As e-bikes gain traction in Irvine as a popular way of getting around, the city is also seeing an increase in related collisions.
The City Council approved regulations in 2023 to address the growing issue, but after reported bicycle collisions in Irvine peaked in 2025 compared to recent years, the council is again amping up street rules to curb more accidents.
Between January and September 2025, Irvine saw 101 collisions involving bicycles, electric bicycles and electric motorcycles, with cyclists found at fault for 64 of those incidents. E-bikes were involved in 66 of those collisions, with 69% of e-bike-related incidents involving riders younger than 18, an Irvine Police Department report said.
To curtail these numbers, councilmembers recently signed in more rules and consequences for reckless riders, which in some cases, will hold offenders’ parents accountable. The rules will apply to e-bikes and other “micromobility devices,” which include mopeds, electric scooters, electric motorcycles and other devices driven on city streets, sidewalks and public biking paths.
Councilmember Mike Carroll was the only opposed, saying he disagreed with attaching speed limits to city sidewalks, which currently have none.
“This has been long-awaited,” Councilmember Melinda Liu said. “We get so many emails and meeting requests about this issue all the time.”
Among the changes, the council decided to establish speed limits across the city for electric vehicles.
E-bikers may not ride faster than 20 mph on the city’s more than 100 miles of bike trails; for motorized scooters, the speed limit is 15 mph. And on sidewalks, e-bikers cannot travel more than 10 mph, or 5 miles per hour if sidewalks are within school zones.
As part of the effort to slow riders down, councilmembers decided to prohibit modifications to electric vehicles that would increase how fast they were designed to go. And there will also be heightened enforcement of helmet wearing, which Mayor Larry Agran suggested after noting he’d noticed many riders around the city opting out of the safety precaution.
Rule breakers face citations or fines up to $500 for multiple violations, which will be classified as infractions. Parents now also face citations if they knowingly allow their children to ride an illegally modified electric vehicle, or if they allow riding in an unsafe manner.
“The standard we’d be using is whether the parent knowingly authorizes their child to authorize these provisions. We understand that sometimes children don’t listen to their parents,” Irvine PD Motor Officer Jason Scheafer said.
“When we can establish that there’s some kind of knowledge that goes beyond just a young person not listening to their parents in the moment,” he said, “those are the standards we’re going to be using for this kind of enforcement. “
Councilmembers also decided to allow the police department to store or impound electric vehicles operating in violation of the city’s rules, depending on the situation or the severity of the offense.
Councilmembers also recently voted unanimously to lower speed limits on 56 roadways — generally by 5 mph after staffers evaluated 120 road segments and made the recommendation.
Segments of Alton Parkway, Campus Drive, Jamboree Road and Jeffrey Road are among those made slower.
Two segments of Bosque will be made faster and 27 streets previously unregulated will get new speed limits.
New signage and installations are estimated to cost around $40,000, which has already accounted for in this year’s budget, officials said.