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Given the rise in e-bike usage in recent years as well as injuries accompanying the bicycles and street-illegal e-motos, local jurisdictions are on a mission to educate the public about safe practices while also setting and enforcing rules of ridership. (Photo by Sophia Sucato) 
There lacks consensus on how to best address dangers relating to e-bikes while also promoting ridership. (Photo by Sophia Sucato) 
Among the local efforts to educate the public on electric micro-mobility ridership is tabling by the East Bay Regional Park District’s Volunteer Trail Safety Patrol. (Photo courtesy of EBRPD) 
A Livermore Police Department traffic officer shows an educational brochure to a juvenile to discuss e-bikes. (Photo courtesy of LPD) 
E-motos are not street legal. Seen here is one being towed by the Pleasanton Police Department following its alleged use by a 13-year old in the city. (Photo courtesy of PPD via social media)
Commute. Exercise. Leisure.
Electric bicycles have gained popularity in recent years for a variety of uses, including in the Tri-Valley where residents can be seen riding across the region.
But along with the rise in e-bikes — as well as their street-illegal counterparts — have come safety concerns and injuries.
Local and state officials have responded with a variety of hyper-local ordinances and laws aimed at improving the safety of riders and the larger community.
In a recent display of regional collaboration, representatives from more than 20 East Bay jurisdictions, school districts and law enforcement agencies gathered last September for a roundtable discussion to talk through their issues and ideas surrounding electric-power bikes.
Led by the town of Danville, the e-bike safety working group drew Tri-Valley representatives including those from Livermore, Pleasanton, San Ramon and East Bay Regional Park District.
“E-bikes are not in themselves inherently a problem,” town spokesperson Jenn Starnes said. “The lack of regulation, the lack of required training for kids getting on these bikes that can go 20 miles per hour – That’s the problem.”
“We’re trying to make a rational decision that doesn’t paint too broad of a brush,” Starnes said. “But unfortunately, until we get some, state-level guidance and legislation on this, we do have to look at things like limiting where e-bikes can ride.”
Under the California Vehicle Code, there are three categories of e-bikes — all have fully operable pedals.
Class 1 e-bikes have a motor that assists up to 20 mph, pedaling required. Class 2 e-bike’s assist also operates at speeds up to 20 mph, but its motor can assist without pedaling.
The motor assist on Class 3 e-bikes operates until 28 mph is reached, pedaling required. Operators of Class 3 e-bikes must be 16 years or above and all riders must wear a helmet.
Anyone under 18 years of age must wear a helmet while riding a bike, whether it is motorized or not.
“E-bikes really create connections for folks. It really empowers people to go further, longer, haul cargo, attack the hills,” said Justin Hu-Nguyen, co-executive director of mobility justice in advocacy group Bike East Bay.
For Sharon Piekarski, member of the Bicycle, Pedestrian and Trails Committee in Pleasanton, purchasing an e-bike has helped her keep pace with a local cycling group dubbed the Pleasanton Pedalers.
“Bicycling is what I enjoy,” she said, noting destinations such as the grocery store and gym. “It’s just fun, especially with an e-bike, because you’re not working as hard.”
E-bikes have also become part of the Tri-Valley’s tourism industry.
Among the local attractions are e-bike tours and tastings by Concannon Vineyard and Pedego Electric Bikes. The trips consist of riding a rental e-bike through the estate vineyard and paved trails in the Livermore Valley.
“Outdoor activities are essential for destinations to set themselves apart from everyone else, and it is such a unique and fun way to explore the area,” Visit Tri-Valley community relations manager Justin Bower said via email interview.
Also operating as a store, Pedego Electric Bikes Livermore co-owner Jim Buck said customers commonly use their e-bikes as a motor vehicle replacement or for recreation.
“Most traditional bikes are hanging on a hook in the garage collecting dust and spider webs,” he told the Pleasanton Weekly in an email interview. “E-bikes tend to be used more often and without concerns about the path’s unknown challenges.”
But not every electric or motorized bicycle is an e-bike, as some vehicle lookalikes do not fit under any class laid out in the California Vehicle Code.
Dubbed “out-of-class” devices, e-motos and off-highway electric motorcycles, the vehicles do not abide by any category of e-bike based on their wattage or speed.
E-motos are illegal to ride on public streets or sidewalks statewide and may only be ridden on designated off-road areas or private property with owner permission.
E-scooters and otherwise motorized scooters are prohibited on sidewalks by the state’s vehicle code, except when necessary to enter or leave a property.
Complicating the landscape of e-bikes and e-motos is the state’s “ambiguous” definition of an e-bike’s 750-watt limit, according to a study by the Mineta Transportation Institute published last December dubbed “Exploring Electric Bicycle Safety Performance Data and Policy Options for California”.
