Southlake City Council gave final approval Tuesday to a sweeping overhaul of the town's bicycle ordinance, adding 15 new violations tied to electric bikes and motorized scooters and placing much heavier legal weight on the parents of riders under 18. The vote capped a 21-day process that began with an initial reading on September 15 and wrapped up with final passage on October 6.
The changes, formally known as Ordinance 735C, were approved on their second and final reading this week, according to Community Impact Newspaper. The ordinance now spells out three distinct e-bike classifications: Class 1 bikes, which include pedal assist and top out at 20 mph; Class 2 bikes, which add a throttle but are also capped at 20 mph; and Class 3 bikes, which are pedal-assist-only and can reach up to 28 mph. Under the new rules, no one under 15 years old may operate a Class 3 e-bike at all.
Southlake Police Chief Ashleigh Casey told the council that the department logged around 100 e-bike violations over the past year, with many of the complaints and safety concerns centered on scooters and bikes being ridden at night, per the same Community Impact report. Casey said ordinance violations typically result in a Class C misdemeanor, which functions as a ticket with a fine of up to $500, and that three or more violations could lead to the vehicle being impounded.
Town Square and Sidewalk Restrictions Tighten
Under the updated code, bicycles, e-bikes, and motorized scooters are now prohibited on sidewalks within the Town Square district entirely. Elsewhere in the city, speed limits on sidewalks and trails are capped at 15 mph, and riders on public roads must still follow posted speed limits. Motorized scooters are barred from operating on roads with a 35 mph speed limit or higher when there is no sidewalk present.
The ordinance also bans electric and motorized vehicles from undeveloped public property unless the rider is simply crossing to reach a paved surface, and it requires that a vehicle's wheels stay on the ground at all times — a rule aimed squarely at stunt-style riding. Riding a pocket bike or mini motorbike is now explicitly prohibited on Southlake highways, roads, streets, sidewalks, and citywide trails. Engines on electric and motorized vehicles must also disengage whenever the vehicle is not being pedaled or when the brakes are applied.
Parents Now Carry More Legal Weight
Perhaps the most consequential shift is the expanded presumption of parental responsibility. Under the new ordinance, parents are now presumed to know and allow their children to operate these vehicles in prohibited areas or in prohibited manners, meaning a child riding without a helmet is treated as an offense for both the child and the parent. The ordinance states plainly that parents violate city policy or state law by allowing their children to break it.
Southlake's helmet mandate for riders under 18 actually dates back to 2025, before the council expanded parental liability and operational limits this year, according to a Facebook post from Drew Elliott. City helmet requirements apply to electric bicycles and motor-assisted scooters alike, and riders under 18 are now also barred from using mobile devices or listening to headphones while operating a bike, e-bike, or motorized scooter. Vehicles operated by children must also have a permanent seat, and carrying more passengers or riders than the vehicle was designed for is now an offense unless the rider has appropriate equipment.
Dealers who sell or lease electric and motorized bicycles and scooters have new obligations as well. They must now provide buyers with a written copy of the city's bicycle ordinance and ensure that helmet requirements are being met at the point of sale. Southlake's lighting rules also got more specific: every e-bike and e-scooter must carry a lamp at the front and a red lamp or reflector at the back.
Why Southlake Cities Can Regulate E-Bikes Locally
Texas law gives cities this kind of latitude because e-bikes are legally treated as bicycles rather than motor vehicles under Texas Transportation Code Chapter 551, which exempts riders from needing a driver's license, vehicle registration, or liability insurance, according to Angel Reyes & Associates. That same statute defines an e-bike as a two-wheeled vehicle with fully operable pedals, a motor under 750 watts, and a motor-assisted top speed of no more than 28 mph — vehicles exceeding those thresholds may be subject to motor-vehicle regulations, with their classification depending on their specifications. Because e-bikes remain outside the state's motor-vehicle licensing scheme, it falls to cities like Southlake to decide how and where they can be ridden.
A separate state provision, Texas Transportation Code § 551.352, generally allows motor-assisted scooters on roadways with speed limits of 35 mph or less and on sidewalks unless a local ordinance says otherwise, according to the Town of Southside Place. Southlake's new 35-mph sidewalk-dependent restriction builds directly on that state default. Regionally, Southlake's under-18 helmet rule puts it alongside Arlington, Bedford, and Coppell, while Highland Park's helmet requirement extends to riders under 21, per information compiled by Redtail Ebikes.
Part of a Wider North Texas Pattern
Southlake isn't acting in isolation. Nearby Trophy Club updated its own regulations covering e-bikes, motorized scooters, and golf carts in late February, following a local traffic study conducted in October 2025, Community Impact reported separately. The pattern reflects growing unease across North Texas suburbs. More teenagers are using e-bikes.
That unease is backed by national injury data. A 2026 study presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics conference, examining emergency department records, found that bone fractures are the most common injury among riders 17 and under involved in e-bike crashes, according to findings reported in Pediatric Annals. Separately, federal Consumer Product Safety Commission data analyzed by ERideHero estimated that U.S. emergency room visits for pediatric e-bike injuries among children 14 and younger jumped 167% in 2025, reaching 17,206 incidents.
Southlake police had already tried a softer approach before turning to tougher enforcement. In June 2025, the department launched a dedicated online E-Bike FAQ portal and folded e-bike safety education into programs like the DPS Youth Academy after officers fielded repeated questions from parents confused about speed limits and sidewalk access, according to My Southlake News. With roughly 100 violations logged over the past year and complaints piling up about nighttime riding, the city has now paired that education effort with the sharper legal tools in Ordinance 735C.
