As the article says, the speed indicated in the photo is almost certainly from spinning the wheels off the ground, and the confiscation apparently stemmed from a traffic stop when doing 35 MPH (56 kph).
But I want to acknowledge the well-warranted snark that the reporter added:
Due to the nature of roads in the UK, e-bikes that ride on them are generally in front of or behind cars, and occasionally next to them.
I can personally vouch for the veracity of this statement in the USA too: bikes can indeed be found in front of, behind, beside, on bridges that fly over cars, on tunnels underneath cars, and sometimes inside of motor vehicles as well.
This is the correct amount of satire when the Northumbria Police makes an absurd statement about chasing an ebike “following reports it was travelling in front of a car”. Of course it would! Bikes and cars operate on roads. There is no place on earth that has 100% planar separation for different road users.
But the snark also points out the police being so very car-brained: why does traffic enforcement constantly concern itself with “car welfare” while writing citations and impounding all other road users except automobiles? The UK’s Highway Code is quite clear on what is and isn’t permissible on the public roads, but “ebike in front of car” is not one such proviso.
As the article says, the speed indicated in the photo is almost certainly from spinning the wheels off the ground, and the confiscation apparently stemmed from a traffic stop when doing 35 MPH (56 kph).
But I want to acknowledge the well-warranted snark that the reporter added:
I can personally vouch for the veracity of this statement in the USA too: bikes can indeed be found in front of, behind, beside, on bridges that fly over cars, on tunnels underneath cars, and sometimes inside of motor vehicles as well.
This is the correct amount of satire when the Northumbria Police makes an absurd statement about chasing an ebike “following reports it was travelling in front of a car”. Of course it would! Bikes and cars operate on roads. There is no place on earth that has 100% planar separation for different road users.
But the snark also points out the police being so very car-brained: why does traffic enforcement constantly concern itself with “car welfare” while writing citations and impounding all other road users except automobiles? The UK’s Highway Code is quite clear on what is and isn’t permissible on the public roads, but “ebike in front of car” is not one such proviso.