Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Natalie Migliore, WOR Reporter

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Natalie Migliore, WOR Reporter · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

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  Speaker 1: Now, it's 710 WOR Speed on the Street with Natalie Migliore. Ah,
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  Speaker 1: Natalie from the streets dodging those crazed e-bike drivers in
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  Speaker 1: order to report to us what the feelings of those
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  Speaker 1: are towards what all the bills that city council wants
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  Speaker 1: to consider to rein them in.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, New York City is one step closer to
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  Speaker 2: tightening those restrictions for e-bikes, scooters. And those mopeds that
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  Speaker 2: sometimes they want to be cars, but they're bikes, but
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  Speaker 2: they act like they can follow.
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  Speaker 3: Any rule of the road. There's no rule of the road.
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  Speaker 3: That's what a lot of New Yorkers say. We know it.
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  Speaker 2: Well here, especially in Midtown. The city council is considering
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  Speaker 2: nearly two dozen bills. following several fatal collisions involving e-bikes
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  Speaker 2: with a variety of bills that address several of New
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  Speaker 2: Yorkers concerns. New Yorkers know those issues all too well.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's dangerous sometimes, like the way that they
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  Speaker 4: go fast and don't always obey the traffic laws. And
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  Speaker 4: I'm driving and I'm trying to make either a right
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  Speaker 4: or a left. And all of a sudden somebody shoots
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  Speaker 4: out or darts out of nowhere. I'm worried, you know
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  Speaker 4: what I mean? I'm worried for them. I'm worried for me.
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  Speaker 5: I have been hit by a bike, not in a bad,
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  Speaker 5: like severe way, but I won't say, oh, they should
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  Speaker 5: not exist because I think they are also very convenient.
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  Speaker 3: I am a fan of e-bikes myself.
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  Speaker 6: Ban all of them except for the city bikes.
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  Speaker 2: Now, maybe he's saying that because city bikes actually cap
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  Speaker 2: at the speed limit an e-bike 15 miles per hour.
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  Speaker 3: That's his fast as you can go on a city bike.
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  Speaker 2: But part of these bills will help city leaders curb
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  Speaker 2: advertisements for class three bikes, which go as fast as
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  Speaker 2: 25 miles an hour.
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  Speaker 3: Once you get that pedal assist on, you don't even
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  Speaker 3: need to pedal. It'll just go. Now, one of the
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  Speaker 3: bills would also force.
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  Speaker 2: Third party delivery apps to obtain liability insurance. And as
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  Speaker 2: you guys know, we've been covering this for a long time.
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  Speaker 2: Insurance has been in the conversation for years.
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  Speaker 4: What happens if there is, God forbid, an accident? Whatever
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  Speaker 4: company they work for, DoorDash or whatever, should at least contribute,
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  Speaker 4: if not cover them in some ways, the way that
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  Speaker 4: some organizations that you work for have some kind of
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  Speaker 4: insurance policy for you, you know, at least some minimal amount.
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  Speaker 5: I think it's for the safety of both pedestrians and
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  Speaker 5: the actual delivery guys. I mean, I really respect them.
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  Speaker 5: I order food a lot of times, and it's unfair
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  Speaker 5: to say, hey, they're doing this because it's the consumers
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  Speaker 5: on the other side who are like, oh, I need
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  Speaker 5: all of this fast.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe too fast, though, okay, because the city council says
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  Speaker 2: e-bike collisions are up more than 30% this year compared
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  Speaker 2: to last year. It comes as the number of riders
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  Speaker 2: continue to grow with roughly 65,000 e-bikes already on the streets,
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  Speaker 2: and those many of them deliveristas, okay? New Yorkers are
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  Speaker 2: concerned how any of these 23 laws would even be enforced.
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  Speaker 5: A law is as good as how best it is enforced.
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  Speaker 5: You can make any number of laws, but if there's
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  Speaker 5: no good enforcing mechanism in place, it doesn't mean anything.
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  Speaker 3: They should be forced to follow it or be fine
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  Speaker 3: like everyone else.
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  Speaker 4: Get a ticket.
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  Speaker 6: I mean, we all live here.
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  Speaker 4: The police are stretched pretty thin, and I don't know
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  Speaker 4: that that's going to become like a priority or something,
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  Speaker 4: to be honest with you. But, you know, I'm kind
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  Speaker 4: of skeptical about government taking care of us anyway in general.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we'll find out.
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  Speaker 2: The final legislative vote is expected to be decided early
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  Speaker 2: next year. And this is a really dense package of bills.
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  Speaker 2: They're probably going to scrap some, decide on what makes
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  Speaker 2: it and what doesn't. But one of the bills, which
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  Speaker 2: I found really interesting because I'm sure you guys see
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  Speaker 2: it too, is when the guys ride their e-bikes on
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  Speaker 2: the sidewalks. And it happens rarely, but specifically on the
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  Speaker 2: corner of 56th and 8th, I see that tremendously. And
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  Speaker 2: they want to see if there's a way to get
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  Speaker 2: a slowing mechanism down when the mechanism recognizes that the
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  Speaker 2: bike has left the roadway and gets on the sidewalk.
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  Speaker 3: Now, whoever, if that's in existence, that's crazy technology.
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  Speaker 6: You know, this goes back to when we had messengers
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  Speaker 6: in the city before.
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  Speaker 3: You're faxed and that.
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  Speaker 6: And they would speed around because they got paid based
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  Speaker 6: on their ability to get that message to another company.
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  Speaker 6: Those were normal bicyclists on 10-speed races. And it caused
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  Speaker 6: some problems. Then they have the motorized guys. Why do
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  Speaker 6: you need a motorized vehicle? Why not an old-fashioned 10-speed
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  Speaker 6: racer to do your deliveries? There would still be some problems,
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  Speaker 6: but nowhere near the problems you have now. This is crazy.
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  Speaker 6: 40 miles an hour, 45 miles an hour with helmets on.
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  Speaker 6: They know they're going to get into accidents and they
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  Speaker 6: don't think that's going to hurt other people. Right.
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  Speaker 2: And they said that they've really seen the increase in
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  Speaker 2: the uptick in 2020, which was a lot when we
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  Speaker 2: had our migrant crisis here in New York City. And
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  Speaker 2: a lot of those people went to work to be
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  Speaker 2: delivery workers here. And that's like how they got their bikes.
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  Speaker 5: Why?
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  Speaker 3: Nobody could see this, but Larry is shaking his head
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  Speaker 3: at me?
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  Speaker 7: No, I'm not shaking my head at you. I'm not
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  Speaker 7: shaking my head at you. We're talking about legislation and
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  Speaker 7: the city council. If it's not enforced, you can pass
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  Speaker 7: all the legislation you want. I've seen cops watch people
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  Speaker 7: go the wrong way on a one-way street, on a
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  Speaker 7: bike in the middle of the street.
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  Speaker 3: Nobody does anything.
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  Speaker 6: So it doesn't matter.
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  Speaker 7: It doesn't matter until they take it seriously in the city.
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  Speaker 6: Well, tomorrow, Natalie Migliore will be back, same time.