e-bike - noun - a bicycle that can be run on electric power as well as pedaling. (Oxford Languages)
It has been 261 years since Voltaire wrote, "Common sense is not so common" in his work A Pocket Philosophical Dictionary. You would think more of us humans might have acquired some in the interim. Nope.
What is the latest nonsensical purchase for kids under eighteen? The e-bike. Innocently enough, this new fangled creation is in theory a bike. But don't be fooled. Just because it looks like your average two-wheeler, offering its riders a choice to pedal fiercely on manual or ride on a current of electricity on automatic, doesn't make it a substitute for your grandparent's 1956 Raleigh. If anything, it is more of a moped, the pseudo motorcycle that requires a driver's license, meaning that the rider has to be at least seventeen to ride it. The average moped can reach a top speed of 28-35 mph. And guess what? A superior e-bike can travel up to 28 mph as well. And the biker does not need a driver's license, making this device the most sought-after toy for minors out there. Apparently, kids, who are often bogged down by iPhones and video games, are feeling the need for speed outdoors on the open roads. Scary.
Being that the holiday season will dominate sight lines after Halloween (at least at Walmart), should parents cave in to their kids' emotional pleas to buy them these bikes for Christmas or Hanukkah? Nope. Absolutely not. Why? AT $250 to over $3,000 per bike, THEY ARE expensive DEATHTRAPS. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Case in point: A week or so ago, my former musical partner in Jersey felt the need to text me some horrific news as I was preparing dinner here in SoCal. A thirteen-year-old-middle-school student who had been e-biking home from school collided with a landscaper's truck and was killed instantly just a few yards from her front lawn. The boy was moving so fast that the driver of the truck didn't even realize that the accident had taken place until he was over a block away. Rumor has it that the boy had been simultaneously texting and riding his e-bike at maximum speed, a trick that had obfuscated his awareness. Obviously, the adolescent was not mature enough to realize that what he was doing had the potential to be lethal. The tragic collision prompted local authorities to ban the e-bike from parks, but I am sure there will be some parents who will still permit their kids to ride them everywhere else.
Here in L.A., there is a group of middle-school boys who have formed a nightmarish gang called the "Wheelie Boys." They joyride on e-bikes at top speeds, wildly traversing boulevard traffic at night, doing wheelies (a balancing act involving putting all of their weight on the rear wheel of their e-bikes so that the front wheel is forced up into the air). Why their parents would let them out of their homes at dinner time to do this sort of thing is beyond me. (These kids are from wealthy families for the most part.) Why anyone would buy youngsters these dangerous bikes is just not in the range of common sense.
Listen, parents. Take it from a retired, middle-school English teacher who raised a daughter pretty much by herself. If you want your children to grow up to a ripe old age in or out of your house, don't allow them to cajole you into getting them this toxic excuse for a modern invention. Buy them a "Keep Calm, I'm an Official Teenager" blanket on Amazon for $24.99 instead. It's cheap; it's comical; it's safe; it's worry free. Most of all, just think before you act when it comes to supplying your kids with the latest in trendy technological purchases. Voltaire would be proud of you for using genuine logic.
#blog, #social commentary, #personal essay, #e-bikes, #parenting, #opinion
No comments:
Post a Comment