Whether electric bikes, also known as e-bikes, are zipping by on Summit Metro Parks’ multipurpose trails, barely missing walkers on the 93-mile-long Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail or speeding down bike lanes throughout Akron, area residents are raising safety concerns about these motorized bicycles.
As e-bikes have become more popular, Lindsay Smith of Summit Metro Parks said questions are mounting around how fast the bikes travel and what trail etiquette should look like.
“Instead of speed limits, what we have always suggested is that people observe safe behavior and follow trail etiquette,” said Smith, who serves as the parks’ chief of marketing and communications. “This has kind of changed. The conversation has intensified with the introduction of e-bikes because they can go faster than most just simply propelled-with-pedal bikes.”…