Gov. Ron DeSantis has vetoed a speed limit for electric bicycles, a measure that passed the House and Senate unanimously, calling it an “overreach.”
The bill would have capped e-bikes’ speed at 10 miles per hour within 50 feet of a pedestrian on ways shared with pedestrians.
“Do we really want to have policing of e-bikes, and are you going 10 miles [per hour] or 8 miles [per hour] or whatever and it’s just, I think, it was a little bit of an overreach,” DeSantis said during a news conference Friday about student reading performance.
The bill, SB 382, was sponsored by Sen. Keith Truenow, a Republican from Tavares. It unanimously passed both chambers of the Legislature.
“The bill establishes a standard that would certainly be difficult for a bicyclist to measure when safely operating an e-bike,” DeSantis wrote in his veto letter.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has vetoed a speed limit for electric bicycles, a measure that passed the House and Senate unanimously, calling it an “overreach.”
The bill would have capped e-bikes’ speed at 10 miles per hour within 50 feet of a pedestrian on ways shared with pedestrians.
“Do we really want to have policing of e-bikes, and are you going 10 miles [per hour] or 8 miles [per hour] or whatever and it’s just, I think, it was a little bit of an overreach,” DeSantis said during a news conference Friday about student reading performance.
The bill, SB 382, was sponsored by Sen. Keith Truenow, a Republican from Tavares. It unanimously passed both chambers of the Legislature.
“The bill establishes a standard that would certainly be difficult for a bicyclist to measure when safely operating an e-bike,” DeSantis wrote in his veto letter.
The bill would have established a task force to research safety standards for these e-bikes.
“Maybe there’s problems, but what it will lead to is more surveillance of people by law enforcement, and we don’t need that,” DeSantis said.
More specifically, the bill would have required anyone operating an e-bike on a shared roadway to yield to any pedestrian and give an audible signal before overtaking and passing that pedestrian. Violations would have resulted in nonmoving citations.
Rep. Yvette Benarroch, a Republican from Marco Island, sponsored the House version, HB 243.
“This bill was inspired by tragedy, but not just one tragedy,” Benarroch told members of the House State Affairs Committee during the legislative session. The lawmaker citied four incidents of young people in Florida who lost their lives while driving an e-bike.
E-bike injuries doubled every year from 2017 to 2022, according to a study conducted by a June 2024 report from the JAMA Network Open.
–Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
Al says
For those who are uninformed a regular bike can easily exceed 10 mph. Was this law going to be enforced against them also? The next point is how many people get hit on regular bikes, this hasn’t been part of the conversation. There are enough laws to cover bad behavior and this one was ridiculous. My wife and I each own an ebike and both of them will exceed 10 mph in 1st gear with minimal peddling.
JimboXYZ says
Google Maps has a bike feature as mode of travel, the rate of speed is 12.5 mph on a commute for a human powered pedal only. Road bike groups generally have 3 speed groups for their sponsored rides 14-16 mph, 17-19 mph & 20+ mph. Even the 14-16 mph group for the duration of the ride, one has to put more effort into averaging that speed & pace than one would sub 10-12.5 mph speeds.
Human powered only vs ebike are 2 different animals for non-club rides & club group rides. I have several classes of bikes myself, They are all capable of pushing 18-20 for a trained & experienced cyclist. I have Gravel/ATB/MTB’s that with the right cassette & crank gear ratios for the tire sizes they are 26er-27.5-29er, can get 18-20 mph, but I also make sure I’m, on the right hand side of the road (or Lehigh Trail), not a standard or city sidewalk. I also have SS/FG bike that is a 18-20 mph gearing set up on flat land. My road bikes are 20+ mph flat land capable and when I lived in Nassau County I would ride Metric Century/Century rides for training year round. 23-27 mph are average speeds. All ridden in bike lanes on the right hand side of a wider car traffic lane. I used to ride with the SuperCorsa Group rides in Ameloa Island. The owner of that bike shop is a competitive road bike rider. Every Saturday AM they would ride 35+ mph loops, as ride leader he was easily averaging 27+ mph for the flat land. The fastest I ever rode a bike there, coming down the high bridge was 52.7 mph in a 55 mph automobile zone. That might get me a speeding citation coming down the bridge at SR 100 with it’s 45 mph speed limit.
https://www.supercorsacycles.com/
The problem with ebikes are the kids on them, they pop wheelies in streets for going fast. And their sidewalk rides are pushing an electric motor at full throttle. Those are the kids that are getting injured, injuring others and creating the problems. I live at a 3-way intersection, the ebikes blow thru that intersection like they don’t even have to slow down for the stop sign that applies to them at 20 & more mph. If the State, or even a city’s ordinance doesn’t deal with the speed on sidewalks & obeying traffic laws for common sense. They had their chances to address the issues today. Thy shouldn’t whine when that ebiker gets plowed & run over by the 4×4 truck or the muscle car that drives thru the neighborhood at the speed limits of 30 mph. And when the ebiker blows that stop sign and hit my car, I expect the parents/ebiker to pay for damages. Nobody wants a +/-60-100 lb ebike slamming into the side of their car at 20 mph with the juvenile delinquent having fun for riding like a maniac, no regard for anyone else’s safety, much more their own. If a child dies from that type of collision, chalk it up to youthful stupidity. like the motorcycle fatality for not wearing a helmet, riding while impaired or anything else that has those level of contributing factors for injury to fatality.
Richard Hammer says
Jimbo.. the cliff notes version please.
