Hiner, Holmes Commissioners discuss improving e-bike safety

Ohio State Rep. Mark Hiner paid a visit to the Holmes County Commissioners Monday, April 6 to discuss a developing topic that has come to Hiner’s attention.

The discussion centered around the growing usage of e-bikes in Holmes County, and Hiner said he continues to hear from constituents who bring up the topic of e-bike safety.

“We’re getting more and more calls about that,” Hiner said.

Hiner said he has spoken with Holmes County engineer Chris Young, who has begun the process of creating a meeting about the topic and added that while he believes the situation needs explored to create better safety for everyone involved, he doesn’t want to legislate.

Instead, the discussion centered around how the county can institute better education that would make e-bike travel safer.

Commissioner Joe Miller said e-bike safety and education isn’t just for those traveling on e-bikes, but for travelers in vehicles who must take on some of the burden of creating a safer travel space for e-bikes.

Miller said e-bikes are a part of life in Holmes County, and with half of the county’s population being Amish, e-bikes aren’t going to go away any time soon.

“E-bikes are fine. We need to tell people to slow down, be careful and watch for them,” Miller said. “(E-bikes) are part of our community. These people are the heart of our community. They live here. They go to work."

Hiner said there are many components to e-bike travel in this area, noting Holmes County is unique among Ohio’s 88 counties because of the large Amish population and the growing number of people riding e-bikes.

“There is growing tension about this, and we are going to have to come up with a solution,” Hiner said. “I hope we can do it through education and management.”

Hiner said complaints coming in range from e-bike travelers not properly using signals to riding side-by-side. He said there are many e-bike riders who follow the rules and do things the right way and agreed the burden of learning the rules of proper travel on area roads doesn’t simply fall on those traveling via e-bike.

“There’s education to be done on both sides,” Hiner said, reiterating he doesn’t want to legislate any new laws into effect. “There are safety concerns, and we do need to focus on education.”

While those using e-bikes have been using hand signals to denote their direction and plans to turn into adjoining roads or driveways, Miller said new e-bikes are being built with signals as part of the construct of the bike.

Hiner asked Miller if that new technology would be accepted by the Amish community, and Miller said he believes it will be embraced.

Commissioner Dave Hall said while education is a must, another key will be finding funding to create wider roads where e-bike travel is popular, including along state routes like 83 and 557.

Hiner said in his discussion with Young that creating bicycle lanes is much less costly than adding buggy lanes because it doesn’t require as much space for bicycles.

He said he gets the sense that because of e-bikes there are fewer buggies on the county’s byways than there were prior to the e-bike popularity.

Hiner said he will continue to discuss the topic at both the state level and at the local level, where he has created ongoing dialogue with the Amish community leaders about developing safer travel.

The group then discussed another issue. While educating local people about e-bike and automobile harmony is one thing, with Holmes County being such a large travel destination from the tourism perspective, educating tourists is a completely different story.

He said people who live here understand the components of the two types of travel coexisting and are more aware of the dangers and challenges involved while tourists are less likely to understand how fast e-bikes can move and how one could be around every hill or turn.

Miller said one key to reducing incidents concerning e-bikes will be for everyone to exhibit plenty of respect for everyone on the roads and to slow down and take their time while traveling through the county.

Kevin Miller, Holmes County buildings and grounds director, brought up the idea of something similar to a hunter safety course for those traveling by e-bike.

Hiner said he isn’t yet sure of the answer, but the discussion concerning e-bike safety needs to continue.

“We need to identify the problems and come up with solutions. We’ve got to find a way to make it work,” Hiner said. “I hope we can do it without writing a law or changing the law. People have a right to travel; it doesn’t matter who you are or what you do. Just because you do it in a buggy or car, you can’t stop someone from traveling.”