New York ebike law and potential fines & confiscation?

Offroader

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I'm trying to do research into what the police can do if you are riding an electric bike.


Here are some of the questions I have.

Is confiscation legal without return of the bike?
Any criminal penalties?
Driving with no insurance ticket? Driving an unregistered vehicle?

You see, I'm not sure if the police can give you a ticket for no insurance if you are on an electric bike because there I no way to register it. A driving with no insurance is a pretty bad ticket with possible license suspension.

If anyone has done the research and knows maybe where the laws are for New York ebikes please comment.

From what I have read is that fines are $1000 and confiscation is allowed.
The law may be in the "environmental control board violations".
 
A cop can give you a ticket for any thing he wants its up to you to prove him wrong , for elec bikes he most likely won't know or care if you are clocked above 35mph you become a motorcycle in Indiana .
 
What are they gonna do with 'em after they confiscate 'em? Store ‘em? Sell em? I hope they got a large impound yard. Is there really much money in prosecuting eBike riders?

I dunno about the rest of the state but NYPD has much more important things to worry about than eBikes. You’d have to be making an endangerment scene and/or riding like total douchebag to bring on much wrath, IMO.

I’ve ridden electric in NYC going on 10 years and I think most police working traffic would much rather see more eBikes (any bike really) than the hot, smelly, dangerous, hurtling cars/trucks driven by total pricks they usually deal with.

Albany has been jerking off for at least the past 6-7 years that I can remember with an eBike law which unfortunately keeps getting “committee’d” to death. It’s money, power and bullshit - the usual NY elements.

Plus reasonable person knows cellphones, cigarettes, cars/trucks are more dangerous than eBikes. And there’s plenty of state & federal definitions of eBike products - it’s a can of worms NY courts ain’t gonna take on with much vigor.

Years ago I decided to create a “legal fund” banked and earning interest. If someday I gotta hire an attorney, I’m ready to hire a pretty damn good one. Bring it on…
 
Doesn't seem like you're getting authoritative answers, so I might as well put my 2c in.

1. Bikes are returned after fines are paid (Result by Google)
2. Traffic offences are not criminal unless they involve death, or ignoring court orders. (A guess based on Australian law)
3. Both of those offences almost certainly apply (A guess based on Australian law)
4. A think a competent lawyer would argue rightly that operating a vehicle that CAN'T be registered is worse than a vehicle that simply ISN'T registered, and in fact the penalty would be worse

I'm sure if you kept a reasonably stealth bike, and rode like a fit pedal cyclist, you'd probably be fine. As other people have pointed out, police have better things to do with their time.
 
Pretty easy to stay stealth, don't go faster than a normal cycle pace, wheelies , slides etc are out. Always pedal and keep all your equipment the same colour, no dog balls hanging out. Large bikes like flux, nyx etc that look like a motorcross bike are in my eyes asking for attention on the road.

For my commute I'll be fitting some saddle bags to sit over the motor. Hides the motor plus makes the bike look more like a normal commute bike. I'll actually dial my bike down for commuting, right down so that it's not tempting to boot it. Get more klms and not piss people off on the bike path. Using your head and thinking of other pedestrians and cyclists is the best move. I'm saving my power for the dirt.
 
If cops want you off the streets, the book of laws is big enough for them to find a reason to. Anyway, one should know that the worse can happen, then ride for the best. :wink:
 
Reason I ask is I fell and got hurt because of a NYC worker. I don't want to go into details but I have to sue because of medical costs as I had no insurance.

I was lucky to have the incident on video which clearly shows the NYC employee caused the accident. I can't recommend enough to always have some kind of camera on your bike at all times.

Anyway, we both didn't wait for police.

When the case goes into lawsuit against the city he is surely going to say I was on an electric bike.

I am wondering what kind of fines & tickets can I get after the fact, because the NYC employee who caused the accident is probably going to bring this up.
I'll just say that after I fell and got hurt he got out of the car and was mad/cursing and accused me of driving at very high speeds through the park.

The guy is a NYC employee but not in law enforcement. He was driving a NYC registered vehicle at the time.
 
I guess that now after the fact, no one can say your bike was not legal. So this is not an issue in court. If the cops had done an investigation of the accident and inspected your bike, that could have been diffetrent.
 
Thanks MadRhino, that is what I was thinking also. I can't see how it could matter after the fact.


It is also hard to imagine how it would have mattered if the police did come and did an investigation at the time.

The lawyer also did say that even if I was on a very powerful dirtbike the other driver would still be at fault because you can't cause someone else an accident and not be held liable because what the other person was doing or driving could have been illegal.

Just like if you rear ended someone who was driving a stolen car and without a driver license, you would be at fault if it was your fault. Them being illegal, no license, etc has no bearing on who is at fault. Although, it may get them other charges not related to the civil lawsuit.

