As the number of e-bikes has grown on the city’s streets, so have injuries, and there have also been deaths.

One group is calling on the city to require them to be registered, so there’s more accountability when something happens.

Priscilla Loke, a beloved educator, was hit by an e-bike in Chinatown last September.

It shook her longtime co-workers at the Chinatown Head Start.

“After she made a call to us and then she was unconscious,” recalled Peggy Ng, the former education director at the Head Start who worked with Loke for 35 years. “In a coma, and she passed away three days later without saying a word. Without saying anything. We miss her so much.”

The driver was only hit with a red light violation.

Her friends and co-workers gathered at City Hall, along with dozens of victims of e-bike crashes, to call for a vote on Priscilla’s Law.

The law would require all e-bikes to be registered with the city.

“Look what you have to do when you own a car. You have to pay insurance, you have to have a license, you have to register. That costs thousands,” Queens Councilmember Robert Holden, bill co-sponsor, said. “But for $10, I don’t care what the fee is. Let’s get a plate on the bike, a license plate and registration on the bike, so at least there is accountability if you go through a light. I’ve spoken to camera companies. They can pick up that license plate.”

Statistics from the city Transportation Department show only six pedestrians have been killed by e-bikes since 2019. But even more drivers of the bikes themselves have died, with nine already this year.

But those who are part of the E-Vehicle Safety Alliance said severe injuries are much more common and rarely reported.

“Of our 81 victims, the injuries range from a multitude of broken bones. We had traumatic brain injuries by the score, we’ve had paralysis,” Andrew Fine, a member of the alliance, said. “And unfortunately, we’ve had death.”

Renee Baruch was so severely injured by an e-bike. She can’t drive or sit at a computer for very long anymore.

“I must [have] lost consciousness immediately. I don’t remember being hit. I regained consciousness in the ambulance,” Baruch said. “I had severe injury to my spinal cord and my neck and it was so severe and I was in so much pain I begged the EMTs to make me unconscious again.”

She and the others said they hope the bill gets a vote in the City Council. But so far, it hasn’t despite having 31 sponsors.

“This is a safety issue, it’s as much a safety issue as having crosswalks as having lights, as having a speed limit,” Baruch said.

This is the second year this bill hasn’t gotten a vote.

In a statement, City Council spokesperson said the bill was re-introduced in March for this session and, like many other bills, is going through the legislative process.