On a fine October day in 2024 I was walking my Pomeranian show dog, Ollie, to my favorite Irvine coffee shop, the Lost Bean on Barranca Parkway. Suddenly I was on the ground.
Two youths on e-bikes were riding on the sidewalk at maybe 25 mph and one cut in between Ollie and me. The e-bike pulled the leash, and me, down. They kept riding, not stopping to check on me. They rode right in front of this sign.
I first looked at Ollie, and he was OK. I was scuffed up and had some aches, but nothing seemed to be broken. Two people, one carrying a leaf blower annoying me minutes earlier, helped me up, as I pushed on the cane I use from knee arthritis.
I drove to a nearby Urgent Care. They said I was scuffed up and the aches could use some Tylenol. I went home and healed in a week. And became an e-bike hater. Ollie still keeps me walking.
I bring this up because accidents, even deaths, from electric bikes are increasing in California. “It’s heartbreaking to see that the kid was just trying to have some fun and they come in with devastating injuries that change their life forever,” Dr. Galinos Barmparas, a trauma surgeon at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, said of one patient, as reported in a May 14 CBS News LA story. Injuries include road rashes, head trauma and fractures to the arms and face. Doctors at the hospital told CBS injuries had jumped from six in 2023 to 12 in 2024, 34 in 2025 and 21 in the first five months of 2026.
Nationally, the numbers are even more shocking. A July 2024 study by the University of California, San Francisco, found, in the ScienceDaily summary:
E-bicycle injuries dramatically increased from 751 in 2017 to 23,493 in 2022, and e-scooter injuries rose from 8,566 to 56,847 over that timeframe. Altogether, there were nearly 2.5 million bicycle injuries, more than 304,000 scooter injuries, 45,586 e-bicycle injuries and some 189,517 e-scooter injuries in the U.S.
California law currently classifies e-bikes three ways:
- Class 1 = pedal to get assistance, up to 20 mph, no age minimum. Helmet required under 18.
- Class 2 = pedal or use a throttle, up to 20 mph, no age minimum. Helmet required under 18.
- Class 3 = pedal-assist only, but faster, up to 28 mph, age 16 minimum. Helmet always required.
You can see the problem: 12-year-olds can ride a Class 2 bike at 20 mph, and break the law by not using a helmet.
Kids being kids, another problem is predictable: hacking. A Sept. 10, 2025 report on KPBS featured Dr. Vishal Bansal, chief of trauma surgery at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego. He said, “You might sell a bike that has a limit of 20-25 miles an hour. I guarantee you these kids are going to modify it to go faster.” It took me less than a minute on YouTube to find copious short tutorials with such titles as, “Hacking my E-Bike to go Faster!” and “How to Unlock the Full Speed and Power of the Lectric 1.0 and 2.0.”
The California Legislature has taken action. Velotric Bike, a manufacturer based in Carson, Calif., provided a summary of three new laws taking effect this year:
- Senate Bill 1271 from 2024 was authored by state Sen. Dave Min, D-Irvine, now a member of the U.S. House of Representatives running for reelection. It imposed new safety regulations on e-bikes, powered mobility devices and lithium-ion batteries used in e-bikes.
- Assembly Bill 544 from 2025 was by Assemblymember Laurie Davies, R-Oceanside, now running for re-election. It requires that all e-bikes must display a red reflector or a red light visible at all times to about 500 feet, not just at night.
- Assembly Bill 965 from 2025 was by Assemblymember Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach, now running for Orange County supervisor. It prohibits selling a Class 3 e-bike to anyone under 16.
Cities also are taking action. Carlsbad, Poway, San Marcos, Chula Vista, Coronado and Santee have used a pilot San Diego County provision to prohibit children under 12 from riding e-bikes. Oceanside and Encinitas are exploring outright confiscation powers for “reckless operation.” These local efforts are commendable. And more enforcement of state and local regulations would be in order.
I’m trying to resist my urge to impose Nanny State regulation based on my personal experience, while maintaining my libertarian principles. Even libertarian economist Murray Rothbard used to say, while everything should be privatized, if something is public, such as roads and sidewalks, then laws should be made as much as possible to approach private rules.
In that case, for public property, why not regulate e-bikes like scooters? According to the DMV, the minimum age is 16. Riders also must have a valid driver’s license or learner’s permit, and wear a helmet. Younger kids would be restricted to old-fashioned pedal bicycles. Or at least cities should enforce speed limits and keep them off of the sidewalks.
Are e-bikes rather than pedals also making kids fat? One 2026 study from the Netherlands, where e-bikes have become popular, found, “Among young people, the use of electric bicycles is expected to have negative health effects, because in this group electric bicycles tend to replace traditional bikes.” Other studies suggest e-bikes actually provide exercise. Whatever the case, it’s probably a good thing for kids to get off of their cellphones and out in the real world, but they need to follow reasonable traffic rules rather than turn city streets into demolition derby.
Being laid up in the hospital, followed by weeks recovering at home, also keeps kids idle. Dr. Barmparas put it well: “We do our best to save the patient, but the best trauma story is a story that never happens.”
John Seiler is on the Editorial Board of the Southern California News Group.