Riverside city leaders pumped the brakes on a proposed crackdown on electric bikes this week, sending the measure back to committee for changes rather than voting it into law. The move comes as the city grapples with a surge of complaints, dozens of crashes, and the deaths of two 14-year-old riders struck by a vehicle last month.
The Riverside City Council had been weighing new rules regulating e-bikes and similar electric conveyances before deciding to route the proposal back to the Public Safety Committee for revisions, according to the Press-Enterprise. The rules are expected to return to the full council at a future meeting, and if ultimately approved, would take effect one month later. As drafted, the measure would prohibit unsafe riding in public spaces, ban e-bike use in parks, on sidewalks and in city-owned parking lots, and outlaw off-highway e-motorcycles in public areas. It would also bar riders from using handheld phones, require helmets for minors, and impose penalties for traffic violations.
The stakes behind the debate are grim. On Aug. 25, two 14-year-old victims were fatally struck by a vehicle in Riverside while riding an e-scooter and an e-moto, the outlet reported. Since Jan. 1, the Riverside Police Department has fielded more than 200 complaints about e-bikes and logged more than 22 related crashes, per the same report.
A County-Wide Spike in Crashes
The numbers behind the push extend well beyond city limits. Riverside County reported 224 e-bike accidents in 2023, a figure that climbed to 494 in 2024 and then jumped to 958 in 2025, according to a county news release cited in the article. County officials also attributed at least one fatality to e-bikes in 2024 and two more in 2025.
Under the draft proposal, penalties would range from fines of up to $250 for infractions to as much as $1,000 for misdemeanors, the report states. Riverside is reportedly not considering a ban on riding along the Santa Ana River Trail, even as it tightens rules elsewhere.
Split Views From Officials
Not everyone in Riverside sees the crackdown the same way. Chuck Conder said the rules are meant to protect public health and safety without prohibiting legal use by responsible riders, the Press-Enterprise reported. Sean Mill, meanwhile, compared the effort to parents warning children they might shoot their eye out — a skeptical take on how far the restrictions should go.
How Other Cities Are Responding
Riverside is far from alone in confronting a rise in e-bike incidents involving young riders. San Diego recently became the latest city to pass an ordinance banning children under 12 from riding e-bikes altogether, according to Times of San Diego. That city's ordinance covers class 1 and class 2 e-bikes, while class 3 e-bikes are restricted to riders 16 and older, and its restrictions were set to take effect 30 days after final passage.
San Diego's approach leans on education rather than immediate punishment: violations carry a $25 fine, but riders who are cited can complete an e-bike safety program to avoid paying it, and the city planned a 60-day warning period before any citations or fines were issued. The urgency driving that policy is backed by hospital data — Rady Children's Health recorded just three e-bike injury cases in 2021, a number that had ballooned to 262 cases by 2025, with 98 more cases logged from January through March of this year, per Times of San Diego.
Whether Riverside adopts a similarly graduated enforcement approach remains to be seen, since the exact revisions the Public Safety Committee will consider have not been made public. Officials are reworking the proposal, leaving families like those of the two teenagers killed in August watching for what changes next.
