Jackie Krentzman is a Bay Area-based writer and editor. 

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Last summer, Half Moon Bay Mayor Debbie Ruddock was riding on the California Coastal Trail on her new e-bike. Suddenly, coming straight at her, was a young boy on an e-bike with no helmet, looking at his phone. She shouted, and at the last second, he swerved away.

“I was so shaken,” she says. “The next several times I went out on my e-bike, I was much more careful and observant. I started noticing there were so many kids on e-bikes riding recklessly and way above the speed limit. I also saw adults with babies and backpacks on their e-bikes going too fast.”

What Ruddock noticed is what Californians are experiencing statewide. E-bikes have exploded in popularity, and accidents are skyrocketing.

Let’s start with the positive: Many cities welcome the sudden interest in e-bikes. They are cheaper than cars, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and get more folks out in California’s stunning nature. “We need to recognize that e-bikes have become an essential form of transportation,” says Chula Vista Council Member Michael Inzunza.

That’s the rub.

More people are relying on e-bikes for enjoyment and practicality. E-bike sales in the U.S. quadrupled from 2020 to 2024, and grew even faster in 2025, with an estimated seven million on the road today. Industry experts estimate that over a third of all bicycle sales are e-bikes. Adults ride them to work and run errands. Kids ride them to school and soccer practice. Families ride them on weekend outings in parks. Seniors with mobility challenges use them to shop.

“It’s a way for youth to learn to explore their community and the larger world, and start to mature and grow,” says Hermosa Beach Police Chief Landon Phillips. “If done safely and properly, they are as safe as a bicycle.”

That’s a big if. Less than half of all riders nationwide wear a helmet. Nationally, emergency room visits for e-bike accidents tripled from 2017-2022, especially for youth. The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System reported a dramatic rise in pediatric e-bike injuries, increasing from 4% of all bike injuries in 2019 to half in 2023. UC San Francisco researchers found an almost 50-fold increase in related head trauma incidents nationally over the previous five years.

Hospitals in every part of California are also reporting corresponding rises in related pediatric injuries. A 2024 retrospective analysis of the California traffic database showed that e-bike collisions increased 18-fold over five years — from 184 to nearly 3,500.

“Children are dying. Adults are dying,” Inzunza says bluntly. “We’re not talking about when you and I were kids and falling off our bicycles going 10 miles an hour and getting some scrapes on our knees. We’re talking about 8-year-olds slamming into cars at 30 miles an hour.”

Inzunza estimates that the actual numbers of accidents and their severity are even higher, as municipalities have not yet begun collecting data on e-bike incidents alone.

“The actual scope of the problem is partly obscured because there is no good data collection on e-bike accidents yet,” he says. “When someone is ticketed for illegal usage, there is not a checkbox specifically for e-bikes — they are marked as a bike collision. Therefore, much of what we know is anecdotal or gathered one by one from local hospitals.”

Motorcycles disguised as bikes

Some of that increase is simply the result of unsafe behavior. Exceeding speed limits is rampant, and it’s common to see multiple teenagers on an e-bike built for one.

“As e-bikes have come down in price and are so widely available, you now see kids as young as 12 doing tricks and riding recklessly on sidewalks and shared pathways, including our boardwalk on the ocean,” says Phillips. “We are seeing pedestrians crossing these paths to get to the beach, dodging 50-pound-plus e-bikes, which are traveling at unsafe speeds.”

But there’s more to this story than kids being kids. In California, e-bikes fall into three categories based on their speed and acceleration mechanisms. Class 1 and 2 e-bikes have no age requirements; Class 3 e-bikes do. Helmets are required for everyone under 18 in all three classes and for all Class 3 riders. By law, e-bikes cannot exceed 750 watts. However, many models can exceed those speed limits and horsepower with aftermarket apps.

Class 2 e-bikes with throttles are of particular concern: The throttle allows riders to go from 0 to 28 mph (or more if modified) much quicker than pedal-assisted e-bikes.  

“Sure, the maximum speed may be 20, but think about a car,” says Mill Valley Mayor Max Perrey. “The horsepower of a Porsche can get you from 0 to 60 in just a few seconds, right? So, the throttle basically does that for e-bikes. How fast you get to 20 really matters if you’re on a narrow road, or a bike path, or going around corners.”

Complicating matters are e-motorcycles. Essentially dirt bikes, these vehicles are authorized only for off-road use, but parents often unknowingly buy them for their children, as many look like e-bikes. The Marin Safe Routes to School advocacy group counted 277 e-motorcycles parked at middle and high schools last year. A report by San José State’s Mineta Transportation Institute found that “illegal, over-powered devices” were the “key problem” in accidents.  

In February in Half Moon Bay, a 16-year-old boy on an e-motorcycle died after colliding with a truck on Highway 1. He was wearing a helmet.

Chula Vista’s Inzunza estimates that half to three-fourths of the recorded e-bike accidents are actually e-motorcycles. “They look very innocent,” he says. “They’re quiet and light and can seem almost like a toy compared to my full-size motorcycle. But they can go 70 miles an hour. Parents are buying these for their kids and have no idea what they are putting in their kids’ hands. It’s no different than if a 13-year-old left school behind a Buick.”

