Originally Posted by
indyfabz
When is the last time you rode the Greenway in Manhattan? Anything that allows people to ride faster than they ought to is not good. In major metropolitan areas, a lot of people on e-assist bikes are reckless thanks to the bike’s ability to allow them to go faster than they ever could if they had to do all the work. I see it all the time with Philly’s e-assist bike share bikes. Wheeeeee! This is fun!”
I haven't but yes human beings can be a problem on all sorts of different bikes including non-electric stuff and bike adjacent stuff like e-mopeds. Bikeshare stuff is problematic in it's own right but overall at least the docked stuff is generally a decent net good but it all comes down to the humans on top of the machines not the actual machines.
Originally Posted by
NVFlinch
Not around here. E-bikes are the weapon of choice for the new-to-bikes-gee-I-can-go-full-throttle-weeeeee! Just like snowboarders early on who had no idea of safety or ettiquite.
Head on collision: Why yes, I've been there on a public path - twice. Guy learning to ride on a WalMart cheapo swerved into me across the marked center line and kapow! Both legs of my carbon fork broke cleanly (actually raggedly) in two. Another time a methhead who was freaking out dashed from bushes onto the path and, again, kapow! Knocked me off my bike. I won't tell you about the homeless guy who tried to knife me while I was riding on a public path....twice...same day, an hour apart. Go figure.
Be worried, be very worried.
So you are conflating electric bicycles and e-mopeds. STOP THAT. Seriously I get that e-mopeds have been lumped in with pedal assist bicycles according to lawmakers who couldn't tell the difference between their heads and their rear ends but a bicycle cannot move forward without someone pedaling. A moped can be pedaled but has a throttle and that is what you are talking about.
I don't think the answer is to be worried, obviously any of these situations could happen anywhere to anyone for any number of reasons. The world can be a dangerous place but living in fear is not a good way to go through it. Being spatially aware and having some caution is not a bad thing but fear should not lead your life. What happened to you sucks but it is an uncommon occurrence and the fork probably had some issues to fail like that, I cannot recognize the brand and the taped on bottle cages don't inspire confidence but the crash sucks regardless but it is not a common thing. However I again am not saying sweep it under the carpet and don't talk about it and don't be aware things happen but know the world is unpredictable and if you live in fear of it you cripple yourself but if you keep your wits about you and have some common sense you will do well (and no that part is not you specific but you general)