The popular rides of our lives have turned out to be the most lethal.

Our love of SUVs, so-called tradie trucks and Fatboy e-bikes with top speeds of 60km/h have led to a spike in pedestrian deaths and young cyclists being injured – and some killed – in unprecedented numbers over the past year.

With e-bikes looming as the must-have present in the lead-up to last Christmas, Premier Chris Minns moved to limit the damage to NSW teenagers last month by reducing young people’s access to devices that behave more like electric motorbikes than pedal-assisted bicycles, announcing regulations for e-bikes that lowered the maximum battery power from 500 watts to 250 watts and reduced top speed to 30km/h.

Teenagers riding fat-tyre........

© The Sydney Morning Herald