ENCINITAS — The city is seeking to follow the lead of other San Diego County cities by strengthening and clarifying its laws governing e-bikes.
Deputy Mayor Jim O’Hara introduced a series of proposed ordinances at Wednesday’s City Council meeting — unanimously approved by the legislative body — in response to rising e-bike ridership and growing safety concerns. According to city documents, the proposed code amendments fall into four categories:
• Enforcement tools authorizing the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office to temporarily impound e-bikes for reckless behavior or a third offense, particularly in high-traffic areas such as along Coast Highway 101 in downtown Encinitas.
• Sidewalk regulations requiring e-bikes to be walked or operated at strict “walking speeds” in busy pedestrian corridors, including downtown Encinitas and Cardiff-by-the-Sea.
• Age and/or equipment restrictions aligned with new state standards for daytime-running rear lights, along with stricter parental accountability for minors operating Class 3 e-bikes.
• A formal education and safety diversion program in which fines could be waived upon completion of approved safety courses.
City staff will return to a future council meeting with recommendations for ordinances to formally codify the proposals.
The proposal comes after heightened local concern over e-bike safety following the death of an Encinitas teenager who was critically injured in a traffic collision while riding an e-bike.
In 2023, Brodee Braxton Champlain-Kingman, 15, was riding an e-bike northbound on El Camino Real when he changed lanes and collided with a work van. He later died from his injuries.
Since then, cities across the region have ramped up efforts to improve safety for younger riders, exploring a variety of legislative avenues, from increasing penalties for reckless riders to outright bans of e-bikes for youth under a certain age.
O’Hara said that with neighboring cities such as Oceanside and Carlsbad adopting e-bike safety laws, the discussion was “overdue in the city” of Encinitas. He emphasized that the intent was not to discourage children from riding e-bikes, but to improve safety for all roadway users.
“I hope that we can create a situation where — between the education and sheriff enforcement — we can get to a place where everyone feels safe and the roads are more harmonious for everybody who’s using it,” O’Hara said.
Sheriff’s Capt. Shane Watts of the North Coastal Station in Encinitas said at the meeting that “with roadway safety being a priority for us, e-bike and bicycle safety falls in line with that.”
Watts said deputies have been proactively monitoring e-motorcycles — which can resemble e-bikes — that are being ridden illegally on roadways by minors who are not properly licensed. In the week before Wednesday’s meeting, Watts said officers seized four such vehicles, including one earlier that same evening.
Watts said deputies will not tolerate behavior by e-bike riders that shows “zero regard for anybody else that is on the roadway,” such as performing wheelies or failing to yield to emergency vehicles.
“We’re getting very creative, and I think that’s why we have been able to get some of these illegal motorcycles off our roadways,” he said. “We’ve even gone to the extent of giving citations to parents.
“We’re trying to save lives and prevent another tragic situation on our roadways.”
Councilmember Marco San Antonio said he was in “full support” of O’Hara’s proposals and would like to see the educational component emphasized.
Councilmember Joy Lyndes thanked Watts for his proactive efforts.
“I think you’re doing a great job,” she said, adding that driver education would also be helpful.
“Many people I know and I talk to, they’re like, ‘I don’t know what to do when there’s an e-bike on the road with me,’” Lyndes said.
Councilmember Luke Shaffer said he believes that “e-bikes are here to stay and this group of young riders” will be using them as a “mode of transportation until they’re into their gray years.” He supported directing the proposals to city staff to draft ordinance language, guided by examples from neighboring cities and comments from Watts.
“Parents, I think, need to be more responsible at this point,” Shaffer said. “I like to hear that we’re giving them citations to make sure they’re following through with the process.”
