Mackinac Island Impounded More Than 50 Illegal E-Bikes In Just Three Weeks

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If you want to use an e-bike to get around Michigan’s Mackinac Island, the rules are pretty straightforward: You can’t. Not unless you have a mobility disability that “substantially limits the ability of the individual to pedal a bicycle.” In which case, you’re allowed to have a Class 1 e-bike that only provides assistance while you’re pedaling, and you have to get it licensed. It’s possible to use a Class 2 e-bike, but the electric throttle has to be permanently disabled, reverting it back to a Class 1. But do people listen? Of course not. It’s 2023.

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The Detroit Free Press reports that over the last three weeks, Mackinac Island police have seized between 50 and 75 e-bikes. And according to Police Chief Doug Topolski, it’s not like the rules aren’t clearly communicated.

“Usually when they come back and get their bikes, they admit they know about the ordinance but contend [that] they can’t do without the throttle,” Topolski told the Free Press. “Or they will tell us they just haven’t gotten around to getting it licensed.”

With cars banned on the island, people tend to walk or ride traditional bikes. Alternatively, they can party like it’s 1823 and take a horse-and-carriage taxi. It gives the island an intentionally slow pace of life that’s largely disconnected from the modern world. And with everyone else moving relatively slowly, they don’t want a few people zipping by going twice as fast as everyone else. They’ve also had a couple of e-bike fires this summer.

As Topolski told the Free Press:

The ordinance here is clear and many people see e-bikes as a slippery slope as well as an existential threat to the island when it comes to potential battery fires. This is not a new ordinance. E-bikes have never been allowed here and are now only allowed for people with mobility disabilities, and only without throttles and with a top assisted speed of 20 mph. The only change to the ordinance is that people wanting to bring a Class II bike with a throttle into compliance must now ‘permanently modify’ the bike. … The reason this change was made was because too many people would just disconnect a throttle wire to license the bike and then reconnect it as soon as they left the police station.

Maybe with enough signs and e-bike seizures, people will finally get the message. But this is America, so probably not.