If you haven’t heard, kids can ride motorcycles now.
Better yet, they don’t need a license and rarely wear helmets while speeding downhill or bolting through intersections. As fatal accidents and major injuries climb exponentially across the country, lawmakers are scrambling to contain the problem.
Meanwhile, in affluent communities like Laguna Beach, young teens apparently have no trouble getting the thousands of dollars needed for the bikes because the city is littered with e-bikes.
They are electrifying social media with calls for outright bans, better enforcement or new regulations. Most adults just want kids to be safe and smart, wear helmets and stop breaking basic laws.
Local bike guru Billy Fried, owner of La Vida Laguna, has written about the issue several times. In a recent interview with Under Laguna, Fried sees e-bikes as another step toward a better bike environment in Laguna, but he admits they do present new challenges.
“Electric bikes are the single biggest revolution in clean energy transportation since the electric car,” he said. “In fact, in small towns like ours, it’s bigger, since they are easy to navigate and there is such a health benefit associated with it.
“That said, we need some adult supervision to make sure bikes can safely coexist with cars.”
It’s no secret that e-bikes are heavier and faster than a regular bike. It is estimated the force of impact from an e-bike can be as much as 45 times more than a regular bicycle.
The legal top speed is supposed to be 20 mph, generally, but riders can easily coast down Laguna’s hills much faster. Manufacturers are also creating new models that reach speeds up to 50 mph.
Brakes are also a problem. There have been incidents of brake failures. They burn out quickly and are not cheap to replace.
Robert S. Bray, Jr., MD, founding director of Diagnostic and Interventional Spinal Care in Newport Beach, told Health magazine he’s also seen a “huge increase in e-bike accidents over the pandemic [or] lockdown period.”
Fried, however, remains optimistic that the benefits will outweigh the challenges. It’s a fairly new technology that will get better and safer. If needed, regulations will follow.
“We can be the Amsterdam of California, because our hills have been neutralized by electronic torque,” he said. “But since Laguna is an aging population of entitled people who put their own comfort and convenience ahead of the community good, we have a ways to go to make it a true biking town, with appropriate infrastructure such as dedicated bike lanes, roundabouts and bike corrals. Until we have the will to impose those changes, the sport will grow, there will be increased conflict, and someone will be critically injured. And that will be tragic.”
E-yikes. Yes. It’s time to pump the brakes.