The power of a motor can be defined by its continuous power, the maximum level of power that the motor can continually maintain, or its peak power, meaning the motor’s highest possible output.
Further, a wattage can refer to electrical power or mechanical power, meaning the amount of power after loss by heat and friction, the report explains.
Additionally, users can modify the wattage of their e-bikes using methods that range from “quite simple” to “very difficult”, the report states.
“Controversially, some retailers market higher-power devices as meeting the standards for Class 2 electric bicycles” as the standards can be met with optional settings, according to the report.
Concerns about safety, vehicle classification
Sutter Health Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, a regional center for emergencies, has seen a “concerning rise in serious injuries” connected to e-bikes, said Elyssa J. Feinberg, the center’s trauma and acute care medical director.
“We have treated 44% more patients over the past year for injuries related to e-bike accidents,” Feinberg told the Pleasanton Weekly via email interview. “These are not simply minor falls or scrapes — many of these patients present with significant trauma.”
Observed injuries include intracranial hemorrhages, skull and facial fractures, rib fractures, collapsed lungs, and major orthopedic injuries such as fractures to the clavicle, wrist, hip, and femur, according to Feinberg.
“These injuries are occurring across all age groups, from adolescents to older adults, but the increasing number of younger patients involved is particularly concerning,” she said.
However, according to the study by the Mineta Transportation Institute, the number of incidents related to conventional bikes outnumbered those related to e-bikes in most regions of the United States.
Regarding its own research, “Some fraction of the reported ‘electric bicycle’ incidents have been incorrectly labeled as such, and this share may represent a very large fraction of all reported electric bicycle incidents,” the institute acknowledged.
Livermore City Councilmember Steven Dunbar, a longtime cyclist, offered further granularity on the subject of safety.
“There’s statistical safety about how many crashes there are and then there’s comfort,” he said. “Sometimes where you think it’s very uncomfortable, it might actually be statistically not pretty safe.”
Locally, e-bikes and e-motos have generated headlines across the Bay Area with a fatal accident last month in San Jose and Walnut Creek parents charged with misdemeanor child abuse following their son’s e-moto crash.
In Livermore, police have seen e-bike takeovers, high-speed sidewalk riding and fleeing from police, according to Lt. Marc Plute.
“Teens think it’s cool, but one stunt, one bad choice, can lead to injuries, arrests or worse,” Plute said in an eight-part educational video series about electric vehicles.
Dublin Police Services Capt. Miguel Campos noted several “reoccurring concerns” in Dublin, including inconsistent use of helmets and other safety gear, traffic law violations, conflicts with pedestrians on sidewalks, high speed use where riders may not have the experience to do so safely, a lack of parental awareness as well as modified or illegally operated vehicles.
“Many micro-mobility devices are altered to exceed legal speed limits or fall into different classifications, creating enforcement and safety challenges,” Campos explained.
What’s being done?
As recently as Jan. 1, a new state law came into effect to define and regulate e-motos.
Under Assembly Bill 586, e-motos are subject to the same requirements as off-highway motor vehicles in California — operators must wear a helmet and each vehicle that is not registered under the vehicle code must display an identification plate or DMV-issued device.
AB 875 permits a police officer to impound for at least 48 hours an out-of-class electric vehicle that is capable exclusively of providing power above 20 mph when the operator is not licensed to operate the vehicle. The impound rule also applies to Class 3 e-bikes being operated by a person under 16 years old.
AB 875 has “provided clarity” on tow authority, San Ramon Police Cpl. Maksim Zubko told the Weekly.
In addition to statewide rules surrounding e-bikes, hyper-local efforts have been made to improve safety for e-bike riders and the larger community.
In the city of Dublin, sidewalk riding of e-bikes and other micro-mobility is prohibited unless the path is designated for shared use, as of Nov. 20, 2025. An exception also applied for riders entering or exiting a property.
Sidewalk riding of e-bikes is also banned in Livermore, according to Plute.
Under Danville’s municipal code, it is prohibited to ride e-bikes on sidewalks in any business district, according to the town website.
Meanwhile, there are no explicit bans on riding e-bikes on sidewalks in Pleasanton within the city’s municipal code.
Additionally, the city of San Ramon does not currently have municipal codes on e-bike use, Zubko told the Weekly.
Separate rules apply on trails within EBRPD.
Class 1 e-bikes are permitted on all trails where regular bikes are allowed, accounting for most trails in the park district. Class 2 e-bikes are permitted on all paved regional trails, such as the Iron Horse Regional Trail and Shadow Cliffs to Del Valle Regional Trail, according to the district website. However, Class 3 e-bikes and e-scooters are not permitted in EBRPD or its trails.
E-bikes, like non-motorized bicycles, must obey the 15 mph speed limit, slowing to 5 mph when passing other trail users.
