Like many things in life, the same concepts that apply to motorcycles apply to bicycles. Having enough power on tap to just get the hell out of the way of crazy people is always beneficial.

Regarding the inevitable whining that will ensue about "dangers to pedestrians," which the article also briefly touches upon, if your vehicle can go the same speed as car traffic you should not be operating it on the sidewalk in the first place. You should be operating it on the street, just like a motorcycle. That eliminates the pedestrian angle, or at least reduces it to the same magnitude as existing vehicular traffic. Just to name one example out of many, nobody cries about me riding my FZ6R down the sidewalk because I don't.