E-Bikes Are Booming—And Virtually Unregulated. Will This Lawsuit Make Them Safer?
This story will begin and end on a breathtaking stretch of tarmac called Enchanted Way.
这个故事将在一段令人惊叹的停机坪上开始和结束，这条停机坪被称为“魔法之路”。
The hills cradling Los Angeles are woven with roads like this—dead-end residential streets that corkscrew toward the sky, the views and the homes expanding as you ascend.
洛杉矶的群山与这样的道路交织在一起——住宅区的死胡同蜿蜒通向天空，随着你的上升，视野和房屋也在不断扩大。
Enchanted Way lies in Pacific Palisades, an affluent neighborhood on L.A.’s Westside that borders Malibu, Santa Monica, Brentwood, and the Pacific Ocean.
魔法之路 (Enchanted Way) 位于太平洋帕利塞兹 (Pacific Palisades)，这是洛杉矶西区的一个富裕社区，与马里布、圣莫尼卡、布伦特伍德和太平洋接壤。
If you are a fit road cyclist with proper gearing, it’s a nice little grind.
如果你是一名身体健康、装备合适的公路自行车手，那么这是一个不错的小磨难。
According to the workout app Strava , the final 0.3 mile of Enchanted Way rises 150 feet, with a sustained pitch topping 14 percent.
根据锻炼应用程序 Strava 的数据，Enchanted Way 的最后 0.3 英里海拔为 150 英尺，持续坡度高达 14%。
On a clear day you can see all the way to Catalina Island, 45 miles to the south, from the cul-de-sac at the top.
天气晴朗时，您可以从顶部的死胡同一直看到以南 45 英里处的卡塔利娜岛 (Catalina Island)。
It’s the kind of spot where anyone on a bike might pause to soak in the vertiginous panorama.
任何骑自行车的人都可能会停下来欣赏令人眩晕的全景。
This story also begins with two preteen girls on a bicycle—to be specific, since it matters, on an electric bike made by the ascendant Rad Power Bikes.
这个故事也是从两个青春期前的女孩骑自行车开始的——具体来说，因为这很重要，是骑着由方兴未艾的 Rad Power Bikes 制造的电动自行车。
It was the final day of January 2021, on yet another balmy morning in Los Angeles.
这是 2021 年 1 月的最后一天，洛杉矶又一个温暖的早晨。
An 11-year-old named Eme Green was piloting the e-bike, and her friend Molly Steinsapir, 12, was nestled behind her on a cushioned seat intended for a second passenger.
一名名叫 Eme Green 的 11 岁女孩正在驾驶这辆电动自行车，她 12 岁的朋友莫莉·斯坦萨皮尔 (Molly Steinsapir) 坐在她身后的一个供第二名乘客使用的软垫座椅上。
Molly and Eme were friends and neighbors, and both lived about a half mile downhill from this dramatic perch.
莫莉和埃梅是朋友和邻居，两人都住在距这个引人注目的栖息地下坡约半英里的地方。
One can imagine or at least hope that the girls felt some awe and delight up there, marveling at the expanse of earth and ocean and blue sky before them.
人们可以想象，或者至少希望，女孩们在上面感受到一些敬畏和喜悦，惊叹于面前广阔的大地、海洋和蓝天。
But then they turned that e-bike downhill and a terror unfolded.
但随后他们将电动自行车转向下坡，恐怖的事情发生了。
As Molly’s parents would later allege in a lawsuit, Eme could not stop the RadRunner, and the two girls crashed at high speed near the bottom of the steepest stretch of Enchanted Way.
正如莫莉的父母后来在诉讼中指控的那样，埃梅无法阻止 RadRunner，两个女孩在魔法之路最陡峭的一段底部附近高速坠毁。
Molly, who was wearing a bike helmet , hit the pavement hard and lost consciousness.
戴着自行车头盔的莫莉重重地摔在人行道上，失去了知觉。
Tragically, she would never wake up.
可悲的是，她永远不会醒来。
Despite a series of increasingly desperate surgeries to address her head injuries, Molly would be pronounced dead a little more than two weeks later.
尽管进行了一系列越来越绝望的手术来解决她的头部受伤问题，莫莉还是在两周多后被宣布死亡。
Of course, with a devastating crash like this, in which a beloved child dies, the aftershocks of the loss never stop.
当然，在这样一场毁灭性的事故中，一个心爱的孩子去世了，失去亲人的余震永远不会停止。
For Jon and Kaye Steinsapir, Molly’s parents, the grief of losing their eldest child is too large to properly express.
对于莫莉的父母乔恩·斯坦萨皮尔 (Jon Steinsapir) 和凯·斯坦萨皮尔 (Kaye Steinsapir) 来说，失去长子的悲痛难以用恰当的方式表达。
Their daughter went out for a bike ride with a pal and never came home.
他们的女儿和一个朋友出去骑自行车，却再也没有回家。
So of course, this is an intensely personal story.
当然，这是一个非常个人化的故事。
But it’s also a contentious legal story.
但这也是一个有争议的法律故事。
The Steinsapirs are suing Rad Power Bikes, and their legal complaint alleges that the Seattle-based company should be liable for Molly’s death.
Steinsapirs 正在起诉 Rad Power Bikes，他们的法律诉讼称这家总部位于西雅图的公司应对莫莉的死亡负责。
Both of Molly’s parents are successful lawyers—Jon is a music attorney who represented Michael Jackson’s estate for more than a decade, and Kaye is an employment attorney—people who have the knowledge and resources and clout to turn their grief and their grievances against Rad Power into a high-powered legal tsunami.
莫莉的父母都是成功的律师——乔恩是一名音乐律师，十多年来一直代表迈克尔·杰克逊的遗产，而凯是一名就业律师——他们拥有知识、资源和影响力，可以将他们对拉德·鲍尔的悲伤和不满转化为强大的法律海啸。
Kaye, an articulate storyteller, has taken her heartbreak to social media, picking up more than 120,000 Twitter followers along the way.
凯伊是一位能言善道的讲故事者，她将自己的心碎诉诸社交媒体，一路上在 Twitter 上获得了超过 12 万粉丝。
Outlets like the New York Times , the Los Angeles Times , and People magazine have amplified the Steinsapirs’ contention that the e-bike manufacturer is to blame.
《纽约时报》、《洛杉矶时报》和《人物》杂志等媒体都放大了斯坦萨皮尔夫妇的论点，即电动自行车制造商应该对此负责。
All of this comes at a time when electric bikes are exploding in popularity in the U.S. More than 1 million e-bikes were sold here in 2021, and it would not be hyperbolic to say that e-bikes could reshape the future of transportation.
所有这一切都发生在电动自行车在美国爆发式流行之际。2021 年美国销售了超过 100 万辆电动自行车，毫不夸张地说，电动自行车可以重塑交通的未来。
Massive numbers of people have discovered that e-bikes can replace many car trips, that they have an extremely low operating cost and a tiny environmental footprint, and that they’re fun to ride and can sidestep traffic.
许多人发现电动自行车可以取代许多汽车出行，它们的运营成本极低，对环境的影响很小，而且骑起来很有趣，而且可以避开交通拥堵。
In the greater Los Angeles area where the Steinsapirs live—and in lots of other affluent communities around the country—e-bikes have become a de facto mode of transportation for kids of middle and high school age.
在斯坦萨皮尔人居住的大洛杉矶地区以及全国许多其他富裕社区，电动自行车已成为初高中年龄段孩子事实上的交通方式。
These bikes give teens and preteens who are too young to drive enormous freedom and range, and also free their parents from the need to chauffeur them around town.
这些自行车为年龄太小而无法驾驶的青少年和青春期前的孩子提供了巨大的自由和范围，也让他们的父母不再需要在城里开车送他们。
This, of course, is hardly the only demographic spurring the massive growth of the e-bike market—there is also a huge contingent of adult commuters and utility riders and fun seekers.
当然，这并不是刺激电动自行车市场大规模增长的唯一人群——还有大量的成年通勤者、公用事业骑手和寻求乐趣的人。
And perhaps no company has profited more from the emergence of this market than Rad Power Bikes.
也许没有一家公司比 Rad Power Bikes 从这个市场的出现中获利更多。
Just in the year 2021, the company raised more than $300 million in funding from large institutional investors to help fuel its explosive growth trajectory.
仅在 2021 年，该公司就从大型机构投资者那里筹集了超过 3 亿美元的资金，以帮助推动其爆炸性增长轨迹。
Named after its founder and former CEO, Mike Radenbaugh, the company rose above a crowded marketplace that lacked clear leaders, thanks to a line of cool-seeming e-bikes sold directly to consumers at price points between $1,500 and $2,500.
该公司以其创始人兼前首席执行官迈克·拉登博 (Mike Radenbaugh) 的名字命名，凭借一系列看起来很酷的电动自行车直接以 1,500 至 2,500 美元的价格出售给消费者，在一个缺乏明确领导者的拥挤市场中脱颖而出。
This story will raise questions that don’t lend themselves to straightforward answers.
这个故事将提出一些无法直接回答的问题。
Some are philosophical questions that you’ll have to ponder yourself; some are legal questions that lawyers will argue and possibly a jury will have to deliberate; and some are questions that only legislative or regulatory bodies can address.
有些是你必须自己思考的哲学问题；有些是你需要思考的问题。有些是律师会争论的法律问题，陪审团可能必须审议；有些问题只有立法或监管机构才能解决。
Should children be allowed to ride e-bikes?
应该允许孩子骑电动自行车吗？
How do you balance responsibility between parents and the companies that make those bikes?
您如何平衡父母和制造这些自行车的公司之间的责任？
Should there be significantly more proactive regulation of e-bikes by the government, given that some e-bikes may not be as safe as they should be?
鉴于某些电动自行车可能不那么安全，政府是否应该对电动自行车采取更加主动的监管？
And in the absence of such regulation, do the companies that make and market e-bikes—particularly the companies that sell relatively inexpensive e-bikes directly to the customer—have an ethical or legal obligation to do more?
在缺乏此类监管的情况下，制造和销售电动自行车的公司（尤其是直接向客户销售相对便宜的电动自行车的公司）是否有道德或法律义务采取更多措施？
None of the answers, however they are formulated or enacted, will diminish the loss of Molly Steinsapir.
