fechter said:
Maybe go to the URB-E store and look at a new one to see if it has the sticker.
None of the photos anywhere on the store show compliance stickers, and their FAQ contains the usual evasive "Laws vary, so do your own due diligence".
You know, it's not the fines and confiscation that should be scaring people. It's the civil litigation, and possible criminal charges. I'll be just as evasive, and say the laws vary as well, but under pretty typical western law:
1. If you hit someone young, and injure them and you're at fault, regardless, you are going to be liable for compensative damages under negligence laws. However, if you were shown to be reckless, you can also be sued for
punitive or
exemplary damages. So if the judge thinks not only were you being careless in riding, but you knew, or reasonably should have known your electric bike was not legal, they can impose very stiff additional penalties unrelated to the injuries caused.
For example, in the recent Roundup (Glyphosate) law suit, the jury determined that they should be compensated $55m for contracting cancer. That seems high to me, but that wasn't the end of it. Because they felt that Monsanto acted dishonestly by continuing to sell Roundup when there was suspicion it causes cancer, they were fined an additional $2 BILLION dollars as a punitive damage. They're not saying this is deserved as compensation, they're saying because you were reckless to the risk you were imposing on others, we're basically going to bankrupt your company. Imagine if the jury felt the same about you: "You need to pay him $50,000 medical fees, $10,000 for time off work, and because you were completely reckless to the safety of the pedestrians around you, another $1m".
2. If you hit someone and they die - even from complications, you can be criminally charged. I'm aware of a case where someone in my extended social circle clipped an older woman stepping out from behind a truck (He was driving a car, not on an eBike). Nothing too serious, just a broken leg. He got a negligent driving charge, just a fine and a few demerit points on the license. But 12 days later, she contracted MRSA - antibiotic resistant staph infection. 3 weeks after that, she died from the infection, and since the official cause of death was "complications from motor vehicle accident", the coroner got involved.
After the death, the charge was originally upgraded to negligent driving occasioning death, from a small fine to loss of license. But when the coroner looked deeper into his driving record and car's insurance etc, he was a couple days late in renewing his registration, so even though his insurance and license were paid up, they were invalidated because he hadn't lodged the paperwork with the Roads and Maritime Services. For 9 months he was facing an unlawful death lawsuit with no insurance, and reckless driving occasioning death charge - up to four years imprisonment, driving an unregistered vehicle, driving an uninsured vehicle, and a few other minor charges. The stress on him caused him to lose his job and cost him his health
OP has already had a tiny taste of it - Sometimes, the smallest non-compliance things can cause disproportionate impacts.
Thankfully, the magistrate saw the sense in this case, and downgraded the charge back to negligent driving occasioning death, and he got his license back after a year. But it was a bit of a warning tale to me how things that seem small, can cost you.
