By Jeff Goldstein, Santa Barbara County
On any given afternoon in Santa Barbara, you can watch kids on electric bikes dart through stop signs, ride against traffic, or weave through pedestrians—often helmet-less and carrying passengers. I support micromobility, but what we’re seeing isn’t harmless fun; it’s a growing public safety problem.
Look no further than Orange County, where a 14-year-old riding a high-powered electric motorcycle allegedly struck an 81-year-old man, leaving him critically injured. Prosecutors have since charged the teen’s mother for allowing him to ride illegally and ignoring prior warnings.
That case underscores two urgent truths: first, machines that can hit 30–60 mph are not “bikes” in any meaningful sense; second, when adults look the other way, the consequences can be catastrophic.
I appreciate that the City of Santa Barbara has stepped up enforcement and education. Keep it up. But piecemeal effort isn’t enough. We need consistent enforcement across the entire county so families aren’t getting mixed messages from one jurisdiction to the next.
That means targeted patrols on high‑conflict corridors, citations for egregious violations (wrong-way riding, red lights, riding on crowded sidewalks), involvement of the parents that purchase these ebikes for their kids, and diversion classes that actually teach rules of the road.
Just as important, California needs statewide legislation that matches today’s technology. At minimum:
- Set clear age limits by class: no riders under 16 on faster models; no exceptions. A 10-year-old should not have access to a device capable of 25+ mph—especially without knowing basic traffic laws.
- Require tamper‑resistant speed governors and prominent labeling that distinguishes legal e‑bikes from e‑motorcycles that require a license, registration, and insurance.
- Mandate helmets and single‑rider limits for minors, with meaningful penalties for violations.
- Hold retailers and parents accountable for selling or allowing illegal, high‑speed operation.
E‑bikes can be part of a safer, cleaner transportation future—but only if we treat them with the same seriousness we apply to every other vehicle sharing our streets.
Let’s act before another family pays the price.
Op-Ed’s are written by community members, not representatives of edhat. The views and opinions expressed in Op-Ed articles are those of the author’s.
[Do you have an opinion on something local? Share it with us at info@edhat.com.]
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Analog bikes can reach speeds close to25 mph, especially when ridden by teens. Should we require safety courses, etc for those as well?
The daily (often hourly) complaints about teens on ebikes (especially when the type of bike is completely irrelevant to the rant) on Nextdoor are freaking exhausting. More importantly, it stirs the pot and causes unnecessary danger for all ebike riding kids as I’ve seen/heard of multiple instances of kids being physically and more often verbally assaulted by cranky adults who see them doing nothing but riding or just sitting on their bikes.
For every scofflaw, there are many more teens on ebikes who use them responsibly and in accordance with the rules. Enough already.
> Analog bikes can reach speeds close to25 mph
Downhill, otherwise only with extreme effort by fit athletes. (And that’s largely a result of drafting.) And an e-bike can add considerable mass.
> especially when ridden by teens
Especially not, unless downhill.
> Should we require safety courses, etc for those as well?
It might not be a bad idea. MOVE offers bike safety courses (e.g., https://movesbcounty.org/freedomtoride/), and UCSB requires taking an online safety course (or else paying a fine) upon a first infraction: https://wellbeing.ucsb.edu/bike-safety
Point being, pedal/analog bikes can be extremely dangerous as well.
You really can’t use that fact to dismiss concerns about the dangers of e-bikes. And I think it deflects from your valid points about Nextdoor control freaks yelling “get off my street”.
