BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — Industry group PeopleForBikes will work on a "comprehensive comment" in support of the Consumer Product Safety Commission's decision to address e-bike injury risks with new federal rules.
The CPSC began accepting comments regarding the rulemaking on Friday at regulations.gov/document/CPSC-2024-0008-0001. The commenting period will remain open until May 15.
"This is the moment the bicycle industry has been waiting for and PeopleForBikes is prepared to respond to this critical call to action," said Jenn Dice, PeopleForBikes' president and CEO. PeopleForBikes members will discuss the rule-making process at a workshop during its Bicycle Leadership Conference in Tucson, Arizona, next week.
In a statement this week, PeopleForBikes said it planned to "develop a comprehensive comment in support of reasonable regulatory standards for electric bicycles. The organization's goals include resolving the various open issues around this technology, ensuring that safe and high-quality products made by our members can continue to be sold, and harmonizing these new U.S. regulations with global standards."
"Convening members and finding industrywide consensus on key regulatory and legislative priorities is PeopleForBikes' role as the bike industry's trade association," Dice said in the statement.
Various working groups and subcommittees at PeopleForBikes, including its Technical Standards Working Group, E-Bike Subcommittee, and Legal, Legislative, and Safety Subcommittee, will work to create the official comment.
The CPSC is gathering comments on rules that would regulate the mechanical aspects of e-bikes, but not issues related to lithium-ion battery safety, which the commission is considering separately. The commission has found an increase in the number of e-bike injuries and deaths related to mechanical issues and interactions with vehicles, including a study released last year that found injuries associated with all micromobility devices increased nearly 21% in 2022 from 2021.
"Based on the increasing injuries and fatalities associated with e-bikes, and hazards associated with collision and falls, the Commission preliminarily assesses that the current mandatory and voluntary standards do not eliminate or adequately reduce the risk of injury identified or associated with e-bikes," the commission said in its "Advance notice of proposed rulemaking" released Friday and published in the Federal Register. Commission members voted on March 5 to begin the rulemaking process.
According to the notice, the CPSC identified several hazard patterns related to studied e-bike injuries. They include the conspicuity of e-bikes to pedestrians and operators of other vehicles, the size and weight of the e-bike and rider, the speed and acceleration of e-bikes, their braking performance, component durability, integrity of frames, and helmet performance.
The notice said the CPSC concluded that its current standards for regular bikes are inadequate for e-bikes, as are voluntary industry standards. It said available international standards are inadequate because they don't address the higher speeds that e-bikes sold in the U.S. are capable of.
