Cape May requires riders to follow same traffic laws as motorists
CAPE MAY — City Council unanimously passed an amended ordinance Nov. 17 regulating the operation of E-bikes and scooters.
The rules require riders to follow all traffic laws. Cape May joins its neighboring communities of Lower Township and West Cape May in passing an ordinance on E-bikes.
In October, both Lower Township Council and the West Cape May Borough Commission passed ordinances prohibiting the use of E-bikes and other vehicles on sidewalks and requiring riders to comply with traffic control signals and signs. The ordinances were shared with both Cape May and Cape May Point to have unifying language.
“I think it’s important for the safety of all those concerned and very well written,” resident Roz Johnson said. “My question is how you are going to educate the public on these rules and regulations.”
Councilman Steve Bodnar, City Council liaison to the BAPAC, said the board met recently to develop its priorities for the coming year.
“City Manager Paul Dietrich and I attended that meeting, and the committee made a point of emphasis to work on issues regarding E-bike and scooter safety,” Bodnar said. “Recognizing that education and behavior modification need to be a component of that.”
Bodnar said there are several different ways the city can address education.
Dietrich said the BAPAC will take the lead in developing outreach methods, using low-speed vehicles as a reference. He said the methods will be developed over the winter and spring for next summer season.
“Several ideas came up in the course of that meeting and we’re trying to formulate the best way to get them out to the city,” Bodnar said. “There was success [with] fliers for low speed vehicles.”
Bodnar added that they already have spoken with vendors who rent out E-bikes.
Johnson asked council to keep the public updated on the community outreach discussion.
“The BAPAC went around to every bicycle rental company in the city and with the owner’s permission, put a QR code on every bicycle that is physically rented,” Mayor Zack Mullock said. “The sticker has bicycle safety information and goes to the city website, which can be updated.”
Councilman Shaine Meier said he wanted council to consider including the update with the water bill.
“It will get the residents and businesses, and I think that’s our most effective and least-costly way of getting out to the people,” Meier said. “They can’t say they didn’t know because we spent the money to mail it to them.”
Solicitor Chris Gillin-Schwartz said he prepared language for the ordinance to address concerns raised at a previous meeting about the technical specifications for each type of vehicle.
The three classifications of E-bikes are class 1: pedal-assist up to 20 mph; class 2: throttle and pedal-assist up to 20 mph. Both have motors that are less than 750 watts. Class 3 E-bikes can exceed 20 mph, have more than 750 watts of power, and require registration and insurance. Riders must be at least 15 years old with a valid moped license.
“The intent is that those are descriptors, not that somebody can prove that it goes 30 mph, not 25, and then all of a sudden they’re exempt from this [ordinance],” Gillin-Schwartz said. “It’s a developing area, with these new devices coming in and we don’t know what the changes are.”
Gillin-Schwartz added that the definitions in the ordinance were to be construed in a practical and common-sense manner for the protection of public safety.
“The commonsense interpretation shall govern, so that will be the language before you get to the definitions,” he said. “So that the municipal prosecutor and municipal court judge know what council intended when we adopted this [ordinance].”
By RACHEL SHUBIN/Special to the Star and Wave