Playing catch-up

As with any new technology, lawmakers are playing catch-up. California has passed several bills that limit speed, require battery checks by certified labs and reflectors on the back of the bikes, prohibit software that can increase a bike’s speed, and add some helmet requirements.

Cities are closely following the impact of a bill passed in 2024 that allowed Marin County to ban riders under 16 from throttle e-bikes; require helmets for all e-bike riders; and restrict Class 3 e-bike usage in certain cases, with fines and mandatory safety courses for violations. The pilot program was a natural fit for the area, where mountain bikes first became popular.  

“Cycling is a way of life in Marin County, including here in Mill Valley,” says Perrey. “Our community is very attuned to active transportation. Safe Routes to School began here. We have a fantastic bicycle coalition, and our high schools have mountain bike teams.”

E-bike safety, he says, is the number one concern of this city of 14,000 residents. “Every day, our residents report instances of e-bikers veering onto a sidewalk and almost running down an elderly person or someone walking their dog or strolling with their baby,” Perrey says.

Alarmed by the volume of accidents and their severity, Mill Valley passed an emergency ordinance in 2023 that established a citation program that requires offenders to take a safety class. If a minor is cited, their parents must also take a class. The city also launched its E-Bikers Club, a fun, educational program that sponsors events tied to youth e-bike safety.

Some city leaders hope that California adopts a statewide version of Marin’s pilot program or a similar version in San Diego County, which allows cities to restrict Class 1 and 2 e-bikes to those 12 and older.

Carlsbad, in San Diego County, was one of the first cities in the state to address e-bike challenges. In 2022, the city issued an emergency declaration after a more than 200% spike in e-bike collisions over the previous year, says Police Lieutenant Jason Arnotti. The declaration helped Carlsbad expedite several initiatives, including new high-visibility lane striping and signage, a Safer Streets Together campaign, and an education program in the schools.

In February, Carlsbad approved new local laws that, in part, adopt elements of the San Diego County Electric Bicycle Safety Pilot Program that prohibit individuals under 12 from operating an e-bike. It also expands the definitions of unsafe riding for minors, bans e-bikes in two city parks, and gives the city ticketing and impound authority. It requires riders whose e-bikes have been impounded to take a California Highway Patrol e-bike safety course to get their bikes back.

“We are trying to strike a balance between safe riding without inhibiting usage,” says Arnotti. “Our city has great recreation and civic engagement opportunities, including a world-class park and trail system, and a lot of commerce. We want kids to be outdoors, engaging in our city, safely.”

Are these changes enough?

City leaders worry these changes alone won’t put a dent in the sharp increase in related injuries. Many are scrambling to establish their own ordinances, using whatever levers are at their disposal.

Dr. John Maa, a former trauma surgeon at Marin General Hospital and the current governor of the American College of Surgeons, is advocating for statewide reform. He recommends that local jurisdictions consider convening special committees, prohibiting e-bikes on sidewalks and other high-density areas, impounding unlawful vehicles, and strengthening enforcement.

Many cities would like the state to establish a uniform set of laws in its motor vehicle code. Several bills in recent years have already attempted to rein in the unauthorized use of e-bikes. Today, there are at least half a dozen state bills in the works focused on e-bike usage and safety.

“I think it will be a very active year at the state level,” says Maa. “There’s a lot of bills about education, establishing what the Department of Motor Vehicles can do, about what schools can do, about data sharing, and much more. I think that all of these are common-sense things that should be adopted.”

Damon Conklin, a legislative advocate for the League of California Cities, emphasizes that state and regional fixes are welcome — as long as municipalities retain the ability to set and enforce their own ordinances, including more restrictive laws that take into account specific circumstances.

“There is a lot the state can do without usurping local authority,” he says. “We want to partner with the state — the state needs input from local municipalities.”

For example, Conklin says the state can fund e-bike training and safety classes, administered at the local level. It can require manufacturers to make the three classes of e-bikes visually distinct so that local law enforcement can more easily identify whether someone is improperly using an e-bike.  

Other city leaders say they would like the state to manage licensing and registration. Currently, California manages neither, although some school districts require students to take a safety course before taking an e-bike to campus. But with the state contending with a multiyear budget deficit, such a proposal is likely to stall out. Another challenge is that e-bikers are constantly crossing jurisdictions. In Half Moon Bay, for example, a popular coastal trail goes through the city, county parks, state parks, and unincorporated county land — each with its own set of rules.  

Despite all the challenges, city leaders want to regulate e-bikes in a way that encourages more biking, not less — just in a safer fashion. 

“It can be easy to give e-bikes a bad rap when you see underage kids speeding or doing wheelies down the street, but e-bikes are a fantastic resource for residents and tourists alike,” says Dale Leda, Half Moon Bay’s interim city engineer and staff liaison to the Half Moon Bay Bicycle/ Pedestrian Advisory Committee. “We want people to get out there, see the scenery in an active way. If the infrastructure and policy can catch up, they will be such an asset for our city.”