How times have changed from the days when man's only reliable means of conveyance was to walk everywhere! Indeed, even in living memory for most of us there have been developments in existing modes of transport and innovations of other, newer types which have made for a wide choice of vehicles for enjoyment and transport. Of these forms of transport, an interesting one is the electric bicycle. In actual fact the electric cycle has been in existence in one form or another since 1895 - but development on the medium has been inconsistent, and there is little widespread agreement even on how to categorize them.
Mindful of how this could lead to problems, the US Federal Government has recently taken steps to standardize the laws surrounding electric bikes. It is now a federal law that, as long as an electric bike cannot travel at any more than 20 miles per hour on its own stored power, it is to be treated under the laws of the road like any other pedal bicycle. Should the cyclist wish to power it to move faster than that, it remains a bicycle under the laws of the land, as only the existing road speed limits apply to a proficient road cyclist.
This means that, in general, there is no requirement for the cyclist on an electric bike to have a license for it. That said, different states have different laws on the bikes and in some cases they are banned from the road altogether. In these states, the process of adopting the federal law is still under advisement, and the law itself is seen as a guideline in so doing. At the present time, for example, New York is still debating the text of its law on e-bikes and they are, for the moment, not permitted on the roads. This is expected to change when the law is finalized in the State Senate.
These laws are slightly less restrictive than some of the laws currently in existence in the rest of the world. In many parts of Europe the law is similar to that in the US, with a slightly less forgiving speed limit of 25 kilometers an hour (16 mph). The law in Canada is broadly similar to that in the US, with minor textual nuances all that differ from the American model.
The overall impression given by and relevant to the law on electric bikes is that as long as the cyclist sticks to the rules of the road as governed by their state and relating to an ordinary pedal bike, the need to legislate any more firmly on electric bikes is limited at most. A speed of about 20 mph is considered to be a typical cruising speed for a bicycle powered by a human anyway - slower than that and they will need to be pushing on the pedals merely to remain upright. Nonetheless, anyone taking to the roads on an electric bike will need to be fully capable of handling it at speeds of 20 mph, or they will certainly face legal questions.
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