无论如何制定或实施，任何答案都不会减少莫莉·斯坦萨皮尔的损失。
That precocious 12-year-old is gone forever.
那个早熟的12岁孩子已经永远消失了。
But her parents are determined to hold accountable the company that made the e-bike from which she tumbled onto the pavement and died.
但她的父母决心追究生产电动自行车的公司的责任，因为她从电动自行车上摔倒在人行道上身亡。
And along the way, the questions pushed into the public eye through cases like the one the Steinsapirs are mounting could present a reckoning for the unregulated growth of e-bikes.
一路走来，通过像 Steinsapirs 发起的案件这样的案例进入公众视野的问题可能会成为对电动自行车不受监管增长的清算。
Molly was born on a Tuesday in October 2008.
莫莉出生于 2008 年 10 月的一个星期二。
Kaye and Jon Steinsapir say their daughter was a stubbornly benevolent force from day one.
凯伊和乔恩·斯坦萨皮尔说，他们的女儿从第一天起就是一股顽固的仁慈力量。
Parents project all sorts of superlatives onto their offspring, of course, but Molly’s credentials are strong.
当然，父母们都会把各种最高级的评价投射到他们的后代身上，但莫莉的资历很强大。
When she was 4, Molly decided to be a vegetarian.
四岁时，莫莉决定成为一名素食主义者。
Nobody at home or in her preschool suggested or encouraged the decision.
家里或她的幼儿园里没有人建议或鼓励这个决定。
“It happened as soon as she realized what meat was,” Kaye says, recalling that efforts to cajole Molly to occasionally eat fish were not successful.
“当她意识到肉是什么时，事情就发生了，”凯说，她回忆起哄莫莉偶尔吃鱼的努力并没有成功。
“She thought it was very cruel to eat animals.” Molly tried to proselytize for the cause with her good friends and refused to participate in fishing at summer camp because she believed hooks were barbaric, and from that point on she remained a vegetarian.
“她认为吃动物是非常残忍的。”莫莉试图与她的好朋友一起传教，并拒绝参加夏令营钓鱼，因为她认为鱼钩是野蛮的，从那时起，她就一直是素食主义者。
I am sitting with Kaye and Jon in the living room of their home in Pacific Palisades in August of 2022, and I can hear the bemused and reverential love in their voices as they tell stories of their daughter.
2022 年 8 月，我与凯和乔恩坐在他们位于太平洋帕利塞德的家的客厅里，当他们讲述女儿的故事时，我可以听到他们声音中困惑而崇敬的爱。
How she became preoccupied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the use of chemical weapons on innocent families.
她如何专注于叙利亚总统巴沙尔·阿萨德以及对无辜家庭使用化学武器的问题。
How she challenged Jon’s use of male pronouns to talk about God, and how when he held his ground, the kid called his mother to lobby the issue.
她如何挑战乔恩使用男性代词谈论上帝，以及当他坚持自己的立场时，孩子如何打电话给他的母亲游说这个问题。
(At Molly’s memorial service, Jon admitted that in the weeks of intense prayer that preceded his daughter’s death, he finally altered this practice, citing former Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter—“Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.”)
（在莫莉的追悼会上，乔恩承认，在女儿去世前几周的激烈祈祷中，他最终改变了这种做法，引用了前最高法院法官费利克斯法兰克福的话说：“智慧往往永远不会到来，因此人们不应该仅仅因为它来得太晚而拒绝它。”）
In third grade, Molly and her classmates were told to prepare a report on a great American.
三年级时，莫莉和她的同学被要求准备一份关于一位伟大的美国人的报告。
Most kids chose the obvious classics—Washington and Lincoln and Jefferson, Jackie Robinson and Martin Luther King Jr. Molly took a deep dive into the life of Deborah Sampson, the first woman to fight in the U.S. military.
大多数孩子都会选择明显的经典作品——《华盛顿》、《林肯》、《杰斐逊》、《杰基·罗宾逊》和《小马丁·路德·金》。莫莉深入了解了美国第一位女军人黛博拉·桑普森的生活。
Molly vividly described how Sampson dressed as a man, fought bravely in the American Revolution until shot and injured, and how she was initially denied a pension because she was a woman.
莫莉生动地描述了桑普森如何打扮成男人，如何在美国独立战争中英勇作战直至中枪受伤，以及她最初如何因为自己是女性而被剥夺养老金。
Jon, who describes himself as a history buff, recalls a conversation he and Kaye had with Molly’s teacher after that—each of them had assumed that one of the others suggested the topic.
乔恩自称是一名历史爱好者，他回忆起他和凯伊之后与莫莉的老师进行的一次谈话——他们每个人都认为其他人提出了这个话题。
But none of them had heard of Deborah Sampson before.
但他们之前都没听说过黛博拉·桑普森。
Molly was serious about fun, too.
莫莉也很认真地对待乐趣。
She loved Disney movies and Broadway musicals.
她喜欢迪士尼电影和百老汇音乐剧。
She liked but didn’t love Taylor Swift.
她喜欢但不爱泰勒·斯威夫特。
She loved to bake and got pretty good at it during the pandemic.
她喜欢烘焙，并且在疫情期间做得非常好。
She liked to watch Shark Tank .
她喜欢看《创智赢家》。
She saw Hamilton in Chicago and knew the words to every song.
她在芝加哥见到了汉密尔顿，并且知道每首歌的歌词。
In fact, Molly loved to act and sing; it was one of her biggest passions.
事实上，莫莉喜欢表演和唱歌。这是她最大的爱好之一。
She played Princess Jasmine in a summer production of Aladdin and had roles in Peter Pan and Guys & Dolls .
她在暑期制作的《阿拉丁》中扮演茉莉公主，并在《彼得潘》和《红男绿女》中扮演角色。
Kaye also says that when Molly was in a play, she would memorize every character’s lines.
凯还说，莫莉演戏时，她会记住每个角色的台词。
“It was like a job for her,” Kaye says, as if she was ready to step in as the understudy for any role in the production.
“这对她来说就像是一份工作，”凯说，就好像她已经准备好作为剧中任何角色的替补。
Molly was perhaps most joyful at the beach, which was only a few minutes from home.
莫莉也许在海滩上最开心，那里离家只有几分钟的路程。
She was a strong swimmer and loved to boogie board and play in the surf.
她是一名游泳健将，喜欢冲浪板和冲浪。
“She was fearless in the ocean,” Kaye says.
“她在海洋中无所畏惧，”凯说。
Both of Molly’s parents pause.
莫莉的父母都停了下来。
“She was so cautious in everything,” Kaye says, her voice trailing off before she can finish the sentence.
“她凡事都非常谨慎，”凯说，话还没说完，她的声音就变小了。
“Except the ocean,” Jon continues.
“除了海洋，”乔恩继续说道。
“It was a place where she was very free and not scared.” The room is quiet for a moment after that.
“这是一个她非常自由、不害怕的地方。”此后房间内安静了片刻。
Molly had a sleepover the night before her fateful crash.
莫莉在发生致命事故的前一天晚上过夜。
The pandemic had in so many ways fundamentally altered the experience of young people.
这场大流行在很多方面从根本上改变了年轻人的经历。
Molly had been extremely excited about entering sixth grade in a new school—the Geffen Academy, an academics-intensive private school associated with UCLA—but she never got to attend a day of class in person.
莫莉对进入一所新学校——格芬学院，一所与加州大学洛杉矶分校相关的学术密集型私立学校——进入六年级感到非常兴奋，但她从未亲自去上课。
All of her classes were on Zoom.
她所有的课程都在 Zoom 上进行。
And so, when Molly was allowed to have her best friend, Eme, over for the night, it was a very big deal.
因此，当莫莉获准邀请她最好的朋友艾梅来过夜时，这是一件非常重要的事情。
Kaye let the girls make a giant mess in the kitchen as Molly showed her pal how to bake her Aunt Polly’s chocolate chip cookies from scratch.
凯让女孩们把厨房弄得一团糟，莫莉向她的朋友展示如何从头开始烘烤她波莉阿姨的巧克力饼干。
Kaye remembers standing next to the door of her daughter’s bedroom and hearing how excited the girls were to be together.
凯伊记得站在女儿卧室的门边，听到女儿们聚在一起有多兴奋。
She thought about whipping out her phone to record the joyful banter—a long-awaited sign of something like normalcy—but didn’t.
她想拿出手机记录下这段快乐的玩笑——这是期待已久的正常迹象——但她没有这么做。
In the morning the girls made another mess baking cinnamon rolls, and then sat in matching pajamas watching The Little Mermaid .
早上，女孩们又烤了肉桂卷，然后穿着相配的睡衣坐在一起看《小美人鱼》。
Kaye thought it was cute and snapped a photo with her phone and texted it to Eme’s mom, who’s a friend of hers.
凯觉得这很可爱，就用手机拍了一张照片，并发短信给埃梅的妈妈，她是她的朋友。
She replied that if at some point the girls wanted to ride Eme’s sister’s new electric bike (it was a bat mitzvah gift), they were welcome to walk over and use it.
她回答说，如果女孩们在某个时候想骑 Eme 姐姐的新电动自行车（这是一份成人礼礼物），欢迎她们走过去使用它。
The girls would eventually get dressed and do that, but for a long time they lingered in front of the TV in their pajamas.
女孩们最终会穿好衣服并这样做，但她们穿着睡衣在电视机前徘徊了很长一段时间。
After they got dressed and headed out, Kaye remembers drinking coffee and feeling good that the kids were getting outside on such a beautiful day.
他们穿好衣服出门后，凯伊记得喝了咖啡，孩子们在如此美好的一天外出，感觉很好。
Jon was playing with their dog, Calvin.
乔恩正在和他们的狗卡尔文玩耍。
Then the phone rang.
然后电话响了。
They both thought it was odd—the landline rang so infrequently, and most of the incoming calls were solicitors or random callers.
他们都觉得很奇怪——固定电话很少响，而且大多数打来的电话都是律师或随机打来的。
Nonetheless, Kaye picked up the phone.
尽管如此，凯还是拿起了电话。
On August 1, 2022—roughly 18 months after the crash that had killed their daughter—Jon and Kaye Steinsapir filed suit against Rad Power Bikes, citing product negligence, breach of warranty, strict product liability, and wrongful death.
