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The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance Tuesday to place greater restrictions on e-bike use and proposed naming the law after a boy who was killed last year in a chain-reaction involving an e-bike.
The ordinance was crafted after several town halls and conversations with doctors, law enforcement, and e-bike advocates in response to a rise in accidents and injuries associated with e-bike riding.
E-bike accidents in California rose from two accidents in 2018 to 1,566 in 2024, according to a study from the University of California, San Diego.
“No more children should be hurt,” said Xiaoming Fang, the father of Ayden Fang, who was 4 years old when he died in a collision involving an e-bike. “The ordinance that’s been discussed today is the first of many steps towards that goal.”
On Aug. 8, 2025, Ayden was playing on a sidewalk outside a restaurant in Burlingame with his parents. A teenage driver of a car was pulling out of a parking lot across the street from the restaurant when an e-bike hit her car. Two children, an 11-year-old boy and his 10-year-old sister, were riding the e-bike.
The collision startled the driver, who accelerated onto the sidewalk and into the restaurant, striking the boy in front of his parents. Ayden died at the scene.
“Ayden’s death was tragic, but more importantly, it was senseless because it was fully preventable,” Fang said. “This is a failure in policy, a failure to protect our community, and that’s why the ordinance being discussed today is an important first step to ensure there is safe operation of e-bikes.”
The ordinance places a speed limit of 5 mph when riding on sidewalks and requires riders to yield to pedestrians and provide clear and audible signals before passing others.
It also prohibits riding in an unsafe manner that can endanger the rider and the public, tampering with serial numbers on e-bikes, and parking the bikes in a way that blocks a sidewalk.
“Broken hips, severe head trauma, severe bleeding, lacerations — this is all stuff that I see very consistently in motorcycle accidents, and now we’re seeing it with kids within e-bike accidents quite often,” said San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chris Larsen at the meeting. “This ordinance helps keep those speeds low and keeps the public safe because that’s all we want.”
While state law already enforces limitations on e-bike use, there are gaps in the law that the ordinance aims to address. The gap limits the definition of e-bikes to exclude electric motorcycles that are made to appear like e-bikes but drive at faster speeds than legal and regulated e-bikes. The gap prevents law enforcement from enforcing against riding these “e-motos” on sidewalks.
Violations of the local regulations would be punishable as infractions or fines with $50 for the first violation, $200 for the second violation within one year of the first, and $500 for additional violations within one year of the first.
Minors will have a traffic safety education option for a first offense instead of a fine, a program that the Sheriff’s Office is working to develop. The ordinance would also give the Sheriff’s Office the authority to impound an electric mobility device.
While the ordinance can only be implemented in unincorporated parts of the county, it’s intended to serve as a model for cities to adopt or modify.
“We received requests from law enforcement and the cities to create this model ordinance,” said Supervisor Jackie Speier, who spearheaded the legislation. “They can amend it locally to the extent that they want.”
Supervisor Lisa Gauthier tearfully thanked Fang for his advocacy and suggested the idea to name the ordinance after Ayden.
“I wish there was a way we could put Ayden’s name on this legislation so that we don’t have another Ayden in San Mateo County or anywhere else,” Gauthier said.
The board passed the ordinance unanimously, with staff being directed to rename the ordinance after Ayden ahead of the second reading. The ordinance will go into effect in January 2027.
“I certainly think that would be an outstanding way of memorializing Ayden,” Speier said. “This will be a way for Mr. Fang and the other families throughout the Bay Area who have had to deal with this tragic experience to know that their child has not died in vain.”
A 19-year-old driver in an SUV (allegedly on no-drive medication) killed Ayden Fang when she drove onto a sidewalk and into a restaurant. The kids were riding legal e-bikes in a legal manner. Perhaps the Board should focus on SUVs on sidewalks instead of e-bikes?