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By Jacqui Cebrian
I bought an electric bike 18 months ago because the commute from the bay side of town to the Oak Knoll side of town where I teach was taking so much time from my life and making me more irritated when I got wherever it was I was trying to go. I would like to share 10 things I’ve learned:
1. My e-bike is a joy to ride and I’ve come to actually enjoy my commute. I feel happier when I get to work and when I get home. I’ve cut my commute time from 30 to 60 minutes each way to 20 minutes each way no matter what time I ride. If you have the ability to not drive, I encourage you to try out this easy mode of transportation.
2. There are a lot more bikes on the road than drivers may realize. I certainly didn’t realize that so many people commuted by bike until I became one of them. I have nearly 3,000 miles on my bike, almost exclusively in Menlo Park. That’s 3,000 miles my car wasn’t adding to traffic.
3. Stop signs are for everyone to stop at — bikes included. I may not be perfect at it, but I’m trying. I’ve noticed that cars often won’t take their turn at a four-way stop if they see a bike coming because they don’t know if the bike will stop, and most people aren’t willing to hit someone just to prove they have the right-of-way. If you ride a bike, you should follow the rules of the road just as you expect cars to do. Also, it’s good role modeling for the next biking generation to see. Special shout-out to the parents I see showing their kids to stop at stop signs and walk bikes in crosswalks. I do see kids who follow all the rules, and I know where they learned it.
4. Those green lanes on the edge of the driving lane are actually not just an overflow lane for cars. I see cars dip into this lane whether there are bikes there or not. And despite my neon jacket, many cars seem not to look before trying to share my green lane. Thank you to those who do.
5. Cars turning right are easily the biggest hazard I face on my ride. Drivers making right turns, please look for cyclists (and increasingly, scooterists as well). Right turns on Alma are a particular trouble spot. Watch for bikes! All the time. All across town. We’ve had 16 bike/ped accidents involving a car just since September!
6. Slow down! The death rate more than doubles for pedestrians hit by cars when the speed goes from 25 to 35 mph. Way too many cars are exceeding 30 mph on clearly posted and used school bike safety routes. Ringwood, Middle, and Santa Cruz avenues commonly have traffic exceeding 30 mph and heavy bike traffic. Maybe a citywide 25 mph limit would make our roads safer for all users.
7. In our small community, high school kids ride the wrong way on the sidewalk because the roads don’t feel safe. High school kids. What if we all drove like we lived in a small community where even middle school and elementary kids could feel safe sharing the roads?
8. Parents: Talk to your bike riders about why the helmet hanging from the handlebars of their bike isn’t doing them any good. Having nearly lost a relative to a head injury from a bike fall, I can attest to the lifesaving qualities of those plastic shells. No one plans to fall off their bike — there won’t be time to put the helmet on then. My relative had a full recovery.
9. Drivers: Many of you are still on your phones when you’re driving through town. It won’t be worth the damage that inattention might cause some day.
10. The traffic issues aren’t going away any time soon. However, if we choose policies that make our community more walkable and bikeable, then more of us will get the ease of access and increased quality of life that I’ve been enjoying since I started riding more and my commute went from being the most stressful part of my day, to the least.
Thank you for reading this. Hopefully we can all help make the roads a little safer for everyone.
Jacqui Cebrian, is a 12-year resident of the Belle Haven neighborhood in Menlo Park, a 15-year teacher at Oak Knoll, a former library commissioner, a current member of the Complete Streets Commission, a current member of Library Foundation Board of Directors, and a bicycle commuter.
Redwood City attorney sues ‘First Amendment auditors’ after Menlo Park disputeApril 2, 2026 11:31 am
Thanks for sharing all of these, in particular for explaining why it is important for bikes to always stop at stop signs, so that cars can predict and act accordingly.
With regard to right turns, one issue that will become increasingly prevalent as ebikes proliferate is the narrowing speed gap between cars and bikes. It used to be that if you were driving 25 MPH and you hadn’t just passed a bike, you could be fairly confident that there was not one in your blind spot.
But with ebikes, there are many more people riding at a high rate of speed, so we will have to be on the lookout. During this transition period, ebike riders would be wise to understand that they present novel issues and that drivers are not accustomed to having 20 MPH traffic on their right side, with the exception of experienced/skilled cyclists.
Bikers: NEVER pass a car on the “inside” or the passenger side. You are asking for trouble.
California Vehicle Code 21750 and 21754 are probably the most relevant sections, and none allow for a bicycle to pass a car on the right side.
Drivers: For Heaven’s sake, please be as aware as possible and avoid bikers. But, if bikers had enough sense to NOT pass on the inside then this wouldn’t be an issue.
The roads are there for all of us – not only cars and trucks – we need to share them, safely!
Great piece and may all the cyclists who pedal through Woodside read it. Bikers here ROUTINELY blow through stop signs, ride 2 and 3 abreast, and generally act as if only they own the road. This kind of behavior creates aggravation, aggression, and – most of all – safety concerns.
