From my perspective, it takes a lot of effort to sustain 15 mph, much less even 20. Ebikes stop assisting you at 15 anyway, the ones that go beyond that or have a throttle button are illegal in most places outside the US.
Speed limits are counterintuitive in most cases, people tend to see them as a speed target rather than a speed limit. It could have a side effect of encouraging unsafe riding, especially if they’re matching their speed with cars they could end up staying in vehicles’ blind spots, being blocked by the A pillar, etc, leading to very serious accidents.
Unlike cars with powerful engines, people on bikes have varying fitness levels. Expecting 120kg Bob to sustain the same speed as 65kg Mary (which would implied by a speed “limit”) would just end up with more traffic as less fit riders forego their bikes for their car instead.
I see no speed limit as encouraging riders to go at their own pace, without feeling any pressure
I’ve seen speed limits on multiuse trails in Canada.
In this case, I believe the limit is less about actual speed, and more to remind cyclists that the path isn’t solely a cyclepath. This is supported by the sign having a bigger “shared path” image than speed limit image.
These shared paths are limited to 20kph, but never enforced.
Why so?
From my perspective, it takes a lot of effort to sustain 15 mph, much less even 20. Ebikes stop assisting you at 15 anyway, the ones that go beyond that or have a throttle button are illegal in most places outside the US.
Speed limits are counterintuitive in most cases, people tend to see them as a speed target rather than a speed limit. It could have a side effect of encouraging unsafe riding, especially if they’re matching their speed with cars they could end up staying in vehicles’ blind spots, being blocked by the A pillar, etc, leading to very serious accidents.
Unlike cars with powerful engines, people on bikes have varying fitness levels. Expecting 120kg Bob to sustain the same speed as 65kg Mary (which would implied by a speed “limit”) would just end up with more traffic as less fit riders forego their bikes for their car instead.
I see no speed limit as encouraging riders to go at their own pace, without feeling any pressure
I’ve seen speed limits on multiuse trails in Canada.
In this case, I believe the limit is less about actual speed, and more to remind cyclists that the path isn’t solely a cyclepath. This is supported by the sign having a bigger “shared path” image than speed limit image.
These shared paths are limited to 20kph, but never enforced.
The same reason speed limits exist for cars: safety. A bike crashing into a pedestrian at 30mph is still going to cause a lot of damage.
Indeed, 30mph is far too fast for anything to be travelling in a built up area. That’s why I support 20mph zones.