NYers injured by reckless e-bikes blast NYC for caring more for delivery riders than victims

New Yorkers left with lifelong injuries from e-bike crashes blasted the city for having more compassion for the reckless speedsters zipping through traffic than the dozens of New Yorkers they have killed and injured.

The City Council is considering a slew of bills would tighten enforcement on the high-powered scooters, but Mamdani administration officials argued at a hearing Wednesday those laws could unfairly target food delivery riders they bizarrely dubbed “deliveristas” — “many of whom are immigrants.”

But pedestrians who were flattened by riders said the city was forgetting who’s responsible for turning bike lanes and city streets into a dangerous, high-speed free-for-all.

“For some reason, it’s more important for someone’s chicken sandwich to be delivered than anyone’s life,” fumed Carrie Michaels, who was injured by e-bike drivers in two separate crashes.

The City Council grilled the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, NYPD and Department of Transportation on shockingly lax policies for the e-bikes, and considered a package of bills that could combat the devastation sparked by devil-may-care riders.

“We share the council’s goal to rid our streets of unsafe micromobility devices,” DCWP Commissioner Sam Levine said. “However, we have strong concerns of unintended consequences that would most heavily impact delivery workers, many of whom are immigrants with limited English proficiency and other vulnerabilities.” 

Levine passed the blame for a string of crashes off the drivers themselves and onto “unrealistic” demands delivery app employers place on them.

“I cannot underscore enough that at the end of the day all the training in the world will not be sufficient if a worker goes out on the street and feels that they’re gonna lose their job if they don’t hit these unrealistic times that the delivery apps are insisting on,” Levine said.

Council member Crystal Hudson, a member of the progressive caucus, shared a similar sentiment.

“As a governing body, we have a responsibility to make our streets safer but,” Hudson said. “Perhaps more importantly, we have a responsibility to protect the workers who use those streets every day.”

“I worry that some of the rhetoric around this package risks putting the blame on deliveristas when they are often the ones facing the greatest risks.”

The rest of the council was split on the issue, with Republican Councilmember Vicki Paladino ripping the city for allowing the “bike industry” to use “Central Park as some sort of Tour de France.”

However, the city already has rules to keep delivery companies from forcing unrealistic delivery times. 

Levine’s agency is supposed to enforce that rule beginning in January, but he also seemed concerned with delivery drivers being “deactivated” by the apps when he was asked about how to stop delivery companies from pressuring workers into illegal routes and speeding.

“I can assure you that our agencies have been working hand in hand and will continue to work hand in hand to ensure that this is a holistic and coordinated strategy to ensure safety on our streets and to prevent arbitrary deactivations,” Levine said.

Lawmakers are considering nearly two dozen proposals for new e-bike laws, some of which place restrictions on high-powered e-bikes and others that add more licensing requirements tied to safety for delivery companies.

Speaker Julie Menin is promoting a resolution asking the state legislature to pass laws requiring e-bike registration and licensing by the DMV, and ignoring a proposal from Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov that would require e-bike registration and licensing at the city level.

Priscilla’s Law, in particular, would require e-bikes to be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles and for drivers to obtain rear license plates — and is the favorite among crash victims and their loved ones.

The victims rallied on the steps of City Hall ahead of the hearing to demand lawmakers tighten enforcement on the e-bikes and their reckless riders.

Cops handed out just two e-bike speeding tickets from January 2025 through March 2026, the Council report found.

They also issued just five tickets since 2023 to businesses whose workers used illegal scooters to make deliveries, with none recorded this year.

The city once brought at least 1,000 cases a year against delivery businesses for breaking rules such as failing to give workers helmets and ID cards, but since 2021, that number has fallen to fewer than 25 a year.

The DOT admitted it has no clue how many e-bikes are on the street because they are not required to be registered.

The NYPD has, however, seized more than 10,000 illegal mopeds and 1,200 illegal e-bikes so far this year.

Store inspections have slowed and council investigators found this summer that illegal high-powered devices were easy-to-buy in stores and online.

City inspectors checked 410 e-bike shops during a September 2023 crackdown, but have scaled back to only around 15 to 50 per month since then.

There was a devastating string of e-bike crashes this summer, including Gabriel Nacato, 17, who died after his e-bike collided with an SUV near City Hall on July 29, police said.

Several victims testified about the life-altering destruction the lax rules have caused.