It\u2019s meant to address piecemeal e-bike rules that can vary among neighboring cities and school districts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my district, you can actually get onto your e-bike and go through at least four different cities within 30 minutes, and each city has different rules,\u201d Davies said in a phone interview. \u201cHaving standardized education, they\u2019ll know that this fits wherever they\u2019re riding their bike.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes after a young man died after crashing on an e-bike just a few weeks ago in Huntington Beach, according to a news release<\/a> from the police department.\u00a0<\/p>\n Police found the 21-year-old man unconscious on the sidewalk next to the roadway, authorities said, before he was transported to a hospital and died from his injuries that same week. According to the press release, it isn\u2019t known if impairment was a factor with e-bike rider.<\/p>\n Anthony Bright, founder and CEO of RidePermit<\/a>, said his program would make it easier for parents, schools and law enforcement officers to catch kids riding e-bikes in a dangerous or illegal way and hold their parents accountable.<\/p>\n Bright lives in Coto de Caza, adding that as a cyclist he saw problems with e-bikes rise over the past several years in South Orange County and beyond.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I ride on the road, it\u2019s dangerous. The kids need to be aware of what the rules are,\u201d Bright said in a phone interview. \u201cThe majority of kids are not popping wheelies in the middle of the street. The ones that are, their parents need to be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n A Free Compliance & Safety Dashboard For Parents, Schools, Cops<\/p>\n RidePermit seeks to create a statewide dashboard that requires kids and their parents to take a safety training course, pass a quiz and register their e-bike online before riding it to school.<\/p>\n They\u2019d then receive a free digital ID linked with their age, school and parent contact information. It would also list the student\u2019s e-bike model and class and whether or not it\u2019s permitted for their specific school district.\u00a0<\/p>\n Parents can purchase an optional $25 sticker decal to place on the e-bike.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we had all the kids using one platform, all the data for the state is there,\u201d Bright said. \u201cWe could see how many incidents, which district is having more suspensions, which age group is having the most incidents \u2014\u00a0you\u2019d have empirical data that the state, districts, schools and law enforcement could use to make decisions from.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n School districts can use RidePermit to add additional rules for their specific jurisdictions to ensure all students are in compliance when they register.<\/p>\n And school resource officers or administrators could log incidents when a student breaks the rules \u2014 informing parents and tracking how many times incidents occur.<\/p>\n Bright\u2019s vision is for a single database for the entire state that\u2019s free to use.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the digital ID and optional sticker decal would function almost like a driver\u2019s license for e-bike riders, Bright is also working with law enforcement to create a larger decal that would function more like a license plate \u2014 allowing officers to ID someone fleeing on e-bike without having to pursue.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can see it from their vehicle, their vests can record it [and] they can come back later and look at it in more detail to see the permit number,\u201d Bright said.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough the RidePermit system, guess what? They got the parents\u2019 telephone number and address and email to get in touch with them.\u201d<\/p>\n A Ladera Ranch family was the first to register with RidePermit just ahead of its July 31 launch.<\/p>\n Mike Packman and his 12-year-old son Luke said they registered for the program because it can help keep everyone safer on the roads.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a good kid, and I don\u2019t think he\u2019s doing anything,\u201d Mike Packman said in an interview at his home in Ladera Ranch, \u201cbut being part of something that will help track everybody\u2019s e-bikes and put some regulation around it and make it easier to police \u2014 it makes us feel more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n State Leaders Seek Increased E-bike Safety For Schoolchildren<\/p>\n Assemblymember Davies\u2019 bill passed the Senate in a 39-0 vote earlier this week. It also passed the Assembly in May but hasn\u2019t yet been signed by the governor.<\/p>\n The bill seeks to create a consistent safety training course for California students to take before they can ride an e-bike to school.<\/p>\n While the bill is only for students in grades 7 to 12, Davies said it\u2019s just the beginning.<\/p>\n She co-authored a different bill earlier this year that would have required DMV registration and special license plates for e-bikes, but it got stuck in the Assembly Appropriations Committee in May.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t put a price on safety. I believe that it\u2019s just a matter of time before registration is mandated,\u201d Davies said. \u201cIn order for our law enforcement to do their job better, you do need to have this registered.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the e-bike training that already exists across the state is patchwork and there needs to be a uniform safety program to make sure kids and their parents fully understand the rules and regulations of e-bikes before hitting their route to school.<\/p>\n She said a program like RidePermit would be beneficial for Orange County and the state.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s education before acceleration \u2014 making sure these kids have the rules of the road and they understand,\u201d Davies said. \u201cSame with parents; that they understand the speed these bikes can go and what the consequences are.\u201d<\/p>\n E-bike Accidents On The Rise in Orange County<\/p>\n A CHOC study<\/a> from earlier this year examined youth e-bike injuries and found the number of trauma activations for e-bike accidents has sharply increased over the past five years in their emergency room.<\/p>\n A trauma activation is when a specialized medical team assembles to treat a patient with severe, life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n In 2021, CHOC\u2019s emergency room saw only one trauma patient because of an e-bike-related injury. That number increased to 38 in 2022, 61 in 2023 and 125 in 2024.<\/p>\n In 2025, the emergency room saw 201 trauma patients with e-bike injuries.<\/p>\n [Read: Deaths, Crashes, Arrests: Orange County Grapples With E-bikes<\/a>]<\/p>\n Orange County parents are also increasingly facing criminal charges when they knowingly allow their children to ride illegal e-bikes and e-motorcycles.<\/p>\n An Aliso Viejo mom was charged with felony child endangerment and involuntary manslaughter earlier this year after allegedly allowing her 14-year-old son to illegally operate an e-motorcycle.<\/p>\n The teen was riding the vehicle and doing wheelies in the middle of the street in April when he hit an 81-year-old man and fled the scene, leaving the man with critical injuries, according to the Orange County District Attorney\u2019s office<\/a>. The man died from his injuries<\/a> two weeks later.<\/p>\n A Yorba Linda father was also charged with felony child endangerment and abuse this year after allegedly helping his 12-year-old son illegally modify his e-motorcycle to allow it to reach speeds up to 60 mph.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the DA\u2019s office<\/a>, the 12-year-old suffered from a fractured skull after he ran a red light and collided with a car while riding the illegal e-motorcycle. Reports say the boy and his father had already attended an e-bike safety presentation after the child was previously cited for riding an illegal e-motorcycle.<\/p>\n Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer also announced<\/a> an e-bike\/e-motorcycle unit in May to review potential criminal charges against youth and adults, including parents who knowingly allow their children to ride illegal e-motorcycles.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ridepermit.jpg\")
Luke Packman, 12, places a RidePermit decal sticker on his Super 73 e-bike on July 27, 2026. Credit: ANGELINA HICKS, Voice of OC<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1031.jpg\")
Luke Packman, 12, sits atop his Super 73 e-bike in a Ladera Ranch neighborhood alongside his father, Mike Packman, on July 27, 2026. Credit: ANGELINA HICKS, Voice of OC<\/p>\n