2022 年 8 月 1 日，即导致女儿死亡的事故发生大约 18 个月后，Jon 和 Kaye Steinsapir 对 Rad Power Bikes 提起诉讼，理由是产品疏忽、违反保修、严格的产品责任和非正常死亡。
Bicycling has reviewed a copy of that complaint, and Rad has filed an answer denying any responsibility or wrongdoing.
Bicycling 已审查了该投诉的副本，Rad 已提交答复，否认有任何责任或不当行为。
The case is scheduled for late 2023.
此案定于 2023 年底审理。
(The family also sued the companies associated with the Giro helmet Molly was wearing, though it is not clear whether they have an interest in aggressively pursuing a grievance against Giro, Bell, and Vista Outdoor or if those entities were added to the complaint as a legal maneuver.
（该家族还起诉了与 Molly 佩戴的 Giro 头盔相关的公司，但尚不清楚他们是否有兴趣积极对 Giro、Bell 和 Vista Outdoor 提出申诉，或者这些实体是否作为一种法律手段被添加到投诉中。
The family and their attorneys would not comment on the matter.)
家人和他们的律师不会对此事发表评论。）
In a separate but related legal matter, the Steinsapirs entered into a settlement agreement in March 2022 with Eme’s family, the Greens, for $1.5 million.
在另一起单独但相关的法律案件中，Steinsapirs 家族于 2022 年 3 月与 Eme 的家人 Greens 达成了一项和解协议，金额为 150 万美元。
That settlement was challenged by Rad Power, which filed a cross-complaint against the Greens, alleging that they should be required to compensate the bike brand for a portion of any liability losses it might incur.
这项和解协议受到了 Rad Power 的质疑，该公司对绿党提出了交叉投诉，声称他们应该要求该自行车品牌赔偿其可能产生的部分责任损失。
But in December, the judge in the case approved the settlement, tossing aside Rad’s cross-complaint.
但去年 12 月，审理此案的法官批准了和解协议，驳回了拉德的交叉申诉。
The complaint that the Steinsapirs filed against Rad Power is a remarkably cinematic legal document, vividly recounting Molly’s life and death and itemizing a long list of allegations—about the defects of the e-bike Molly had been riding and about Rad Power’s culpability for the way it designed, manufactured, and marketed that bike.
Steinsapirs 对 Rad Power 提出的投诉是一份非常电影化的法律文件，生动地叙述了 Molly 的生与死，并列出了一长串指控——关于 Molly 所骑的电动自行车的缺陷，以及 Rad Power 对其设计、制造和营销该自行车的方式的责任。
(One experienced bicycle attorney had this to say about it: “In 50 years, I’ve not seen a complaint like that—it’s more like a novel than a complaint.
（一位经验丰富的自行车律师对此是这样评价的：“50 年来，我从未见过这样的投诉——它更像是一本小说，而不是投诉。
It’s a demand letter with a legal treatise.”)
这是一封附有法律论文的要求函。”）
The 34-page document is a bit circumspect about specific flaws or product failures that caused the crash that killed Molly, but it does allege major design problems with the RadRunner.
这份 34 页的文件对于导致莫莉死亡的事故的具体缺陷或产品故障有些谨慎，但它确实指出了 RadRunner 的重大设计问题。
First, the complaint alleges, the bike had an “unusually low” trail that would make it unstable at high speed.
首先，投诉称，这辆自行车的轨迹“异常低”，导致其在高速行驶时不稳定。
(“Trail” is a technical term that represents the horizontal distance from where a bike’s front wheel touches the ground to where the steering axis intersects the ground, a factor that influences the handling of a bike.) Second, the complaint asserts that Rad’s decision to outfit (or “spec,” in industry parlance) the RadRunner with a combination of disc brakes and quick-release axles is a “known safety hazard” that can cause wheels to wobble or even fall off during hard braking.
（“轨迹”是一个技术术语，表示从自行车前轮接触地面到转向轴与地面相交的水平距离，这是影响自行车操控性的一个因素。）其次，投诉称，Rad 决定为 RadRunner 配备盘式制动器和快速释放轴的组合（或“规格”，用行业术语来说）是一个“已知的安全隐患”，可能导致车轮在紧急制动时摇晃甚至脱落。
The complaint alleges that this is what happened in the crash that killed Molly.
诉状称，这就是导致莫莉死亡的事故中发生的情况。
The complaint also raises questions about the safety of the rear seat of the RadRunner and argues that Rad Power should be held liable for failing to take more action to discourage children from riding its products.
该投诉还提出了有关 RadRunner 后座安全的问题，并认为 Rad Power 应该为未能采取更多行动阻止儿童乘坐其产品而承担责任。
I shared the complaint with experienced product designers and executives in the e-bike and bicycle business, as well as attorneys with experience in bicycle liability cases.
我与电动自行车和自行车行业经验丰富的产品设计师和高管，以及具有自行车责任案件经验的律师分享了这一投诉。
The consensus was that some of these allegations were partially or completely off the mark as stated.
一致认为，其中一些指控部分或完全不符合事实。
But these same industry experts also expressed concerns that there are safety issues with the bike and many other low-cost direct-to-consumer e-bikes, and that as the litigation continued, these concerns would likely emerge in sharper relief.
但这些行业专家也表达了对自行车和许多其他低成本直接面向消费者的电动自行车存在安全问题的担忧，随着诉讼的继续，这些担忧可能会更加明显。
And in the end, the Steinsapirs assert, the objective of the initial complaint is not to definitively answer the question of exactly what went wrong with the bike; that will happen in the discovery phase, into which the case has now proceeded.
最后，Steinsapirs 断言，最初投诉的目的并不是要明确回答自行车到底出了什么问题；而是要明确地回答问题。这将发生在证据开示阶段，案件现已进入该阶段。
“The complaint’s description of the quick release loosening due to interaction with the disc brake use is novel, and probably wrong—I can’t think of how that would happen in normal use,” says legendary bike engineer Keith Bontrager, who read the document.
阅读该文件的传奇自行车工程师基思·邦特拉格 (Keith Bontrager) 表示：“投诉中对由于与盘式制动器使用相互作用而导致的快速释放松动的描述很新颖，而且可能是错误的，我无法想象在正常使用中会发生这种情况。”
“It is not clear what specific chain of events led to the loss of control, whether it was a mechanical failure or rider error.
“目前尚不清楚到底是哪一系列事件导致了失控，是机械故障还是骑手失误。
From the limited information available, it does not seem like the front wheel separated from the fork.”
从现有的有限信息来看，前轮与前叉似乎并没有分离。”
But then he addresses the other side.
但随后他又向另一方讲话。
“I see hundreds of kids using these bikes,” says Bontrager, who lives in the Bay Area.
“我看到数百名孩子使用这些自行车，”住在湾区的邦特拉格说。
“There’s always a temptation to spec a quick release, and in this case I think it’s a really bad idea.
“总是有人想要快速发布规范，但在这种情况下，我认为这是一个非常糟糕的主意。
It’s a marginal specification.
这是一个边际规格。
I don’t think Rad is to blame for those kids riding up and down that hill.
我不认为拉德应该为那些孩子们在山上骑上骑下的行为负责。
But, based on the number of kids riding the bikes, the company probably knew they were getting into risky territory.
但是，根据骑自行车的孩子数量，该公司可能知道他们正在进入危险领域。
And I think Rad Power is massively exposed by the use of these bikes by kids.
我认为孩子们使用这些自行车会大量暴露辐射能量。
I don’t know how they can prevent that, but it seems fairly clear that they haven’t tried very hard.”
我不知道他们如何才能阻止这种情况，但很明显他们并没有非常努力。”
Peter Wilborn, a Florida-based attorney and founder of the Bike Law Network, has a similar view.
佛罗里达州律师兼自行车法律网络创始人彼得威尔伯恩也有类似的观点。
“It’s clear to me from the complaint that the family’s attorneys are trying really hard to assert that there’s something specifically wrong with the bike,” he says.
“从投诉中我可以清楚地看出，这家人的律师非常努力地断言这辆自行车确实存在问题，”他说。
“But if they knew something specific, it would be in the complaint.” Wilborn adds that he still thinks everyone, parents included, should be concerned about the impact of children riding throttle-powered e-bikes.
“但如果他们知道具体的事情，就会在投诉中写出来。”威尔伯恩补充说，他仍然认为每个人，包括父母，都应该关心孩子们骑油门电动自行车的影响。
“I don’t think the bike’s trail had anything to do with what happened.
“我不认为自行车的轨迹与所发生的事情有任何关系。
But the bike likely uses OEM parts [“original equipment manufacturer,” or parts made by another company] that are safe on a bike one-third the weight, but not designed for a much heavier, motorized bike.
但自行车可能使用 OEM 零件（“原始设备制造商”或另一家公司制造的零件），这些零件在重量仅为三分之一的自行车上是安全的，但不适用于更重的机动自行车。
Rad doesn’t appear to have broken a law, and can assert they don’t have to be held to a higher standard than the law.
拉德似乎没有违反法律，并且可以断言他们不必遵守高于法律的标准。
But I would ask Rad, ‘What do you think about how kids are using your product, and what are you doing to address that?’”
但我会问拉德，‘你对孩子们如何使用你的产品有何看法？你正在采取哪些措施来解决这个问题？’”
The complaint alleges that Rad Power Bikes has been negligent in failing to do more to discourage children from using its products—asserting, in fact, that the company has tacitly marketed to young people and their parents.
投诉称，Rad Power Bikes 疏忽大意，未能采取更多措施阻止儿童使用其产品，事实上，该公司已默认向年轻人及其父母进行营销。
The complaint notes that the owner’s manual for the model Molly was on states that “the RadRunner is designed for use by persons 18 years old and older,” but that “this caution occurs in small print on page 49 of a 57-page manual.” The complaint also alleges that the company’s website is full of “glowing reviews from adults who have written about buying Rad e-bikes for their children,” quoting a number of reviews from people talking about children younger than Molly having fun riding Rad e-bikes.
