A Warren mother is demanding tougher rules for e-bikes after her visually impaired son was struck by one while playing in his own front yard, suffering a split, broken jaw that required a metal plate to repair. Heather Pienta says the crash happened near her family's home along a sidewalk marked with a sign alerting drivers and riders to a blind child in the area, and she believes the e-bike rider had no business moving that fast on a footpath meant for pedestrians.
Her son, Mason, was rushed to the hospital after the collision, according to ClickOnDetroit. Police were called to the scene, and Pienta later received a report documenting the crash. She has since launched a campaign for tighter local rules on e-bikes and similar electric devices, arguing that motorized vehicles capable of sharing the road with cars and reaching similar speeds should require licensing and proper training.
Pienta started an online petition pushing city officials to change the rules governing where e-bikes can travel, hoping to spare other families from a similar ordeal. The petition, hosted on Change.org and titled Ban motorized bikes on sidewalks in Warren, Michigan, calls on the Warren City Council to prohibit all motorized bicycles from city sidewalks and specifically flags the danger to children and visually impaired residents like Mason.
What Warren Police Say About Current Rules
The Warren Police Department told ClickOnDetroit that it currently has no city ordinance specifically governing e-bikes and instead follows state law. Public information officer John Gajewski said officers primarily focus on educating residents rather than issuing citations. The department also referred questions about a Warren-specific e-bike ordinance to city hall, and the city's communications department forwarded that inquiry to Deputy Council Secretary Mary Kamp.
The department has released educational materials on social media outlining permitted and prohibited rider conduct. That approach lines up with a separate public safety reminder the department issued in July, confirming that sidewalk riding of Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes is currently permitted in Warren as long as riders obey traffic rules and posted signage, according to C & G Newspapers. Police Commissioner Eric Hawkins emphasized education in that notice while noting officers will still enforce traffic rules when riders behave unsafely.
What Michigan Law Actually Allows
Under Michigan's statewide e-bike framework, the rules are more permissive toward sidewalk riding than many residents may realize. Section 257.662a of the Michigan Vehicle Code allows Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes on sidewalks unless a local ordinance says otherwise, while Class 3 e-bikes, which can hit motor-assisted speeds up to 28 mph, are barred from sidewalks statewide, per the Michigan Legislature.
Even where sidewalk riding is allowed, state law spells out a duty of care. Under MCL 257.660, anyone operating an e-bike or personal assistive device on a pedestrian sidewalk must yield the right-of-way and give an audible signal before passing. Separately, state law restricts Class 3 e-bikes to riders at least 14 years old and requires helmets for any rider or passenger under 18 on those faster models, according to Bike Law. To legally qualify as an e-bike rather than a moped or motorcycle under MCL 257.13e, a device must have working pedals, a seat, and a motor of 750 watts or less, which is the threshold that exempts riders from needing a driver's license, registration, or insurance, per the League of Michigan Bicyclists.
Other Metro Detroit Cities Are Already Cracking Down
Warren isn't alone in wrestling with this issue, and some neighboring communities have moved further and faster. Berkley's city council voted in July to advance a citywide ordinance banning e-bikes, e-scooters, and electric skateboards from all sidewalks and public parks, a step Hoodline previously reported. South Lyon has also restricted e-bikes on its downtown walkways, according to C & G Newspapers, and Dearborn Heights has separately debated cracking down on youth e-bike incidents following a crash near a library.
The pattern reflects a broader national spike in e-bike injuries that has put pressure on local governments to act even when state law hasn't caught up. Emergency room visits tied to e-bikes nationwide surpassed 100,000 for the first time in 2025, reaching an estimated 102,777 visits, a 71% jump from the year before, according to ERideHero, which analyzed federal injury surveillance data. Among children 14 and younger specifically, e-bike injuries surged 167% in a single year, climbing from 6,444 in 2024 to 17,206 in 2025, with head and face trauma accounting for 29% of all e-bike emergency room visits recorded last year.
Government data compiled by USAFacts adds further scale to the trend, estimating that roughly 855,000 emergency department visits nationwide were tied to motorized micromobility devices, including e-bikes, e-scooters, and hoverboards, between 2020 and 2025. For Heather Pienta, the numbers are secondary to what happened on her own sidewalk. Her petition and the broader push in Warren now sit at the intersection of a state law that permits sidewalk riding by default and a growing chorus of Metro Detroit families and city councils who say that default no longer feels safe.
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