Police could soon punish parents for teens running amok on e-bikes

In what could be a sign of a broader wave of tightening regulation on illicit electric bike activity, one New York town plans to start punishing parents when their underage kids commit e-bike infractions.

Electric bikes have become a popular alternative form of transportation in the US and around the world, saving commuters time and money compared to car usage, not to mention significantly reducing harmful emissions that compound the effects of climate change.

However, the spike in popularity of e-bikes has also led to an increase in cases of their misuse, especially among younger riders. The two main issues often cited by cities in the US involve illegal e-bikes (which are often not electric bicycles at all but rather light electric motorcycles that are ridden like e-bikes), or the use of e-bikes by underage riders… and sometimes both.

Now, the town of East Aurora is looking to push back by penalizing not just the underage riders, but also their parents.

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According to Erie County Sheriff John Garcia, an uptick in infractions has led to increased risks to teen and tween e-bike riders in the area. Until now, parents of underage e-bike riders (15 years of age or younger) in the state of New York could only be cited if the juvenile was riding the e-bike while the parent was present. Now, the town is planning to enact a stricter local law, allowing for the parents to be cited regardless of whether or not they were present during the infraction.

Many town leaders support the proposed change, but others aren’t as excited about it.

“I’ve spoken with parents that aren’t very happy with our enforcement of it, you know, ‘let kids be kids’ kind of thing,” explained East Aurora Police Department Chief Patrick Welch when discussing enforcement of the existing law. “However, that’s great until somebody gets struck by a car.”

A vote is set for later this month, and if approved by the town board, then the new stricter regulation will become law.

Electrek’s Take

I think this is an interesting development. I wouldn’t normally cover news out of a town of less than 6,000 people, but in this case, I think we’re getting an early peek at what could become a new type of enforcement in many parts of the US.

I’m a huge proponent of electric bikes, and I think we need to push more of them out on the streets to displace more cars. Every kid riding an e-bike to high school could be another SUV off the road. But I’m not going to bury my head in the sand and say that young teens with undeveloped prefrontal cortices aren’t going to make dumb decisions on them. So I do believe it makes sense to regulate e-bike use more tightly than non-electric bikes when it comes to young riders, since pedal bikes don’t allow kids to reach such speeds as easily or as frequently. Sure, kids could theoretically pedal an analog bike up to 20 mph, but just in case you haven’t seen a phys-ed class in the US recently, let’s just say most kids aren’t going to be doing that very often.

When it comes to underage e-bike use, I’m not sure where we draw that line and whether 16 is the right age (especially since many states let kids drive cars at that age or even younger). But I do think that these laws can make parents think twice before buying their tween an electric motorcycle like a Sur Ron or Talaria and unleashing them on their local town’s sidewalks.