While it’s illegal to ride an e-scooter or class 3 e-bike in EBRPD, it’s “very hard” to put an officer on the spot in those situations, EBRPD Police Capt. Terrence Joseph Cotcher told the Weekly.
“We focus a lot of our effort on the speed and the misuse of the trails,” he added, noting that traveling over 15 miles per hour increases the likelihood of a “negative outcome” such as a solo crash or collision.
In addition to enforcement of the rules, police departments in Tri-Valley cities have undertaken the job of educating the public about e-bikes safety and rules.
Among the efforts, Tri-Valley law enforcement agencies have created community engagement events and online video series about e-bike safety, rider requirements and the consequences of dangerous riding.
“Many riders, and parents, are simply unaware of the laws, safety expectations, and real risks associated with these devices,” Campos told the Weekly.
Offering video content allows for greater reach and accessibility to safety information, Campos explained.
“Our goal is to equip the community with the knowledge they need to make safe decisions before a tragedy occurs,” he added.
According to Feinberg, there is a strong correlation between lack of helmet use and injury severity.
At Eden Medical Center, less than half of patients treated in 2025 from e-bike accidents were wearing helmets, she added.
“These devices require the same level of respect, caution, and safety measures as other motorized forms of transportation,” Feinberg said. “Increased awareness, strict adherence to helmet use, and appropriate supervision — especially for adolescents — are essential steps in reducing these injuries and protecting our community.”
Many jurisdictions in the Tri-Valley have also launched projects to create individual transportation safety action plans to improve roadway safety.
“The issue of reckless e-bike riding had gotten bigger, faster than we were able to respond to it and so we wanted to get all the heads in the room and have everybody chat about this issue,” Danville’s Starnes said of the working group.
In terms of the group, the goal is not to overreact. E-bikes are a great way for people to get around and can be safe for a lot of people, Starnes said.
Regionally, Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) is among those who also have their eye on e-bike safety.
Bauer-Kahan announced in February her introduction of the E-bike Accountability Act.
If enacted, the legislation would require registration of Class 2 and Class 3 electric bicycles and display of a license plate. Riders would also be required to possess proof of their ownership of the bike with documentation matching the serial number of the bicycle.
“There are a lot of e-bike riders who are riding bikes legally, who are obeying traffic stops … sharing the road kindly,” Bauer-Kahan told the Weekly. “And then there are people we know who are not – who are speeding, who are doing wheelies.”
Police are currently faced with a “no-win situation” to either pursue a rider — an unsafe practice — or let the rider go, according to Bauer-Kahan.
“There really just needed to be some accountability, that it couldn’t be anonymous to be riding these vehicles that can travel at such high rates of speed, that are sharing the road with pedestrians,” Bauer-Kahan said.
Display of a license plate and vehicle registration would enable police officers to more easily identify riders exhibiting unsafe behavior or violating traffic laws, according to a statement by the office of Bauer-Kahan.
“I think putting these license plates on the bikes will be a deterrent for unsafe and illegal behavior, and it may just stop altogether,” she added.
The expected cost of registration would be “minimal”, she said, citing a $4 price to currently register off-highway bikes.
However, Bike East Bay has publicly opposed the act for allegedly countering traffic safety, sustainability and equity goals, as stated on its website.
The real danger facing bike riders is “outdated street design and heavy vehicular traffic”, organization officials wrote on its website.
According to Hu-Nguyen, the act also improperly targets Class 2 and Class 3 e-bikes when the real issue is e-motos.
Bike East Bay member Piekarski expressed similar sentiments, arguing that the act is misdirected.
During an interview with Bauer-Kahan, she agreed that bicycle infrastructure needs addressing — as she supported on Mount Diablo — while also maintaining that the regulations are necessary.
“I don’t disagree that we need safer infrastructure to support our active transportation riders,” she replied. “We also need accountability for riders that are not operating these bikes safely.”
Having ridden around the Tri-Valley, Piekarski, 78, said she’d like to see infrastructure improvements for cycling.
“We need to do a lot more to make all ages and abilities feel comfortable,” Piekarski added. “Even though I feel safe, I know there’s a whole lot of people that don’t and don’t ride because of that.”
In the Tri-Valley, there is a lack of protective infrastructure for bike riding, Hu-Nguyen said.
Livermore, however, was recognized as a bicycle-friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists.
In recent years, the city’s bike-ability has improved, Dunbar noted.
The work continues in Livermore to address bike-ability, such as updating design guidelines for future corridor trails to, by default, have wider paths with bicycle and pedestrian-separated striping or separate paths where possible, he added.
As for rules surrounding e-bike usage, it’s a balance between having regulations in place and not being punitive, Dunbar said.
“The end goal is to make sure everyone’s safe regardless of how they’re getting around,” Dunbar said.
