Marin Voice: Enforcing e-bike legislation should make our kids safer

To put my cards on the table, I favor expanding access for electric-assist bicycles in Marin County. It will help our aging population and those with disabilities to stay fit and allow them to travel without cars.

But I oppose the electric-throttle “e-motorcycles” that some parents let children ride on Marin streets. They are dangerous and, according to police, illegal if capable of going more than 20 mph, which most are.

I am the co-founder of the Marin E-Bike Access group. I would like to share some lessons that fellow group member Jonathan Frieman and I learned. We see overwhelming public support to open up additional safe routes for bicycles, including legal e-bikes. For example, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area officially allows bicycles, including e-bikes, on almost all its fire roads and trails. E-bikes are also prevalent on Marin Municipal Water District watershed roads, although unofficially at this point pending the outcome of a legal challenge.

The support, however, is not unanimous. Some groups, catering to hikers, resist sharing trails with any bicycles. They perceive danger in “mixing speeding bikes with slower-moving pedestrians” on shared trails. But it appears to me that those groups are silent on the much more real danger of forcing bicycles onto streets and mixing them with speeding cars.

It would be one thing if they were calling for separate but equal routes for bicycles. But I have heard the argument that new trails would cost too much and disturb the environment. It sure looks to me like some hikers just want to preserve their exclusive entitled status.

Hikers have 40 miles of trails on MMWD land for exclusive use. They share another 20 miles with horses. Cyclists have zero trails for their own use or even shared use; they are relegated to fire roads shared with all other users. The MMWD pilot program to share 10% of the 60 miles was a small step to a more equitable allocation. Unfortunately, to stop the proposed sharing, they groups sued. I await the court’s decision.

Our group has made progress in spotlighting the danger of youth riding illegal electric bikes, thanks to the leadership of Central Marin Police Chief Michael Norton. Most public school districts in Marin now have registration programs by which they exclude throttle devices more powerful than allowed by the state e-bike law.

There are many brands, but Southern California’s Super73 has been mentioned by numerous local law-enforcement and elected officials as the most popular among Marin youth. As Norton said, they are not e-bikes; they are mopeds or motorcycles. They require a driver’s license, a Department of Motor Vehicles registration, turn signals and insurance.  According to records, they are involved in most of the e-bike collisions. Illegal e-bikes have been ticketed and impounded in increasing numbers over the last few months.

Much more remains to be done. It will take more political will and leadership. While some public officials say the correct thing — recognizing that kids on illegal throttle mopeds are a big community and public safety concern — we need more action. From the street-level view, it looks like 13-year-olds and their scofflaw parents are riding circles — and doing wheelies —around some of our elected officials and police.

There is hope, however. The county, under the leadership of Supervisor Mary Sackett, has formed a special committee on youth e-bike safety. It should look at all “e-wheels,” including all throttle devices, not just the legal e-bikes. Its immediate focus is on implementing Assembly Bill 1778, which authorizes Marin cities and towns to require throttle (class 2) e-bike riders to be at least 16 years of age. If properly crafted, that requirement should include all devices being sold as class 2, especially those that police say are too powerful for that classification.

If the county and local officials implement and enforce the new ordinances, we should see a big difference on the streets. Please encourage them to do so.

Bob Mittelstaedt, of San Rafael, is a lawyer and co-founder of E-Bike Access, a Marin nonprofit dedicated to safe riding of e-bikes.