Pity the poor ebikers in Northern Ireland

[Charliefox]

Following a comment in a caravan magazine, I discovered the fact that in Northern Ireland it has just been discovered that ebikers have to take a riding test dressed in Helmet, motor cycle boots and jacket. Then there is compulsory insurance, registration with the DVLA, number plate too. All this in order to ride only on ordinary roads as cycle paths are off limit. Halfords have stopped selling Ebikes there. The puzzling thing is that it has only come to light recently despite being the law for 20 odd years!
See https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/halfords-suspends-sale-of-ebikes-in-northern-ireland-due-to-confusing-legislation-36011569.htm
You couldn't make this up!!

 

[Wander]

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/update-on-n-i-e-bike-regs.29093/

 

[flecc]

The puzzling thing is that it has only come to light recently despite being the law for 20 odd years!

We had a parallel situation in the rest of the UK for 12 years, when virtually all the e-bikes we were riding were legally motorcycles.

The difference is that since there were over 150,000 of us, the authorities were forced to change the law rather than attempt to prosecute us.

There aren't enough e-bikers in N.I. for that to happen and they tend to be rather law abiding. Minor things like shooting or blowing each other up were ok, but something as serious as illegally riding an e-bike out of the question.
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