But because he works for the city, can his department get the police to show up at my house or something and give me tickets based on him saying I was on an ebike and him acting as a witness.
 
A cop can and will tow/impound your what ever ride if its a elec bike he won't really know what to ticket you for or how or what law you have broken if any, this won't stop him from doing so. Every time you take your Elec bike out and and go zooming along above 30mph you are at risk for this in any state , don't think so? blow through a school zone in front of a cop see what happens . That being said just because you was on a elec bike doesn't automatically make it your fault unless NYC has a law against elec bikes (and they might ) if not then you should be treated like any reg bicycle but if you was on a 5000w Stealth , Q bike , anything that look like a motorcycle may be a problem . There is no quick easy answer sorry wish I could be more help
 
rider95 said:
A cop can and will tow/impound your what ever ride if its a elec bike he won't really know what to ticket you for or how or what law you have broken if any, this won't stop him from doing so. Every time you take your Elec bike out and and go zooming along above 30mph you are at risk for this in any state , don't think so? blow through a school zone in front of a cop see what happens . That being said just because you was on a elec bike doesn't automatically make it your fault unless NYC has a law against elec bikes (and they might ) if not then you should be treated like any reg bicycle but if you was on a 5000w Stealth , Q bike , anything that look like a motorcycle may be a problem . There is no quick easy answer sorry wish I could be more help


may I ask why you think I would be automatically at fault if there is a law against electric bikes? Electric bikes are banned in New York with a $1000 fine.
 
Do you have a lawyer? You need to consult one IMO.
 
You imply that you have a lawyer, and hopefully one who has enough experience since the city probably has an excellent legal team; you should have the best lawyer possible, not Aunt Millie's nephew. Just for information, what ebike were you riding?
 
I would consult a lawyer, only if the city does contest the claim. I believe this is unlikely to happen, given the little amount of damages and the video evidence proving your right in this case. The insurance companies that cover the cities vehicles, have no profit to get in a legal fight for such a clear case and low claim.

Most likely, they will admit their responsibility and pay you... some day. :|
 
Hopefully, I did break a bone that required surgery to fix.

The lucky part was that I had my action cam going, which I usually never use. Even though I can't say enough how important it is to have a camera mounted and running, my first few rides this past week when I am able to actually ride again after a couple of months I didn't bother to hook it up. I figured what are the odds of something happening again. But really, everyone should hard wire it into their battery and have it running all the time.

Right before the accident I hard wired power for a rear cam and also hard wired power for the front action cam so that it could be powered without a battery.

I never got around to buying the rear camera, although I finally choose the one I wanted and was going to buy it that week. It was an action cam that has an optional dash cam option so that it records on powerup and loops the video.

Maybe I'll write a post when I get everything hooked up and hard wired for people to see what they need for a dash cam on the bike that easily powers on and records when you use the bike.

I wanted the rear camera to also stop people from doing stupid things, or act as a deterrent, I wanted people to easily see that I had a rear gopro looking right at them and I figured this would stop people from doing what this guy did. Well, too late to see if it would have worked, but if I had it rolling I would have even more video evidence of the guy speeding up on me.

I assume he will claim that I was doing something illegal and he was going to stop me or something. I don't think that matters, you can't use an automobile to cause someone an accident. Even if he claims he was doing a citizen arrest, you're still liable for using excessive force.
 
Offroader said:
I assume he will claim that I was doing something illegal and he was going to stop me or something. I don't think that matters, you can't use an automobile to cause someone an accident. Even if he claims he was doing a citizen arrest, you're still liable for using excessive force.
If he admits doing a pursuit with his vehicle, he is the one who will have trouble with the law.

Here everyone is insured by government plan on the street.
 
And your lawyers suggested you do what? Post details and shit about your case on a public message board?

Bro, I mean this in the best way possible - STOP TALKING about specifics here and ONLY consult an attorney who’s experienced/equipped to deal with PI cases.

Sure, we all wanna know how it works out and we wish you the best recovery. But you should be aware of how the “adversarial” court system works. It’s so damned easy to torpedo any litigation by careless remarks, admissions, etc. Investigators often being hired for good reason.

btw, I’m totally down with ride cameras. I believe there’s a great product out there waiting to be developed. A centrally powered, loop recording DVR connected to front/rear wide angle cams would be an awesome package for crash investigations. Shark Tank anyone?

The other night I grabbed some front/rear cam stuff with the Pope and UN business in town. Rear camera on my helmet and the front on my bars so it’s a bit jerky but have a look -
[youtube]0gYyflNGLjE[/youtube]
'need to learn how to do split-screen editing...
 
I think I found the law about electric bikes in NYC. I also believe the fine may have been reduced from $1000 to $500.

