San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo’s proposed e-bike regulations unanimously passed the City Council’s Public Safety Committee on Wednesday.

SAN DIEGO — Stricter e-bike regulations could soon be coming to San Diego after the City Council’s Public Safety Committee approved a proposal aimed at improving safety on Wednesday. 

“I look forward to crafting the ordinance and with that, I will move approval to staff recommendation,” Councilmember Raul Campillo said. 

The regulations voted on by the committee, if approved by the full City Council, would impose a minimum age of 12 to ride Class 1 and 2 e-bikes. Passengers would only be allowed if the e-bike is specifically designed to accommodate multiple riders with a permanent second seat. Also, it would require riders to complete an e-bike safety course. 

The new rules come after a series of incidents across San Diego County. Rady Children’s Hospital recently reported that e-bike injuries are up over 300% in a 4-year period. Last year alone, they recorded 262 e-bike-related trauma cases. For some residents, that’s enough to support tougher regulations. 

“PB Middle School is right by. And even just from biking myself, I see them always zooming by, and sometimes I feel worried like they’re just gonna hit me,” Jarod Dias, a San Diego resident, said. 

Parents, Lindsay Van Leeuwen and Lyndsay Johnson, told CBS 8 they both support the City’s goal to add e-bike age restrictions. 

“In my opinion, 12 years old is even a little bit too young. But at a minimum, they need to be taking courses to learn about the safety of e-bikes,” Van Leeuwen said. 

For Johnson, she told News 8 her daughter actually had a close call with a young e-bike rider. 

“A 7-year-old boy hit my 4-year-old daughter at Campland. He was super nice and handled it perfectly, and by the grace of god, he didn’t hurt her… I just don’t think there’s any way for a kid to be riding an e-bike and not be a threat to small children in particular, and also themselves,” Johnson said. 

Several cities across the County are moving to impose new e-bike restrictions. Carlsbad will begin enforcing new e-bike rules on March 26. 

For San Diego, the next step will be for these e-bike regulations to be brought to the full City Council for final approval in the coming weeks.