Walnut Creek And E-Bikes: A Video With Mayor, Police For E-Bike Christmas Shopping

WALNUT CREEK, CA — Thinking about getting your kid an e-bike or have a new rider at home? Make sure you know what you're getting into is the message from Walnut Creek Mayor Cindy Darling in a new video posted today.

The message and the video are part of a campaign to comfortably share city streets with e-bikes by educating teens and their parents about their risks and rules. The details and distinctions are provided in the video by Walnut Creek Police Department Officer Matt Adamson.

Walnut Creek, like many cities, 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.

Walnut Creek is focused on information campaigns, including a website, social media, and staff are scheduling presentations on bike and e-bike safety for schools and teachers’ associations. "We don't want to make people afraid to ride e-bikes," Walnut Creek Police Department Capt. Jeff Slater told councilmembers during an October 22 meeting.

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. Walnut Creek city councilmember Cindy Silva said e-bikes top complaints.

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.

Complaints are mainly about teenagers driving too fast and not following the rules of the road, Betsy Burkhart, spokesperson for Walnut Creek, said in September. 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.

Read More:

Walnut Creek Faces E-Bike Risks, Rewards: How The City Is Addressing The Challenge

Walnut Creek Tackles E-Bike Enforcement On City Streets