E-moto crashes were erroneously reported as e-bike crashes (and most involved a car!) prompting the ridiculous NJ e-bike law. It finally looks hopeful that this new bill will focus on safety standards for e-motos, allowing people who use pedal assist to ride their bikes without pointless restrictions.
An E-MOTO is high-speed, NOT an e-bike.This is an e-bike. Low speed, pedal-assist.
The measure, introduced on Oct. 15 by state Sen. Raj Mukherji, D-Hudson, would also amend the current law to remove a requirement for a person to register and obtain a license to operate a low-speed class 1 or 2 electric bicycle.
“E-bikes are a sustainable transit option transforming how New Jerseyans commute, work, and navigate our communities, but our laws need to distinguish between what’s essentially a pedal bicycle with a little electric assistance and a powerful motorized vehicle capable of endangering pedestrians and riders alike,” Mukherji said in a statement.
Take a look and give input on September 29th at Asbury Park Senior Center, 1201 Springwood Ave. 6:30pm
Asbury Park is developing a traffic safety action plan to improve roadway safety for everyone. The effort aims to reduce and eliminate roadway fatalities and serious injuries by 2040, in line with the City’s Vision Zero goal. The plan contains data-driven analysis and relies on input from residents of the City. The plan will use crash and traffic data to identify high-risk areas, inform and engage the community, and develop policy recommendations and design solutions to address safety concerns. The Asbury Park Traffic Safety Action Plan is federally funded through United States Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Safe Streets for All program.
Please share ANY WAY this new law has affected you. Take the survey!
E-motos are unregulated electric motorcycles, They can reach speeds over 50mph.
E-bikes are low-speed and low watts, and are often a great option for mobility for elderly, parents, and people with disabilities.
Most severe crashes blamed on e-bikes involve high-speed e-motos, and most of the reported crashes also involve motor vehicles.
E-motos are mislabeled online and in the news as e-bikes, and mis-categorized by police reporting, causing a furor in the media. These ARE NOT e-bikes, and they should be regulated.
When there is regulation of e-motos, (and restriction of retrofit kits), When we have safe infrastructure for all kinds of bikes, we’ll see a reduction of car dependence, and 40,000 people would not be killed in traffic crashes every year.
The new E-Bike Law took effect on July 19th and we’ve already heard from many riders about registration issues:
Being charged an unrequired registration fee
Unclear classifications requirements
E-motos receiving low-speed electric bicycle stickers
Thursday 6/25, 6pm! Street/Traffic Safety In Asbury Park
Many of us walk and roll in Asbury Park for a healthy, convenient, and fun transportation option outside of a car in this small city by the sea. Some travel by bike or walk as the main mode of transportation.
How about you?
Do you ever walk or roll in Asbury Park?Getting around on foot or on two wheels should be a safe alternative to driving. As part of the AP Traffic Safety Action Plan, the city is hosting a public outreach event on Thursday, June 25 from 6pm to 8pm in City Council Chambers at 1 Municipal Plaza.
Learn about how we can improve safety for everyone who walks, rolls, (and drives) through the city.
Parking in the City Hall lot will be free for all attendees.
Despite thousands of objections from organizations and advocates across New Jersey, Governor Murphy has signed the “e-bike” bill S4834/A623 into law.
Screenshot
Governor Murphy is a self-proclaimed transit advocate, and has conveyed his commitment to saving lives on NJ roads by signing the NJ Target Zero Bill into law and forming the Target Zero Commission, which has been working to eliminate NJ road deaths by 2040.
This e-bike law S4834/A6235 will now undermine the work of the Target Zero Commission.
Making it difficult for people to access low-speed e-bike transportation, this law will lead to more reliance on cars, and continue to reserve the majority of road space for drivers, which will lead to more crashes, injuries and deaths.
Restricting low-speed e-bikes will not address the real problem of high-speed e-motos and cars, and will not help make our streets safer.
Residents of Asbury Park who don’t own cars deserve to have the option to use pedal-assist, low-speed e-bikes without prohibitive restrictions.
NJ already has a 2019 law that requires registration, a license, and insurance for Class 3 e-bikes, which has NEVER been implemented as it should have been.
Conflating low-speed e-bikes with high-speed e-motos is misguided, and inequitable.
NJBWC and APCSC will continue to oppose this bill and work with legislators and Governor Sherrill to create a bill that will offer practical solutions to regulate high-speed e-motos, promote the expansion of safe micro-mobility, and continue addressing the real threats to NJ’s streets, CARS, the cause of 99% of our fatal crashes, not low speed e-bikes.
