Catching up with the e-bike craze: Rocklin police raise awareness through school assemlies, flyers, email

Rocklin Chief of Police Rustin Banks visited the Rocklin Unified School District Board meeting in September to share information about youth E-bike safety. On Aug. 6, trustees requested information to be brought to the Sept. 17 meeting to learn more about electric bikes in the community. Chief Banks shared that the station has been bombarded by the rise of e-transportation since 2023. He explained there are three classes of electric bicycles in California: Class 1 is a pedal-assist only with no throttle that can go a maximum speed up to 20 mph. Class 2 has a throttle with no pedal that can reach 20 mph. Class 3, which by state law requires riders to be over age 16 and wear a helmet, is a pedal assist only with no throttle and can reach 28 mph. There are also scooters and e-motorcycles. "Everybody is kind of trying to wrap their head around this challenge right now, but with that proliferation, we also had some issues regarding their use and we've seen riding on sidewalks," he explained. "We've seen riders that go against traffic, obviously speeding. We've unfortunately experienced a good amount of bike-versus-pedestrian or collisions, and bike-versus-vehicle collisions." Banks also stated there is a trend in riders modifying their electric bicycles. Riders can go online and learn quickly how to modify the vehicles to have the capability of going 20-50 mph. According to 2024 data provided by the Rocklin Police Department, 68 percent of bicycle collisions involved a cyclist on an e-bike, 88 percent of bicycle collisions were caused by the cyclist, and 55 percent of bicycle collisions were caused by the cyclist riding on the wrong side of the road. Last year, there were 17 related e-bike injuries. Chief Banks estimates there will be 25 e-bike related collisions by the end of the year based on current data. "A closer look at the 2024 data revealed that among the 17 e-bike related injury crashes, we reviewed juveniles were involved in 13 of them," he said. "The age distribution of those juveniles ranged from 11 to 17 years old, with the vast majority being between that 11 to 15 years old." He shared that tracking the information on electric bicycles is new for the department. He also stated 69 percent of the collisions occurred on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., aligning closely with school community time. Banks said the police department is working with the school district to track how many e-bikes are showing up on campuses. "We just crested 200 is the number that we're seeing between a combination of E-bikes and scooters there," he shared. The station holds school assemblies and shares videos, flyers, emails and to discuss awareness of e-transportation in the community. The department also does direct enforcement. Officers reward free doughnuts to kids who treat their bicycles correctly and cite kids who aren't using their bicycles appropriately. Parents get citations. Police have also towed e-bikes. The chief stated he has come to the opinion that no matter how much the department does from an education and enforcement standpoint, kids ages 11-13 will act like children. "There's no fault here. If I was 12 years old and I had an opportunity to tear around the town on this, I probably would have been there," he stated. "Even with the parents, I get that, too. We have children that have had to navigate the traffic around some of those schools. It can be a lot. And if I can spend $1,000 or $500 and Johnny can make it to school, and I don't have to wait in line, like I might sign up for that, so I get it." The department wants to focus on equipment-based enforcement moving forward but there are restrictions there. AB 1909 (2022) prevents California cities from enacting more restrictive E-bike ordinances. However, there are two statewide exceptions in Marin and San Diego that are currently doing a Bicycle Safety Pilot Program. Rocklin police are working with Placer County partners and state representatives to pass a local version of the Bicycle Safety Pilot Program. They are also aiming to help RUSD explore restrictions related to certain types of E-bikes and E-scooters and enhanced education.