A boom in the use of electric bikes – and incidents involving them – are prompting Gilbert Police to call for more stringent local control beyond public education efforts.
At a Town Council study session last week, Assistant Police Chief Mike Angstead said the surge in e-bikes’ popularity in Gilbert is part of a national trend among teens and even pre-teens.
“They’re a popular alternative mode of transportation, and we have a concern or vested interest in these bikes, of all kindsin terms of enforcing the laws and regulations,” he said, “and making sure that people are safe as they operate on our roadways and sidewalks.”
Saying the issue cannot be resolved overnight, he recommended a “multi-faceted” approach involving engineering, education and enforcement working in tandem.
He called attention to the results of a survey used for the 2022 transportation master plan, stating 70% of respondents wanted more separation between bikes and conventional motor vehicles on Gilbert roads.
As a part of a public education campaign,police launched the “Know Your Ride” campaign this month, Angstead said.
“As a parent, reading state law can be kind of cumbersome. You read through it and you kind of think you know what it’s talking about in terms of bikes and e-bikes.
“But if I was to take all the different variations of e-bikes and bring them in here right now, we would all have a really hard time telling one device from the other.
“And I would have a hard time – and this is what I do for a living.”
Angstead explained there are three classes of e-bikes, all of which can be pedaled:
• Class-1 e-bikes can reach a speed of 20 mph but the rider must be pedaling while hitting the throttle to increase the speed.
• Class-2 e-bikes can also go up to a speed of 20 miles but the rider doesn’t have to pedal to start the electric motor. “You can sit there and just keep the pedals level and just use the motor the entire time,” Angstead said.
• Class-3 e-bikes are similar to the class-1 bikes – the rider has to pedal to start the motor, but these bikes can hit up to 28 mph. People must be at least 16 years old to own and operate one under state law.
Electric motorcycles fall under a completely different part of the law, Angstead noted, since they are considered a motor vehicle.
Legally, riders of these motorcycles must be at least 16 and wear a helmet if they are under 18.
Some electric motorcycles can be modified to go up to 70 mph or higher, Angstead said.
But while these motorcycles must be registered, licensed and insured to even be on the road, overseas ones cannot even be registered in the country.
“The truth of the matter is, the bike that’s featured here that you see a lot on our sidewalks, they can’t even be registered, they’re not Department of Transportation- compliant,” Angstead said.
“They’re often made exclusively overseas, and so it’s tempting for parents to buy them because they’re cheap and they’re kind of like an e-bike. But they’re, for the most part, completely illegal to operate.”
Angstead also thanked Councilwoman Yung Koprowski for pitching in to educate citizens about bike safety and bike helmet awareness, and handing out bike helmets to many kids in Gilbert.
In terms of the town engineering efforts to increase bike safety in Gilbert, Angstead said town bike lanes have been expanded from 5.5 feet wide to 6 feet.
He also noted 82% of respondents to the Green Bike Lane program survey wanted more green lanes and the Town currently is in the process of installing more.
Many of the Town’s capital improvement projects are also focused on safer trails, canal paths, road crossings and providing safer school routes to kids, he said.
Gilbert has invested about $215 million on projects to enhance safety for cyclists and pedestrians.
Even with these measures, there have been bike collisions in Gilbert, though the town has seen a reduction in them from 65 in 2023 to 48 last year.
But he said more juvenile bike operators were involved in crashes last year.
“I think this is attributed to there’s more kids out there on bikes, which we all thought would be a good thing – ‘get them off the computers, get them off the Xbox, get them out outside.’ But the proliferation of these e-bikes has changed things.”
In 2023, there were two adult bike fatalities and in 2024, five with serious injuries to juveniles. Among victims, only 23% were wearing helmets.
“For major vehicle-related bike collisions in 2024, only one in six riders in Gilbert were wearing a helmet, and that’s adult and juvenile,” Angstead said.
East Valley communities have ordinances mandating helmets to riders of e-bikes under the age of 18.
Angstead said Gilbert in 2001 had an ordinance requiring bicycle helmets for a very short time before it was repealed. Today, underage bike riders in Gilbert can be cited for a civil traffic violation with a fine not exceeding $100 if they ride without a helmet.
He noted that Scottsdale, Mesa and Chandler have similar laws, with riders under 18 required to wear a helmet when on a motorized skateboard or e-bike.
Chandler also included more variations of e-bikes under its law. Tempe, on the other hand, requires all underage riders, bicycle or e-bikes, to wear a helmet.
Angstead also pointed out that in July, Scottsdale put into effect an ordinance that forbids anyone under 16 from riding class-3 e-bikes on city property. The law also applies to electric motorcycles capable of reaching a speed of at least 21 mph.
Angstead provided the council with four different options for ordinances in Gilbert:
• Keep the status quo;
• Require all riders, regardless of age, to wear a helmet on any form of bike used on public property;
• Require riders under 18 to wear helmets on any form of bicycle or e-bikes;
• Require riders under the age of 18 to wear helmets on all classes of e-bikes
Most of the council concurred that it was fast becoming a serious issue, though some were concerned about how police enforce an ordinance.
“Our goal, if Council was inclined to pass an ordinance, would be to start off with a pretty heavy education component, trying to get the word out that we have a new ordinance…and then we would carry that forward out in the field,” Angstead said.
But he noted, “Eventually we have to actually enforce it. What I’ve seen when we look at some of the ordinances here in the Valley, most of them are set up for civil traffic fines for these violations, so you get a ticket and it’s a fine.”
Vice Mayor Bobbi Buchli wanted to know what Gilbert parents and guardians said about having a bike ordinance in town, and Angstead said that information was not part of the 2022 survey.
Councilman Chuck Bongiovanni, an avid bicyclist himself, said that he had recently seen social media videos of kids on such e-bikes that were recorded by police drones.
Angstead said that drones are part of Gilbert first responder efforts to catch kids riding e-bikes recklessly.
“If we’re talking safety, these numbers are much higher than I would have anticipated,” said Councilman Jim Torgeson.
“Personally, I’ve witnessed a group of 10 to 12 riding wheelies, going down northbound on Higley, in front of Morrison Ranch, doing like 40 miles an hour with cars behind them,” said Councilman Kenny Buckland.
Koprowski said that she would support an ordinance requiring helmets and urged police to look into a speed limit enforcement for e-bikes while partnering with school districts for bike safety education in schools.
Mayor Scott Anderson stated that he supported Koprowski’s suggestions.
“I fully believe in more parenting and less government – unless the kids don’t listen and the parents don’t parent,” Bongiovanni added.
