See - you nailed it. I did plenty of dumb shit when I was a kid, but like the specific number I quoted - 13mph - wiping out at that speed, which I have numerous times even as an adult - is a totally different level of bodily harm compared to the speeds I see kids doing on eBikes.

Would I have as a kid blasted around at 40mph if I could have? Goddamn right. That's actually my point - I'm not dead or permanently damaged, just the recipient of quite a lot of road rash. Worst injury I ever had on a bike was a broken trapezium, as an adult, for something totally not speed related (~13mph, yes), when a tree fell in front of me and I braked and flew across the handlebars. Game that out doing even 20mph and that's a different outcome.

Classic case of, "I've been there, done that, and this situation is nuts".

It's a real pity because not only did a kid die, he died on a piece of cycling infrastructure that is now much less safe than before because it gets used by kids moving at a speed higher than the cars will ever go in the same street.

And never mind the 45 kph scooters (that regularly do half as much) using the same bike path.