投诉指出，Molly 所用型号的用户手册指出“RadRunner 专为 18 岁及以上人士使用而设计”，但“这一警告以小字形式出现在 57 页手册的第 49 页上。”投诉还称，该公司的网站上充斥着“成年人写的关于为孩子购买 Rad 电动自行车的热情洋溢的评论”，并引用了一些人们的评论，谈论比 Molly 小的孩子骑 Rad 电动自行车的乐趣。
Just to be clear, children under the age of 16 are prohibited by California law from piloting a Class 3 e-bike, which can reach 28 miles per hour, but presently no age restrictions exist for riding Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes like the RadRunner that Eme and Molly were on.
需要明确的是，加州法律禁止 16 岁以下的儿童驾驶时速可达 28 英里的 3 级电动自行车，但目前 Eme 和 Molly 所骑的 RadRunner 等 1 级和 2 级电动自行车没有年龄限制。
So Rad Power is not violating any laws in this case, even accepting the Steinsapirs’ argument that Rad Power marketed its products to minors.
因此，Rad Power 在本案中并没有违反任何法律，甚至接受了 Steinsapirs 的论点，即 Rad Power 向未成年人推销其产品。
But surely company officials now know that young riders have fueled a big chunk of the brand’s growth, and in the absence of new laws or regulations about who can use Rad’s products, several industry and legal experts I talked to questioned whether Rad has a “duty of care”—a legal term denoting a party’s obligation to use reasonable care to avoid injuring people—to either make its bikes safer for young riders or to discourage them from riding e-bikes.
但公司官员现在肯定知道，年轻骑手为该品牌的增长做出了很大贡献，而且在没有关于谁可以使用 Rad 产品的新法律或法规的情况下，我采访过的几位行业和法律专家质疑 Rad 是否有“注意义务”（一个法律术语，表示一方有义务采取合理的谨慎措施以避免伤害人员），以使其自行车对年轻骑手来说更安全，或者阻止他们骑电动自行车。
“The end user [for Rad] is an affluent teenager who might not have a ton of riding experience,” says Hong Quan, founder of the e-bike brand Karmic.
“[Rad] 的最终用户是富裕的青少年，他们可能没有丰富的骑行经验，”电动自行车品牌 Karmic 的创始人 Hong Quan 说道。
“I’d like to ask Mike [Radenbaugh] if he’s concerned that his product is not designed for them.”
“我想问迈克 [Radenbaugh] 是否担心他的产品不是为他们设计的。”
Rad Power representatives did not respond to my repeated requests for an interview but ultimately offered a statement regarding this case.
Rad Power 代表没有回应我一再提出的采访请求，但最终提供了有关此案的声明。
“The entire Rad Power Bikes team extends its deepest condolences to the Steinsapir family on the tragic loss of Molly Steinsapir.
“整个 Rad Power Bikes 团队就莫莉·斯坦萨皮尔 (Molly Steinsapir) 的不幸去世向 Steinsapir 家族致以最深切的哀悼。
We are aware of the lawsuit that the family has filed.
我们知道该家庭已提起的诉讼。
Rad Power Bikes does not comment on pending litigation, including this case, and therefore has no comment on the allegations in their complaint or the underlying accident.”
Rad Power Bikes 不对未决诉讼（包括本案）发表评论，因此对其投诉中的指控或潜在事故不发表评论。”
(Mike Radenbaugh announced in November 2022 that he was stepping down as CEO to focus on e-bike advocacy and innovation.
（Mike Radenbaugh 于 2022 年 11 月宣布辞去首席执行官职务，专注于电动自行车的倡导和创新。
In a letter to customers on January 24, 2023, the new CEO, Phil Molyneux, said: “As a young company, we recognize that we have made mistakes.
在 2023 年 1 月 24 日致客户的一封信中，新任首席执行官 Phil Molyneux 表示：“作为一家年轻的公司，我们认识到我们犯了错误。
Now we are dedicated to learning from them.”)
现在我们致力于向他们学习。”）
For pretty obvious reasons, the complaint does not address the Steinsapirs’ own responsibilities in this horribly tragic case.
出于相当明显的原因，该投诉并未涉及斯坦萨皮尔在这起可怕的悲惨案件中自己的责任。
They didn’t purchase an e-bike for their daughter and were not aware of any specific or general reasons why Molly should have refused an invitation to ride on her friend’s sister’s bike.
他们没有为女儿购买电动自行车，也不知道莫莉应该拒绝骑她朋友姐姐的自行车的邀请的任何具体或一般原因。
“My heart is broken for them,” says attorney Wilborn.
“我为他们感到心碎，”律师威尔伯恩说。
“No one has thought through the consequences of young kids essentially driving heavy, difficult-to-control, throttle-powered e-bikes.
“没有人考虑过年幼的孩子驾驶笨重、难以控制、油门驱动的电动自行车的后果。
When I grew up, the consequences of kids free-ranging on bikes were things like skinned knees or a broken bone, but now the repercussions have been multiplied.”
在我长大的时候，孩子们自由骑自行车的后果是膝盖擦伤或骨折，但现在影响已经成倍增加。”
“It’s terrible what happened,” says Joshua Hon, founder of Tern bicycles, a longtime leader in the higher-end e-bike market.
“发生的事情太可怕了，”Tern Bicycles 的创始人 Joshua Hon 说，Tern Bicycles 是高端电动自行车市场的长期领导者。
“An 11-year-old should never be coming down that road on that bike.
“一个 11 岁的孩子绝对不应该骑那辆自行车沿着那条路走。
The parents shouldn’t have allowed it to happen.
父母不应该允许这样的事情发生。
There has to be user responsibility, too.
用户也必须承担责任。
If a 12-year-old gets into my car and rolls it down the hill and gets into an accident, well, that’s a user error.
如果一个 12 岁的孩子钻进我的车并将车滚下山并发生事故，那么，这就是用户错误。
That’s not, ‘Hey, my 12-year-old couldn’t control the car and that’s the car manufacturer’s fault.’” That said, Hon notes that Tern’s current policy regarding this issue is to simply advise customers to follow the laws in their city and state, but that the company is presently reexamining this position in light of litigation like that brought by the Steinsapirs.
这并不是说，‘嘿，我 12 岁的孩子无法控制汽车，这是汽车制造商的错。’”话虽如此，Hon 指出，Tern 目前在这个问题上的政策只是建议客户遵守所在城市和州的法律，但该公司目前正在根据 Steinsapirs 提起的诉讼重新审查这一立场。
Kaye and Jon Steinsapir understandably bristle at the suggestion that they should be held responsible for what happened to Molly.
凯和乔恩·斯坦萨皮尔对他们应该对莫莉的遭遇负责的建议感到愤怒，这是可以理解的。
“The failure to warn is really significant in a situation like this,” says Kaye, who says she didn’t even really know what an e-bike was at the time and that she’d frequently seen other kids even younger using similar bikes in the same manner.
凯说：“在这种情况下，未能发出警告确实很重要。”她说，她当时甚至不知道电动自行车是什么，而且她经常看到其他更年轻的孩子以同样的方式使用类似的自行车。
“One thing that many people don’t fundamentally understand is that consumer product safety in this country happens in response to tragedies and failures.
“许多人没有从根本上理解的一件事是，这个国家的消费品安全是由于悲剧和失败而发生的。
And it doesn’t happen at the outset, because as a country we have decided we value entrepreneurship and business and letting people just go to market, and then we find out if the thing is safe or not as it is sold and marketed and used.”
这并不是一开始就发生的，因为作为一个国家，我们决定重视创业和商业，让人们进入市场，然后我们会在产品被销售、营销和使用时发现它是否安全。”
As previously noted, the Steinsapirs’ legal complaint alleges that the manual for the RadRunner contained one sentence—in small type on the 49th page of the large booklet—stating that “the RadRunner is designed for use by persons 18 years or older.” That language has since been changed.
如前所述，Steinsapirs 的法律诉讼称，RadRunner 的手册中包含一句话（在大手册第 49 页上以小字体显示），指出“RadRunner 专为 18 岁或以上人士使用而设计”。该语言已被更改。
Now the manual’s first interior page bears this warning: “This ebike is not to be operated by anyone under the age of 16.”
现在，该手册的第一内页上有这样的警告：“该电动自行车不得由 16 岁以下的任何人操作。”
Rad Power declined to comment on when the change was made or how the company might communicate this position to potential consumers, but it did offer a related statement.
Rad Power 拒绝就这一变化何时做出或该公司如何向潜在消费者传达这一立场发表评论，但它确实提供了相关声明。
“Rad’s stance has always been that its ebikes should not be operated by anyone under the age of 16 (some previous models were at least 18 years old), and the appropriate age warnings have always appeared in all of the owner’s manuals,” a company rep stated.
“Rad 的立场始终是，其电动自行车不应该由 16 岁以下的任何人操作（之前的一些车型至少有 18 岁），并且适当的年龄警告始终出现在所有车主手册中，”公司代表表示。
“Rad Power Bikes’ ebike is not to be operated by anyone under the age of 16.
“Rad Power Bikes 的电动自行车不得由 16 岁以下的任何人操作。
Children under the age of 16 may lack the necessary judgment and skill to safely operate the ebike, potentially resulting in damage to the bike, damage to other property, serious injury, and/or death.”
16 岁以下的儿童可能缺乏安全操作电动自行车所需的判断力和技能，可能会导致自行车损坏、其他财产损坏、严重受伤和/或死亡。”
I suppose this is an appropriate moment to share that I have two RadRunners sitting in my garage.
我想现在是时候分享我的车库里有两台 RadRunner。
I bought one in August 2020 for my older son, who was 15 at the time, and I had a good enough impression of the bike to purchase another one soon thereafter for my younger son, then 14.
我于 2020 年 8 月为当时 15 岁的大儿子购买了一辆，我对这辆自行车印象很好，不久之后又为当时 14 岁的小儿子购买了另一辆。
I assembled both bikes on the back patio.
我在后院组装了两辆自行车。
I live in a suburban beach community in Los Angeles County, and in the past few years, DTC (direct-to-consumer) e-bikes like those made by Rad Power have become a de facto mode of transportation for kids between the ages of 11 and 16.
