The silent rise of modified electric bicycles

THE EDITOR, Madam:

There is a growing silent problem that needs to be curtailed before it becomes a headline grabber. I am, of course, referring to the legality of the use on our local roads of electric scooters and bicycles modified with motors.

Very few members of the public are concerned with the growing prevalence of electric scooters, especially downtown. Currently, there has been no amendment to the traffic law to facilitate the use of these types of modes of transport on the roads, so far as my learned legal luminaries have made me be aware.

In fact, legally, they cannot be referred to as vehicles, but rather as “equipment” or “instruments”, since they are not motorcycles or even bicycles. I’ve decided to refer to them as “modified bicycles” since, technically, they are just really a bicycle with an electric drivetrain (parts that transfer power from the engine to the wheels).

There are concerns about who is liable during an accident, especially as these modes of transport are whisper-quiet but, because they are battery-powered, can inflict significant damage on collision with vehicles or pedestrians.

How do you determine compensation for a vehicle that’s not legally supposed to be on the road and is not properly defined? It’s therefore not ‘street-legal’ and possibly not covered by insurance as they are a grey area. For this reason, if an electric scooter or modified bicycle runs into and damages another vehicle, it is unlikely to be covered by insurance.

Amendments would have to be made to the traffic law to allow them to be on the road. These amendments would have to define their use in terms of recreation as well as commercial usage, as many Jamaicans appear to be using them privately for trade and business.

With so many varieties of them being sold privately online on many locally based advertising platforms, it is certainly an area that needs more exploration. Otherwise, we might soon start hearing stories of silent hold-ups or people being robbed by armed gangs that the victim cannot describe.

All the victims could say is that they were fast, silent, and left no trail or made any distinct sound that could identify what they were or who the perpetrator may have been.