Here is the applicable code link.
http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/nycode/ADC/19/1/3/19-176.2

To sum it up, and this is what I have been reading from news articles about electric bike fines which are being stepped up in NYC.

1) If caught on an electric bike you will get a $500 fine.
2) Police can impound the bike, but it seems they have to give it back once all fines and impound fees are paid.
3) Electric bikes are basically called a "motorized scooter" in the law, which says that is anything with handlebars with gas or electric motor that is not capable of being registered.
4) You can still get hit with traffic tickets

It seems that the police are mostly targeting delivery ebikes. They are cracking down on them in the last couple of years.

What I want to find out is why do old news articles say fine was $1000, and now I only see $500. I guess this was lowered recently?
Can the city after impounding of your bike not give it back?

In the grand scheme of things $500 isn't too bad considering that a traffic ticket here can easily cost you over $250 dollars. I don't like the impounding thing and I heard they are doing that.
 
Impounding of any vehicle usually means you can get it back, but it might not be worth it.

I don't know anything specific about the law there, but they may charge you a "towing fee" (like they would for a car), then a per-day fee, possibly other fees. As I understand it from someone locally that has gone thru this with a car (which was stolen from them), sometimes those fees could be so high as to make it impossible to recover your vehicle (or not worth it--cheaper to build or buy a new one).

There have been a couple of threads about NY ebike laws that discussed the law itself in some detail, though I don't have a link I believe one of them was started by Mwkeefer?
 
I have ebiked through Manhattan. The police don't care if you blend in with other bicycles. Don't speed race and make sure your ebike looks like regular bicycle. Then you will be fine.
 
May be of interest to this topic:

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66247&hilit=chest


https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=27651&hilit=senate


As far as the illegal’ness of eBikes in NYC? I’ve been riding electric for over 10 years and this issue's all bark and no bite. I pull up and talk to NYPD traffic officers working intersections all the time and I can assure you they'd trade every stinking car/truck in this city for an eBike in a heartbeat...

I’m also fairly certain (good luck finding hard evidence) Feds have probably made it clear to NY that if they want to continue to receive DOT money they better not start messing with eBike riders who fit the Fed definition and doing nothing more than “helping” severe congestion and pollution problems in this toilet bowl.
 
Offroader said:
I think I found the law about electric bikes in NYC. I also believe the fine may have been reduced from $1000 to $500.

Here is the applicable code link.
http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/nycode/ADC/19/1/3/19-176.2

To sum it up, and this is what I have been reading from news articles about electric bike fines which are being stepped up in NYC.

1) If caught on an electric bike you will get a $500 fine.
2) Police can impound the bike, but it seems they have to give it back once all fines and impound fees are paid.
3) Electric bikes are basically called a "motorized scooter" in the law, which says that is anything with handlebars with gas or electric motor that is not capable of being registered.
4) You can still get hit with traffic tickets

It seems that the police are mostly targeting delivery ebikes. They are cracking down on them in the last couple of years.

What I want to find out is why do old news articles say fine was $1000, and now I only see $500. I guess this was lowered recently?
Can the city after impounding of your bike not give it back?

In the grand scheme of things $500 isn't too bad considering that a traffic ticket here can easily cost you over $250 dollars. I don't like the impounding thing and I heard they are doing that.

Any news on your lawsuit? FYI we have a lawyer here in Boston who specializes in representing bike riders in crashes, maybe he knows someone in NYC: http://bikesafeboston.com/
 
Reality = The will of a being exclusively governs ones choice in actions.

Delusion = Magical books with droplets of ink arranged in special patterns on the pages determines right/wrong and controls peoples actions.

Harm = Negatively impacting the experience of another being.

Benefit = Positively impacting the experience of another being.

Police/military in corporatism are mercenaries working to protect and serve the interests of the corporations.

If you have an encounter with an adequately deluded corporate mercenary, they may just shoot you a dozen times for riding an ebike, and in there own mind it's some how for your own good or the magic book told them it was a good idea or whatever. Equally, they could choose to not add harms to peoples lives and instead make beneficial choices. Sadly, the magic books they carry seem to only be filled with recommendations and advise on how to add harms into the lives of citizens rather than do beneficial things for them.

I have this feeling that very soon we will either see the whole system collapse on it's own parasitic corruption, or alternatively see a major shift in police behavior from the role of citizen harassment/harming patrols to enforce corporate interests to ensure the continuation of ~>90% of the resources and fruits-of-labor to be channeled to <1% of the most broken and corrupt individuals.

The very fact ebikes of any type are banned anywhere should be seen as a crystal clear sign that the laws are unrelated to public interests, and instead are created and enforced for the sake of maintaining maximum corporate profiteering at the direct expense of all living beings on the planet.

ATB,
-Luke
 
greed_is_stopping_human_evolut_by_devianteles-d46cxzm.jpg
 
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