我住在洛杉矶县的一个郊区海滩社区，在过去的几年里，像 Rad Power 生产的 DTC（直接面向消费者）电动自行车已成为 11 至 16 岁儿童事实上的交通方式。
The RadRunner appears to be the most popular e-bike in this category by a wide margin—kids like the low-slung design, and parents like the classy but playful marketing as well as the wallet-friendly price.
RadRunner 似乎是该类别中最受欢迎的电动自行车，遥遥领先——孩子们喜欢低矮的设计，父母喜欢优雅但有趣的营销以及实惠的价格。
I was aware that certain compromises were made to hit that price point, but I initially felt it was a solid and extremely fun bike for the money.
我知道为了达到这个价格点而做出了某些妥协，但我最初觉得这是一辆坚固且非常有趣的自行车，物有所值。
For the record, I think e-bikes are one of the more transformative products to come along in our lifetime.
根据记录，我认为电动自行车是我们一生中最具变革性的产品之一。
They exponentially expand the number of people who can get around on a bicycle.
它们成倍地增加了可以骑自行车出行的人数。
They are fun to ride and useful—able to reduce peoples’ dependence on driving, which helps fix complicated problems like traffic congestion and bad air quality.
它们骑行起来很有趣，而且很有用——能够减少人们对驾驶的依赖，这有助于解决交通拥堵和空气质量差等复杂问题。
In short, I think e-bikes can help change the world for the better.
简而言之，我认为电动自行车可以帮助世界变得更美好。
Still, I’ve learned the hard way that not all e-bikes are created equal.
尽管如此，我还是惨痛地认识到，并非所有电动自行车都是一样的。
Roughly a month after my younger son got his RadRunner, he mentioned that the brakes weren’t working so well.
我的小儿子得到 RadRunner 大约一个月后，他提到刹车效果不太好。
I went out to the garage and discovered that I could easily squeeze both brake levers all the way to the handlebar grips—meaning the brakes weren’t working at all.
我走到车库，发现我可以轻松地将两个刹车杆一直挤压到车把把手，这意味着刹车根本不起作用。
But I know that the cables on new bikes can stretch, so I did some googling and watched a couple of very useful YouTube maintenance videos that Rad Power had produced.
但我知道新自行车上的电缆可以拉伸，所以我做了一些谷歌搜索并观看了 Rad Power 制作的一些非常有用的 YouTube 维护视频。
Then I made a few adjustments to get the disc brakes back in seemingly perfect working order.
然后我做了一些调整，让盘式制动器恢复到看似完美的工作状态。
But a couple of weeks later, I saw my son dragging his sneakers on the ground to help stop the bike and found that the brakes were once again useless.
但几周后，我看到儿子拖着运动鞋在地上帮忙停车，却发现刹车又没用了。
Thus began a regular cadence of brake repair.
就这样开始了定期的刹车修理。
I make a point of inspecting and adjusting my kids’ brakes every two or three weeks.
我每隔两到三周就检查和调整孩子们的刹车。
In two years I have purchased more than 10 sets of brake pads.
两年内我购买了十多套刹车片。
I bought and installed Kevlar pads, which are more durable, and I also brought the bikes into a few shops to see if their mechanics could address the issue better than I could.
我购买并安装了更耐用的凯夫拉垫，我还将自行车带到了几家商店，看看他们的机械师是否可以比我更好地解决这个问题。
(Neither effort fixed the problem.) Perhaps because I’m an experienced bike rider, I felt a great deal of concern about the situation, knowing that I live in a community with steep hills and busy streets and worrying about my kids being suddenly confronted with a braking failure.
（这两种努力都没有解决问题。）也许因为我是一名经验丰富的自行车骑手，所以我对这种情况感到非常担忧，因为我知道我住在一个山势陡峭、街道繁忙的社区，担心我的孩子突然遇到制动故障。
Then I started talking to my neighbors.
然后我开始和邻居交谈。
During the pandemic, hundreds of teenagers in my community took to the streets on RadRunners and other inexpensive DTC e-bikes with mechanical disc brakes, and I discovered that many of them were having similar issues.
疫情期间，我所在社区的数百名青少年骑着 RadRunner 和其他配备机械盘式制动器的廉价 DTC 电动自行车走上街头，我发现他们中的许多人都遇到了类似的问题。
Some parents were clued into the problem and were either scheduling regular maintenance with local shops or learning how to make the fixes at home, while others had no idea that their kids were riding heavy electric bikes that couldn’t stop properly without frequent maintenance.
一些家长意识到了这个问题，要么在当地商店安排定期维护，要么学习如何在家修理，而另一些家长则不知道他们的孩子骑着重型电动自行车，如果不经常维护，这些自行车就无法正常停止。
I started a thread on Nextdoor with a summary of the problem and how to address it, and soon I was DMing with parents who wanted tips on barrel and caliper adjustments.
我在 Nextdoor 上开了一个帖子，总结了这个问题以及如何解决它，很快我就通过私信联系了那些想要调整枪管和卡钳的建议的家长。
One of my neighbors—his name is Ezra Holland and he lives about five blocks from me—says that almost immediately he started noticing disturbing braking issues with the RadRunner he purchased early in 2022.
我的一位邻居（他的名字叫埃兹拉·霍兰（Ezra Holland），住在离我大约五个街区的地方）说，他几乎立刻就开始注意到他在 2022 年初购买的 RadRunner 出现了令人不安的制动问题。
Two or three weeks after he got it, Holland, an experienced road cyclist, noticed that the responsiveness of the brakes was poor, and he decided to remedy the problem by tightening the cables that run from the levers to the calipers.
拿到它两三周后，经验丰富的公路自行车手霍兰德注意到刹车的响应能力很差，他决定通过拉紧从操纵杆到卡钳的电缆来解决这个问题。
But he learned that this only bought him a few weeks, and that after tightening those cables a few times, one of the calipers clicked into a different position where there was zero braking action.
但他了解到，这只为他赢得了几周的时间，并且在拉紧这些电缆几次后，其中一个卡钳卡入了另一个制动作用为零的位置。
“That is pretty scary,” he says.
“这非常可怕，”他说。
Thus began a year of education, vigilance, maintenance, and communication with Rad.
就这样开始了一年的教育、警惕、维护和与拉德的沟通。
Holland now buys pads in bulk on Amazon; he checks and adjusts both calipers every two weeks, always on alert for a failure.
Holland 现在在亚马逊上批量购买卫生巾；他每两周检查并调整两个卡尺，时刻警惕故障。
He’s experienced the rear brake fail going downhill and is especially concerned about that happening while his 17-year-old is using the bike.
他在下坡时经历过后刹车失灵的情况，尤其担心他 17 岁的孩子在使用自行车时发生这种情况。
Rad has sent him new brakes and new pads, but Holland says that in his ongoing phone calls with the brand, customer service reps and supervisors have told him that other customers aren’t experiencing braking issues like he has.
拉德给他寄来了新的刹车和新的刹车片，但霍兰德说，在他与该品牌的持续电话中，客户服务代表和主管告诉他，其他客户没有遇到像他这样的刹车问题。
But he alone knows a half dozen friends and neighbors struggling with the same problems.
但只有他一个人认识六位朋友和邻居，他们也面临着同样的问题。
“I just got to a point where I started questioning my own thinking, because they keep saying I’m wrong,” he says.
“我开始质疑自己的想法，因为他们一直说我错了，”他说。
“I start thinking that maybe I’m just making a fuss here for no reason.
“我开始想，也许我只是无缘无故地在这里小题大做。
Which I think is not fair, because I think it’s not true.”
我认为这不公平，因为我认为这不是真的。”
Holland says that in his most recent exchange with Rad customer service, the rep emailed him that it is “not uncommon” for owners to adjust their brakes “every couple of hundred miles or so.” Which in his case would be every few weeks.
Holland 表示，在他最近与 Rad 客户服务部的交流中，该代表通过电子邮件向他表示，车主“每隔几百英里左右”调整一次刹车的情况“并不少见”。对他来说，每隔几周就会有一次。
“That’s totally unreasonable,” he says, adding that the same rep urged him not to explore swapping out the mechanical disc brakes on the bike for hydraulic brakes for safety reasons.
“这完全不合理，”他说，并补充说，出于安全原因，同一位代表敦促他不要尝试将自行车上的机械盘式制动器更换为液压制动器。
“I found that hilarious.”
“我觉得这很搞笑。”
As I dug a little deeper, I talked to some Rad Power owners who’d had bad crashes and felt that issues with their e-bike were to blame.
当我更深入地挖掘时，我与一些发生过严重车祸的 Rad Power 车主交谈，并认为电动自行车的问题是罪魁祸首。
Though I am not aware of any studies concerning the frequency of these crashes, the anecdotes stuck with me.
尽管我不知道有任何关于这些事故发生频率的研究，但这些轶事却让我印象深刻。
The complaints I heard fell into two categories—people who say they suddenly lost braking power and crashed, and people who say their front wheel came off the bike as they were riding it.
我听到的抱怨分为两类：人们说他们突然失去了制动力并撞车了，还有人说他们的前轮在骑自行车时从自行车上脱落了。
In other words, potential issues with the mechanical disc brakes or with the quick-release mechanism on the bike.
换句话说，机械盘式制动器或自行车上的快速释放机构存在潜在问题。
Tawny Redford and her daughter were riding Rad Power e-bikes in the posh L.A.
Tawny Redford 和她的女儿在豪华的洛杉矶骑着 Rad Power 电动自行车。
neighborhood of Bel Air this past July.
去年七月，贝莱尔 (Bel Air) 社区。
She says they rode all the way to the top of Bel Air Road and soaked in the sweeping canyon views.
她说，他们一路骑行到贝莱尔路的顶端，沉浸在一览无余的峡谷景色中。
Redford says she even joked with her daughter about the worst-case scenario: “Wouldn’t it be crazy if your brakes went out [on the way down]?” But that’s exactly what she says happened.
雷德福说，她甚至和女儿开玩笑说最坏的情况是：“如果你的刹车失灵了，那不是很疯狂吗？”但这正是她所说的发生的事情。
“I had both hands on the brakes and they went from working to not working,” says Redford, who often rides hilly terrain near her home in Laguna Niguel and says her husband checked the brakes frequently.