To: Electric Bike Article and other Bicyclists… please do not use the left edge of the “bike-only Lane marking” as your biking-line, as there are 3′ or so to your right that is clear and open … it puts you handle bars and body more into the vehicle’s lane, and any slip by you when you “ride-the-left” line markings is more likely to result in you being in the path of a driver. I bet its fun, but its damagerous, and is done all the time on Alpine Road.
Funny comments 🙂
Proving once again that everyone has advice for the other guy.
I am writing as a cyclist, driver, and parent.
@biker and driver makes a great point and I thank you for it. We all need to adjust to this new reality where cyclists can go much faster. With that in mind, those of us on traditional bikes should stay as far right as we safely can in our designated lanes because we are going to be passed by electric bikes in those lanes and they need to do so on our left.
@long-time rider: Your point is misleading. If everyone has their own lane, right lanes can pass left lanes. I think you mean to say at an intersection, cyclists should not blindly go straight when a car you pass may turn right?
Finally, to all drivers: When you are on a road with one lane per direction, it is not alright (and possibly illegal) to pass a car on the right, using the bike lane. This is a common occurrence on Valparaiso — despite signs saying it is not allowed — where lots of kids are riding to M-A, Menlo, SHP, and Hillview. You are endangering these students and others using the bike lane. Please slow down, be patient, and leave earlier.
Two things: Great point about being extra cautious when on an e-bike regarding unanticipated speed. Though I should add that I’ve been passed on my e-bike by non e-bike road bikes. My bike goes about 20 mph – pretty much all the time. I want to make it home everyday, so I take precautions when I see cars near right turns. However, I’ve had them merge right into me – which tells me they aren’t even looking.
Second – aren’t bike lanes on the passenger side of cars? Also, that should further reinforce cars to stop passing on the right – dipping into the bike lane – as it’s illegal.
I am a pedestrian in the Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View, and San Jose areas. I am surprised how few cyclists there are in the area. I am accustomed to nearly 3x-5x bicycle traffic on residential streets and major thoroughfares.
When I walk in the area between destinations on any given day I am more likely to witness at least 10 of what regional law enforcement refers to as misdemeanor traffic violations committed by vehicles. That means during times I am not commuting by foot between destinations there are likely over 100 in just the 3 mile stretch I frequent. This includes running red lights, failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, failure to fully stop at marked intersections, and obvious speeding. The volume of cyclist offenses I see is less than 1/10th of this volume and by far less dangerous.
Its human nature. People love to point blame on “Those outsiders”, in this case, cyclists. They love to hate on them like the red states love to hate on California. What we are seeing in the comments is people pointing blame at the other guy, even though we all know as drivers we run across violations by cars every mile and we’re used to it, but then “One time I got flipped off by a cyclist who ran a red light”
From that point onward the person will think bikes are a big problem.
More on right turns. The Vehicle code says that a car turning right is SUPPOSED to enter the bike lane 200′ from the intersection when turning right. Obviously a car should use the turn signal and be alert and must not do this if it would hit a bike, or if the bike is just about to come along side. But otherwise the biker that is racing down the lane towards the car should slow down and be prepared for a car to enter the lane prior to the intersection. And if you are a bike waiting at a red light at the front, position the bike far enough from the curb to allow a car behind you to turn right on red.
Bikers will unfortunately continue to be injured by cars for not following the law, period. Ie they blow through the stop sign at alpine-Portola roads, ride side by side or even three abreast, and create general traffic hazards. Bikes should use trails or sidewalks whenever possible to avoid being hit by cars and minimize risk to the community.
Car drivers should quit running over people then leaving dead in the streets.
They should also quit driving drunk and killing people.
They should also quit driving on the wrong side of the freeways and killing people.
They should also quit speeding, causing accidents that end up killing people.
They should also quit running the red light left turns which end up killing people.
Period.
The promise of technology was that people would work from home eliminating traffic congestion.This was mentioned frequently in media articles from the 19970s to 1990s. If companies really wanted to do good they would allow this. Traffic has made life miserable for everyone – not just workers. Also, homes are empty 12 hors a day while office buildings are empty the other 12 hours as tens of thousands are homeless.
That helped greatly in the 90’s, but the new companies have moved away from it.
Cities should mandate it and impose large fines for not encouraging it.
A bicyclist who ran a red light on El Camino crashed into my mother’s car at high speed (she has a dashcam, so video proof of the sequence of events) picked himself up and bicycled away, leaving my mother in shock with thousands of dollars damage to her car. Most bicyclists are responsible but a significant percentage think they should be able to do whatever they want.
Wow, quite a story. Shocking how a bike can do thousands of dollars in damage to a car then be able to simply ride away.
Anyway, and thank goodness, that’s a very rare thing compared to the near daily hit and run reports I read about drivers committing. Read the post above from “@ Thomas Welborn” It was predicted you would be here 😉
This happened today.
No cyclists were involved, again:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/04/teenage-runners-struck-by-hit-and-run-driver/