I was going to argue that e-bikes are more dangerous, but when I went searching I first found this:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8347860/
“The injury pattern of E-bikers resembled that of bicyclists much more than that of motorcyclists. The patients with E-bike accidents were almost 14 years older and had a higher incidence of moderate traumatic brain injuries than patients with bicycle accidents, in spite of the fact that E-bike riders were nearly twice as likely to wear a helmet as compared to bicycle riders. The rate of pelvic injuries in E-bike accidents was twice as high compared with bicycle accidents, whereas the rate of upper extremity injuries was higher following bicycle accidents. Conclusion: The overall E-bike injury pattern is similar to that of cyclists. The differences in the injury pattern to motorcycle accidents could be due to the higher speeds at the time of the accident, the different protection and vehicle architecture. What is striking, however, is the higher age and the increased craniocerebral trauma of the E-bikers involved in accidents compared to the cyclists. We speculate that older and untrained people who have a slower reaction time and less control over the E-bike could benefit from head protection or practical courses similar to motorcyclists.”
So this supports your view, AND it suggests that the problem is more with adults than kids.
Note though that this is just one study and it’s about the consequences to the rider, not to people they strike. Casting about a little more, I find this from the American College of Surgeons:
https://www.facs.org/about-acs/statements/statement-on-electric-bicycle-safety-and-injury-prevention/
“Electric bicycle injuries are more severe than their manual bicycle counterparts.6,7”
I think the bottom line is that we need sensible fact-based policy that isn’t just based on impressions and the overactive amygdalas of the folks on Nextdoor. And one can’t just look at something in isolation–many people are riding e-bikes *instead of* driving automobiles, and as we know the closure of State St. to automobiles was accompanied by a significant drop in accidents and fatalities.
MARCEL – I definitely don’t mean to downplay the dangers and risks of ebikes. I guess I’m just tired of the constant notifications in my email multiple times a day of people freaking out about teens on ebikes.
Yes, they should require some safety training. Yes, they need to enforce the helmet and traffic laws.
The guy wrote to remove the outlaws. He said bikes are a good thing. Your liberal pissant rant about the poor children rings about as true as kilmar being a maryland dad. Be courteous, follow the law. Oh wait, we live in the rule for thee not me state. Run by the superior liberal party.
Congrats on completely blowing your credibility. Now anything that you might say about e-bikes or anything else will be immediately dismissed as right wing ranting, no matter how sensible it might be if uttered by a decent human being.
> Be courteous, follow the law. … rule for thee not me
It is ALWAYS projection by right wingers. Donald Trump has 34 felony convictions with no consequence. He has pardoned all of the J6 thugs (many of whom have since been arrested for heinous crimes) and dozens of fraudsters and grifters, to the tune of nearly $2 billion in fraud (which they now get to keep), under his pardon office’s “No MAGA left behind” motto.
Hey DONNY….. January 6th. Now go play with the paint some more.
After reading your article, it appears to me that you don’t know much about ebikes, probably have never rode one yourself? The information you provided is extremely incorrect, some of it seems padded or made up to strengthen your argument. I do agree, kids need to slow down and be careful. That’s a never ending song. However, there are no 10 year olds riding around at 30-60 mph. I do see a few older teen boys (about 16-18) riding illegal dirt bikes on occasion. Mostly I see kids within the legal state age limit of 15-17 riding Rad Power ebikes downtown and around SBCC. These ebikes have a stop speed of 19.6 MPH. I know this as I own one. Downhill, pedaling and full throttle, you can reach maybe 25mph. There are edirt bikes that can go upwards of 45-60mph, those are not street legal, do not have pedals, and are not class 2 vehicles. You also must be 18 to have those. There is a lot of confusion about these bikes and their speeds and which vehicle classification they fall under. the City PD cites kids all day every day, and they are required to take bike safety courses. Alot is being done, but again, alot of the info you posted is just not close to being factual.
Gaslight much buddy? He stated facts and used actual occurrences. I have seen preteen riders on illegal bikes all over town. Funny you do not see it in IV? Why? Yiu seeit.more on.the mesa and.montecito. apathetic parents.
It is the “I want to be cool parents” phenom.
I do agree.with OC DA put the parents in jail.
Look, it’s trying to write like a grown up LOL
You’re the one gaslighting here. Show how anything KNein said is false. He didn’t dispute the “actual occurrence” mentioned in the opinion piece, nor that parents should be accountable.