雷德福经常在尼古湖的家附近的丘陵地带骑行，她说她的丈夫经常检查刹车。
With the bike picking up speed and the brakes inoperable, Redford tried to intentionally crash into a grassy plot backed by a fence.
随着自行车加速且刹车失灵，雷德福试图故意撞向栅栏后面的草地。
She estimates she was traveling 25 to 30 miles per hour and says her front wheel was wobbling.
她估计自己的行驶速度是每小时 25 到 30 英里，并说她的前轮在摇晃。
She landed on her back and hit a drainpipe and wound up with her back fractured in three places, a broken rib, a bad case of PTSD, and almost $40,000 in medical bills (before insurance).
她仰面着地，撞到排水管，导致背部三处骨折、肋骨骨折、严重的创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）以及近 40,000 美元的医疗费用（保险前）。
Now her daughter, 14, doesn’t ride her Rad e-bike to school anymore.
现在，她 14 岁的女儿不再骑她的 Rad 电动自行车上学。
“She has to go down a steep hill on a dirt trail every day to ride to school,” Redford says.
“她每天必须沿着土路走下陡峭的山坡才能骑车去学校，”雷德福说。
“I’m not sure these bikes are great for any age if the brakes don’t work.”
“如果刹车不起作用，我不确定这些自行车是否适合任何年龄段。”
“I had to go through some personal therapy,” she adds, noting that she began to have panic attacks for the first time in her life.
“我必须接受一些个人治疗，”她补充道，并指出她有生以来第一次开始出现恐慌症。
“I was worried about braking even in a car.”
“即使在汽车里，我也担心刹车。”
David Ng asserts that he had a bad crash after the front wheel of his Rad bike came off.
David Ng 声称，他的 Rad 自行车前轮脱落后发生了严重车祸。
He was riding on a bike trail in Washington, D.C., on a nearly new RadMini Step-Thru—he says it was two weeks old and had maybe 70 miles on it.
当时他正在华盛顿特区的一条自行车道上骑着一辆几乎全新的 RadMini Step-Thru，他说这辆车已经用了两周，行驶了大约 70 英里。
Ng says he built the bike himself.
吴说这辆自行车是他自己制造的。
“I’m a software engineer,” he says.
“我是一名软件工程师，”他说。
“I read the instructions and followed directions.
“我阅读了说明并遵循了指示。
It felt like everything was tightened properly.” In any case, as he was riding on the path, he went down a dip, and maybe 15 seconds later the front of the bike plunged to the ground as the fork scraped on the pavement.
感觉好像一切都被适当地收紧了。”无论如何，当他在路上骑行时，他陷入了下坡，大约 15 秒后，由于前叉在人行道上刮擦，自行车的前部跌落到地面。
The front wheel rolled off into the woods as he continued along the trail.
当他继续沿着小路前进时，前轮滚进了树林里。
Ng says the nut for the quick release came off and he never found it.
吴说，快速释放装置的螺母脱落了，但他从未找到过。
In the ensuing crash, the handlebar hit him in the groin area.
在随后的事故中，车把击中了他的腹股沟区域。
Ng says he wound up with injuries to his femoral artery and may have to take blood thinners for the rest of his life.
吴说，他的股动脉受伤，可能不得不终生服用血液稀释剂。
“It feels like a safety issue,” he says.
“这感觉像是一个安全问题，”他说。
“They should change their design.
“他们应该改变他们的设计。
I’m a little salty about it.”
我对此有点咸。”
Brody Darlington was only 11 when he crashed.
布罗迪·达林顿 (Brody Darlington) 坠机时年仅 11 岁。
He was staying with his grandparents near Coos Bay, Oregon, and hit the ground when the front wheel of one of their RadRunners came off on a quiet paved road.
他当时和祖父母住在俄勒冈州库斯湾附近，当他们的一辆 RadRunner 的前轮在一条安静的柏油路上脱落时，他摔倒在地。
He had to take a 90-minute ambulance ride and then a Life Flight helicopter to a hospital in Eugene where he underwent surgery to relieve pressure beneath his cracked skull.
他必须乘坐 90 分钟的救护车，然后乘坐 Life Flight 直升机前往尤金的一家医院，在那里他接受了手术，以缓解破裂的头骨下方的压力。
He needed a second Life Flight to Portland, where he spent his recovery.
他需要第二次生命飞行前往波特兰，在那里他度过了康复期。
Darlington is out of the woods now, but his grandmother, Jane, says he couldn’t run or play contact sports for six months.
达灵顿现在已经脱离困境，但他的祖母简说他有六个月无法跑步或进行接触性运动。
“To see him with breathing tubes was terrifying,” she says.
“看到他戴着呼吸管真是太可怕了，”她说。
To be sure, it is unclear what caused these and other crashes.
可以肯定的是，目前还不清楚是什么原因导致了这些事故和其他事故。
Some could simply be user error on the part of inexperienced riders who are not prepared to stop or control a heavy bike going fast.
有些可能只是缺乏经验的骑手的用户错误，他们不准备停止或控制快速行驶的重型自行车。
Some could be because of errors made in the assembly or maintenance of the bikes—although it’s worth noting that allowing consumers to circumvent professional assembly and regular maintenance is part of the DTC e-bike business model.
有些可能是由于自行车组装或维护过程中出现的错误造成的——尽管值得注意的是，允许消费者规避专业组装和定期维护是 DTC 电动自行车商业模式的一部分。
Braking failures could be caused by an owner’s failure to replace pads or adjust cables when needed.
制动故障可能是由于车主未能在需要时更换刹车片或调整电缆造成的。
A quick-release failure could be caused by someone putting on a wheel improperly.
快速释放故障可能是由于某人安装车轮不当造成的。
But then again, many of these crashes could have been caused by the failure or inadequacy of inexpensive components—a flimsy bushing in the quick release, for instance, or cheap pads that won’t last long when stopping a 65-pound bike that often goes 20 miles an hour.
但话又说回来，许多撞车事故可能是由于廉价部件的故障或不足造成的——例如，快速释放装置中的脆弱衬套，或者廉价的刹车片，在停止一辆时速为 20 英里的 65 磅自行车时，无法持续很长时间。
Trying to definitively tease out the cause of these issues may be pretty contentious, but trying to understand the implications of these issues is pretty stark.
试图明确地找出这些问题的原因可能会引起很大争议，但试图理解这些问题的含义却是相当明显的。
My neighbor, Ezra Holland, related a story from a recent drive near home.
我的邻居埃兹拉·霍兰德（Ezra Holland）讲述了最近在我家附近开车时发生的一个故事。
“I watched two girls on a Rad e-bike ride downhill through a stop sign at an intersection and almost get run over, and then repeat the same thing at the next intersection,” he recalls.
“我看到两个女孩骑着 Rad 电动自行车下坡穿过十字路口的停车标志，差点被碾死，然后在下一个十字路口重复同样的事情，”他回忆道。
“So I pulled over and stopped them and said, ‘Do you realize how dangerous what you’re doing is?’ And their answer to me was, ‘We don’t know what to do—our brakes don’t work.’”
“所以我把车停在路边，拦住他们，问他们，‘你们知道你们所做的事情有多危险吗？’他们对我的回答是，‘我们不知道该怎么办——我们的刹车不起作用。’”
After spending more than an hour with me celebrating the life of their daughter, Jon and Kaye Steinsapir are ready to talk about the day Molly crashed.
在和我一起度过了一个多小时庆祝他们女儿的生活后，乔恩和凯·斯坦萨皮尔准备谈论莫莉坠机的那天。
Late afternoon light is streaming into the living room of their home in the Pacific Palisades; their dog, Calvin, is barking his head off in the yard because he wants to be inside.
午后的阳光洒进他们位于太平洋帕利塞兹的家的客厅；他们的狗卡尔文在院子里狂吠，因为他想呆在里面。
The air feels still, quiet, heavy.
空气感觉静止、安静、沉重。
Jon gets up and paces around the room for a minute, then sits back down.
乔恩站起来，在房间里踱步了一分钟，然后又坐下来。
Kaye describes answering the landline that morning.
凯描述了那天早上接听固定电话的情况。
Eme’s mom was calling; she said they needed to come over right away, that the girls had crashed on the bike, that they should bring the car.
艾梅的妈妈打来电话；她说他们需要马上过来，女孩们骑自行车摔坏了，他们应该把车开过来。
That was odd because the Greens lived only five or six houses up the street.
这很奇怪，因为绿党只住在街上的五六栋房子里。
So Kaye and Jon jumped in the car and drove to the house.
于是凯和乔恩跳上车，开往房子。
Two of Eme’s siblings were standing in the driveway, crying.
艾梅的两个兄弟姐妹站在车道上哭泣。
They said to keep driving uphill.
他们说继续上坡。
Then the Steinsapirs heard sirens and saw a fire truck and an ambulance racing up the street.
然后斯坦萨皮人听到了警报声，看到一辆消防车和一辆救护车在街上疾驰。
They followed the emergency vehicles, winding up increasingly steep hills toward the top of Enchanted Way.
他们跟随紧急车辆，蜿蜒爬上越来越陡峭的山坡，到达魔法之路的山顶。
Jon says that Kaye was “freaking out” and he tried to tell her not to worry.
乔恩说凯“吓坏了”，他试图告诉她不要担心。
He was thinking maybe she had a broken leg or something.
他在想她的腿可能断了或者什么的。
Then they got to the scene and saw Molly lying face down in the street, her turquoise helmet still strapped to her chin.
然后他们到达现场，看到莫莉脸朝下躺在街上，她的绿松石头盔仍然绑在下巴上。
Kaye got out of the car and sprinted to her daughter.
凯下了车，冲向女儿。
Jon admits that he froze.
乔恩承认他愣住了。
“I just couldn’t,” he says.
“我就是做不到，”他说。
“I just took out my phone and tried to call my mom.
“我刚刚拿出手机，想给妈妈打电话。
It’s like primal, you know—you want your mom.”
这就像原始的，你知道的——你想要你的妈妈。”
“And the mom, of course, is the one that runs right in,” Kaye says, as she and Jon share a smile.
“当然，妈妈是直接跑进来的，”凯说，她和乔恩微笑着。
The paramedics worked very carefully on Molly, who was not conscious, and eventually moved her onto a gurney and then into the ambulance.
