A trio of local Girl Scouts is looking to reach future e-bike riders before they get behind the handlebars.
La Jolla Country Day School freshman Sabrina Hochberg and La Jolla High School freshmen Brenna Olmert and Lily Piehl recently gave a safety presentation to students at La Jolla Elementary School.
Sabrina, Brenna and Lily are independent Girl Scouts, meaning they are not part of a specific troop but still complete Scout tasks and milestones. As part of their ongoing work, they set out to complete a Silver Award project.
After a mutual friend was seriously injured in an accident on an electric bicycle, the three decided to focus their project on e-bike safety. After months of research, the girls put together a 20-minute slide presentation on safety rules, risks and tips and presented it to fourth- and fifth-graders at La Jolla Elementary in May. The Scouts are former students there.
When e-bikes first started gaining notoriety, the girls thought they were "very interesting modes of transportation and very appealing to us," the three said in a collective statement.
As the bikes began to be popular with the girls' peers, "that made all of us want e-bikes even more. We enjoyed the fact that it gave us more freedom with where we wanted to go without having to be 16 years of age."
"We thought they were cool, but they were more dangerous than we thought," they said.
Soon, they started to notice accidents among young people. But none of those impacted them until their friend was hurt.
"One of our friends got into a life-threatening accident after being thrown over the handlebars without a helmet," according to the girls' statement. "They went to the hospital four times, which was terrifying. They had a brain infection and a major concussion and they were not allowed to ride an e-bike for a year after that. It affected us because it made us realize the impact e-bike riding could have on our lives if you do not ride safely."
The Scouts said they began researching e-bikes and e-bike accidents online.
"We then took a closer look at our community," they said. "We interviewed a seller of e-bikes, an emergency room doctor and many e-bike riders and their parents. We also researched local news articles and reports of accidents and injuries. We attended an online e-biking course. Finally, we looked into how others are improving e-bike safety, such as biking groups, government leaders and school communities."
They compiled that information into a presentation with the goal of educating younger children before they start riding.
"We think that these young people will listen to us more because we are closer in age to them and therefore can relate to them in more ways than their parents or other adults that are spreading this same message to them," the Scouts said.
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In addition to informing their young listeners, the Scouts learned some things in the course of their research.
"We learned about the extreme amount of crashes and injuries [involving] e-bikes every year," they said in their statement. "This impacted us because it made us worried about the safety of our friends and community that ride e-bikes each day to school, to home and extracurricular activities."
According to data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, e-bicycle injuries nationwide increased from 751 in 2017 to 23,493 in 2022, and there were 45,586 e-bike injuries altogether over that time frame.
"We were also surprised to find out that you should always be wearing long pants, a long-sleeved shirt and closed-toed shoes when riding an e-bike. ... Our friends and people we see riding every day are sometimes in bathing suits or just short shorts. It was understandable, though, because it is 80 degrees outside in summer.
"A third thing that we were surprised to learn is that there are almost no current laws in place or being enforced about riding e-bikes."
According to the San Diego Police Department, motorized bikes are prohibited on bike paths such as La Jolla's and at the La Jolla Shores boardwalk. Also, riders must obey the same rules of the road as everyone else.
Some La Jolla residents have expressed concern about pedestrian safety in light of e-bike riders on the La Jolla Bike Path and other public places, where they say riders also have run over plants and natural habitats.
Helmets are required for riders younger than 18 on Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes, which can reach top speed of 20 mph.
Helmets are required for anyone on a Class 3 electric bike, which can reach top speed of 28 mph. No one younger than 16 is allowed to operate a Class 3 e-bike.
Legislation in the works by state Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner (D-Encinitas), whose 77th District includes La Jolla, would establish an opt-in pilot program that would allow cities to prohibit children younger than 12 from operating a Class 1 or 2 e-bike.
A second bill would create a digital handbook including the rules of the road and e-bike regulations in one place.
"I'm a huge supporter of e-bikes ... when operated safely," Boerner previously told the La Jolla Light. "I want kids to walk and bike, but it has to be safe.
"It's not a matter of how skilled or mature they might be ... e-bikes are not safe for those under 12."
In the meantime, the three Scouts said they feel their presentation was effective because it "made the children engaged, aware of their safety when having an e-bike, and the consequences that come when not following the rules and not being safe on an e-bike. We think it did have an impact because it made the kids think about the responsibilities and safety requirements that come with having an e-bike. ... We informed over 200 children about e-bike safety."
They said they also believe their presentation could be tailored to older children and adults. ♦