California's E-Bike Safety Debate Heats Up

California is tightening how it polices e-bikes as injuries rise, especially among children and teenagers riding faster models. (oag.ca.gov) On April 14, Attorney General Rob Bonta and district attorneys in Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo issued a consumer alert warning that two-wheeled vehicles exceeding 28 miles per hour with pedal assist or 20 miles per hour with throttle assist are not e-bikes under California law. Those vehicles are treated as mopeds or motorcycles, with separate licensing and age rules. (oag.ca.gov) California also started enforcing new statewide rules on January 1, 2026. Assembly Bill 544 now requires every e-bike to have a rear red reflector or a red light with a built-in reflector during all hours of operation, and it lets minors clear some helmet citations through a California Highway Patrol safety course. (chp.ca.gov) The push follows a run of injury data that got lawmakers’ attention. A University of California, San Francisco summary of national research said e-bike injuries doubled each year from 2017 to 2022, and a Rady Children’s-led study said its emergency department saw 201 pediatric e-bike trauma patients in 2025, up from 125 in 2024 and one in 2021. (ucsf.edu) (care.choc.org) One Bay Area crash has become a reference point in the debate. Patch reported that a 2025 Burlingame collision involving an 11-year-old riding an e-bike with his younger sister led to a chain of events that killed 4-year-old Ayden Fang, and the family’s civil suit names the driver, the child rider, both sets of parents and the city. (patch.com) In Sacramento, Assembly Bill 1942 would go further by requiring Class 2 and Class 3 e-bikes to be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles and display a special license plate. Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, a Democrat from Orinda, introduced the bill on February 13. (legiscan.com) (cal.streetsblog.org) Supporters say plates would give police a way to identify reckless riders on bikes that can move at 20 to 28 miles per hour. Bike East Bay and other advocates told Streetsblog California the bill would add cost and paperwork for riders who use e-bikes as everyday transportation and would not fix street design or illegal modifications. (cal.streetsblog.org) Some local governments are already moving ahead on their own. Marin County says a pilot program authorized by Assembly Bill 1778 lets local jurisdictions bar riders under 16 from using Class 2 throttle e-bikes and require helmets for all Class 2 riders; Marin’s rules took effect July 1, 2025. (marincounty.gov) Transit agencies are adjusting too, because e-bikes now sit at the center of many Bay Area commutes. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission says some agencies allow them, but others restrict them because of weight and battery concerns; its rider guide notes, for example, that some Golden Gate Transit bus racks allow e-bikes while others do not. (mtc.ca.gov) The fight is now over what counts as a bicycle, who is responsible when a child crashes, and how much enforcement California is willing to add to a vehicle it still treats, in most cases, like a bike. (oag.ca.gov) (patch.com)