E-bikes are not the enemy. For teenagers across Santa Clarita, they provide independence a way to get to school, visit friends, reach parks and travel through a community with an extensive network of trails and paseos. For parents, they can mean fewer car trips. Used responsibly, e-bikes deserve a place in Santa Clarita’s transportation future.
But responsible use and reckless riding are two very different things.
Santa Clarita has spent considerable time educating riders and families about helmets, speed, traffic laws, trail etiquette and the difference between legal e-bikes and more powerful electric motorcycles. Education matters, but education without accountability eventually stops being enough.
City officials have acknowledged unsafe riding, including excessive speeds, ignoring traffic signals and electric motorcycles being operated where they do not belong. The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station has increased enforcement, with violators potentially facing citations, fines and vehicle impounds. This is no longer simply an awareness problem. It is a behavior problem.
Pedestrians should not have to jump aside because a rider is traveling too fast. Parents pushing strollers should not fear a high-powered electric motorcycle coming around a blind corner. Drivers should not have to guess whether a young rider approaching an intersection will stop. And teenagers themselves should not be placed at unnecessary risk because they do not understand what the machine underneath them can do.
An important distinction also gets lost in this debate: Not everything called an “e-bike” is actually an e-bike. California recognizes three classes of legal e-bikes, with motor assistance ranging from 20 mph for Classes 1 and 2 to 28 mph for Class 3. Legal e-bikes must have operable pedals and motors that do not exceed 750 watts. Some electric vehicles being ridden by young people fall outside those limits or have been modified beyond them.
At that point, we are dealing with something fundamentally different from a conventional e-bike.Parents need to understand what they are purchasing before handing over the handlebars. But responsibility cannot fall entirely on teenagers. Parents have a role. Retailers have a role. Riders have a role. Law enforcement has a role. City Hall has a role.
Parents should understand the power and legal classification of the vehicle their child is riding. Retailers should clearly explain what they are selling. Riders must understand that independence comes with responsibility. Government must make the rules clear and enforce them consistently.
Santa Clarita should continue education efforts, particularly through schools and parents. But education must now be paired with accountability.
That does not mean treating every teenager on an e-bike like a criminal. Consequences should be proportionate to behavior. A first violation may warrant education and parental notification. Repeated dangerous conduct should bring escalating consequences. Illegal electric motorcycles should be distinguished from legal e-bikes operated responsibly.
The objective should not be confiscation. It should be compliance. Enforcement should focus on behavior that threatens public safety, not punish young people simply for riding.
Santa Clarita should also resist turning this into a generational battle. Every generation of teenagers has embraced new forms of independence. E-bikes are today’s version. The technology is not going away, nor should it. The challenge is ensuring our safety standards evolve alongside it.
Santa Clarita’s trails, paseos, bike lanes and public spaces belong to everyone: cyclists, pedestrians, families, seniors and young riders. Sharing them requires more than signs and slogans. It requires respect. E-bikes can remain part of what makes Santa Clarita a great place for young people to grow up. But freedom and responsibility have always traveled together.
E-bikes are not the problem. Reckless riding without meaningful accountability is.
Santa Clarita has reached the point where education must be backed by consequences.
Mihran Kalaydjian
Santa Clarita
