Bike and multi-use paths are 8 feet wide and were not designed for motorized bikes that go 20 – 28 MPH.
Over 2 million new e-Bikes are projected to be sold in the US in 2024: 4 million in 2025. Denver added almost 10,000 new e-Bikes with their 2024 voucher program. That’s a lot of new e-Bike traffic on trails that are already overcrowded with pedestrians and cyclists.
Boulder is one of the fastest growing communities in the US for e-Biking. And like many good things in Colorado, when someone finds out about a good thing, crowds will follow. Current e-Biking trends include Rising Popularity: e-Biking is booming in Colorado. Especially among younger generations who haven’t had a driver’s ed course to teach them that there are things like awareness and rules of the road, which would translate in this case to paths. Safety Concerns: There’s a significant increase in head injuries among young e-Bike riders, often due to a lack of helmets and high speeds.
Inadequate Infrastructure: Existing bike paths were not designed for the surge in motorized e-Bike traffic, leading to overcrowding and accidents. Need for Regulation: Advocates are calling for safety regulations, including mandatory helmet use, speed limits, and age restrictions. Educational Efforts: Proposals include online safety courses for young riders and better signage to promote safe practices on paths.
“It has become an annoying trend to see youngsters riding 3 on an e-Bike, with no helmets, going 20 MPH without pedaling, and being careless. Announcing yourself when approaching others from behind and signaling upcoming turns helps communicate your intentions to others. It’s a straightforward way to help kids, who learn by doing, by modeling safe behavior right where they’re crashing or having near-misses.” said Mark Wood, e-Bike Safety Advocate.
Need for Safety Messaging, Education and Helmet Use Reinforcement
The injury wave is coming. This boom in e-Biking among kids is great, however, it has led to a significant increase in Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) in young people riding without helmets and crashing on pavement. Brain injuries are for life in most cases and there are no “do overs.”
There is an urgent need to improve the safety signage and education to help prevent this trend from growing rapidly. Adding better signage to trails with speed limits is imperative. Simple on-trail reminders to guide safe use of the paths we all share together, especially for bicycles, motorized e-Bikes, scooters, and unicycles.
What if we require all riders that do not have a driver’s license to take an online class to certify that they have been provided with the basics of safety and rules pertaining to e-Biking? Parents would be thrilled, and kids would be provided with the guidance for how to safely use their e-Bikes on paths, trails, and roads.
We all tend to assume that kids already understand the safety piece because we talked about it with them once or twice. In one ear, out the other. It makes sense to at least ensure that we all know the same rules and etiquette. It might even start family discussions about e-Biking safety and how they use their e-Bikes.
Announcing yourself when approaching others from behind and signaling upcoming turns helps communicate your intentions to others. Very few kids understand or use these tactics and near crashes are happening often on many Boulder City paths that are not reported. Helmet use is infrequent with youngsters and needs to be consistently reinforced by parents.
It’s a matter of communicating the safety message in a way that the users want to consume that information; and then asking them to share that message with others. We all share the same multi-use paths. Crashes and near misses between e-Bikes, bicycles and pedestrians are increasing daily. All communities in the Front Range have a responsibility to act now to prevent more crashes, especially for our future generations.
2024 e-Bike/Bicycle Crash Report – San Diego County, CA
“Pediatric populations appear to be particularly susceptible to serious injury, with a recent review noting 35% of all e-bike-related trauma occurs in patients under 18.
A study of 561 Israeli pediatric patients noted higher rates of accidents involving motorized vehicles and greater incidence of head injuries, lower extremity trauma, and need for orthopedic operations in the e-bike cohort, compared to conventional bicycles.
The greater proportion of head and neck injuries may be attributable to the larger head-to-body size and weight ratio in children.” – American College of Surgeons