Who’s with us⁉️
Please call the sponsors and co-sponsors of the bill, and the senators and Assembly members below, and voice opposition to S4834 / A6235 :
As the statewide advocacy organization for safer streets, NJ Bike & Walk Coalition is working to create a more bikeable, walkable, and rollable NJ, which will make streets and roads safer for all.
Monmouth County is developing a Safe Streets for All Safety Action Plan to make our roads safer for everyone – whether you walk, bike, drive, or take public transit.
Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition is part of the Safe Streets Monmouth County Action Plan committee.
YOU are the LOCAL EXPERTS on the key issues and concerns related to traffic safety in Monmouth County.
Your input is important and will guide strategies to reduce serious crashes and build a stronger Culture of Safety across the County.
Please submit before January 31st.
Please note that all responses are confidential and the entire survey should take 5-10 minutes to complete. When you finish your survey, please make sure to share it with your neighbors and community to ensure maximum participation.
Regulates ALL motorized bicycles, with no distinctin between classes 1-2 and 3. This means even low speed pedal assist bikes, which would be regulated along with high speed e-motos: Senator Nichols Scutari’s e-bike bill would also require a license to operate low-speed (class 1 and 2) e-bikes.
“E-bike” is a generic term that lumps together everything with two wheels and an electric motor and can include a variety of devices including electric bicycles, electric mopeds, scooters, electric dirt bikes and electric motorcycles. These are all different vehicle types and their differences need to be taken into account when developing appropriate laws and regulations to govern their safe use on public roads and trails. Let’s dig into electric bicycles and “e-motos” to understand how they are currently regulated and where the issues are actually arising.” People For Bikes: It’s An E-Moto Problem
E-bikes are a game changer for residents who cannot afford cars, many of whom are immigrants, elderly or have disabilities – nearly 25% of the population in the city lives at or near the “poverty line”, and many need to ride bikes as their main transportation.
Legislative focus on the dangers of e-bikes is a distraction from the 40k people a year who die in car crashes. Globally 1.5 million people are killed by cars (and many more by the effects of pollution, noise, tire rubber particles, and climate change they produce.)
This doesn’t account for those who are seriously injured, and the families affected by the trauma and devastating financial impact of a father, mother, or child killed, insurmountable hospital bills, maybe displaced from their homes.
The numbers of vulnerable road users are disproportionately people of color and poor people. In NJ there were 695 traffic deaths, and a significant rise in pedestrian deaths. For the current year (2025), as of early December, there were already 281 fatalities in 263 crashes, showing a continued high rate of road deaths.
Death by car is the leading cause of death for people aged 5 to 29, close to the number killed by guns in the U.S. in 2021, but the issue of systemic car fatalities barely registers in political debates when compared to debates over firearms.
The sensationalized NYT article, “The Shocking Crash That Led One County to Reckon With the Dangers of E-Bikes makes it seem like proof of the “e-bike menace”. The problem is inconsistent, unclear state-by-state regulation. And articles like this one that fail to acknowledge that car crashes account for vastly more vehicular deaths – over forty thousand people a year in the US, both inside and outside of cars which has become normalized. It’s not news.
In three of the 4 recent tragic NJ e-bike incidents,the e-bike riders were hit by the driver of a car, truck, or a van, and one was intentional – so e-bikes themselves were not to blame at all.
The title of the NYT article is a perfect example of vilifying e-bikes – but we never see details like this about a car crash death in the media. Deaths and near death of a person in a car crash isn’t “shocking” because it happens every day, and it’s been happening for a hundred years.
When automobiles were first introduced in the US on city streets and country roads, CARS were deemed a menace. So in the 1920s the titans of the auto industry literally met up and took action to make way for more cars everywhere by moving people off the streets with concepts like “jaywalking”, tearing down neighborhoods to build highways, building suburbs with no easy direct access to services or amenities without a car, making all other modes (example trolleys) obsolete, and even stigmatizing transit, like implying that buses are for poor people.
The myth of the American love affair with cars.
Peter Norton is the author of Fighting Traffic The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City. Norton was shaken early in his career reading an article in a 1920s engineering magazine when cars were taking over city streets, “The obvious solution … lies only in a radical revision of our conception of what a city street is for.”
We must reduce reliance on cars by offering transportation options, and if legislation makes it harder to accommodate e-bikes, this country will continue to be dominated by cars.
EVs won’t be the solution to car crashes and deaths.
Cars have taken over cities and towns to our peril.
We now have micro mobility options which we should be vigorously supporting, but the auto industry is threatened…it’s not going to be easy.
E-bikes must be classified clearly,and infrastructure must be builtto accommodate pedal bikes, e-bikes and walking safely, enabling all modes outside of cars to access road space equitably. It’s a socialized approach to road use. High speed e-motos need separate designation, as well as regulation.
