Orange County residents will soon see new e-bike restrictions on county trails and roads amidst mounting complaints over people misusing the bikes.
It comes as local leaders have wrestled for years over how to handle the growing popularity of e-bikes, with many local police departments unsure how to handle one of the most popular non-automobile transit options in South Orange County that residents say is regularly abused.
E-bike accidents are up 500% since 2020, according to OC Supervisor Katrina Foley, one of the proponents behind the new e-bike rules that set speed limits and can make “unsafe operation” illegal.
“In the past few years we’ve had a rapid increase in the number and variety of e-bikes on our roads,” Foley said during Tuesday’s OC Board of Supervisors meeting.,
She also noted e-bikes pose a “major health and safety risk” without proper oversight.
Foley and her colleagues unanimously approved the new rules without discussion on Tuesday morning.
The district Foley represents includes Ladera Ranch, which county staff noted has been a hub for increased e-bike activity over the past four years and where many of the complaints about e-bikes have come from.
[Read: Santana: Catching Up to E-Bikes in Orange County]
There have also been increasing debates over what levels of e-bikes should be regulated – while some can only get up to around 20 mph, others can go nearly 30 mph without a licensed driver.
A handful of Orange County cities grappled with how to best regulate e-bikes last year, with most cities adopting new laws letting police officers stop any biker they felt was driving in an “unsafe,” manner.
[Read: Orange County Cities Crack Down on E-Bikes With Stricter Regulations]
Under the county’s definition, the county stops counting e-bikes as e-bikes if they get over 750 watts through their motor.
Bill Sellin, one of the directors with the OC Bicycle Coalition, said many of the bikes causing problems in south Orange County aren’t technically e-bikes, but motorized bicycles or motorcycles, adding that sheriff deputies need to know the difference to enforce the law properly.
“It’s low-hanging crime, they don’t want to harass kids about playing on some toy that daddy bought them,” Sellin said in an interview. “The law is very clear if it goes 30 miles per hour with a throttle and has pedals on it, it’s a motorized bicycle, and it’s not legal to drive unless you get a license and a VIN.”
Part of the problem, Sellin said, is that motorized bicycles are often marketed as e-bikes despite going much faster, and that sheriffs have to get aggressive about impounding the bikes being driven without a license.
“They need to get enforcement up to speed to where they pull over this hoodlum and say this is too powerful to be an e-bike. We need to see your license,’” Sellin said. “Oh you don’t have one? Then let’s call mommy and daddy cause we’re impounding your bike.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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