The city of Anaheim authorized a mayoral response to the Orange County Grand Jury (OCGJ)’s 2023-2024 “Friend or Foe” e-bike report at their Aug. 20 city council meeting.
OCGJ foreperson Michael J. Verrengia addressed a letter to Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken on June 13 with a copy of the report one week prior to its public release. The letter’s three findings entail confusion due to a lack of e-bike ordinances, inconsistent training and e-bike education across cities, and a need for tracking e-bike deaths and injuries.
The report made three recommendations: all OC cities should establish specific regulations for e-bike riders, create a mechanism to report accidents and injuries, and develop research and educational programs of safe e-bike operations by Dec. 1.
In the letter, Verrengia outlined OCGJ’s requirement for the city to respond and implement each grand jury recommendation, as well as provide a schedule for implementation with progress reports due every March until all recommendations are completed.
All OC cities have until Sept. 19 to respond, indicating whether they agree with the three recommendations and three findings, and providing updates on whether the recommendations have been implemented.
In a letter addressed on Aug. 21 to Presiding Judge of the Superior Court Maria Hernandez, Aitken agreed with all three findings.
Regarding road-use regulations, Aitken noted that the Anaheim Police Department (APD) Traffic Section will work with the Southern California Traffic Officers’ Association and existing OCTA codes to develop a municipal code draft, which will be sent to the city attorney’s office by the end of this month.
Aitken stated that the city will soon reform its APD traffic reporting policy to include e-bike violations of the California Vehicle Code and document accidents. A training bulletin on these changes will be made available to staff by Dec. 1.
The third recommendation, which pertains to the development of research and educational outreach, was implemented in May.
“Initially completed via social media postings and traffic enforcement conducted in an educational vein, the Department also hosted an educational community outreach meeting in July,” Aitken stated in the letter. “Moving forward, the City and Police Department are committed to ongoing community engagement and awareness efforts and plan to host safe riding clinics and other educational efforts.”
The grand jury report outlines how the 34 cities within Orange County “vary significantly in their regulation, safety, enforcement and education on e-bikes” outside of existing California Vehicle Code and Orange County Transportation Authority regulations. The report explains that e-bike usage has surged as a cost-effective alternative to automobile transportation, necessitating immediate public safety measures due to the risks associated with riding on sidewalks, riding against traffic, speeding, collisions and ability for owners to make unauthorized modifications that allow bikes to exceed safe speeds.
The OCGJ sent a survey to mayors of the 34 OC cities regarding their e-bike policies, receiving responses from 22 cities. The survey revealed that 50% of the responding cities do not track injuries or deaths associated with e-bikes, while the other 50% do. Additionally, all cities acknowledged the absence of posted e-bike speed limits. Regarding where e-bike use is permitted, such as sidewalks, in vehicle lanes or highways, responses varied significantly with some cities unsure of their own rules.
Jurors also found that safety education for e-bike riders is “sporadic” across the cities, with only eight of 22 responding cities offering training. The grand jury expressed that “grass-roots efforts” will be crucial in establishing a consistent e-bike education platform.
For the safety of motorized scooter and electric skateboard users, UCI students are instructed to walk their “skate device or motorized scooter when traveling through the campus core” and are prohibited from riding in the campus core. While e-bikes are not specifically mentioned, the biking speed limit on campus is 8 miles per hour, and riders are advised to wear helmets to reduce the “risk of head injury by 85%.”
In an Aug. 26 crime alert email sent to students by UCI Police Department (UCIPD) Chief of Police Liz Griffin, Griffin referred to the Clery Act to define electric bicycles and electric scooters as motor vehicles and to remind students of safety tips to protect against recent motor vehicle thefts near student residential areas and on campus.
UCIPD’s Bike and Safety Officers are responsible for issuing monetary fines associated with vehicles operating in prohibited areas, reckless usage and speeding.
Inga Chilingaryan is a News Intern for the summer 2024 quarter. She can be reached at chilingi@uci.edu.
Edited by Karen Wang and Xinyu Zhang