Let’s make sure they get the message clearly.
Please call or email your opposition to S4834 / A6235 :
TOMORROW! The e-bike bill S4834 is on the agenda of the Budget and Appropriations Committee for Monday, 12/8 at 1pm.
Simple text: I oppose S4384. Increased regulatory burden of S4834 would discourage all e‑bike adoption, and conflict with NJDOT efforts to expand micro mobility, and to mitigate reliance on cars.
Here’s a previous thought piece on the subject on the APCSC website: The E-Bike Problem.
In any city, people will opt to ride on the sidewalk if existing bicycling infrastructure doesn’t feel safe, and if streets are designed to be primarily devoted to driving. AP currently has scraps of unconnected bicycling infrastructure – door zone bike lanes between parked cars and traffic, and bike lanes squeezed between parked cars and the curb.
E-bikes on sidewalks are a particular concern. Let’s focus on the solution. The city can boldly implement traffic calming measures to slow cars, offer more alternatives to driving, and build walking and biking infrastructure that welcomes all vulnerable users in a safe environment – which will also make the city safer for drivers too.
The article explains the distinction between e-bikes, and e-moto bikes.
Many cities are lumping together any bicycles with an electric motor, which leads to legislation against every type of e-bike.
PeopleForBikes separates fact from fiction to protect the future of e-bikes in America in this new series. PeopleForBikes’ primarily focuses on safety: product safety, safe places to ride, and safety education for cyclists and e-cyclists.
“Who Is Responsible For The E-Moto Problem?
It’s the Wild West in the electric bike world because of rapidly evolving products and the patchwork of regulations.
“The E-moto problem is caused by E-moto manufacturers and sellers. The companies that make, import and sell e-motos are attempting to skirt legal and safety requirements for motor vehicles in order to sell their products.”
The intention of the manufacturers is to deceive the public into believing their e-moto is an electric bicycle or “e-bike”. Example: manufacturers are adding fake pedals to e-motos so they fly under the radar.
What’s Legal and What’s Not: Electric Bicycle vs. E-Moto
Feature
Class 1 / 2 / 3 Electric Bicycle
E-Moto
Operable Pedals
Required
Not required (often fake)
Motor Power
≤ 750W
Often 1,000W–6,000W+
Top Speed
≤ 20–28 mph
30–65+ mph
Throttle
Class 2 only (≤ 20 mph)
Usually throttle-only
Licensing / Registration
No
Required (in most states)
Product Category
Consumer product
Motor vehicle
Street Legal for Minors?
Yes, in many states, depending on age
No, unless registered and licensed
It’s critically important for cities and towns to get behind legislation in favor of micro mobility, alternative equitable transportation, thereby reducing reliance on cars.
Conditions are dangerous for people outside of cars.
Driving is prioritized, and we have more development coming, so we’ll have more traffic, and the problem will continue.
The city needs to reduce car dependency, offering more accessibility and mobility options (like 24/7 jitney service), and making walking and biking safer.
TOGETHER, WE CAN BUILD A SAFER FUTURE ON NEW JERSEY’S ROADS
In January, 2025 Governor Murphy signed the bill to create the NJ Target Zero Action Plan to end traffic deaths by 2040. The NJ Target Zero Working Group (the task force) was immediately established.
As Director of Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition I am a part of that committee, which has been meeting and working diligently for 6 months.
Testifying at the NJ Senate Transportation meeting for the Target Zero Commission meeting.
to end traffic deaths by 2040.But after 6 months, the city of Asbury Park has yet to establish the task force. We have to get going NOW.
We need your help Asbury Park!
We all deserve the right to equitable mobility, which can be achieved by implementing policies, and building infrastructure to enhance the health of our communities, and most importantly, to save lives.
2040 is only 15 years away…
We know from experience in our city that it can take many years to see implementation of basic, simple, painted traffic calming measures, so we have to get going NOW to achieve the 2040 goal.
Urge AP city leadership to set up the Asbury Park Vision Zero Task Force NOW so we can get to work to achieve the goal of zero traffic deaths in AP by 2040 and to support the NJ goal:
Your input will help make Asbury Park, and NJ roads safer.
Mayor: john.moor@cityofasburypark.com
Deputy Mayor: amy.quinn@cityofasburypark.com
Council member: eileen.chapman@cityofasburypark.com
Council member: yvonne.clayton@cityofasburypark.com
Council member: angela.ahbez@cityofasburypark.com
City Manager: John.Hayes@cityofasburypark.com
Assistant City Manager: cassandra.dickerson@cityofasburypark.com
How will people get to MVC 
