An effort to start tightening rules on the use of electric bicycles is headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The House voted unanimously Monday to back the measure (SB 382) that in part would require ebike operators to slow to 10 mph when within 50 feet of a pedestrian on sidewalks and other shared pathways.
Those operators would also have to audibly warn a pedestrian before passing. Violators could be ticketed similar to a non-moving violation.
The measure, approved unanimously by the Senate on Feb. 25, also creates a safety taskforce within the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to make additional “traffic safety” recommendations for electric bicycle operations.
Palm Coast adopted its own, stricter ebike ordinance, restricting ebike riding on public paths to those 11 or older and limiting speeds to 20 and 28 mph, depending on the bike. The local measure does not require riders to slow down to 10 mph when approaching pedestrians. The Flagler Beach City Commission is taking up a similar measure at its meeting Thursday.
Ebikes are defined as vehicles that have pedals, a seat and an electric motor of less than 750 watts. Currently, ebikes are viewed by the state the same as any human power bicycle, where the operator doesn’t have to hold a driver’s license or vehicle registration.
Florida doesn’t pre-empt local governments from adopting ordinances governing the operation of electric bicycles on streets, highways, and sidewalks within its jurisdiction. However, local governments are preempted from restricting or prohibiting E-bike use on a bicycle path, multiuse path or trail network.
The proposal requires the Florida Highway Patrol, sheriff’s offices and municipal police departments to compile data on traffic crashes involving electric bicycles, including if the operators had a driver’s license, the age of the operator and the class of the vehicle.
–News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive
JimboXYZ says
As the injuries & fatalities continue to mount, I think he Palm Coast ordinance should reflect the same level of priority that the State laws mandate. Simply because when these ebikes aren’t on the sidewalks, they are on the roadways with motor vehicles. I get these ebikes don’t require a DL to operate, but let’s face it the slower ebikes at 20 mph, go to any road bicycle club that has group rides there’s different cyclist categories. 20+ mph for those bicycle club members is not a beginner level cyclist ride group. We had a n adult that hit a car just over the last week or so that died. 20 mph is a B+/A level road cyclist. The faster 28 mph ebikes are going to be in the territory of what Tour de France cyclists ride at. And we’re going to potentially allow 11 year olds to operate at 20 mph on a sidewalk ? Someone make sense of the ordinances not adhering to what the state laws will mandate.
https://verocyclingclub.org/Group-Ride-Classifications
https://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france/a65265595/you-versus-a-tour-de-france-pro-cyclist-speed/
JimboXYZ says
Not boasting, but my Fernandina Beach cycling rides for metric centuries & century rides with the Corsa Cycling riders I’m a 23+ mph ride group around Amelia Island. And there are Men & Women that were even faster than I was. The Amelia River Bridge, I took the easy down side of the bridge at the speed limit for cars (55 mph). A bridge like the one for getting to the beach of Flagler Beach, FBPD could issue a speeding citation for that speed and with the beachside side having a stop light at the bottom of it, all any cyclist, ebike or pedal power needs is a motorist to right turn that at the traffic light there. That light changes and potentially an 11 year old could be unable to stop. Nobody is going to have a sense of humor when a child impales themselves to the side of their automobile. An ebike hitting the side of an expensive car at 20 mph ? nobody is going to have a sense of humor when their $ 50K Tesla gets wiped out, potentially an 11 year old is airlifted to a trauma center. Don’t expect my insurance company to pay out because the City Commissioners didn’t want to ruin an 11 year old’s joy ride for a $ 1500+ ebike went wrong. It’s not the many times it doesn’t happen, but the one/few times it does happen. I don’t want my life ruined over that nonsense, Didn’t we count off enough motorcyclist fatalities over the 10-11 days for Bike Weeks ? those are supposed to be adults, and we’re going to expect juveniles with no insurance to ride responsibly ?
John Flannery says
I am a careful driver, but ebikes driven by young kids scares me, especially at night. The ship has left the pier, so it’s too late to put more limits on ebikes. Who exactly is going to enforce the regulations? I have witnessed many times ebikes ignoring stop signs, driving without lights, and putting car drivers potentailly liable for damages caused by ebike drivers. Of course, they have no insurance coverage or registration/licenses so i’m at fault automatically should I make a turn and don’t see the ebike in the intersection if it gets struck by me. It’s bad enough to see countless number of “adult” car drivers cruise through stop signs and taking right turns on red lights without even slowing down. I have yet to read about a fatility when a properly liscensed and insured driver hits an 11 year old and fatally injuries that person, but I’m confident that the driver who hits the ebike will be held liable and likely be sued for something like reckless driving. It really scares me if I am the 75 yr old proper driver that kills an 11 yr old. I could be alone in my thinking, so just call me paranoid and leave it at that.
JimboXYZ says
That’s why I commented that the State laws should take the lead as a minimum for statutory guidelines for compliance. If anything local ordinances should be stricter & not relax a state’s minimum for compliance. Maybe cover where the State doesn’t address a potential scenario. The Palm Coast ordinance for ebikes. It’s always been that way, Federal, State, then local. Every other ordinance generally refers to State statute as precedence over local applicability. I’m unaware of any instances where a local authority has ever passed ordinances legalizing something that the State has addressed with a legislatively passed bill/statute deeming as illegal operation of any motorized vehicle.
James says
It’s good to read JimboXYZ is moving on… and has found a new activity to focus on.
Fernandina Beach sounds like a nice place, but I won’t be following you there, sounds just a little too expensive.
Funny, I have often thought how my whole opinion of Florida would have been better if only I had ended up one or two counties over.
Best regards Jimbo.
JimboXYZ says
My Fernandina Beach days were 2016-2018 as my Dad’s caregiver, been here since 2019. I still cycle, but it’s cringe worthy every time I read about the motorcyclist that got run over because this area is close enough to bike weeks. And when I see the ebikes or any pedal powered bike for that matter going into traffic on a sidewalk, I have little faith in the human race that we won’t be reading about the child that got run over by a dump truck. It’s really a lack of cycling education that is the problem. That’s why I think when the local ordinance is weaker than the state laws, that’s it’s own/another level of disconnect as well. I mean we read about the tragedies, one after another, then we’re all supposed to stand around shrugging our shoulders and act like we have no clue, don’t know the answer(s), that “Gee I don’t know why the ebiker got run over”, when it’s that obvious. That elderly dude that died on his ebike, that was post ordinance approval and in effect for a specific date. That’s an adult, & we’re all supposed to expect an 11 year old to be that bright, when their parent(s) isn’t/aren’t ?
James says
Well, as I’ve commented here in the past I feel there should be an age requirement for ebikes. Probably if you’re old enough to drive a car, you should be old enough to ride an ebike. But age isn’t only the determining factor, hopefully they’ve had some prior riding experiences with regular, standard bikes. These ebikes aren’t traditional bikes, nor are they motorcycles… well, actually some are overbuilt for whatever reason, and can come pretty close. Close enough to be confused with actual electric motorcycles, another recent innovation.
It’s an extremely blurry line between many of these classes of transportation.
Personally, I would like to get out on A1A and day trip into St. Augustine just to really “range test” my ebike… but pretty sure it would end up requiring an overnight stay. Which would start to become costly… might as well make a real trip out of it and attempt to reach Jacksonville from there and eventually return… could be fun, could be a nightmare.
The ultimate would be to plan a bike trip to Jacksonville and beyond… perhaps taking AMTRAK partway from Jax. Not sure there’s extended car parking there… nor am I sure they’ll let you take a bike on board… probably more $$$.
Oh, well perhaps some day.
Peace.