Hearing scheduled to allow electric bicycles on New Paltz roads

A local law to allow electric bicycles to be used on all roads in the Town of New Paltz will be considered after a public hearing, to be opened March 17. State law authorized the use of these vehicles — which are seen by environmentalists as a green alternative to local trips in cars — but only on roads with speed limits of up to 30 mph. This local law, if passed, would make it legal to ride them on all roads. Supervisor Neil Bettez said that riding bicycles on sidewalks is not legal in the Town. In the past, Police Chief Robert Lucchesi has asserted that officers do not have the power to decide which laws are enforced, which presumably means that anyone seen riding a bicycle on a sidewalk by a police officer will receive a citation.

Bettez drew upon a law now in effect in New Rochelle to draft the one being proposed in New Paltz.