I am very conflicted regarding electric-assisted "bicycles". In the urban area I now live, they are proliferating rapidly. We have both older people who can't or don't want to pedal much anymore, and younger people who see them as an alternative to an actual motorcycle. Consequently, the definitions of WHAT they are and HOW they are to be used get very blurry. We have "bicycle"
trails, where pedal bikes are supposed to share with pedestrians, baby-strollers, skateboards, dogs-walkers, etc., and in some places the electric-assist bikes are allowed to use those trails. Problem is, some of them go 30 MPH or better.
On the other hand, those same riders like to use them out on the streets in traffic, doing 20-30 MPH, with no regulation, no helmets required because the vehicle isn't defined as a "motorcycle", and hence no licensing, not registered, no motorcycle endorsement needed, etc.
They are too fast for the one environment, and too slow for the other, and in both cases, at least when I have witnessed them being operated, are often being operated dangerously and without consideration for the safety of others. About a month ago, I was driving on a local freeway and a young couple, man and woman, were E-biking on the freeway shoulder, probably doing about 25-30 MPH or so, in an area that is signed "PEDESTRIANS AND BICYCLES PROHIBITED".
Don't get me wrong, I am not against the E-bikes themselves, just how they are being used around here. I think the devices are cool and would love to have one just for the fun of it, and someday may NEED one to get around, so I don't they should be banned or anything like that, just more clearly defined as to operation, etc., and some education that goes along with that. Of course, as always, there's the human factor of using good judgement, which we all know is doomed to failure.
And don't get me started on those whack-o's who use the electric rent-a-scooters..................