医护人员对失去知觉的莫莉进行了非常仔细的治疗，最终将她转移到轮床上，然后送进救护车。
One of the paramedics rode in the back with Molly, so Kaye had to sit up front.
一名护理人员和莫莉一起坐在后面，所以凯不得不坐在前面。
She remembers snapping at the driver after he asked her to help him figure out the fastest route to UCLA Medical Center.
她记得当司机要求她帮他找到去加州大学洛杉矶分校医疗中心的最快路线后，她对司机厉声斥责。
But there she was, pulling up Waze as she called back to Molly in the rear: “Molly, mom’s right here.
但她就在那里，一边拉起位智，一边对后面的莫莉喊道：“莫莉，妈妈就在这里。
I’m right here, you’re okay, I got you.”
我就在这儿，你没事吧，我找到你了。”
When they got to the hospital, Kaye watched as a huge team descended on Molly—30 people in white coats with masks and shields.
当他们到达医院时，凯看到一大群人向莫莉扑来——30人穿着白大褂，戴着口罩和盾牌。
Molly looked so small on that hospital bed.
莫莉在那张病床上显得那么渺小。
Then they wheeled her away and left Kaye standing alone in the hallway.
然后他们把她推走了，留下凯独自站在走廊里。
Kaye says her head was spinning, so she climbed onto an empty gurney in the hallway, and just cried.
凯说她头晕目眩，于是她爬到走廊里的一张空床上，哭了起来。
By the time Jon made it to the hospital, Molly was already being prepped for surgery.
当乔恩到达医院时，莫莉已经准备好接受手术了。
Surgeons initially told them that there was a small bleed in her head, between her brain and her skull.
外科医生最初告诉他们，她的头部和头骨之间有一小处出血。
Nobody wants to hear that, of course, but initially the doctors seemed cautiously optimistic that the injuries weren’t as bad as they could have been.
当然，没有人愿意听到这个消息，但最初医生们似乎持谨慎乐观的态度，认为伤势并没有想象的那么严重。
One doctor said he thought Molly might remain unconscious for a couple of weeks and then have to deal with light sensitivity and headaches.
一位医生说，他认为莫莉可能会昏迷几周，然后不得不应对光敏感和头痛。
But the cautious hope faded about five days later.
但大约五天后，谨慎的希望就消失了。
Jon recalls waking up in the hospital on the Friday morning after the crash and seeing a small team huddled around his daughter.
乔恩回忆起事故发生后的周五早上，他在医院醒来，看到一小群人挤在他女儿周围。
They said something wasn’t right and that they needed to run some tests right away.
他们说有些事情不对劲，他们需要立即进行一些测试。
Two and half hours later they came back and said Molly needed immediate surgery, and in the middle of that procedure, the surgeon called Jon and Kaye—she says the doctor seemed “rattled”—to get permission to do a more aggressive procedure.
两个半小时后，他们回来说莫莉需要立即进行手术，在手术过程中，外科医生给乔恩和凯打电话——她说医生似乎“慌乱”——以获得进行更激进手术的许可。
The Steinsapirs understood the stakes.
斯坦萨皮尔人明白其中的利害关系。
The doctors were scrambling to save their daughter.
医生们正在全力抢救他们的女儿。
But the swelling in her brain was too great.
但她的大脑肿胀得太厉害了。
In the span of 24 hours, Kaye and Jon went from guarded optimism to facing decisions about organ donation.
在 24 小时内，凯和乔恩从谨慎乐观转变为面临器官捐献的决定。
They thought hard about what Molly would want—to help other people—and signed the paperwork.
他们认真思考莫莉想要什么——帮助其他人——并签署了文件。
“It was really hard to leave her there on life support,” says Kaye.
“让她靠生命维持系统留在那里真的很难，”凯说。
“We couldn’t stay with her, and it was a while before they could do the procedures” to harvest her organs.
“我们无法和她呆在一起，他们需要一段时间才能进行手术”以摘取她的器官。
For Jon and Kaye, it’s like Molly died several times—when doctors declared her deceased with no brain activity, when they said their last goodbyes a few days later, when her heart was removed from her body.
对于乔恩和凯来说，这就像莫莉死了好几次——当医生宣布她死亡时没有大脑活动，当他们几天后进行最后的告别时，当她的心脏被从身体中取出时。
There was a time the Steinsapirs say that UCLA lost track of their daughter’s body; Jon says it was like a macabre version of searching for an Amazon package that had been misdelivered.
曾经有一段时间，斯坦萨皮人说加州大学洛杉矶分校失去了他们女儿的尸体；乔恩说，这就像寻找错误投递的亚马逊包裹的可怕版本。
The organ donation snafus brought a traumatic end to a traumatic ordeal, but now the Steinsapirs are tearing up as they detail where all of Molly’s organs eventually wound up.
器官捐赠的混乱给一场痛苦的磨难带来了创伤性的结局，但现在斯坦萨皮尔夫妇在详细讲述莫莉所有器官最终的结局时泪流满面。
Her kidneys got a woman off dialysis.
她的肾脏使一名妇女摆脱了透析。
Her lungs went to a woman who was battling pulmonary disease—and she wrote the family a beautiful note about how it changed her life.
她的肺送给了一位正在与肺病作斗争的妇女，她给家人写了一封美丽的信，讲述这如何改变了她的生活。
And Molly’s heart and liver went to a 14-year-old boy who had spent most of his life in the hospital, a boy who would not be alive today without those organs.
莫莉的心脏和肝脏去了一个 14 岁的男孩，他一生的大部分时间都在医院里度过，如果没有这些器官，这个男孩今天就活不下去了。
The e-bike market went from promising to scorching during the pandemic.
疫情期间，电动自行车市场从充满希望变成了炙手可热。
Larry Pizzi, general manager at Alta Cycling Group and chair of the electric bike subcommittee at the nonprofit People for Bikes, says 1.1 million e-bikes were sold in the U.S. in 2021, according to People for Bikes research.
Alta Cycling Group 总经理兼非营利组织 People for Bikes 电动自行车小组委员会主席拉里·皮齐 (Larry Pizzi) 表示，根据 People for Bikes 的研究，2021 年美国销售了 110 万辆电动自行车。
Of that whopping total, he says, fewer than 200,000 were purchased through a bike shop—meaning that as many as 900,000 e-bikes were purchased through direct-to-consumer channels.
他说，在这个庞大的总数中，只有不到 20 万辆是通过自行车商店购买的，这意味着多达 90 万辆电动自行车是通过直接面向消费者的渠道购买的。
When asked to summarize the overall level of regulation in the e-bike market, Pizzi chuckles.
当被要求总结电动自行车市场的总体监管水平时，皮齐笑了。
“It’s sort of the Wild West,” he says, itemizing how a few rules codified by the federal government haven’t changed since they were created two decades ago.
“这有点像狂野的西部，”他说，并详细列举了联邦政府制定的一些规则自二十年前制定以来一直没有改变。
“Absolutely anyone with a couple hundred thousand can start an e-bike company.
“绝对任何拥有数十万美元的人都可以创办一家电动自行车公司。
You can go to a trade show in China.
你可以去中国参加贸易展。
And people who are not qualified are doing this and applying a brand graphic, and voilà, they’re in the e-bike business.”
不合格的人正在这样做并应用品牌图形，瞧，他们从事电动自行车业务。”
Manufacturers in the e-bike space concur.
电动自行车领域的制造商对此表示赞同。
“You just have to pick up a catalog and start ordering,” says Hong, founder of the DTC brand Karmic.
“你只需拿起目录并开始订购，”DTC 品牌 Karmic 的创始人 Hong 说道。
“You can buy a quick release for 50 cents or spend $50 on thru axles.
“你可以花 50 美分购买快速释放装置，或者花 50 美元购买筒轴。
Most people want to go after the mass market.
大多数人都想追求大众市场。
The factory will build whatever you want.” Hong notes that his startup’s first-generation e-bike was spec’d with quick release and mechanical disc brakes, but he modified the design to incorporate thru axles and hydraulic disc brakes after customers complained.
你想要什么，工厂就造什么。” Hong 指出，他的初创公司的第一代电动自行车配备了快速释放和机械盘式制动器，但在客户投诉后，他修改了设计，加入了筒轴和液压盘式制动器。
“My worst fear is that something bad happens when a customer uses the product.”
“我最担心的是当客户使用该产品时会发生不好的事情。”
Josh Hon of Tern has that fear too.
Tern 的 Josh Hon 也有这种恐惧。
“The DTC brands like to say, ‘we take out the middleman so it’s cheaper,’ but as we in the bike industry know, you can take out some cost by cutting out the dealer and service, but the reality is that a lot of the price reduction comes from cutting corners on component quality,” he says.
“DTC 品牌喜欢说，‘我们去掉了中间商，所以价格更便宜’，但正如自行车行业的我们所知，你可以通过削减经销商和服务来降低一些成本，但现实是，价格的下降很大程度上来自于零部件质量的偷工减料，”他说。
“So I tell people outside the bike industry that basically when you’re choosing bike parts, it’s a factor of 10.
“所以我告诉自行车行业以外的人，基本上当你选择自行车零件时，它是 10 的因素。
You can buy a tire in China for a dollar, or you can buy one for 10 dollars.” Hon then opines, “and the parts that are one, two, three dollars…
在中国你可以花一美元买一个轮胎，也可以花10美元买一个轮胎。”然后，Hon 说道：“还有一美元、两美元、三美元的部分......
they’re not designed for regular usage, let alone usage on a heavy e-bike.”
它们不是为常规使用而设计的，更不用说在重型电动自行车上使用了。”
But while countries in the European market have more robust standard requirements for e-bikes (and some countries, such as Germany, are pursuing even stricter regulations on certain types of e-bikes), the U.S. market is virtually without differentiated standards for e-bikes versus nonelectric bikes.
但是，尽管欧洲市场国家对电动自行车有更严格的标准要求（德国等一些国家正在对某些类型的电动自行车实行更严格的监管），但美国市场实际上没有针对电动自行车与非电动自行车的差异化标准。
A DTC brand can source whatever brakes it wants or put any fork it can find to meet a target price point, even on a heavy cargo bike.
