As has been the case for several years now, e-bikes have become a massive boon for cyclists of all ages and sizes. It’s been evident from strolls on Miller Avenue or the Mill Valley-Sausalito multi-use path just about any time of day.
The popularity of e-bikes has exploded, and looks to continue to surge for years to come. The data says it all: the pandemic bike boom boosted e-bike sales 145 percent from 2019 to 2020, according to the market research firm NPD Group, and industry experts, industry experts put the number of e-bikes Americans brought home in 2020 somewhere around half a million, while Deloitte projected that between 2020 and 2023, 130 million e-bikes would be sold worldwide. That would make e-bikes — not cars — to be the world’s best-selling electric vehicle, according to the New York Times.
But in recent years, there has been a downside when it comes to safety. Whether it’s kiddos dashing over the foot bridge by Hauke Park or kids all over town believing that they are indestructible, Mill Valley and the larger Marin County have become a significant safety concern.
With that in mind, local officials are exceedingly mindful of the danger. As the Chronicle reports, “A stunning rise in youth e-bike collisions prompted Marin County supervisors on Tuesday to unanimously pass an ordinance barring kids under 16 from riding a throttle-powered version of the vehicles. The new age restriction would be the first of its kind in California and apply only in unincorporated areas of the county, and only to Class 2 e-bikes that can coast up to 20 mph without pedaling. Additionally, the ordinance requires Class 2 e-bike riders of all ages to wear helmets.”
Cities within Marin are contemplating similar measures. Next up could be Tiburon, where the town council will weigh age limits for throttle e-bikes on April 2, according to Mayor Holli Thier.
For John Maa, a trauma surgeon at MarinHealth Medical Center, the new regulations, however piecemeal, represent a hard-fought victory. He and other doctors began pressing for them after witnessing a surge of emergency room visits — first from older, out-of-practice riders who purchased e-bikes during the pandemic, then from teens who purchased the devices as they got cheaper.
“Surgeons globally have witnessed a pattern of e-bike injury and death,” Maa said during Tuesday’s hearing in the Board of Supervisors’ chambers. In an interview with the Chronicle, he cited devastating statistics: one in eight e-bike riders brought to the MarinHealth emergency room with a severe traumatic injury winds up dying. The death rate, he said, is 37 times higher than for crashes with pedal bicycles.
Talia Smith, the county’s director of legislative and intergovernmental affairs, provided other stark data points in a presentation to the board. From 2019 to 2022, 911 calls for all youth bike collisions in Marin County increased 110%. Records collected since 2023 show 10- to 15-year-olds have an accident rate five times higher than other age groups.