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Peabody committee presses for clearer e-bike rules, discusses registration and seizures
Summary
At a Nov. 13 municipal safety committee meeting the Peabody police outlined enforcement challenges for electric bikes on sidewalks and the Independence Greenway; councilors discussed registration, 15-day seizure authority, education and a possible ordinance amendment, and residents urged action after near-misses.
Peabody City’s Municipal Safety Committee on Nov. 13 heard from Captain Kevin Richards about the city’s limited tools to curb dangerous electric-bike use and discussed potential ordinance changes, registration and education.
Captain Richards told the committee that Massachusetts currently treats many e-bikes under bicycle laws rather than motor-vehicle rules and described three classes of e-bikes: “the two first classes ... are supposed to have a maximum of 20 miles an hour” while a newer class can go “up to 28 miles an hour.” He said the city’s recent installation of a mast-arm traffic signal helped reduce crashes at the Lowell/Endicott/King Street intersection, but that e-bike enforcement on sidewalks and the Independence Greenway is constrained by both ordinance language and…
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