The surge in the use of eBikes is outpacing the ability to insure and regulate their use one expert has warned.

Sarah Vaughan, founder and director, of data driven insurance solutions provider Angelica Solutions told Emerging Risks there is now an urgent need for greater clarity in how eBikes will be regulated to enable insurers to understand the risks and where liability falls.

“When the UK Government launched its new Road Safety Strategy last month, it positioned itself as future focused, tackling vehicle technology, vulnerable road users and work-related collisions,” she explained. “While the strategy is a constructive step toward safer roads, it barely mentioned one of the fastest moving, least understood risks reshaping our streets: eBikes.

“From weekend riders to full-time couriers clocking up 200 miles a week, eBikes are no longer on the fringe. They are now central to how people move through cities – heavier, faster, quieter and growing in number. Yet the systems we use to track, regulate and insure this behaviour haven’t caught up.”

Vaughan said her company’s analysis shows:

• Nearly 50% of bikes on London’s roads at weekends are now eBikes.
• Just 19% of eBike riders wear helmets, falling to 14% on weekends, and 16% among delivery riders.
• Only 46% of eBike users stop at red lights, compared to 64% of traditional cyclists.

She continued: “These trends are reshaping who causes risk, who carries liability and who ends up paying the price. Yet under the current STATS19 system, eBikes aren’t even recorded as their own vehicle type. Every crash, injury or fatality involving one is logged as a standard pedal cycle incident.

“It’s the equivalent of categorising black cabs and electric scooters under the same code. No one would accept that. So why are we still lumping eBikes in with traditional bicycles, when their speed, weight and risk profile are clearly different?”

Vaughan explained London is spending millions on active travel infrastructure, but much of it is being planned using outdated and inaccurate data.

“Insurers are being asked to underwrite risk without knowing whether a collision involved a 9kg commuter bike or a 33kg Gen4 Lime eBike,” she continued. “Pedestrians are navigating shared spaces alongside a fast growing fleet of silent, heavy and often untraceable vehicles.”

The Road Safety Strategy highlights that one in three road collisions involves someone driving or riding for work. Vaughan said it rightly proposes a National Work-Related Road Safety Charter. But it makes no mention of gig economy riders, despite their growing presence on urban roads.

“The vast majority of these riders, from food delivery to rapid courier services are on eBikes,” she added. “They often operate outside formal training or licensing frameworks, ride unregistered and often uninsured vehicles, travel further and faster than traditional cyclists, and fall through the cracks of both traffic enforcement and insurance structures.

“This creates a growing liability grey area. Motor insurers may end up shouldering the burden of eBike collisions where riders can’t be identified.”

It is another example of the untapped role insurers could play, which remains under recognised in the road safety conversation.

“Despite their central position in understanding and reducing risk through insight into collisions, driver behaviour and risk trends, their contribution is not being fully used,”  said Vaughan. “Insurers could help shape safer roads through product innovation, pricing incentives and cross sector partnerships. It’s time we recognised them as a core part of the road safety ecosystem.  They must be part of the solution, particularly as we adapt to new and emerging forms of mobility.

“If eBikes were invented today, no regulator would categorise them with traditional bicycles. But that’s exactly what’s happening.

“If we continue to under record and under regulate this class of vehicle, we will continue to misprice and mismanage the risk leaving insurers, employers and road users to deal with the fallout.

“The road safety of tomorrow requires modern data, modern frameworks and a modern understanding of how we move. Until we make that shift, we’re flying blind.”

The Road Safety Strategy highlights that one in three road collisions involves someone driving or riding for work. Vaughan said it rightly proposes a National Work-Related Road Safety Charter. But it makes no mention of gig economy riders, despite their growing presence on urban roads.