The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station receives calls and complaints every day about electric bicycles and motorcycles – prompting the city of Santa Clarita and the sheriff’s station to seek ways to combat the problem.
With that in mind, the city and sheriff’s station held a community meeting to raise awareness about e-bikes and e-motorcycles at City Hall on Tuesday evening.
The meeting, attended by a few dozen people, discussed the issues surrounding e-bikes and e-motorcycles, including enforcement efforts and current California Law.
“I think the biggest problem is that because they (have) become so much more affordable, and it’s a quick way of transportation. People want to get out there, especially with the beautiful weather we have out here, the use of the paseos, the area out here,” sheriff’s Lt. Guillermo Martinez said during an interview Tuesday. “People just want to go out there and enjoy (themselves), but they don’t realize that it’s not a bicycle. It’s a motorcycle. And that’s where the disconnect is.”
He added that one of the bigger issues within the community is that parents have the mentality of “let kids be kids,” but they forget to realize they are motorized vehicles, not just a basic bicycle.
During the presentation, Masis Hagobian, interim assistant to the city manager, asked the crowd about how many juvenile fatalities the city would need to have to intervene and ensure they are being safe –- referencing a 15-year-old and 17-year-old who died from riding e-motorcycles.
“We have juvenile subgroups that will go out and test the limits, and then it’s going to take a couple of fatalities for anybody to actually start being responsible. Both as a parent but also as government officials,” Hagobian said. “And so, we really want to ensure that as we are continuing these conversations that everyone here is also doing their part. Reaching out to their sister, their brother-in-law, their cousin, whoever that owns any of these vehicles where they (are) operated, especially by humans.”
Martinez said that the SCV Sheriff’s Station has been engaging in a great deal of community outreach regarding education about e-bikes and e-motorcycles.
“We’ve posted several social media blasts, we’ve done articles, we’ve done pamphlets, we’ve gone out to schools, we’ve gone out to PTA, we’ve done all this to try to teach people. And now, at this point, they’re not listening now, so now it’s the enforcement side of things,” Martinez said.
He said that some children do not think of the consequences before they do something and have insufficient respect for authority.
When asked how many complaints he gets about e-bikes or e-motorcycles, he said he gets complaints every single day.
“I get the complaints for everything. So, you have neighbors calling on neighbors. We have just the community (saying), ‘Hey, there’s kids out in the middle of the street. We have 50 motorcycles on the street right now. We need people out here,’” Martinez said. “It’s a constant thing. It’s not set to any specific day or day of the week or time. It’s all the time. It never rests, basically. It never rests, especially right now with the summertime.”
One thing Martinez wanted to stress to the community is that e-motorcycles are 100% illegal in Santa Clarita, and the only legal ones are class 1, 2 and 3 bicycles that have pedals.
After the presentation was over, community members had the opportunity to meet with city workers in small groups and speak to them directly about solutions and things they would like to see change in the city regarding e-bikes while the workers wrote on white paper.
