A proliferation of e-bikes on Santa Clarita streets and trails are creating “a resource problem” for city and sheriff’s station officials, with young riders tearing through local roads “with impunity,” City Manager Ken Striplin said Tuesday.
On Saturday, Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials received reports that “50 to 100 juvies riding bikes,” which created safety concerns and ultimately led to some confiscations, according to Sgt. Mark Perkins of the SCV Sheriff’s Station’s Traffic Unit.
The street takeovers are a concern, but so is the growing number of riders navigating increasingly crowded, narrow pathways at pretty high speeds.
“So the issue (Saturday) was, there were so many, and a lot of them are e-motorcycles, which are really dangerous,” Perkins said. “E-bikes, they can ride anywhere that bikes are allowed, like bike paths, but the thing is they can go so fast, and people can modify them so easily, so that they can go much faster, and it’s dangerous for people who are walking.”
The following Tuesday, several Santa Clarita residents gave the City Council an earful about their frustrations over having to dive out of the way of the e-bikes and e-motorcycles on local trails.
“It’s a citywide problem,” said Keith Loberit, who was one of the speakers at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “You can go on Lyons Avenue or Bouquet (Canyon Road) and you can see kids on motorized vehicles, typically the e-bikes on the sidewalks against traffic.”
The city has worked with the SCV Sheriff’s Station to spread outreach about what is and isn’t legal, Striplin said Tuesday, and he agreed with the residents’ characterization of the issue.
“In regards to the e-bikes, the speakers absolutely are correct — it is a problem, it’s a challenge that we’ve been dealing with more proactively in the last six months or so,” he added.
Striplin said SCV Sheriff’s Station officials are now learning about meetups that riders are trying to organize on social media, where they try to see how many riders they can get together, in a similar vein as street takeovers that car clubs create.
He also said that, in some instances, deputies have been able to find out about the events, contact the parents and have the illegal meet canceled.
Perkins said the SCV Sheriff’s Station saw a proliferation of the vehicles after Christmas. The concerns prompted the station to put out another message trying to educate riders and their parents about the potential dangers of irresponsible riding, which was another message shared Tuesday.
“They’re children, they’re 10, 12 years old riding those bikes on the paseo,” said Rose Litteureux, a resident who uses the city’s walking paths daily.
“I don’t know how the parents can condone that for their kids,” Litteureux said. “I’m just concerned about the safety of their kids, my dog, me, which, like I’ve said, I’ve jumped out of the way a few times and I’m always looking over my shoulder.”
On Friday, both Perkins and a local safe-cycling advocate acknowledged that the speed at which the vehicles’ technology is moving ahead is somewhat outpacing legislation surrounding the vehicles.
Perkins also said the station and the city are having meetings and working on the issues that residents mentioned Tuesday.
One of the ideas brought up, the potential for speed limit signs on the trails, is something that could get discussed in future meetings.
Nina Moskol, who leads the Santa Clarita Valley Bicycle Coalition, said one of the concerns she had about the issue is the lack of awareness some have regarding what they are riding.
“So they’re seen by law enforcement, and they’re seen by the state as a bicycle. There are different categories depending on what speeds the motor system that’s put on those bikes,” she said, explaining there are essentially three classes of motors in the bikes.
She is very much in favor of riders using e-bikes over cars where possible and safe, as long as riders understand what they’re getting on to, she said, which isn’t always the case with an online purchase.
“It could be from somewhere like Amazon, or it could be a custom website that sells these bikes,” she said, “And then they don’t necessarily get any legal or safety guidance about about them, other than, ‘Hey, wear a helmet.’”
She’s very familiar with a worst-case scenario, having made a community memorial for a 17-year-old cyclist who was killed on McBean Parkway in October 2023.
Louie Barba was a bright, popular, well-liked Academy of the Canyons student who was riding his e-bike to school at the time of the collision, she said.
She also said it would make sense for the advocacy and outreach to be in partnership with the local schools, saying there are models for that in other areas, particularly due to the popularity of the e-bikes with younger and younger riders.
“For the Los Angeles area, we basically have an unparalleled trail system,” Moskol said. “We have a beautiful environment. We’ve got great mountains. We’ve got all sorts of cool things to see and visit and places to get to that you can get to by bike, but just make sure that you and your family are safe in the process.”
For riders looking for more information on bike safety, visit bikeleague.org.
