Re: “Leg Work: Electric bikes are increasingly popular, especially among seniors” (March 27):
Very interesting article about e-bikes, battery-operated electric bikes, bicycles, gas-powered bicycles and/or anything with wheels that is on a public road or bike path. They’re eco-friendly; economically, they’re a better alternative to cars.
But once you put a motor on a bicycle, it becomes a motorcycle. Some go as fast as 50 mph, yet there are no regulations. No registration. No insurance. No inspection sticker. No driver’s license needed. No nothing. No money for upkeep of the roads, paths and bridges they use.
Years ago, if you had a 10-horsepower boat motor or less, you didn’t have to register it; that’s gone. You could drive a registered snowmobile in any state; that’s gone.
In North Saco, the Stackpole Bridge has been closed for years, dividing a part of town, shutting off and restricting fire, police and rescue and local people. Yet we spend thousands of dollars for bridge bicycle paths on Route 1 in Saco and over the Maine Turnpike in Kennebunk, with no money coming in from the people who actually use it to pay for it or its upkeep. Why?
Someone in Augusta needs to bring back license plates for all bicycles – $20 a year maybe – and anything with a motor on a road or path needs the same stuff.
A motorcycle, ATV, snowmobile, boat or vehicle has to have registration, insurance, inspection – everything. The free ride for bicycles needs to end. It seems to get worse every year with the next great transportation invention.
Leon Tsomides
Old Orchard Beach
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