After complaints about outrageous and out-of-control e-bike and e-scooter use, Laguna Beach officials are embarking on a new education and enforcement campaign to encourage safer riding and less disruption to the community.
This week, the City Council passed an ordinance that Laguna Beach police will use in conjunction with the California Vehicle Code to bring the use of these vehicles under control, officials said. The new city law is tailored specifically to e-bikes and other electric riding devices and provides options going beyond rules written for bicycle enforcement. The council also asked that the Police Department return in six months with a report on how the enforcement has gone.
“Laguna Beach witnessed a sizeable increase in e-bikes, e-scooters, and electric devices that pose safety risks and concerns as they can operate at higher speeds than bicycles and often compete for space with both vehicles and pedestrians on streets and sidewalks,” Lt. Jesse Schmidt said, adding that while bicycle use is already regulated on the Main Beach boardwalk, in city parks and on trails, more needed to be done than relying on the traffic code to deal with e-bikes.
The new law — which will go into effect on May 8 — limits e-bike speeds to 25 mph within the city limits. Passengers must be in seats, those under 18 must wear helmets, and the vehicles must stay in the direction of the traffic flow while obeying posted street signs and observing the right-of-way for cars and pedestrians, as outlined in the vehicle code.
The council considered the ordinance earlier this month but decided it needed tweaks, including making the guardians of minors liable for citations, which can range from $100 to $500 for violations. If there is a violation, the e-vehicles can also be impounded, and if the operator is a minor, the vehicle would be released to the guardian or parent once the impound fee is paid.
While reports of unruly riding is citywide, one area that has seen a lot of issues is in the Top of the World neighborhood, near the trailhead for the Woods Canyon Wilderness Park, officials said. Police said e-bike riders have been riding there at high speeds without helmets and not paying attention to traffic signs, rules and signals.
Schmidt said the city’s new ordinance will give police officers more flexibility in dealing with those who are found in violation.
“The municipal code does not specifically address e-bikes,” he told the council. “The gap has led to growing concerns and the need for more enforcement.”
He said to craft the Laguna Beach ordinance, he looked at what other beach cities, including San Clemente, Huntington Beach and Seal Beach, did with their rules. He also looked to Los Angeles and Riverside counties to see what has been put on the books in cities there.
The new ordinance will be rolled out with a heavy education component, officials said. School resource officers will hold training at the city’s schools, and quarterly training for the general community will be planned.
“Once we get the ordinance in place and start doing enforcement, we can get realistic numbers to council,” said Traffic Sgt. Thomas Spratt, the city’s first-ever motor sergeant, who worked with Schmidt on the ordinance. “We have a very aggressive plan in place that we will implement to start getting education out and doing enforcement. Hopefully, we’ll see some good results.”
The Police Department will also coordinate with OC Parks and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which oversees some of the county and park trails that border Laguna Beach.
Spratt pointed out that applying city law in addition to the state’s vehicle code gives police officers more flexibility in giving out warnings and fines.
“It’s an education-enforcement campaign depending on the individual and how receptive they are and how extreme the violation is,” Spratt said. “We’ll treat a 30-year-old different than a 13-year-old, that’s why the ordinance is different, as opposed to the vehicle code. It allows us the bring parents into the fold and take a different action and enhance the education component before enforcement.”
Spratt, who has been a motor officer for 21 years, said bad behavior on e-bikes is a regular occurrence.
“We get reports daily where kids are driving recklessly, taking over the roadway, blocking cars,” Spratt said. “We just had a video a lady showed us where she was following an elderly lady down the street who was 81 years old and the four e-bikers were surrounding her and forced her to a stop and were yelling at her and calling her names for no reason at all. There was nothing she did wrong, according to a video we saw.”
Another example was a boy riding a steep downhill grade at nearly 50 mph. He lost control and crashed, Spratt said.
“He went tumbling down the road probably 150 feet before he came to a stop,” he said. “And, mostly road rash, and he didn’t hit anything, but for a young man that’s pretty devastating.”
“We’ve had kids get crashed into by running a stop sign and hitting the side of a car,” Spratt added.
Additionally, Spratt said that probably about 75% of the kids found misbehaving won’t stop for the police.
“They run from us and think it’s funny because we try not to pursue them because we don’t want to force an issue where they get injured or killed and they’re getting away with it,” he said. “We try to stop them to enforce and educate, and they just run and laugh.”
Spratt said some have been tracked down with images from either police bodycam or surrounding area surveillance systems. By taking these to school resource officers, he said, some have been brought in and some bikes have been confiscated.
“Running from the police elevates a traffic infraction to a felony really quick,” Spratt said. “We are successful in prosecution on some of them. It is something that can potentially ruin their lives by having a felony criminal conviction on them for nothing more than thinking it’s funny to run from the police.”