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The Menlo Park City School District is addressing the rise in concerns around electric bicycle safety among older students at Hillview Middle School. During a school board meeting on Oct. 9, board members agreed that a district policy about e-bikes would be beneficial for the community.
In a presentation to the board, Superintendent Kristen Gracia discussed the various classes of e-bikes, ongoing issues around e-bikes on campus and the increase in challenges with the bike’s rising popularity.
“Last year, we observed up to a hundred student e-bikes in the Hillview (Middle School) bike racks,” said Gracia. “This fall, we’re noticing around 25 at (any given time). Each year it has grown and we anticipate even more this spring.”
The California Vehicle Code defines e-bikes as “a bicycle with fully operable pedals and an electric motor that does not exceed 750 watts of power.” These bikes are also categorized into three classes and do not require a driver’s license.
Class 1 bikes are only pedal assisted, can travel up to 20 mph and do not have an age requirement. Class 2 bikes have pedal assist and a throttle that can speed up travel without pedaling. Class 3 is only pedal assisted, can travel up to 28 mph and riders must be 16 years old to operate.
District administrators have also noticed other types of motorized vehicles including electric scooters and skateboards. Although they are not as popular as e-bikes, Gracia noted that she saw three scooters and two motorized skateboards at the Hillview bike racks last week.
What some parents might not know is that California law requires a driver’s license to operate a motorized scooter.
Gracia added that she and Hillview Assistant Principal Andrew Dinh also spotted bikes that they believe are either pocket bikes, also known as mini choppers, and off-highway vehicles — both are illegal to ride on roadways.
Ongoing issues and concerns
Every morning, about 850 students and a hundred staff members arrive on campus within 20 minutes — meaning there are 400 cars, 300 bikes and a hundred students walking and getting off the bus, said Hillview Principal Danielle O’Brien.
During arrival and dismissal times, the congested state of the roads around the school can cause “troubling conditions for e-bikes,” in what is already a dense traffic environment.
Due to the age and stage of development in middle school students, many underestimate the risks of reckless riding, not wearing helmets, speeding, riding on sidewalks and giving rides to friends on the back of e-bikes.
Over the last 12 months, the Menlo Park Police Department has received six reports of traffic collisions involving juveniles on e-bikes. Four have been reported in Atherton.
“A lot of these accidents don’t get reported,” said Atherton Police Officer Dimitri Andruha. “We had many more. Most of these are on major thoroughfares such as Middlefield (Road) and Ravenswood (Avenue).”
Menlo Park Officer Shaun Nissen added that because students are traveling at such high speeds in the bike lanes, there is the potential for collisions with cars who might be crossing into the lane. Drivers are still getting used to the idea that e-bikes are on the road and while they are still checking to see if the bike lane is clear, an out-of-view e-bike can come by within seconds, he explained.
Menlo Park City council members Jeff Schmidt and Jennifer Wise also joined the conversation commending the school board for discussing e-bike safety.
Schmidt shared that he formerly owned a motorcycle and currently owns a class 2 e-bike. In his experience obtaining a motorcycle license, he was taught that many accidents happen because of other drivers on the road.
With how fast these e-bikes travel and how silent and invisible they can be, there are more dangers associated with children riding them on the road.
“You can be the safest person and you have to really focus and pay attention and be very situationally aware and things still happen every single day because drivers don’t see you,” said Schmidt.
Gracia explained the relationship between e-bikes and students as a “ developmental mismatch where the cognitive and physical abilities of young riders are outpaced by the machines they operate.”
Future e-bike policy
Board members showed support for district staff to move forward in drafting a policy around e-bikes across its campuses.
The policy may outline rules about e-bike registrations, whether the bikes should be allowed on campus, or if only Class 1 bikes are permissible, said Gracia as she shared a few ideas with the board.
“E-bikes are here to stay and I would not want to see us get in the way of kids using bicycles and developing that independence and developing that healthy environment,” said school board member Francesca Segrè. “I really think it’s on us as drivers to be aware.”
Although the district policy would be enforced on students, Segrè emphasized that she would like for more conversations from district and school leadership to be targeted at adults, parents and drivers rather than penalizing students.
With a unanimous agreement among the school board, the district will be preparing a draft policy with various options to be presented during the next board meeting on Oct. 23.
“E-bikes are here to stay and I would not want to see us get in the way of kids using bicycles and developing that independence and developing that healthy environment,” said school board member Francesca Segrè. “I really think it’s on us as drivers to be aware.”
That has to be one of the dumbest things I’ve heard all year. We’re not talking about bicycles. we’re talking about a motorized vehicle. Put your child on a motorized vehicle without proper training, proper protection (motorcycle helmet not bicycle helmet), or proper supervision. The operative word being CHILD. Children should not be on motorized vehicles. They don’t have the maturity nor the brain development to be on them. There’s a reason we don’t allow children under 16 to drive. This is no different. In fact its worse.
As a motorcycle rider myself I second what Schmidt said, most motorcycle accidents are caused by drivers not seeing the motorcycle. If people have a hard time seeing motorcycles think about how well they can see something smaller. People’s inattention to their driving has only become worse since the advent of cell phones and its not going to get any better. Another reason to not have children on motor vehicles.
There are insurance implications that nobody is talking about. Once an e-bike becomes a motorized vehicle, and it is these Class 2 that are the issue, there needs to be a special callout in the homeowners insurance for this vehicle, think of it like a golf cart. Families who purchase these motorized bikes do not realize that depending on the class of the motorized bike that they need to contact their insurance carrier to add protection as they could be liable for any damage done should they collide with someone or something.
I was rear-ended by an 11 year-old this past spring on a throttle e-bike. Fortunately for the motorized bike rider the bicycle broke apart and crumbled under them, so they were not thrown from the impact of colliding with the rear of my vehicle. It was terrifying and the sound of the motorized bike colliding with my vehicle was as loud as being hit by a small car. As the article points out, I didn’t even see the motorized bike behind me as the rider throttled up to a high speed and as an unlicensed/untrained driver did not adjust for my slow down to make a turn and slammed into my vehicle. I hope that someone, school districts are a good start, put some common sense parameters and education in place so that all of us using the roads can remain safe.