DTC 品牌可以采购任何它想要的刹车，或者安装任何它能找到的前叉，以满足目标价格点，即使是在重型货运自行车上。
So however dubious a brand’s spec might seem, a company is most likely violating no consumer product safety regulations with its choices.
因此，无论一个品牌的规格看起来多么可疑，一家公司的选择很可能不会违反任何消费品安全法规。
“And the truth is, most customers don’t understand why they’d want to spend another $500,” Quan says.
“事实是，大多数顾客不明白为什么他们愿意再花 500 美元，”Quan 说。
The primary regulation governing e-bikes in the U.S. is included within the Code of Federal Regulations Part 1512.
美国管理电动自行车的主要法规包含在《联邦法规》第 1512 部分中。
Codified in 2003, it defines e-bikes by the somewhat simple description: A two- or three-wheeled vehicle with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than 750 watts and can go no faster than 20 miles an hour on a paved level surface while ridden by an operator who weighs 170 pounds.
它于 2003 年编纂，对电动自行车的定义有些简单：一种两轮或三轮车辆，配有完全可操作的踏板和小于 750 瓦的电动机，在铺砌的水平面上由重 170 磅的操作员骑乘时，行驶速度不超过每小时 20 英里。
In 20 years, nothing has been changed or supplemented under this federal regulation.
20 年来，这项联邦法规没有任何改变或补充。
(Pizzi notes solemnly that “a couple hundred thousand” e-bikes a year are imported into the U.S. one at a time from some online marketplaces, “and many of those bikes don’t even comply with 1512.”)
（Pizzi 严肃地指出，每年有“几十万”辆电动自行车从一些在线市场一次进口到美国，“其中许多自行车甚至不符合 1512 标准。”）
“Some DTC brands are doing a good job—but spec is a huge problem,” Pizzi says.
“一些 DTC 品牌做得很好，但规格是一个大问题，”Pizzi 说。
“It’s a race to the bottom.
“这是一场逐底竞争。
From an industry association perspective, so many units are sold into the market beyond the scope of our constituents—it will have a negative impact.
从行业协会的角度来看，这么多单位超出我们的会员范围进入市场，会产生负面影响。
We have to tout the value of buying from a trusted brand that is being built by a qualified mechanic and given aftercare.”
我们必须宣传从值得信赖的品牌购买产品的价值，该品牌由合格的机械师制造并提供售后服务。”
Hon concurs.
洪先生同意。
“Our view is that e-bikes are complicated mechanical vehicles that need service,” he says.
“我们的观点是，电动自行车是需要维修的复杂机械车辆，”他说。
“They’re like cars or motorcycles or scooters.
“它们就像汽车、摩托车或踏板车。
Imagine you have a car, and the brakes aren’t working well, and someone tells you to watch a video to do it yourself.
想象一下，你有一辆汽车，刹车失灵，有人告诉你看视频自己刹车。
I’m very happy buying a shirt or a pair of socks online and having it delivered to my door.
我很高兴在网上购买一件衬衫或一双袜子并送货上门。
But those things don’t need service.”
但那些东西不需要服务。”
Hon also feels that brands need to do more to spec their bikes with safety in mind.
Hon 还认为，品牌需要采取更多措施来设计自行车，同时考虑到安全性。
“We would not put low-cost mechanical disc brakes on a heavy cargo bike,” Hon says.
“我们不会在重型货运自行车上安装低成本的机械盘式制动器，”Hon 说。
“Consumers need to realize there is no general certification or safety standard that is required, so each brand is making these decisions.
“消费者需要意识到不需要通用认证或安全标准，因此每个品牌都在做出这些决定。
And that when people are making lots of money, sometimes these decisions are made too fast and without adequate testing and the ultimate loser is the user.
当人们赚很多钱时，有时这些决定做出得太快并且没有经过充分的测试，最终的输家是用户。
Consumers need to educate themselves.”
消费者需要自我教育。”
Keith Bontrager puts it tersely.
Keith Bontrager 简洁地说。
“The cheapest bikes aren’t always the cheapest in the long run.”
“从长远来看，最便宜的自行车并不总是最便宜的。”
But to be clear, Rad Power and other reputable DTC brands have broken zero rules spec’ing bikes with inexpensive components.
但需要明确的是，Rad Power 和其他信誉良好的 DTC 品牌已经打破了使用廉价组件设计自行车的零规则。
Likewise, they have not broken any existing laws governing the required ages to ride an e-bike; they simply tell consumers to follow federal, state, or municipal guidance on that matter.
同样，他们也没有违反任何规定骑电动自行车年龄要求的现行法律；他们只是告诉消费者在此事上遵循联邦、州或市的指导。
“It would take an act of Congress to change the regulations,” Pizzi says.
“国会需要采取行动来改变法规，”皮齐说。
“Or a lot of deaths to move the CPSC.”
“或者是大量死亡来感动美国消费品安全委员会。”
Hon feels that more needs to be done—by either the government or the brands themselves.
Hon 认为政府或品牌本身还需要做更多的事情。
“In the absence of government standards, it’s up to the brands who are building these bikes to make them safe,” he says.
他说：“在缺乏政府标准的情况下，制造这些自行车的品牌就必须确保它们的安全。”
But economic incentives do not always align, and “[t]his is what government is there for,” he says.
但经济激励并不总是一致的，“这就是政府的目的，”他说。
“Let’s make some rules about minimum quality standards that the U.S. consumer can accept.
“让我们就美国消费者可以接受的最低质量标准制定一些规则。
And for safety as well.
也是为了安全。
Because the consumer, especially with a new product, doesn’t understand the potential risks.”
因为消费者，尤其是新产品的消费者，不了解潜在的风险。”
At Tern, all e-bikes under development are tested rigorously by a third-party laboratory to meet or exceed stricter European Union standards for the bike’s battery system and carrying capacity—even if the bike is destined for U.S. consumers.
在 Tern，所有正在开发的电动自行车都经过第三方实验室的严格测试，以满足或超过欧盟对自行车电池系统和承载能力更严格的标准，即使该自行车是销往美国消费者的。
“Regulation and rules and certification standards make a difference,” says Hon.
“监管、规则和认证标准会产生影响，”Hon.
“Imagine if you didn’t have to certify a car and you could just go over to China and find some factory with open molds, and you just buy the cheapest car components and just come over and sell it online without needing to worry about service.
“想象一下，如果你不需要对汽车进行认证，你可以去中国找到一些有开放模具的工厂，你只需购买最便宜的汽车零部件，然后过来在线销售，而无需担心服务。
People would distrust the quality of cars.” When asked to comment on how they test the safety and capacity of the rear seat on the RadRunner, a Rad spokesperson emailed the following statement: “We comprehensively test our products to guarantee quality and compatibility and to all compliance and regulatory requirements in the markets we serve.”
人们会不信任汽车的质量。”当被问及如何测试 RadRunner 后座的安全性和容量时，Rad 发言人通过电子邮件发表了以下声明：“我们全面测试我们的产品，以保证质量和兼容性，并满足我们所服务市场的所有合规性和监管要求。”
The holidays were looming when I spoke with Kaye and Jon Steinsapir one last time this past December.
去年 12 月，当我最后一次与 Kaye 和 Jon Steinsapir 交谈时，假期即将来临。
Kaye described the entire stretch from October to February as “one long dark night.” It’s a span that includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, winter break, and the anniversaries of Molly’s crash and death.
凯将十月到二月的整个过程描述为“一个漫长的黑夜”。这个跨度包括万圣节、感恩节、光明节、寒假以及莫莉坠机和死亡周年纪念日。
No lawsuit will bring Molly back.
没有任何诉讼能让莫莉回来。
But it could force the industry and regulatory bodies to do more so that more kids don’t get hurt or die.
但这可能会迫使行业和监管机构采取更多措施，以免更多的孩子受伤或死亡。
Lawyers and legislators can decide where the burden lies, but the undeniable reality is that e-bikes need to meet higher safety standards.
律师和立法者可以决定负担在哪里，但不可否认的现实是电动自行车需要满足更高的安全标准。
After my first meeting with Kaye and Jon at their home in August, I decide to retrace the route of Molly and Eme’s final ride.
八月在凯和乔恩的家中第一次见到他们后，我决定重温莫莉和埃梅最后一次骑行的路线。
For the most part, it’s straightforward and lovely—relatively quiet and wide suburban streets that seem like a great place for kids to ride a bike.
在大多数情况下，它是简单而可爱的——相对安静和宽阔的郊区街道，似乎是孩子们骑自行车的好地方。
I can hear birds chirp and smell ocean air and see sunlight sparkling on the Pacific.
我可以听到鸟儿的鸣叫，闻到海洋的空气，看到太平洋上波光粼粼的阳光。
I picture the girls rolling up Enchanted Way on a similarly beautiful day, enjoying the magic of cruising through this landscape.
我想象着在同样美丽的一天，女孩们在魔法之路上滚动，享受在这片风景中巡航的魔力。
Then Enchanted Way pitches skyward and my mood gets heavy.
然后魔法之路向天空倾斜，我的心情变得沉重。
It’s not someplace you’d want to be on a bike with braking issues.
这不是您想要骑着有刹车问题的自行车的地方。
It’s not someplace you’d want two kids to be sitting on a 65-pound e-bike.
您不会希望两个孩子坐在 65 磅重的电动自行车上。
It’s not the kind of place anyone, even an experienced rider, would want to dump a bike in a panic.
这不是任何人，甚至是经验丰富的骑手，都会想惊慌地扔掉自行车的地方。
From the vantage point of the cul-de-sac up top, it’s easy to see all the questions about this case without really seeing any of the answers in sharp focus.
从顶部死胡同的有利位置，很容易看到有关此案的所有问题，而无需真正清晰地看到任何答案。
But it seems clear that not answering those questions has consequences.
但很明显，不回答这些问题会产生后果。
I start my descent, then stop briefly at the precise crash site, noted in the legal complaint, weighed down by the fear that Molly Steinsapir must have felt in the moments before everything went dark.
我开始下降，然后在法律诉状中注明的确切坠机地点短暂停留，莫莉·斯坦萨皮尔在一切变暗之前的那一刻一定感受到了恐惧，这让我感到沉重。