Deborah Coffey says
AI: National statistics do not track the exact number of Americans injured by bicyclists every year, as most non-fatal, non-vehicular collisions go unreported. However, public health and hospital data indicate that hundreds of pedestrians are treated in U.S. hospitals annually after being struck by bicycles.While there is no single national database for bike-on-pedestrian injuries, you can look at the data through a few established proxy sources:National
Hospital Data: Studies tracking hospital admissions and emergency room records show that hundreds of people across the country are treated each year for injuries sustained from collisions with a bicycle.
Regional Studies: A localized analysis by The New York Times found that over 500 New York City residents alone were hospitalized annually after being struck by bicyclists, with around 1,000 cases treated statewide each year.
Electric bikes can exceed 20 mph. The kids near me ride them recklessly on the sidewalks in groups! Three very near misses from a serious accident for me and my little dog…either fix the speed or change the age limit.
bill says
I called the city of Palm Coast four months ago and they said they were putting signs up long Oak Kings Road there’s a sign down nearby Farmsworth, but you need a fucking Magnifier to read it. I almost got hit in my ass during the past 12 months with a E bike. They do not announce themselves then when I yelled at the kid, this is what he said to me get the fuck off the path you old man so thank you government thank you governor DeSantis for helping us all of you are useless.
R.S. says
Who has problems understanding “No Motorized Vehicles!” If they want speed, there’s the highway.
James says
Well, why don’t you write your congressman on the matterand tell them how you truly feel.
That you’d like to support legislation to expand the national highway systems to safely accommodate bike and e-bike traffic with dedicated separate lanes.
Lanes for travelers on vehicles under say, 200lbs.
Thanks for your support on this, I wasn’t expecting such an enlightened, forward thinking person such as yourself to come forward with such motivation.
Just say’n…Bravo!
JimboXYZ says
Exactly, sometimes the ordinances & Statutes have to intervene for those that are that stupid. Rules of the road are that the vehicle in front of you has right of way, especially when they pass you far enough in advance of the right hand turn. Some of these ebikers will learn that lesson the hard way when the car turns right & they plow into the passenger side when they are in a bike lane or even wider road like Belle Terre. And the one’s running over pedestrians need to understand share the road also applies to share the sidewalks. I wanna see the ebiker that thinks that 10+ mph around the Cypress Point Parkway area. That a “dead ebiker riding” for the time it catches up to them. And one doesn’t need to be a juvenile, here’s a 69 year old that found a way to kill themself.
https://flaglerlive.com/ebike-fatality/
Al says
You can walk on the highway if you chose. There are too many idiots on the road that don’t respect a bikes place so I’ll use the multi use trails my tax money paid for.
R.S. says
Of course, you can walk on the highway, and you should walk on the left to face oncoming motorized traffic and to be able to jump into the nearest ditch if the guy in the suburban assault vehicle doesn’t notice that you’re there. (Unfortunately, pedestrians don’t get the reason and walk on the left even on the foot/bike-path, thus confusing people on bicycles where in the heck to pass them.) I suppose you’d also insist on running your gas guzzler on the footpath as long as your taxes pay for it? What a weird way of arguing for entitlement!!! But if your bike is non-motorized, why not use the foot/bike-path? I wonder whether the governor also will consider it an overreach if some communities permit golf carts on highways and others may not. [Just musing.]
James says
This is not a matter of speed, but of maturity.
Age requirements are necessary, and common codes of civility as to who should yield and when, should be clearly defined.
“Pedis” is the Latin word for “foot,” hence pedestrians… travelers on foot… those who walk. Sidewalks are technically for foot traffic, bicycles are to yield to those on foot. On sidewalks pedestrians have the right of way.
On the roadways a bicycle should be given the right of way whenever possible, not due to speed, but weight. No driver of an automobile has followed all speed restrictions all the time. It’s not just speed, it’s recklessness. And the heavier the vehicle, the more dangerous and destructive that recklessness can have on others.
Just point’n out… momentum = mv.
R.S. says
And a bicycle is being pedaled by the selfsame foot; thus bike/pedestrian or pedaled path! And not for motorized vehicles unless they pretend to be pedaled and will stick to that same speed. Note that racing bicyclists in a group also stick to the highway, rather than frightening us pedaled people on the path.
James says
Some clarification on my above comment is in order, since the last paragraph is sorta jumbled.
1) We all have a preconceived notion of what uses “sidewalks” are reserved for… it’s built into the word itself.
As such, whenever this topic comes up, it seems natural to envision a sidewalk full of pedestrians being menaced by a rouge bicyclist or gang of bicyclists. But the reality is outside of parking lots associated with shopping areas, most sidewalks in Palm Coast (if one even can be found) is mostly devoid of people. Rarely does one encounter a fellow traveler on these walkways.
Should sidewalks be reserved only for pedestrian traffic… everywhere and at all times?
Forcing bicyclists into the streets, which are far more dangerous to the cyclist?
2) The point of the last paragraph was my attempt at getting to the heart of the matter regarding bicyclists rights on the open road.
The point being that just as the pedestrian on the sidewalk might fear a encounter with a bicyclist, so too does the bicyclist fear an encounter with a mother vehicle in the roadway.
The situation is the same, only with the role of pedestrian replaced by the bicyclist and the bicyclist by the automobile.
The fact of importance is not necessarily speed, but of weight, momentum.
A cyclist on the sidewalk who is behaving respectfully and responsibly is not a danger to pedestrians… it is my opinion that in many cases a bicyclist on the sidewalk is actually being more responsible, for taking to the roadway might be more questionable and fraught with hazard.
Remember, a 4000lb automobile traveling at 20mph is equal to a 275lb rider+bike traveling at 291mph.
Which situation appears more likely to be dangerous?
Just a few more items to consider before banishing bicyclist from sidewalks altogether.