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With the rise in popularity of electric bicycles it is important to improve the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, and all users of our public right-of-ways. The best way to do that is to build more bicycle lanes and make the ones we have now safer, including but not limited to, adding concrete barriers.

I speak as someone who walks at least 19 miles a week for work and errands, as someone who has had two family members hit by cars — one who died, and one who survived but never walked the same.

I am also the owner of two electric bicycles, both pedal assist without a throttle, meaning you have to pedal the full 360 degrees to activate the motor and cannot simply twist a part of the handle bar to activate the motor.

The upcoming City and County of Honolulu on electric bicycles needs to include better infrastructure in their discussions.

As a regular walk commuter I have experienced cyclists, non-electric and electric alike speeding by me, sometimes unannounced and very close to me. And while I can relate with being startled, walking is the most natural movement we do and should feel safe.

And whether it is myself or those family members, if I had the choice of being hit by a 120-pound-or-less vehicle moving a maximum 28 miles per hour or less, versus an on average moving 25 miles per hour or faster, I’d take my chances with the lower-weight, often slower vehicle.

Yes, getting hit by an electric bicycle might make me or my family members upset. We might get injured. But there is a much higher probability of me surviving, unlike my sister, , who died by a car trying to cross the street in 2013.

That said, there are ways to reduce, if not outright completely get rid of, these conflicts between those who walk and bicycle.

While enforcement of laws should be part of the solution for safety, and the City and County of Honolulu is taking steps in the right direction to at least define , there is often an overemphasis on this.

Police already spend much of their time on traffic collisions, as there are an average on Oahu, issuing annually, nearly 1,100 on average daily not including verbal warnings that do not result in a traffic ticket.

Focusing more enforcement would overburden an already understaffed police force.

Build Barriers

One definite way to make people who walk feel safer as well as cyclists and all road users alike is to build more bike lanes and make the ones we have now safer by — including but not limited to — adding concrete barriers.

Bicyclists riding on sidewalks usually means there is a gap in infrastructure, as it indicates the cyclist does not feel safe on the road. A cyclist will use a bike lane if they feel safe in it.

Studies have shown that building more bike lanes .

For people who walk it would mean less interactions with cyclists on sidewalks. For bicyclists (electric or not), it would mean more protection. As someone who used my own personal non-electric bicycle previously and who still uses Biki sometimes, I’ve never had conflicts with electric bicyclists in bike lanes.

For all users it would mean fewer cars on the road, as some who might want to bicycle do not feel safe doing so unless there is safe infrastructure.

Electric bikes have been , despite no federal subsidies and electric charging infrastructure, which electric cars have received many years before the state of Hawaii . With the focus on reducing traffic fatalities, battling climate change, and getting people to live healthier lives, electric bicycles are a great option.

Studies show that electric cyclists than traditional cyclists because electric cyclists are more willing to use their bikes on hills and travel much longer distances. The infrastructure just needs to keep up with this demand: which means building more bike lanes and making the ones we have now safer by, including but not limited to, adding concrete barriers.