New York ebike law and potential fines & confiscation?

[Offroader]

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/

Hi, actually it is still ongoing now. I have a hearing with a city law firm soon, I guess to take my statement. The city seems to hire out law firms to do the law suits and they don't actually use NYC lawyers who work for the city.

I'll post here in this thread when it is all done. I still have the video but don't want to post it until the case is over. The lawyer I believe also said to not show the video to anyone. Not sure why it matters.

Lawyer also said it doesn't matter if I was riding a dirt bike or a harley davidson through the park, someone just can't cause you to have an accident. He gave the example of if someone was throwing rocks at your house every day and you decide to chase them with a car and they get hurt you are held liable. Doesn't matter that the person was throwing rocks every day for weeks. You just don't have the right to inflict bodily harm like that. Kind of like what happened when those police slammed into the dirt bike rider here in NYC, killing one and injuring the other. The one injured settled for 250K for a broken ankle or something even though they were clearly running. Read the news link below.

Here is a good point. Here is the video of the nypd slamming into the back of the dirtbike.

[youtube]s_p7AFYK6oI[/youtube]

Here is the nypost article about the guy getting 250K for getting slammed by police even though he was clearly running. It says he only suffered a fractured toe.

http://nypost.com/2014/06/26/man-wins-250k-payout-after-fatal-dirt-bike-crash-with-cops/

 

[zener]

Shoew them this video instead:
[youtube]0M7ccUIyhWc[/youtube]

 

[The Stig]

Yeah sounds like your on the right track offroader, good luck and keep us posted! I hope to see that vid some day.

Zener thats true stuff but its so easy for people not to care in this corporate-money-dominated system that luke described on at the bottom of the previous page in this thread.


Its my belief that first we have to reduce corruption in the country and that will naturally lead to more sensible policy. Look at northern countries: canada, northern europe - scandinavia, they all have better politics and less corruption i believe, and they are mostly(ehem canada) outstanding with energy.

the best we can do is fight corruption on all fronts: share good stuff on the internet, like pro transparency and pro integrity journalism. make our vote count at every level of government, from your local town board / city councilors to the President Of The US. And be present in person, wether its attending protests or shooting video for the purposes of citizen enforcement. Keeping the mercenaries / police inline, who we pay for with our taxes, or pointing out problems with the things the govt. has built (like roads), or calling out others who break the law dangerously.

 

[Offroader]

Did you guys know that pedal assist electric bikes are actually legal in New York City?

http://www.grindtv.com/bike/bosch-electric-bikes-take-to-nyc-to-differentiate-pedal-assist-from-fully-electric/#GKIue3m3yaWkMBsd.97

 

[Offroader]

I just wanted to update on this as I finished my lawsuit with New york City.

Basically, electric bikes are totally illegal in New York State, the worst place in the country to own an Ebike.

I had an NYC employee who I guess didn't like me riding someplace and decided to chase me with his car. I fell in the process of this and broke a bone that needed surgery to get fixed. I had a 100% recovery so I wasn't trying to sue for anything more than breaking the bone and having to go through surgery. I didn't try to milk the lawsuit by going to physical therapy and stuff like that. Because I honestly was totally fine, and lucky that as it could have been a lot worse if soft tissue was damaged, like ligaments, tendons etc.

I was worried about this lawsuit because I was riding a totally illegal electric bike.

The case settled around $210,000.

Just wanted to point out that even if you are riding an illegal bike it doesn't matter if someone else caused the accident. The one thing that helped me was by luck I had my action camera filming at the time and recorded the whole thing. Without the camera, I would have nothing.

Right now I have a permanently mounted action dash cam camera mounted on my bike to always record when I am riding.

 

[Ykick]

Thanks for the update and congratulations to you (and your lawyer) on the damage award.

Big believer here in ride cameras. It’s really the best way to gather the evidence we hope to never need.

 

[Offroader]

Thanks for the update and congratulations to you (and your lawyer) on the damage award.

Big believer here in ride cameras. It’s really the best way to gather the evidence we hope to never need.

Thanks, yeah the whole thing was stupid.

I knew I wasn't supposed to ride there (but who really doesn't ride a bike in places they are not supposed to) and I am pretty sure this guy tried chasing me on foot and yelled at me a couple of times in the past. Not a big deal in a big city. Not even sure why he would care as it was city property and not his own personal property.

The problem was he saw me while in a car and decided to chase me in the car onto grass, not really a big deal, but then I fell like an idiot because of the chase while trying to avoid him for my own safety.

 

[Talon]

Thanks for the update and congratulations to you (and your lawyer) on the damage award.

Big believer here in ride cameras. It’s really the best way to gather the evidence we hope to never need.

Thanks, yeah the whole thing was stupid.

I knew I wasn't supposed to ride there (but who really doesn't ride a bike in places they are not supposed to) and I am pretty sure this guy tried chasing me on foot and yelled at me a couple of times in the past. Not a big deal in a big city. Not even sure why he would care as it was city property and not his own personal property.

The problem was he saw me while in a car and decided to chase me in the car onto grass, not really a big deal, but then I fell like an idiot because of the chase while trying to avoid him for my own safety.

Did you flip him off to piss him off at you?

 

[Offroader]

Thanks for the update and congratulations to you (and your lawyer) on the damage award.

Big believer here in ride cameras. It’s really the best way to gather the evidence we hope to never need.

Thanks, yeah the whole thing was stupid.

I knew I wasn't supposed to ride there (but who really doesn't ride a bike in places they are not supposed to) and I am pretty sure this guy tried chasing me on foot and yelled at me a couple of times in the past. Not a big deal in a big city. Not even sure why he would care as it was city property and not his own personal property.

The problem was he saw me while in a car and decided to chase me in the car onto grass, not really a big deal, but then I fell like an idiot because of the chase while trying to avoid him for my own safety.

Did you flip him off to piss him off at you?

Nope never said a word to him actually. I remember a year or two before this the guy chased me on foot when I was on my first mountain bike conversion. I didn't know he even was a city employee. I guess he didn't like me riding with an electric bike on city property. Not sure why he would give a crap because all of the other city employees don't care.

The stupid thing he did was chase me in a city car that was marked on the outside. This dude was really pissed off and this was all caught on video. After I fell he actually got out of the car screaming and cursing. I guess I could have brought Vehicle felony assault charges on him but my lawyer said then it would be a criminal matter and the city would not have to pay up.