Safer kids, safer streets: Jupiter police crack down on e-bike riders who ignore rules

JUPITER — When the clock struck 4:05 p.m. at Independence Middle School one recent Thursday, students raced to the bicycle parking rack to mount e-bikes and pedal home, even if their mothers feared danger.

The sound of laughter and whirring chain rings filled the air as worried parents watched with bated breath, hoping that the kids riding e-bikes — mostly boys — wouldn’t weave in and out of lanes on the Jupiter streets.

It is the same school attended by a young boy who was struck by a car while riding an e-bike a few weeks ago, and the same dread that has inspired Jupiter police to begin a campaign to teach people how and where to ride the popular bikes.

“There’s a reason why kids aren’t allowed to drive cars,” Jupiter Police Chief David England said. “They don’t make good decisions, they don’t perceive danger and they don’t understand the hazards that they can be causing. Kids are operating these things very unsafely.”

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Officers say the problem of kids riding electric bicycles and motorcycles recklessly around town is getting out of hand as the vehicles are modified to make them go faster.

They are trying to educate as many kids and parents as they can about the legalities surrounding the two- and three-wheelers by visiting local schools and passing out fliers.

Over the past few months, England said, they have seen the biggest concentration of kids riding e-bikes around Abacoa, an area along Jupiter's southern border that is home to hundreds of families. However, he said most of the problems haven’t been with e-bikes, but their cousins: e-motos, or electric motorcycles, which are larger and heavier and can travel at faster speeds.

England says some parents are buying e-motos for their kids thinking that they are e-bikes, when they are in fact something completely different.

E-motos are off-road vehicles meant for dirt tracks. They are illegal to operate on public streets, highways or sidewalks. Still, middle school-aged kids are using them for their commutes to school.

While e-bikes can reach speeds of up to 28 mph, e-motos can go as fast as 40 mph. Many of the vehicles around town are going even faster because some riders are bypassing the speed controls on the vehicles.

By doing this, e-bikes can reach about 30 mph and e-motos can reach almost 60, or as fast as some cars travel on highways.

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Florida law governs the use of e-bikes. It treats them like regular bicycles, said England, who noted that the laws surrounding e-bikes are “not as well defined” as golf carts, which share the road with cars like bikes do.

He noted that e-bikes cannot use their motors on sidewalks; their riders can only pedal them. If they are ridden on the road, a person can either pedal or use its electric power, but they have to follow the road rules associated with bicycles.

The law also requires riders under the age of 16 to wear helmets.

Jupiter police are enforcing new measures to lower the dangerous conditions. They will pull over kids who break road rules to give them a warning or issue a citation, depending on the severity of the infraction and if they have been stopped before.

A citation also could require them to pay a fine and delay their obtaining a driver's license to age 18, rather than 16.

“It’s a significant punishment for the kids who are not obeying the law,” England said. “We hope to get voluntary compliance, but if we don't and we have to deal with the same kids over and over, they will qualify for a uniform traffic citation just like anybody else violating traffic laws.”

England said police officers are concerned about the teens, and pedestrians and drivers are “scared to death” when a kid zips in front of them, not paying attention.

Other northern Palm Beach County municipalities are reporting the same issues with e-bike use but they are handling the situation differently, England said.

The Tequesta Village Council passed an ordinance in 2021 that prohibits e-bike operation on sidewalks within the village, but the council plans to “revisit” this decision. They plan to hold a workshop to discuss other options.

In Juno Beach, e-bikes are allowed on the dune walkovers or the sidewalks leading to them, Town Manager David Dyess said. Palm Beach Gardens, Lake Park and North Palm Beach defer to state law and do not have any special regulations for e-bikes.

Palm Beach Gardens police officers also plan to pass out educational pamphlets around the city and issue warnings or citations to e-bike riders who break road rules in the weeks ahead.

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Recent injury to student has Jupiter families aware of e-bike's dangers

Jennifer Greenhill sat on a bench on a windy Thursday afternoon waiting for Independence Middle School to dismiss her 12-year-old son for the day.

She watched as kids whizzed around Abacoa’s oak tree-lined streets on the electrically powered two-wheelers after school. Some pairs of kids even rode on one e-bike at the same time.

“My son begs me for an e-bike, but I say no,” said the 41-year-old Greenhill of Jupiter, who thinks the bikes are dangerous.

She said many fellow parents have had moments when they had to slam on their brakes because kids on electric bikes will swerve out in front of their cars.

“The kids don’t wear helmets, and I don’t think kids 16 and under should even be riding them,” Greenhill said. “Half of them don’t even ride on the sidewalks. They are out in the middle of the roads.”

Her son is a classmate of Ryan Gural, the Jupiter boy who was riding an e-bike when a car crashed into him on March 29. He sustained injuries including a fractured skull, a broken jaw and brain bleeding, according to news reports.

Scott Henratty, the attorney representing Gural’s family, told The Palm Beach Post that he is investigating the situation to “hold all those responsible for the traumatic injuries he sustained accountable.” He confirmed that Gural is still receiving care.

Greenhill said the accident has not discouraged her son from still wanting an e-bike.

“It’d be nice if (a school guard) was out here monitoring when the kids get out of school,” Greenhill said. “A lot of drivers don’t pay attention and the kids aren’t paying attention, and that causes a problem.”

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Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at [email protected]. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Jupiter police crack down on e-bike riders who don't follow rules