Hi Goletric, I hear your points and they are valid enough, but let me try to clarify my concerns:
First, as to the argument about how people behave on electric bikes, I know of no study that proves any individual, on any type of machine, under any circumstance, is any different in behavior to any other. I know I have behaved idiotically both on foot, on a bike and in a car - and to my extreme embarrassment - on roller blades. On the paths and roads I frequent I encounter idiots on foot, bike, blades and anything else they can possibly mount that has wheels. I have read this argument in many places, that some group of folks behave better than some other because of something they believe in - Sorry, I don't buy it. We'll have nincompoops on all forms of transport.
My Moulton weighs about 26 lbs, my Campy Mondia weighs in at about the same, probably a little less. All up around 220 lbs. Many users are a lot less than that. Certainly there are riders and bikes that weigh more, sometimes much more, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Weight is still a big concern in my mind, getting whacked by a 220 pounder is different to being clobbered by 350 lbs, and the odds of that 350 lbs traveling faster than a bike must also be considered. I would also assert that a bike rider is far more maneuverable than a scooter, and more likely to avoid or lessen an impact should one be impending. Again, I am talking averages here.
I do not know what the average bike speed is on these paths. I max out around 20 mph or so for brief stretches, I average probably around 12 to 14. Many folks younger than I certainly average more than that, but - again - on the whole the speeds are lower and the weight of the speeder is lower.
Then one must consider bikes like the Optibike which weighs in around 50 to 70 lbs. This is more like a power assisted bike, yet it can hit 30mph. Rest assured that someone will ride it at 30 mph and clobber someone on a bike path. One web site states that this bike can reach 35 mph with pedal assist.
Still and all - I could be convinced that such a machine could share a bike path. I would hold to my argument that bike paths should be for human powered devices only, but such machines fall, albeit "marginally" in my opinion, into the electric-assist category and I could see them on a bike path.
It is when you get into the larger scooter range that I draw the line. Scooters like the Vectrix VX-1, which is clearly a road machine. More reasonable machines like the little E-Moto or RideGreen Capri weigh around 250 and 187 lbs, and these are classified as a mopeds. Their weight, size and speed make them inappropriate for a bike path.
There are places on the Mount Vernon trail where it narrows considerably, and one place - Memorial Bridge I believe - where it would be difficult for a scooter to traverse without causing folks from the other direction to back up. And to do so under power without clobbering the sides of the trail would require some skill.
I am sorry, but I for one am unconvinced. I like electric machines. I build and fly R/C helicopters and planes - all electric. I simply think there is no place on a bike path for any machine that is not intended to be powered primarily by a human.
Your ask two questions: "Why do you feel that power assisted bikes must use pedal power only when on trails? What is the difference between someone coasting along at 15mph or someone pedaling at 15mph?"
As I noted above, the LAW states that power assisted bikes must only use pedals on bike paths, I do not necessarily agree. I think it not unreasonable that the users of such bikes will use power to give them that assist they have paid for. In all probability this type of bike will perform and behave pretty much like a regular bike.
The answer to your second question depends on the weight, stopping power and maneuverability. And so again I go back to my original assertion - that although I could accept the "power-assist" bikes being used on bike paths - AND with the judicious use of the power they are equipped with - there is no place for the larger machines intended to be powered primarily by an electric motor.
We have all seen pile-ups, folks falling off their bike, and others riding into pedestrians, bushes, trees and other bikers. These paths are shared by kids, young mothers, wee babies in push-chairs. Sharing these paths with bikes is already scary enough, there is no question in my mind that if these heavier electric two-wheelers get to use bike paths, it will not be long before we have some serious accidents.
And then the legal weenies will get going and we'll all be done in.
Which, as I noted, will probably happen anyway.
Sorry - not convinced.
Lawrence