When Innovation Outpaces Infrastructure: Why New Jersey’s E-Bike Crackdown Is the Right Move

In New Jersey, the e-bike era arrived faster than the law could catch up. Sleek, silent, and deceptively quick, these electric rides have turned suburban streets into something between a bike lane and a motor speedway. And now, after a string of devastating crashes—some fatal, many involving children—state leaders are finally drawing the line.

Senate President Nicholas Scutari is right to call for tighter e-bike regulations. His proposal to classify electric bicycles by speed, require registration and insurance, and restrict high-speed e-bikes for minors isn’t a case of government overreach—it’s long-overdue course correction. Because the hard truth is that our laws are still built for a world where a “bike” meant a Schwinn, not a 40-mile-per-hour battery-powered machine.

The Tragedy That Forced Our Hand

The September deaths of teenagers in Scotch Plains and Cranford are haunting reminders that innovation without infrastructure planning costs lives. These tragedies weren’t inevitable—they were predictable. E-bikes now occupy a gray zone: too fast for bike paths, too vulnerable for traffic, and too unregulated for safety. When a 13-year-old can buy what is essentially a motorized vehicle and ride it alongside trucks and buses, we’ve failed both the rider and everyone sharing the road.

Regulation Is Not Rejection

Scutari has made clear he’s not trying to ban e-bikes. Nor should he. They’re efficient, green, and part of the future of urban and suburban mobility. But the same qualities that make e-bikes exciting also make them dangerous without a safety framework. That’s why his call to involve insurers and the motor vehicle commission is critical. If it can carry a person across two counties at highway-adjacent speeds, it deserves the same scrutiny as any other vehicle that can do the same.

Proactive, Not Reactive

What’s happening in New Jersey should be a wake-up call to every state and city where new forms of transportation appear overnight—from scooters to autonomous shuttles to delivery drones. Lawmakers can’t wait until the obituary pages fill up to start writing rules. The lesson here isn’t just about e-bikes; it’s about how quickly “new” becomes “normal,” and how slowly we tend to react to that shift.

We should be thinking ahead—about infrastructure design, liability frameworks, and public education—from the first moment a new technology hits the market. If our streets are going to host vehicles that blur the line between pedal power and horsepower, our planning needs to keep pace.

A Smarter Path Forward

E-bike reform isn’t about restriction—it’s about recognition: Mobility innovation doesn’t erase the laws of physics. Teenagers and 40-pound lithium batteries shouldn’t share a road without limits. When something new becomes this ubiquitous this fast, safety can’t be an afterthought.

If we get this right, New Jersey can be a model for how states respond to the collision between innovation and infrastructure—with empathy for the victims we’ve already lost, and with foresight for the riders still to come.

Because every revolution in transportation, from the Model T to the modern e-bike, has started the same way: with excitement, improvisation, and tragedy. The test of leadership is whether we wait for the next fatal crash to adapt—or start designing the safer road ahead today.

Michael J. Epstein, a Harvard Law School graduate, is a trial lawyer and managing partner of The Epstein Law Firm, P.A., a law firm based in New Jersey.