Item — HN Reader

One of the riskier aspects of e-bikes is the subversion of other road-user expectations. If I see someone on (what appears to be) a bike, feet on pedals, (apparently) coasting, a few decades of biking and driving lead me to expect that person to stop, or at least slow down. On an e-bike, though, they might maintain speed, or accelerate (!) without any change in attitude.

No harder to judge than a motorcycle, of course, but it will take time for 'static person on bike' to connote 'might accelerate without warning!' to the navigational lizard brain.

2 comments

I find this happens to me on a normal bike and its one of the main problems I deal with. A driver comes to a corner and looks to give way and sees a cyclist, depending on their judgement after their initial glimpse of me they might think I'm going slow only to realise I'm actually travelling much quicker. They pull out and I have to brake in order to not hit them.

I think we've all done the same thing in a car as well as some point.

I always try and make eye contact with the driver in that situation. If I can't then I assume they will pull out in from of me.

For the most part I've found that drivers pay little to any attention to bikers as is, let alone to whether they're pedaling or not.