Parents of e-bike riding children should educate themselves on the bikes — including the dangers, classifications and potential speed-tampering — and help prepare their kids for the road with safety training, the founder of E-Bike Sense told over 100 San Mateo County parents during an online webinar.
“The real challenge is teaching them how to act safely and instinctively in a dynamic traffic environment,” she said. “I think everybody knows an e-bike goes faster. The faster you go, if something happens, the worse the impact will be.”
Knowing the bike is heavier and more difficult to maneuver than a regular bicycle and training with it before — preferably in-person, though online training is also available — can help keep young e-bike riders safe, E-Bike Sense advisor Stephen McCall said.
The accident rate for e-bike riders ages 10 to 15 is five times higher than other age groups, and children have a higher chance of traumatic brain injury and death from those accidents, Lamb said.
Parents shouldn’t assume that just because a child can comfortably ride a regular bicycle, they’re ready for an e-bike, San Mateo County Office Of Education safe routes to school coordinator Theresa Vallez-Kelly said.
“E-bikes are heavier than a standard bike, and they need to make sure the child is ready for it. It’s really important the child is trained,” she said.
Another integral way to keep kids safe is ensure their helmet is properly fitted, which can be checked at a local bike store. Lamb, who offers private e-bike training in addition to putting on public classes, said one of her students got into a serious crash that was only mitigated by wearing a helmet.
“The fire chief indeed said the helmet did save his life,” she said.
Parents should be aware of their child’s comfortability on the road and their awareness of safe cycling practices — like being a predictable rider, defensive riding, not double-riding unless it’s on a legal two-seat bike and abstaining from tricks and wheelies — before selecting what type of e-bike to buy.
Both Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes go up to 20 miles per hour and have no age limit and the same access to roadways as a regular bike, however, Class 1 e-bikes are pedal-assist only and Class 2 bikes are pedal and throttle assist.
Class 3 e-bikes can go up to 28 miles per hour but are only legal for riders 16 or over and are restricted on roadways in many cases.
In the majority of cases, parents will be deciding between Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes for their children, and should make themselves aware of how easy some Class 2 bikes are to tamper with, McCall said. In some instances, bikes can be physically or electronically tampered to exceed speeds of 20 miles per hour.
But parents do have tools to make e-biking riding a safe experience for their children, including electronically limiting the speed the bike can go, tracking children’s speeds through online apps and creating rider contracts with their children that outline geographical boundaries or no-go streets for riding.
Given the increasing popularity of e-bikes among youth, cities and municipalities are struggling with the best ways to regulate it, Vallez-Kelly said. In Marin County, for example, Class 2 e-bikes are now restricted for riders 16 and older in a first-in-the-state pilot program.
“The tech is outpacing the policy,” she said. “I don’t think anybody was ready for the surge of e-bike usage among youth, especially really young youth.”
(2) comments
“The fire chief indeed said the helmet did save his life,”
Ouch. That is a bad look on a fire chief. A helmet doesn't "save lives", it can only reduce a few kinds of injuries.
It's a hardhat and like a hardhat it is meant to protect the already hardest part of our head from falling objects (a hammer, a screwdriver, lumber when running into a burning building or wildfire), but it does little if you are run over by a speeding car. And that is where the danger for these kids really is.
Any good fire chief btw. knows what the real problem for these kids are, because they are also his greatest enemies:
- Speeding Cars - those are the ones causing the crashes and collisions in the first place.
- Driving Cars - those are causing even more crashes while emergency vehicles are trying to get to the emergency.
- Parked Cars - those are the ones blocking streets, fire lanes, and hydrants.
Bicycles and bike lanes on the other hand are helping to reduce many of these problems.
I don't think one needs to be an expert that these lessons will likely result in fewer injuries and even fatalities. I still see kids in our neighborhood on regular and e-bikes without a helmet. Our sons took their first bicycle rides on the paths along Crystal Springs and a parent was pushing his kids in a stroller. His kids were brain damaged and he admonished us to get ours protection by vociferously telling us what happened to his kids. The best advice we ever got, so we turned around and went to Talbots to get them fitted. Both of my sons became professional cyclists while in college and later on but to this day, they swear by wearing helmets. There should be no debate whatever and make lessons and helmets mandatory with repercussions if not complied with. Save our children, please!
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