Bike Walk Nebraska, the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA), and the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District (Papio NRD) are teaming up to help address the safety challenges posed by the rapid rise in electric micro-mobility devices – particularly high-powered electric motorcycles, or “e-motos.”
MAPA recently awarded funding to Bike Walk Nebraska to develop state and local policy recommendations for electric micro-mobility devices, with Papio NRD providing the necessary matching funds for the federal funding.
During her two-part interview with Mike Hogan on KIOS-FM’s award–winning program “Live & Local” Executive Director of Bike Walk Nebraska, Julie Harris, talked about how these devices provide new opportunities for recreation and transportation, but also have created new safety challenges and increased crashes.
In contrast to legal e-bikes, e-motos can reach upwards of 50-60 mph, and electric scooters reach high-powered speeds of 20 mph.Through this project, Bike Walk Nebraska will examine current use and regulations, analyze policies from other states, engage with regional stakeholders, and develop policy and regulatory recommendations for the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro region, while also addressing state-level needs.
More information can be found at https://engage.mapacog.org/emotos.
