registration program. I had the Honolulu Police Department confiscate my bike because it was not registered.

[bonniewatson]

I live in South Jersey and this is a way to pick more money out of your pocket in registration fees!

[FrancisBeanBlades]

My wife actually had a case where her car got T-boned by a bicyclist who blew a stop sign. Yes, there was a dent in the car door. The bike was considerably worse off. My wife opted to just let it slide, but we could have made a damages claim.

There was much more drama over that case when the police came looking for my wife because the cyclist later made a false claim of a hit and run. Fortunately, her story completely fell apart before it even started, because she had cell phone pictures of my wife's insurance and ID. (Rather hard to get those from a car that sped off from the scene!) The police officer who interviewed my wife was well aware of the situation, but needed to get both stories for his report.

[charliebozzo]

This is absolutely horrible. Been talking about this w/ a friend for 2 days. NO f'n way do we ever want to see legislation. This is due to bad actors on human powered vehicles.
There are laws regarding reckless behavior. Enforce the laws we have before making the good actors pay for this.
For those of us who already pay property taxes, gas taxes, road tolls...I am TOTALLY not in favor of creating another "revenue stream" for bureaucrats and lawyers. NJ is getting it way wrong.

[sporty]

I knew that wasn't far away. The government has to get their hands on anything we do to save some money.

[johnpatrick]

Cash grab for the state and payoff to the insurance lobbyists.

[garysprandel]

Did the registration thing for bikes in the Chicago suburb I grew up in in 76 or 77. It was sold on the if your bike gets stolen but the less publicized reasons were to have a registration number to issue citations to kids violating ordinances and effectively a wheel tax/vehicle sticker for bikes like they still do for cars and trucks in town. I effectively scofflawed the bike registration for 6 months to a year until I got my license. The registration lasted maybe til 80 just because it was so widely ignored.

[darinbazinet]

"Dude I'm 8 years old" 😂

[kingjbone]

I'm kind of surprised Steve didn't pick up on the auto insurance lobby being the ones to profit most from this.

[michaelgarrison]

Ontario Canada. 50 years ago we had to have a license on our bicycle. It only lasted a few years before they realized that it was costing them money and did not reduce theft.

[lodge]

State: please everyone, get an E-bike.
Also State: now that you have an E-bike, pay up!

[StevenEverett]

Here's my question. How is registering and adding insurance going to help stop E-bike accidents? Also, I wonder if there are insurance companies lobbying for this bill?

[ScootaGang]

I've been in several electric scooter wrecks, I am fully insured, but let me tell you. The major difference is that we will only cause minimal damage to a car in a wreck, while the car will injure us and destroy our scooter/bike. The point of insurance is to guard against critical damage or injuries that will bankrupt you. It's literally impossible to total a car, or even injure the car driver when you are on a scooter or bike. So by extension, insurance doesn't even make sense for this industry. Especially when you factor in that home owners and renters can cover themself under their home insurance policy for very little extra per year and it even includes personal liability such as if you hit a pedestrian on a bike path. So mandating more "auto" insurance on top is not only redundant on my current policy, but it's a scam because you can't destroy lives on the roadway in a similar way that you can with a car or even a motorcycle.

[AlternativeHomesteading]

I moved from New Jersey. New Jersey is one of the most corrupt and expensive states to live in in the entire US. After 9/11 everybody moved to New Jersey. The cost of living there is through the roof. Property taxes on a four or five bedroom house on a quarter acre of land is about $15-$20, 000 a year.
When I listed from my house for sale, the coding department gave me a hard time because I had installed a basketball hoop on my driveway 15+ years before they started to require a permit for the same. New Jersey requires a permit for everything. They will attach a fee to whatever it is you purchase. Purchase a security system? You have to register it and pay a fee annually. Do you want to Renovate your bathroom? You need a permit. After the permit you need an inspection. They keep very busy there in the code department.

[phillipsofthedriver]

I was floored when you said New Jersey. I fully expected it to be California where I live.

[darelldd]

Thank you for not saying "accident" when discussing crashes, collisions, injuries and property damage.

It is so refreshing!