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The Danville Town Council is set to meet this week to review and discuss continued local and state efforts to address safety concerns raised by the increasing popularity of e-bikes and consider what other measures can be taken.
Town Manager Tai Williams is set to present the report on the state of e-bike safety and regulations at the state and local level at the council’s upcoming study session, and to offer a number of recommendations developed by town staff.
“Like many communities nationwide, Danville has experienced an increase in youth-related reckless behavior involving higher-powered e-bikes and e-scooters in shared public spaces,” Williams wrote in a staff report for the upcoming meeting.
“Specific safety concerns include excessive speeds on shared-use paths, increased use of throttle-equipped ‘e-moto’ style devices, aftermarket speed modifications, inconsistent helmet use, and unsafe riding behavior that creates conflicts among pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists,” she continued.
So far, the town has developed and implemented an e-bike safety action plan that includes the “Not my Kid” public information campaign and other community engagement efforts in partnership with the school district, discussions with John Muir Health on injury trends, the establishment of an e-bike safety working group, and continued enforcement measures.
Enforcement poses one of the Danville Police Department’s top challenges when it comes to e-bike safety, Williams noted in the staff report, a topic that came up during previous discussions between local police and the town’s Bicycle Advisory Committee and parks commission.
“Officers cannot readily determine rider age, device classification, or compliance from a distance, often when multiple riders are traveling in a group at speed,” Williams wrote. “Modified devices are even more difficult to visually identify. As such, both Commissions focused their deliberations on the clarity and practical enforceability of any proposed local restrictions.”
The latest of the town’s ongoing discussions on e-bike safety comes at a critical time, with John Muir Health reporting that twice as many e-bike related injuries were treated in 2025 as the previous year, with seniors and teenagers – particularly boys – being the most likely to sustain injuries, and head injuries ranking as the most common as helmet use remained low among injured cyclists.
Those local trends mirror the statewide and national trends documented in a report from the Mineta Transportation Institute, which concluded that the United States’s regulatory framework surrounding e-bikes is “atypical internationally.”
“None of the countries reviewed use the U.S. three-class system, and most set lower power and speed thresholds for devices that may be operated without a driver’s license,” Williams wrote. “By comparison, the U.S. permits significantly higher wattage and assisted speed limit.”
Rising injury rates, pressure from local municipalities such as Danville, and gaps in public policy found by the Mineta report have led to the introduction of eight bills related to e-bike safety in this year’s state legislative session, including one from Tri-Valley Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan that would require Class 2 and Class 3 e-bikes to be registered with a special license plate through the DMV.
“Collectively, these measures signal that e-bike regulation in California is at a turning point, with growing momentum toward clearer standards and stronger accountability,” Williams wrote.
Fully addressing concerns from Danville residents over e-bike safety would involve such changes to state law, Williams noted, including addressing challenges to clarity and enforceability of existing regulations. At the local level, she said that the best approach for the town was to regulate e-bike behavior within parks and town-controlled infrastructure such as sidewalks.
“As such, the most effective municipal actions are those that are clear, objective, and enforceable within existing legal authority,” Williams wrote.
Williams is recommending that the council move forward with a recommendation from the parks, recreation, and arts commission to restrict the use of e-bikes and scooters to paved portions of the town’s parks and to establish a 15 mile per hour within parks and trails that the town has authority over, which would require an amendment to the existing parks ordinance.
Otherwise, Williams’ recommendations consist of formally supporting new state-level legislation and continuing regional coordination and legislative advocacy, while holding off on expanding residential sidewalk prohibitions until later in this year’s state legislative session.
The Danville Town Council is set to meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday (March 10) at the Danville Town Offices, 500 La Gonda Way. The agenda is available here.
