Cyclists accuse Living Streets of stoking “culture war” over electric bikes, but walking charity claims it is only opposed to “illegally modified e-bikes and riding e-bikes dangerously on pavements”

Cyclists have accused the UK’s walking and wheeling charity Living Streets of giving in to the “culture war” over electric bikes, after a councillor shared an email showing the charity asking its members to reach out if they had a “negative” experience with e-bikes or e-scooters for featuring on a Sky News segment. However, Living Streets has explained to road.cc that it is against “illegally modified e-bikes and riding e-bikes dangerously on the pavement”.

Green Party Councillor Liam Calvert from Norwich posted a screenshot of an email sent by Living Streets to its members, which said: “Sky News has been in touch today with us to see if anyone has a personal story of being negatively affected by an e-bike/e-scooter.

“We are trying to raise awareness of the need for these vehicles to abide by legislation which sees them only capable of reaching certain speeds/eights etc. This is so important to the safety of pedestrians.

“If you have experienced bad driving from e-bikes/e-scooters, in particular those going very fast, please do get in touch with Tanya by 5pm today.”

The correspondence was for a segment in which Living Street’s Director of Policy and Communications, Tanya Braun, appeared on Sky News last night talking about illegally modified e-bikes, with the charity claiming they were looking for someone who’d had a negative experience with this kind of e-bike.

However, the lack of attention paid to the language used when referring to illegally modified electric bikes, dropping the illegally modified part and referring to them simply as ‘e-bikes’ has been criticised by cyclists, as well Councillor Calvert.

Councillor Calvert, sharing the email wrote on Twitter: “You just sent an email to all your members asking if they wanted to tell Sky News how dangerous e-bikes are. I can’t continue to be a member for an organisation that focuses on cyclist bashing instead of positively campaigning for better walking and wheeling.

“We should be focussing on the real dangers faced by pedestrians. That’s badly driven cars. They kill 100x more of us on the pavement than are killed in collisions with bikes.”

pic.twitter.com/nZ59HiRhM0

— Cllr Liam Calvert 💚 (@LiamCalvert) September 24, 2024

Other cyclists on social media also agreed with the councillor’s assessment, with one person writing: “It just feels like a culture war this obsession with e-bike danger. It’s so disproportionate compared to real risk and the mass lawbreaking that puts people in danger on a daily basis. The KSI stats clearly show where the danger comes from.”

Between 2018 and 2022, there were 274 casualties according to data from the Met police, as compared to over 27,000 people killed or injured in London in just 2022, according to data released by Transport for London.

One person replied saying: “Perhaps Living Streets media team need to actually READ the law. The dangerous vehicles are Class Q electric MOPEDS, with an equally worrying issue of Class 3 electric invalid carriages being used at 8mph on footways, by less observant users.”

Another person said: “Seriously WTF, you shouldn’t feed anti-cycling anti-active travel media like those of Sky News, BBC etc. I can guarantee the nonsense they will spout will be more of the use of illegal unregistered electric motorcycles & call them 'e-bikes' as well as the usual BS.”

> Pedestrian safety campaigner accuses "cycling fraternity" of "plotting" against him

Tanya Braun, Director of Policy and Communications at Living Streets, said: “When e-bikes are illegally modified to have more power or higher speeds, they become a motorbike in the eyes of the law and are subject to the same regulations, including riders needing insurance, a licence and number plate. When they are used on the pavement, they also pose the same danger and provoke the same fear as a motorbike coming up alongside a pedestrian.

“The increase in illegal e-bikes being seized suggests that the law around this is being enforced, which needs to happen alongside properly resourcing community policing. We also need to raise awareness amongst the public of the dangers and illegality of modified e-bikes, so they know what it is they are buying.”

“Pavements are for people, but more and more people are using e-bikes on them. The speed, acceleration and lack of sound produced by e-bikes can cause alarm, especially when they are used on pavements. They also pose a particular danger to some pedestrians, such as children, disabled people and those living with sight loss.

“Cycling on the pavement is already illegal, but the law needs to be better enforced and community policing should be properly resourced.”