Watching that daymak video you can blatantly see that it comes from the factory as non-compliant. Aside from the pedals being non-functional without modification, there is the speed. Not only does he say the speedo just stops at 32(daymak obv cuts it there because they know it's not allowed to be faster than that) but feels faster, but you can see that all through Belleville he is keeping up with traffic. Unless everyone in that town drives like granny after church, then he's doing 50-60 consistently.
It's not a matter of elitism, like saying we're better than them etc. It's more a matter of forcing some responsibility on them. There may very well be some good people on these things because that's what they can afford, but... not really and I'll get to that in a minute. Point is, most of them are riding them for other reasons. Like their record is so terrible that insurance is impossible. First of all, if you're not responsible enough to drive or ride a proper vehicle, then no you are not responsible enough for these. BTW this also means that technically a 8yo kid can get away with running around on one of these daymaks, think that's a good idea?
There are a ton of tools out there on these things, and all anybody is asking for is some consequences when they're behaving as such, a license plate to report WHEN they hit and run, not if, but when. Everything is already in place for a smooth transition, because we already have the LSM classification, which is exactly what these are. I would assume that LSM classification has much lower insurance rates anyway(unless you're one of the idiots that nobody wants on the road). So anybody that could afford a bus pass, could probably afford LSM insurance and licensing, infact if they could afford a new ebike they should be able to handle insurance. Really, this is where I get back to the affordability point, because if you can afford a $3000 ebike, then the only thing that stopped you from getting a normal bike would most likely have been that you're uninsurable and have no business controlling anything with any sort of motor, period.