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The Pennsylvania General Assembly, too often slow to react and slow to act, is again living up to that dubious, unflattering reputation, this time regarding e-bikes and e-scooters.
Rather than already having properly addressed those topics with the best interests of the Keystone State and its residents in mind, the General Assembly continues to stumble along as the injury, death and damage totals tied to the bikes and scooters escalate.
But, hey, as a CapitolWire article published in the Mirror's Sept. 9 edition indicated, the legislature has delivered the message that it is racing to update the commonwealth's e-bike law.
Trouble is, rather than that information being encouraging, it is couched in the reality that work that should have been completed months ago might not yet be near completion.
Again, the words "slow to react" and "slow to act" seem very apropos.
What a disgrace at the hands of people elected to do better.
But some lawmakers, rather than exercising full concentration on getting the preparatory work done, getting the new law passed, and getting the needed measure on the books and made enforceable as expeditiously as possible, are content instead to focus on naming the measure, when naming it is premature, of questionable wisdom and the least important of what needs to be done.
Of course, settling on a name with sympathetic implications would divert attention from the legislature's failure to act more quickly and responsibly on something so badly needed.
The issue is that individuals under the age of 16 should not be riding the e-bikes and e-scooters on the commonwealth's public streets and highways among other traffic, at least not without official training and licensing indicating competence regarding safe operation as well as what are referred to as "basic rules of the road."
Yet, the lead paragraph of the Sept. 9 CapitolWire article stated that lawmakers "are increasingly looking" to make changes to protect riders and others, when they already should know, without reservation, what new provisions are necessary and which require their urgent attention.
This isn't a political matter; it's a life-or-death matter.
The article in question said a Senate committee had discussed "strategies" to respond to the problem of e-bike and e-scooter accidents but, considering the amount of time that has elapsed, the Senate and House of Representatives should be beyond the "developing strategies" stage and be deep into the implementation stage.
The CapitolWire article referred to some specific accidents that have occurred, or accident statistics from some counties -- accidents and numbers very troubling.
"There have been at least five fatal e-bike and e-scooter crashes just in Lehigh and Northampton counties, according to local reports," CapitolWire reported. "Police in Allentown have counted 58 crashes involving e-bikes or scooters, injuring 40 people, thus far in 2026," the article added.
The article also indicated that a proposed Senate measure would authorize municipalities to enact ordinances setting penalties for illegal use of e-bikes, and such an authorization should not be construed as out of line, although some smaller communities "where everyone knows everyone" might be reluctant to have that power.
Whatever the final outcome of action on the problem in question, penalties, which need not be excessive, should nonetheless be of an amount large enough to discourage violations.
It cannot be said enough that the e-bike and e-scooter problem has not had a proper response for much too long.