A Reckoning With E-Bikes In Sonoma After Teen Rider Hits Car

SONOMA VALLEY, CA — Sonoma, like many towns, counties, and states, is faced with balancing the utility and popularity of e-bikes with the risks. They align with sustainability goals because they emit less pollution than automobiles, are convenient for commuters, and go faster than conventional bikes. They are also a source of ire among residents and a growing source of serious accidents that overwhelmingly involve teens and tweens.

On Tuesday, just after 12:30 p.m. a young rider on an electric stand-on scooter was injured after colliding with the back of a moving car in the intersection of Robinson Road and Fano Lane.

Medics transported him to the Queen of the Valley Hospital. His injuries were not immediately life-threatening. Sonoma Police Department is still investigating the cause of the incident.

The rider did not stop at the four way stop at the intersection and was not wearing a helmet as required by law for anyone under 18, Sonoma Chief of Police Brandon Cutting said in a news release.

"We are putting this message out right now as schools are out this week for the holidays and more days off are coming next month," Cutting said.

E-bikes are electric mobility devices, a category that also includes e-scooters, e-unicycles, e-skateboards, e-hoverboards, and the Segway. The basic components involve a battery, controller, and motor. Accessory components include the displays, throttles, and sensors. Their popularity and numbers quickly exploded. In 2023, U.S. companies imported 990,000 electric cars, a number lower than the 800,000 sold in 2022. In California, rebate programs encourage e-bikes as an alternative to cars, the American College of Physicians reported.

Offering speed, ease of use, and a touch of adventure, motor-assisted bicycles provide a popular alternative to traditional bikes, according to Jennifer Rodriguez, injury prevention coordinator for the Injury Prevention Program at Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital. The speed and adventure make them especially attractive to teenagers, although adults are not immune to speed or adventure.
The focus now, in cities and counties across the country, is on making the rules clear and widely known, while developing the necessary infrastructure and regulations to keep up with a fast-moving target.

Laws are only now being put into place because e-bike popularity grew faster than public safety measures. Like vaping, consumers shouldered responsibility for understanding the rules and self-regulating their purchases, as one organization put it. The responsibility has been landing on pedestrians, motorists, and other riders.

Complaints are mainly about teenagers driving too fast and not following the rules of the road. A major contributor to complaints are e-bikes configured with a "pedal assist" to provide a burst of power, allowing riders to accelerate quickly without pedaling, but they stop at 20 miles per hour. In-board controllers that limit speeds can be deactivated in these "Class 2" bikes by a magnet or a series of keystrokes, according to the American College of Physicians, allowing speeds greater than 37 miles per hour, which are comparable to motorcycles.

Marin County's electric bicycle safety pilot program allows the county and its cities to adopt ordinances prohibiting individuals under 16 from operating a Class 2 e-bike through 2029.

"Parents, please ensure that your kids know the rules of the road before leaving the house on human powered bicycle/scooters as well as the electric type. It is also up to you to know what the capabilities and class/type of e-bike your kids are riding as some may not be lawful for your kids to operate on public roadways or bike trails," Cutting said.

"We are very grateful and lucky that the juvenile in today’s incident was not more badly injured. Aside the physical injuries, this is a traumatic event for the occupants of the car, the juvenile on the scooter, and juvenile’s family who were called to meet their child in the ER, he said.

A quick guide to types/class of e-bike and the requirements for each is available at CalBike.

The Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition website has bicycle and e-bike safety information and local programs.

Go Safely California offers toolkits to help research the type of e-bike class that is appropriate for young riders, as well as learning the rules of the road, and videos for youth and adults.

Read more: https://patch.com/california/w...