Santa Cruz e-bike surge worries many, but hasn’t led to serious crashes

As a parent of a teen boy, Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante knows what it’s like to have a child get on an e-bike and navigate a busy street alongside cars on his way to and from school unattended.  

Escalante’s son wasn’t riding the fastest-level e-bike – a Class 3, which can go up to 28 mph with pedal assist – but the speed of even lower-class e-bikes raises concerns for the chief, along with many other parents and community members.

Recently his son turned 16 so he now drives a car to school. But as a parent and a police chief, Escalante says he is still surprised that children can ride speedy electric bikes with little formal safety training. As with cars, the faster the bike, the higher the chance injuries will be severe if something goes wrong. 

“I was surprised that it’s legal for you to ride this without any sort of training, any sort of education, DMV, nothing, right?” Escalante said. “I think that will change.” 

Electric bikes have dramatically risen in popularity for riders of all ages over the past several years in Santa Cruz County, and across the country, as they’ve become more affordable. 

Capitola and Santa Cruz police said while they’ve noticed a rapid increase in the use of e-bikes, they haven’t seen a significant rise in accidents or serious injuries from accidents. 

City of Santa Cruz Transportation Planner Claire Gallogly and Escalante both say they have noticed a lot of local conversation about e-bike safety worries, but for now, there’s been no increase in incidents. They hope it’s due to educational programs in local schools and awareness campaigns across the county.  

“I think there are many more people talking about it than are reflecting the stats that we have,” said Gallogly. “[The number of incidents] hasn’t been growing at the same rate as people’s concerns have been – which, again, is good, but generally, we’re not seeing a huge uptick or a discernible uptick.”

In the city of Santa Cruz in 2022, there were 12 incidents or collisions with e-bikes, 25 in 2023 and 30 so far this year, according to the chief. Escalante said while the numbers are increasing, he associates the increase in incidents with the rising popularity of e-bikes and not necessarily an increase in danger: “I would have to take a deeper dive into each and every report to say more about the circumstances of each accident.”

A quick look at local Facebook groups and online chats shows numerous community members concerned about youth e-bike safety and expressing fear that one day what seem to be frequent near-misses could be fatal. 

“The E bikes are terribly dangerous. I see lots of young people buzzing around on them and somebody is going to get seriously hurt. Please be safe kids,” reads one comment on a post in the Aptosia Facebook group that led to more than 140 other comments about e-bikes. 

Felton resident Graham Freeman, a parent of three children, said he gave his oldest son a Class 1 e-bike for his 11th birthday. Since then, his son, Alden, now 14 and a first-year student at Santa Cruz High School, has been riding his bike to school. Freeman said Alden is a skilled and careful e-biker, and he’s not concerned about safety with him. 

“It’s actually safer [than a traditional bike],” he said. “There’s less of a speed differential between him and other users of the road. … He can take the lane, he can assert his shared use of the road, and he’s not going to have a big pile-up of vehicles behind him.” 

The Class 1 e-bike assists when the rider pedals and stops assisting at 20 mph. Freeman said he recently moved up to Felton, and Alden rides his e-bike to and from school – a 14-mile round trip. 

“He loves it. He always prefers to do it,” said Freeman. “I’ll drive his little brother to Mission Hill [Middle School] often, because at 11 – he’s not quite ready for it.” 

Freeman said he does occasionally get frustrated seeing young adults riding bikes and e-bikes with helmets that are unbuckled. What frustrates him most, however, is the lack of infrastructure to allow safe biking. 

“What I see is, we as adults are failing our kids,” he said. “We are prioritizing our cars and our convenience and our being stuck in our ways.” 

Sam Rolens, Santa Cruz City Schools spokesperson, said the district has been working over the past several years to increase awareness on e-bike safety. He said the district has seen a large increase in e-bike ridership, but there hasn’t been an “outlandish” number of incidents. 

The district has organized presentations for students with local law enforcement where officers discuss traffic laws and which e-bikes are allowed on the roadways – and emphasize using a helmet. Bicyclists under 18 are required by law to wear a helmet, as are all riders of Class 3 bikes.  

“We’ve been really proactive in the education portion of it, and allowed plenty of time to educate the juvenile population here before we started taking enforcement action,” Rolens said. “And we’ve noticed that from the officers’ point of view, we’ve gotten the feedback that they’ve noticed more use of helmets, stopping at stop signs. With the education, the kids seem to really take it to heart and do their best to obey the laws.” 

Alden Freeman said he thinks all people on the roads – pedestrians, cars and cyclists – could be more aware of their surroundings. He also notices that cars often forget to turn on their blinkers when making a right turn, which can confuse and endanger cyclists. For youth under 18, he thinks that it’s a good idea to require licenses or permits for bikes that go over 20 mph. 

He added that he really enjoys riding his e-bike – he rides on scenic trails and gets good exercise. 

“I think it provides a lot of the freedom that normally comes with having a car, but for younger people and much cheaper,” he said. 

It takes him about 30 minutes to ride the 7 miles between his dad’s Felton home and Santa Cruz High School. If he were riding a traditional bike, he’s pretty sure he could still do it. 

“It would certainly take much longer, and be more difficult,” he said. “I might be able to.”

Gallogly, the Santa Cruz city transportation planner, said she often gives friends who are about to purchase an e-bike for their kids several tips: Have your kid attend an e-bike safety course hosted by California Highway Patrol, ride with your kids and buy a bike without a throttle. 

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.