Carlsbad considers changing minimum age limit for e-bike riders

Carlsbad City leaders will meet Tuesday to discuss the possibility of changing the age limit for e-bike riders to 12 years old.

Right now, Carlsbad does not have a limit for how old someone has to be to ride an e-bike.

Earlier this year, AB2234 passed, allowing cities in unincorporated areas in San Diego County to establish a minimum age for riding e-bikes. The new law applies only to the class of e-bikes that go 20 miles per hour.

As a result, on Tuesday, the Carlsbad City Council will consider approving their traffic and safety mobility commission’s recommendation that kids 12 and younger not be allowed to ride e-bikes—a move that gives residents like Thurza Heim some peace of mind.

“I understand why they love the e-bikes, but they are often riding them without helmets, breaking traffic laws, a lot of them are so young they don’t understand the traffic laws,” Thurza Heim said.

Rastagar wishes the minimum age for riding e-bikes would be 16 years old, and teens would be required to have a license before getting behind the handlebars.

“These kids that are riding on the streets, they’re taking up traffic, they should be subject to traffic laws,” Rastagar said.

According to Carlsbad police, in the last three years, they’ve issued more than 180 e-bike citations and 230 warnings for violations that include running red lights, failing to stop signs, riding on sidewalks, and engaging in dangerous riding behaviors.

“When they change lanes, for example, going from a bike lane, which is on the right side, turning left, they usually swerve across two, three lanes of traffic without looking, for example, that says the judgment isn’t there,” Rastagar said.

He understands the dangers young kids and teens are exposed to on e-bikes because he’s treated patients who have been seriously injured by them.

“I do recall not too long ago a 16-year-old patient who I saw with the aftermath of a skull fracture, crashed on his e-bike,” Rastagar said. “Look at my helmet, it’s a regular bike helmet, this thing will work in a 10, 15 mile per hour crash, sometimes these bikes, particularly these e-motorcycles, they’ll hit 30-40 miles an hour.”

Regina doesn’t allow her eleven-year-old daughter to ride an e-bike because she’s seen the dangers firsthand.

“I think it was two years ago, when a car hit a mom with a baby, maybe it was about 2-3 years ago. Unfortunately, mom passed away,” Kagramanyan said.

NBC 7 reached out to the City of Carlsbad for comment and is awaiting a response.